This Includes Florida

NOTE: I've swapped out the earlier incorrect tweet.

HomoQuotable - Rex Wockner

"In this age of YouTube and Facething and the Twitter, is it possible to 'win' a presidential debate and then turn around and lose the same debate once the stupid stuff you said is replayed and replayed on-demand? It's all about Big Bird now. And poor Jim Lehrer, he winced. Maybe that's why Jim was so off his game. Mittens ran over him from the get-go with that threat to defund him and pluck Big Bird. Will the Internet and the news media turn Mitten's win into a loss?" - Veteran gay reporter Rex Wockner, writing on his personal blog.

Rex Wockner On Sally Ride

"Not every gay or lesbian person wants to be an activist, and when a public figure comes out, he or she can be thrust into that role by the media, which start asking the individual’s opinion on every gay topic of the day. Not every gay or lesbian person even considers his or her sexual orientation one of the most important pieces of his or her identity. For some, it’s just another thing, like being left-handed, or Episcopalian.

"If anyone deserves a bit of scolding, it’s the news media, which went about its business for around 24 hours before realizing that this obituary was not a run-of-the-mill obituary and that there was a surprise, and breaking news, lurking in the list of survivors. By the second day, there were stories everywhere about Ride’s coming out. And I suspect this piece is one of several on Sunday op-ed pages around the country today. American hero Sally Ride did one more great thing the day she died. She showed America, again, that LGBT people really are everywhere, including even in outer space and already in our history books." - Veteran gay journalist Rex Wockner, writing for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

SAN DIEGO: Fire Damages Gay Bookshop

Rex Wockner reports that last night a fire severely damaged Obelisk, San Diego's LGBT bookstore.

The building housing San Diego's gay bookstore, Obelisk, was declared off-limits by the city tonight after a fire heavily damaged the structure's second and third stories this afternoon. The store won't be allowed to re-open until the building is repaired. From about 30 feet away, it appeared that the contents of the store likely had sustained heavy water damage, as well.

[Photo credit: Rex Wockner]

NETHERLANDS: Ten Years Of Marriage

Ten years ago this week, the Netherlands became the world's first nation to legalize same-sex marriage. Veteran reporter Rex Wockner was in Amsterdam's City Hall that night and today he reposts this excerpt from his report on the proceedings:

Amid an international media frenzy, the weddings took place at City Hall as the law became effective at the stroke of midnight. Mayor Job Cohen officiated. As Cohen finished his opening remarks at 11:58 p.m., the audience in the City Council chambers began syncopated clapping as they waited for the room's clock to click over to 12:00. When it clicked, cheers erupted.

Wockner notes: "In the intervening 10 years, 14,813 of the Netherlands' 55,000 gay couples have gotten married, according to Statistics Netherlands. Of those couples, 7,522 were female and 7,291 were male. There have been 1,078 same-sex divorces, 734 of them by female couples."

RELATED: Canada legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2005 in a ruling that made legal a gay wedding that had taken place in January 2001. Call it "ten years with an asterisk."

40 Activists Walk Into A Room....

Pictured above are the journalists, activists, researchers, allies and bloggers that attended this weekend's Haas Fund-sponsored conference on LGBT youth homelessness, suicide prevention, and immigration equality. All very good people.

UPDATE: Via the Windy City Times, here's everybody's names (from left to right).

Michael Rogers, Eden James, Phil Reese, Andrés Duque, Karen Ocamb, Jeremy Hooper, Jean Albright, Tracy Baim, Ksen Pallegedara, Zack Ford, Joe Mirabella, Carl Siciliano, Chris Geidner, Rod McCullom, Daniel Villarreal, Adam Bink, Chris Johnson, Ed Kennedy, Jerame Davis, Caitlin Ryan, Jason Cianciotto, Bil Browning, Rex Wockner, Elizbeth Plata, Matt Comer, Shannon Minter, Sunni Brydum, Andrew Belonsky, Joe Jervis, Cynthia Laird, Michael Jones, Liza Sabater, Ann Haas, Ed Plata.

Special DADT Report From Rex Wockner

The below is a special to JMG report on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" from veteran gay reporter Rex Wockner.

Don't Ask Don't Tell Roller Coaster

The Obama administration resuscitated the Don't Ask, Don't Tell gay ban Oct. 20 by convincing the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to temporarily stay an injunction by a federal district judge in Riverside, Calif.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips had found the ban unconstitutional and barred any further use of it worldwide effective Oct. 12. In response, the military stopped kicking out openly gay and lesbian servicemembers and began letting open gays and lesbians sign up to enlist.

But the Obama administration -- which says it strongly opposes DADT -- immediately began fighting to bring the ban back to life, ultimately succeeding eight days later.

The Justice Department argued that an abrupt end to the ban would be harmful to the military in myriad ways. Judge Phillips was wholly unconvinced and refused to stay her injunction. The 9th Circuit, on the other hand, issued a brief stay -- until at least Oct. 25 -- while it considers issuing a longer stay.

The administration also said it wants Congress, not the courts, to end the ban. The House of Representatives voted to end the ban earlier this year but the Senate refused after a filibuster by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

There is no indication that the Senate will change its mind when it returns to Washington for the lame-duck session following the Nov. 2 elections, even though the DADT repeal measure is a part of the bill that funds the entire U.S. military for next year. McCain's filibuster also left the overall military funding measure unpassed.

"Really, what's in my heart right now is it's going to be really hard for me to vote for Barack Obama," prominent gays-in-the-military activist Dan Choi said in an interview. Choi re-enlisted in the Army at the Times Square recruiting station in New York on Oct. 19.

"Call me a one-issue person, but this is really pissing me off," Choi added. "When Congress has a law that's unconstitutional, it's the job of the courts to call it unconstitutional. That's Civics day one. Obama's giving Don't Ask, Don't Tell mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. For him to do that at this point is upsetting, it's disgusting."

GetEQUAL director Robin McGehee called the government's successful push for a stay "a travesty."

"This ... brings the military's discriminatory Don't Ask, Don't Tell law back from the dead," she said. "It is a travesty that after numerous attempts, President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder will go down in history as the administration that breathed life back into Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The lives and careers of openly gay and lesbian servicemembers are now back in the crosshairs of our government and a renewed commitment to discrimination falls squarely in the hands of this White House."

Servicemembers United Executive Director Alexander Nicholson said he's hopeful the stay will last just a few days.

"An objective look at the evidence before the court clearly indicates that ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell would not harm military readiness, but would rather enhance it," he said.

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese called DADT's resurrection "a sad day for all Americans."

"Today's decision only furthers our resolve to send this law to the dustbin of history and also draws a spotlight on the administration to make good on their pledge to end these discharges that damage our national security," he said.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis said the stay dumped the ball back in the U.S. Senate's lap.

"Gay and lesbian servicemembers deserve better treatment than they are getting with this ruling," he said. "We now must look to the Senate next month in the lame-duck session to bring about the swift certainty needed here and to repeal this unjust law that serves no useful purpose."

[Photos and text by Rex Wockner]

Thousands Celebrate In San Diego

More great videos from Rex Wockner's coverage in San Diego are here. The chant in the bottom clip got me a little teary.

Eric McCormack Talks To Rex Wockner

"Will had as much sex on camera as anybody on Friends had on camera. It's a sitcom. Nobody has sex on camera. Will had lots of dates. Will was dating Patrick Dempsey and he married Taye Diggs. I think that a lot of the rhetoric in the kind of anti-Will & Grace press was misguided and was from people that had stopped watching the show about three years earlier.

"A lot happened to Will with regards to romance, with regards to relationships and, like I said, he walked down the aisle in his own apartment with Taye. I think the show actually ended up being -- as much as it got very outrageous near the end, it also got more outspoken. And I think that we weren't necessarily a show for the gay community alone; we were for America to maybe start making some inroads." - Eric McCormack, speaking to Rex Wockner.

Read Wockner's entire interview.

LGBT Activists Convene In NYC For Immigration Equality Forum

A large group of noted LGBT activists are in NYC this weekend to attend an immigration equality forum at the Desmond Tutu Center in Manhattan. The event is sponsored by the Four Freedoms Fund of the Public Interest Projects and will feature speakers from the LGBT-focused Immigration Equality group as well as experts from the comprehensive immigration reform movement. Last night attendees gathered at the historic Stonewall Inn for a cocktail reception (slideshow below), although attendance was hampered by the air travel mayhem caused by Snowmaggedon III. I should have a full report from the conference posted here by late Sunday. I'm posting photos and updates on Facebook as we go.

Rex Wockner Interviews Me

On his way up to cover the Maine marriage battle last month, gay reporter Rex Wockner swung by my place to interview me about this here website thingy. The interview, just posted on Wockner's site, is transcribed verbatim, which makes me realize that I clearly have a problem speaking in concise, complete sentences. Hello, run-ons. Also, I seem to have a, like, Valley Girl thing going on. Totally. The interview starts with questions about the genesis of JMG, which some of you will already know from last month's Instinct Magazine interview. But anyway, if a peek inside my blogging routine interests you, have a look. Hopefully I don't sound like too much of a tool.

RELATED: Wockner also interviewed Towleroad's Andy Towle, who is far better spoken.

Maine Needs You!

Rex Wockner reports that Maine's No On 1 campaign desperately needs phone volunteers to help get out the vote to preserve marriage equality. You can do your part from your home or office on your cell phone or landline.

Basically, Karin [of Protect Maine Equality] needs you to get trained fast, then make lots of phone calls to Maine from wherever you are. It won't cost you anything. The software calls you. Your phone number won't be revealed. Caller ID will show the NO on 1 office number.

"Call for Equality is critical to our plan to reach all the voters in Maine we need to reach," Roland told me in an interview. "We literally need to make hundreds of thousands of dials through that program -- and in order to do that, we know we need several hundred more people to sign up. You can sign up and get trained now, and start calling now, and then you'll be all set to call on election day."

More information on how to help can be found on Wockner's blog. This is important. And not hard to do.

Olson/Boies To LGBT Orgs: Get Lost

Two weeks ago I told you that Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights had reversed course and decided that they did want to join in the Olson/Boies federal marriage lawsuit after all. But still smarting from the way LGBT organizations dissed their proposal, the foundation supporting the superstar lawyers says they're not interested.

But the newly formed political group funding the case, the American Foundation for Equal Rights, is opposing the request. The foundation scored a public relations coup when it persuaded the high-profile lawyers who squared off over the disputed 2000 presidential election to take on the lawsuit. In a letter to the legal groups sent Wednesday, board president Chad Griffin, a Los Angeles-based political consultant, said the show of solidarity was coming too late since the same groups originally criticized a federal civil rights claim as premature. "You have unrelentingly and unequivocally acted to undermine this case even before it was filed. Considering this, it is inconceivable that you would zealously and effectively litigate this case if you were successful in intervening," Griffin said. "Therefore, we will vigorously oppose any motion to intervene."

Dayum!

UPDATE: Larry Kramer weighs in via email to the above-named LGBT orgs.

i implore your three organizations, lambda legal of los angeles, national center for lesbian rights, and aclu lgbt project, to not interfere with the olson/boies case. you will only botch up what they are trying to achieve. you have thus far not achieved it on your own and with your own tactics, so why are you trying to kybosh someone who has come along with fresh new energy, ideas, and clout? you are only behaving in the worst possible bitchy way, the way gay groups can fall victim to when their feelings are hurt. keep your noses out of it, will you please? i beg of you. you should be cheering these guys from the sidelines and showering them with gratitude for coming along and trying to help us in our hugely enfeebled position, brought on in great part by our inability to work together effectively ourselves. you are only perpetuating this useless behavior.

larry kramer

(Via - Rex Wockner)

HomoQuotable - Steve Hildebrand

"I would encourage gays and straights alike to put pressure on President Obama, on his administration, to call for action -- immediate action on the laundry list of items that the gay community deserves for true equality in this country.

"What I don't like is the suggestion by a lot of people that this guy has lied to us and that he isn't fulfilling his campaign promises, when he's only been in office for five months. He can't change the world overnight and -- I'm doing my best to say this without providing excuses -- but this is a president who was handed a larger number of really big issues to deal with at the beginning of his presidency than any other president in history.

'He's got to get an economy moving, he's got to get the troops out of Iraq, there's a lot of big, big problems. At the same time, he is working within his administration to try and get in a position to get some meaningful things done to help the gay community achieve equality. That does not preclude any suggestion that we should not keep up the pressure. He has told me, and he has told ... staff in the White House that pressure's a good thing, so people should continue to put pressure on him." - Barack Obama's former deputy campaign director Steve Hildebrand, telling reporter Rex Wockner that he has faith in the president on LGBT issues. Hildebrand has had one-on-one conversations with the president and reports that Obama was "not happy at all" with the language used in the infamous DOJ-DOMA brief.

Read Rex Wockner's excellent interview with Hildebrand in full.

[Photo credit: Rex Wockner]

Wockner: What Is Arnold Smoking?

Rex Wockner goes off on the Governator over his plan to cut state funding for HIV medications.

Arnold is smoking something other than fine imported cigars. And the California Legislature is inhaling the second-hand smoke. They're actually thinking of taking away people's HIV drugs because the state is broke -- way beyond broke, actually.

You can learn more here, here and here. Meanwhile, here's a note I sent to an editor pal at a daily newspaper today:

"The thing here is: ADAP (the AIDS Drug Assistance Program) pays for HIV drugs for people who can't afford them. I know people who are in this program. To actually cut off someone's antiretroviral drugs, which is what we're talking about here, is almost a form of slow murder. The viral load would bounce back fairly quickly, immune function would decline, and people would begin to die of the opportunistic infections that killed them in the Bad Old Days (pre-1996, pre-protease-inhibitor-based combo therapy). It is inconceivable that Schwarzenegger or the Legislature would do this, but it seems to be very much on the table. Its even being on the table seems to me to be unconscionable... I think it's an important story once you understand it in the context I've attempted to lay out here."

Go here for more information on today's protest in Sacramento.

Wockner Interviews Miss California

Veteran gay reporter Rex Wockner interviewed Carrie Prejean, Miss California USA, during which she says that she believes homosexuality is a choice, a "behavior that develops over time." Prejean forsees a long battle over marriage equality but doesn't think it's coming back to California "anytime soon." Go to Wockner's blog for photos and a transcript of the interview.

(Photo credit - David Kendal)

UPDATE: Here's the audio of the interview.

HomoQuotable - Rex Wockner

"Disaster. They constantly interrupted the gay side with aggressive questions, but let Ken Starr go on and on and on. They were obsessed with the fact that the domestic-partnership law gives the same rights as marriage, and they completely ignored the fact that they so eloquently argued that separate isn't equal in their previous ruling. They seemed enamored of the notion that the people can do almost whatever they want via the ballot-box amendment process -- including repealing freedom of speech, banning gay adoption, pretty much any damned thing they choose. We're not winning this one. It could even be unanimous." - Reporter Rex Wockner, writing on his blog about yesterday's CA Supreme Court hearings.

(Photo credit: Mike Tidmus)

San Diego's Mayor Announces Lesbian Daughter's Engagement At Eve Of Justice

San Diego's very gay friendly Mayor Jerry Sanders announced the engagement of his lesbian daughter from the stage of yesterday's Eve Of Justice rally.

"I want to thank each of you for your dedication, and I see you all over the city and I see you marching and I see you talking to people, I see you lobbying, I see you doing things that make all of us proud as we go down this road to make sure that everybody is treated equally in the state of California. Now, I want to say (he pauses to gain his composure) -- these are always hard ones for me -- if it didn't involve my daughter and her partner, they wouldn't be hard things, but they became engaged to get married last week (wild cheering and applause), and their families are tremendously proud of them, we're tremendously excited to see two people who are committed to each other and we know will be excellent partners into the future. So this becomes even a more important issue for our family."

Photo and reporting by Rex Wockner. Please visit Wockner's blog for more coverage of San Diego's event as well a great gallery of photos.

Gays Picket Bill Clinton At Boycotted San Diego Hotel

Rex Wockner reports:

About 200 GLBT activists and union activists picketed the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego on Feb. 15 as former President Bill Clinton spoke inside to the International Franchise Association. The protesters were upset that Clinton "crossed a picket line" to speak at the association's annual convention. Gays have been boycotting the hotel since last summer because owner Doug Manchester donated $125,000 to the campaign to get Proposition 8 on the November ballot. Passed by 52 percent of voters Nov. 4, Prop 8 re-banned same-sex marriage in California five months after the state Supreme court legalized it. No representative of the IFA was available to speak to media, and hotel officials said Clinton would not be available to reporters either. The officials prohibited a reporter from accessing the floor on which the convention was taking place.

According to Wockner, four activists including NAMES Project founder Cleve Jones and Courage Campaign chairman Rick Jacobs entered the hotel to attempt to deliver a 30,000 name petition asking Clinton to observe their boycott. They were not successful.

(Photo Credit: Rex Wockner)

No On 8 Says "We Messed Up"

Rex Wockner has posted a recapping of the Equality Summit now going on in California, where leaders of the marriage equality movement there have expressed regret over hiring professional lobbyists to run the No On 8 campaign. An excerpt:

More than 400 gay activists gathered at the Los Angeles Convention Center Jan. 24 to organize and strategize to win back same-sex marriage in California. But attendees at the daylong Equality Summit spent just as much time looking backward -- at the errors made by the leadership of the No on 8 campaign in its failed effort to stop voters from re-banning same-sex marriage.

And, for the first time since the Nov. 4 election, several of those leaders publicly detailed what they did wrong.

"When I look at what was the biggest mistake, when I lie awake at night prepping my e-mails I'm going to send to all of you and I think about the biggest mistake that we made, it's that we've turned everything over to political experts and political consultants," said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors. "And I would never ever do that again. You know, when we started Equality California, everyone was, like, 'Hire professional lobbyists to go lobby on LGBT issues,' and I was, like: 'You gotta be kidding. We're going to do our own lobbying because it's about our lives and we know what we're talking about and we know how to do this.' One thing, you know, that I would never do again ... we should have been in the strategy room and part of those (consultants') conversations, and that was a huge mistake."

Wockner notes that some are complaining about how summit organizers are handling dissent from outsiders at the conference.

"Today is about the same people ... taking control of anything that goes forward, being in charge, and collecting the money and having the power," said Miki Jackson, a longtime lesbian and AIDS activist in Los Angeles. "These people are control junkies, they are power junkies, and we are at their mercy," Jackson said in an interview, singling out Kors and Kendell by name. "They're up at the podium and they're talking at everyone. ... Grassroots people can't even stand up and ask a question. It has to be read (from a notecard) by a moderator. There isn't a rift between the grassroots and the No on 8 usual suspects -- there is a wall they have built. We have a place, and they want us in it. You can see it here today."

Read Wockner's entire report.

[Photo credit: Rex Wockner]