Kalamazoo By A Mile

The final result of last night's vote in Kalamazoo is in. It was 62-38.

Kalamazoo city voters decisively adopted an ordinance Tuesday that extends anti-discrimination protections to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals. The ordinance passed 7,671 to 4,731, making Kalamazoo the 16th city in Michigan to adopt such a gay-rights ordinance that grants the protections in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodations.
ordinance.jpgAllison Downey, center, and John Austin, right, both of Portage, erupt in cheers at the Metro Night Club, 411 N. Westnedge Ave., after the announcement that the anti-discrimination ordinance passed Tuesday evening. "This is for our friends because we love them," said Downey. Both Downey and Austin volunteered for the One Kalamazoo campaign, which supported the ordinance. The ordinance was approved in all but three of the city’s voting places. It also passed among heavy absentee ballot voting. “There’s a lot of people who will wake up and breathe easier tomorrow knowing they won’t be fired or kicked out of their homes for being gay, lesbian or transgender,” said Jon Hoadley, campaign manager One Kalamazoo, the pro-ordinance campaign committee. “It was astounding the overwhelming support that we had. Kalamazoo said this is what it wants.” Kalamazoo resident Larissa Dugas said she cast her ballot for the ordinance, which she called largely symbolic. “It is symbolic to have people stand up and say that we won’t stand for intolerance,” Dugas said. “It’s important for this to be an inclusive community.”

Election Day Live Blog

Thanks to everybody who dropped in and who stayed with me for the past seven hours. Despite Maine, it was in general a fantastic night for LGBT politics, with great results seen in Kalamazoo, Chapel Hill, Detroit, Houston, and in Washington state, where Approve 71 continues to lead, with a final result possibly not coming for a few days. Let's focus on the wins, offer heartfelt thanks to Protect Maine Equality, and remain positive for the continuing fight to complete civil equality for all Americans.

1:06AM - New York Times declares Yes On 1 the winner. With 86% of votes in, bigots in Maine are ahead by 30,000 votes, a 5.4% margin. Regardless of this defeat, we owe a huge thank you to Jesse Connolly and his team at Protect Maine Equality, who by all accounts, ran the best marriage equality campaign we've seen.
12:55AM - Well, everybody is UNcalling a win on R-71, for now, thanks to confusion over the "official" WA elections site, which operates under its own rules. Things still look good, at least.
12:50AM - Democrat Bill Owens declared winner of NY-23. Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, and Glenn Beck can SUCK IT.
12:37AM - Via Rex Wockner: No On 1 is not conceding, citing uncounted absentee ballots and unreporting precincts.
12:24AM - Commenters at Seattle's Slog are conflicted over the blue "winner" check mark at the official WA elections site - which is how EVERYBODY announces the winner on these things. Can somebody PLEASE advise??
11:50PM - Openly lesbian Houston comptroller Anise Parker takes first place in mayoral race, headed for runoff election.
11:45PM - Approve 71 bounces back to 3 point lead.
11:30PM - Yes On 1 widens lead to 11,000 votes, 3.2 points. Pours fourth fucking drink.
11:22PM - First report from Washington state shows Approve 71 losing by wide margin. That's only 6% of votes counted with several days of counting mailed ballots likely to follow.
11:16PM - Yes On 1 stretches lead to 2 points, 6000+ votes. 55% of districts reporting.
11:10PM - Yes On 1 now leading by 2200 votes, almost 1%. 49% of districts reporting.
11:03PM - Democrat Bill Owens leads by 4 pts in NY-23 House district. Suck it, Sarah Palin.
10:50PM - Exactly 50.0 - 50.0 in Maine. We lead by 32 votes. Pours third drink.
10:45PM - NY1 calls it for Bloomberg. $100M for a 3-pt margin. What's that come out to per vote?
10:32PM - Christine Quinn retains NYC council seat by 4-1 margin.
10:15PM - NBC News calls New Jersey for Chris Christie. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
10:14PM - No On 1 reports via Twitter that their lead is now less than 1% with 22% of precints reporting.
10:06PM - New Jersey: 70% of votes counted, anti-gay GOP candidate Chris Christie leads by 5 points. Bad, bad news.
10:03PM - It's official, finally. Kalamazoo's new LGBT rights law is UPHELD. Wah and HOO!
10:00PM - MSNBC reports Bloomberg's win forecast "called back" as later results have narrowed his lead to less than 2%.
9:50PM - The New York Times election results site appears to be more stable than the other one. Going by that one for now. Presently shows us winning by 3.6 pts.
9:40PM - $100M will buy you several lovely Mediterranean islands or one illicit third term as NYC mayor.
9:27PM - D'oh! Bangor Daily News live results feed crashes. "Server taking too long to respond thanks to too many anxious homos!"
9:18PM - Hold that celebration, Michigan. Contradictory posts from Kalamazoo HQ.
9:11PM - Kalamazoomians represent! Unconfirmed results show new LGBT rights upheld 65-35. Woo! First win of the night! Probably.
9:02PM - Flippity flop, we back on top. By NINE. Pours second drink.
8:40PM - 7% of Maine votes counted. Huge jump for Yes On 1. We're now down by 9 pts. I don't think I can stand to look again for at least 30 minutes.
8:32PM - Listen to election results live on national LGBT radio, SiriusOutQ.
8:26PM - 2% of votes counted, No On 1 has 3-1 margin.
8:25PM - Live results from Kalamazoo, Michigan are being posted here.
8:10PM - UGH. It gets worse. Arch homophobe Ken Cuccinelli has just been called as Virginia's new Attorney General.
8:01PM - NBC News just called Virginia for the anti-gay Bob McDonnell. Ouch.
8:00PM - Veteran gay reporter Rex Wockner is live-posting from the No On 1 headquarters.
7:55PM - Follow No On 1 live on their Twitter account.
7:50PM - New Jersey's gubernatorial race election results will be posted live here. Things don't look promising for Democrat Jon Corzine.
7:45PM - The Bangor Daily News' live results tally has just gone live. Only 51 votes are on the board at this moment, marriage equality ahead 46-5. Enjoy that while it lasts.
7:40PM - Not yet received absentee ballots in Maine and ballots mailed today in Washington state may mean we don't get final results in either location tonight.
7:30PM - Weaselinas: Both of Maine's GOP Senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, refuse to say how they voted on marriage equality.

The polls have closed in Virgina and will close at 8pm in New Jersey and Maine, 9pm in New York. I'll be adding early results and exit polls to this post until the results are called. So far all they're saying is that it's too close to call in Virginia's governor race.

Kalamazoo Repeals Gay Rights

Score another one for the religious right in Kalamazoo, Michigan

Six weeks after passing a gay rights law, the Kalamazoo City Commission has voted to rescind it. The commission voted Dec. 1 to make it a civil offense in the city of 7,200 to discriminate in housing, public accommodations or employment based on sexual orientation or being transgender. The American Family Association of Michigan submitted petitions with about 1,600 signatures seeking the law's repeal. If officials found at least 1,273 signatures valid, the commission would have had to rescind the law or put it on the ballot. The commission voted 7-0 Monday night to rescind it.

Michigan Churches End Homeless Services Over LGBT Rights

Three Kalamazoo churches will stop providing meals to the homeless because of the city's recent approval of a law protecting gays from discrimination.

Martha’s Table, through which eight churches have provided Sunday afternoon worship and meals for the needy at First Congregational Church, is losing three of the churches because of the issue of homosexuality, even though the ecumenical ministry takes no position on it, said the Rev. Matt Laney, pastor of First Congregational. “The founding principle of Martha’s Table was that churches would come together and put aside their differences in light of what unites us, which is our common commitment to serve Christ and others,” Laney said. “But now this difference has risen above our common commitment to serving Christ.” Laney said representatives of all three churches have been “very clear” that they don’t want to be “guilty by association” with First Congregational and its inclusiveness of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, said Laney, who publicly supported an ordinance passed by Kalamazoo voters in November that protects GLBT people from discrimination in housing, jobs and accommodations.

The man who created Martha's Table and whose restaurant provides most of the meals refused to comment on his withdrawal, saying, "“I would just as soon let it go. We are just pulling out. That’s all. We would just as soon take a position of silence.”

(Via - Box Turtle Bulletin)

Kalamazoo: More "Men! In Dresses!" Scare Tactics Over LGBT Rights Repeal Bid

The Family Policy Network goes for the tired "man in the ladies room" crapola in this last minute ad urging the overturn of Kalamazoo's LGBT rights law.

Kalamazoo's First Non-Discrimination Ad

In January, the American Family Association forced the repeal of Kalamazoo's new LGBT rights law. The issue has been put to a public vote and here is the first ad in support of next month's ballot.

Michigan Pastors: We'll Go To Jail Rather Than Obey Proposed LGBT Rights Law

A coalition of anti-gay pastors rallied on the steps of Michigan's capitol building on Friday to declare that they will go to jail before obeying the proposed inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in state anti-discrimination laws. From a press release published by Christian Newswire:

"We, the undersigned Christian Pastors of the State of Michigan declare our opposition to adding sexual orientation, gender identity or other similar designation to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act." -- Pastor Doug Levesque, Immanuel Baptist Church, Corunna, Michigan, reading a pastor's joint statement. The Pastors said that legislation in other states that were allegedly intended to protect homosexuals actually ended up discriminating against people of faith, citing the recent case in Houston, Texas, where the sermons, notes, and text messages of pastors were subpoenaed by the mayor.

"The homosexual agenda is an anti-freedom movement which has led to the persecution of pastors and Christian business owners across the nation, whose freedom of speech and freedom of religion are being taken from them, under the guise of so called gay rights. There is nothing civil about that!"-- Minister Stacy Swimp, President, National Christian Leadership Council "Those wanting special rights for sexual orientation are seeking to rewrite the traditional moral fiber of our society." -- Tim Berlin, senior pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Warren

"I don't know of another example of pastors' sermons being subpoenaed, except for in Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. I find it ironic that the first example of that happening in America is from the LGBT community." -- Pastor R.B. Ouelette, First Baptist, Bridgeport, Michigan. The pastors asserted that the job of the Michigan Legislature is to affirm and uphold constitutionally protected freedom for everyone – including business owners – not pass laws that grant special favors, give special status or guarantee special protections for some while coercing and punishing others.

Swimp: "Let there be no doubt that, if you should decide to go forward with this grave injustice, I, every born again believer I know, as well as every pastor you see here today, shall disobey your unjust law. Here we stand, Black and White together, ready to go to jail!"

The group has launched a Twitter account, a Facebook page, and the website seen in the screenshot above, where they cite Porno Pete's list of outrages committed by homofacsists. Tony Perkins cheers via press release:

Despite the obvious moral and religious implications of stigmatizing disapproval of homosexual behavior, the proposed bill contains no religious exemption of any kind. It was bad enough when religious agencies were forced out of the adoption business, and people in the wedding industry were told they must participate in the celebration of same-sex weddings. Now, ordained ministers in Idaho are told they must perform same-sex weddings and pastors in Houston, Texas are being subjected to intrusive, harassing subpoenas in an effort to silence their effort to let the people vote on a SOGI law in that city. I’m heartened, though, that pastors and Christian citizens around the country, like those in Michigan, now see the direct threat to religious liberty that laws like these pose and they are standing up and speaking out in defense of our first freedom. They are clearly counting the cost.

Here's the full 30-minute hate rally.

RELATED: Public employees in Michigan are protected from anti-LGBT discrimination by executive orders from the governor that must be regularly renewed. While there are no statewide private sector protections, over 30 Michigan municipalities have enacted such ordinances, including the major cities of Detroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Sterling Heights, Lansing, and Kalamazoo.  The state law that would be amended, the Elliot-Larson Civil Rights Act, was approved in 1976 and is named in part for its co-author, Melvin Larson, who went to become chairman of the Michigan Republican Party.

Of the 38 members of the Michigan Senate, 12 have co-sponsored the proposed amendment. Coincidentally, there are currently 12 Democrats in the Senate. Of the 110 members of the Michigan House, 51 have co-sponsored the proposed amendment. Coincidentally, there are currently 50 Democrats and one Independent in the House. As you can see, the numbers are against us in both chambers, much more so in the state Senate. The bill's primary Senate sponsor is Sen. Rebekah Warren, the former executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Michigan. The bill's primary House sponsor is Rep. Sam Singh, the former mayor of Lansing and the first Indian-American elected to his chamber. Read the proposed amendment.

NYT Calls For Marriage Equality

Today the New York Times published an editorial calling on the NY state Senate to approve marriage equality and ticking off five other marriage battlegrounds, all of which should be familiar to you.

Political battles this fall in six different parts of the country could have a profound impact on whether the United States will extend the promise of equal rights to those who are not allowed to marry simply because they are the same sex as their partner. Three jurisdictions — New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia — seem tantalizingly close to securing legislative approval for measures ending the hurtful and unjustifiable exclusion of same-sex couples from civil marriage. But in Maine, Washington State and Kalamazoo, Mich., voters are being asked on Tuesday to strip away vital rights and protections. [snip]

The New York situation is particularly frustrating. Gov. David Paterson strongly supports granting same-sex couples the freedom to marry, and the State Assembly has twice passed a bill to do so. But the overdue measure has been in limbo because the Democrats who control the State Senate’s calendar keep dawdling over scheduling a recorded vote on the floor. We do not have a precise head count. But we suspect that once the bill got to the floor, a majority of the Senate’s 62 members would recognize that same-sex marriage is a fundamental civil right. Continuing to delay a vote shows disrespect for New York citizens injured by the status quo. The time for a vote is right now.

Should incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine win in New Jersey tomorrow, marriage equality there is virtually assured.