From Pam's House Blend ...more on the role of the Human Rights Campaign and the repeal of DADT. Things are a bit strained. Sheesh. While admin officials say repeal is the way to go, the DOJ files briefs in legal cases. Ahhhh.
LGBT Point of View thinks Code Pink has something to teach today's LGBTgeneration about activism. They tried to citizen arrest Karl Rove.
Ricky Martin came out. Debate is raging as to what this means for the Latino community. Here's one point of view.
Perhaps for the jaded queen living in urban U.S., the oversaturation of gayness in the media has deemed Ricky insignificant and worthy of our dismissal. For that frightened and confused 12 year old in rural Chihuahua, it?s monumental.
My coming out process was stumped by the fact that I could not even imagine my queerness, let alone live it. At the time, the saturation of gayness was mostly strictly white. It wasn?t until queer brown men like Jaime Cortez and Emanuel Xavier fearlessly (or perhaps fearfully) exposed their work and their bodies to the sun of public criticism, that I was able to imagine myself.
Whether U.S. fags approve or not, Ricky is a prominent figure here, and more importantly, in Latino Am?rica. Ricky?s coming out makes it possible for young boys in countless homes to imagine themselves as something other than confused.
For context, another significant coming out from the Latino music community. Her name is Rita Indiana and she's from the Dominican Republic and she's nowhere near as famous/wealthy as Ricky Martin. The link provides links to videos and some samples of her music. Check it out.
From the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force comes more on the horrific latest chapter in the papal sexual abuse scandal. It is just sickening.
The Stonewall Democrats have a petition up to support the federal Student Non-Discrimination Act. If you think Constance should get to take her girlfriend to the prom, go sign the petition. It will take two minutes and you'll be making a statement supporting queer kids everywhere. WPXI has a little more up about the legal battle over Constance's prom.
Pgh native and woman of might Jeanne Clark blogging at Ms.com (Jeanne is a long time ally who called out Dan Onorato on DOMA at the Steel City endorsement meeting)
And to remind us that many persons of faith stand strong behind the LGBT community, Reverent Janet Edwards at the Washington Post.
And, in closing, my favorite referral Google search .... "best lgbt hair salons in pittsburgh"
The Steel City Stonewall Endorsement meeting was held Sunday afternoon on the Northshore. For a glimpse into "live" coverage, check out the hashtag PghGayPick. I was a little caught up in the 140 character frenzy because I wrote most of these tweets and can't interpret a few of them :-) Kudos to tweeps @Bram_R and @Maria_In_Pgh (who was doing double duty scribbling notes for the soon-to-be-published 2 Political Junkies blog post).
The event was packed, drawing 76 voting members including 19 new members. There were more than 100 people in attendance. The evidence shows that the Steel City endorsement has gained in prominence and import. It will be interesting to see how the organization changes over the next year in response to lessons learned from this endorsement experience.
The endorsements have been posted on the Steel City page, so check out that information. The event was quite significant both in who came (Congressman Mike Doyle, for example) and who didn't (Congressman Joe Sestak, for example). Sestak did not capture the endorsement which truly shocked many in attendance. I can't help but wonder if a personal appearance would have made a difference?
Another interesting turn of events was in the PA House District 20 (Don Walko's vacated seat). Adam Ravenstahl didn't show up, but was apparently expected. That was just a weird gaffe given that he expressed a desire to build a relationship with the LGBT community in his questionnaire.
Question 1
Describe your familiarity with Pittsburgh's LGBT Community including any receptions, events, parades or other functions that you have attended that were sponsored by an LGBT organization.
Answer
I haven't had the opportunity to become involved in the LGBT Community, but I am eager to learn more and I will seek a working relationship with the Community.
This wasn't the best first step. Someone gifted me with his official name tag which I will enshrine in my political memorabilia box. Mark Purcell and Tim Tuinstra did show up and battled it out. I think Tim is more LGBT friendly, but Purcell did a bang up job driving home his support of repealing DADT and I think that's why he won the group's support--- ironic that he won't be able to actually do anything about DADT in this office, but there ya have it.
The biggest stunner of the night was the endorsement in the Governor's race. Joe Hoeffel and Dan Onorato tied to each receive a "Highly Recommended" statement of support from the organization.
In the course of their speeches, Hoeffel affirmed his strong belief in full equality for the LGBT community and his commitment to progressive values. Onorato announced plans for the still forming Allegheny County Human Relations Commission to oversee the extension of domestic partner benefits to County employees. This is good news for Allegheny County which I will continue to follow.
I was disappointed in Onorato. He started off strong, laying out his accomplishments as Chief Executive. Then he just grew angrier and angrier about "the blogs" distorting his record and suggesting he take action on domestic partner benefits. The most disappointing moments were his 1) suggestion that Montgomery County has intentionally not passed its own human relations ordinance when he should be fully aware that they do not have a home rule charter and 2) completely blew the question on DOMA. He had no idea that Pennsylvania has a statewide DOMA in place and was unable to answer a question about supporting its repeal. His gay advisors did not prep him very well for the Q & A session.
Some have suggested that I am disproportionately hard on Onorato. I disagree. He's from my neck of the woods and I've been following these issues for the past several years. It is important that the folks in Central and Eastern Pennsylvania understand that we have a vibrant progressive community clamoring for equality and willing to work for it. If we don't hold our own elected officials accountable on those issues, we risk confirming the impression that we are a region defined by Darryl Metcalfe and Jane Orie. I want the rest of the Commonwealth to remember that we've elected Bruce Kraus, Dan Frankel, and Amanda Green. That we unelected Rick Santorum. Ms. blogger and longtime ally Jeanne Clark came to this meeting, for pete's sake. Some may believe Pittsburgh and Western PA are far behind Southeastern Pennsylvania's progressive community. I, for one, do not agree.
The growing weight of the Steel City endorsement is good news for the region and the statewide LGBTQ community. I've been very pleased that so many people have reached out to me since our "tweetfest" on Sunday, asking how they can get involved. This demonstrates that the social media project is a rousing success even in its infancy, but also proves that people get motivated around a range of issues --- some were struck by the ascendency of the Ravenstahls, others by the movement on domestic partner benefits.
We will continue to disagree on the Governor's race and other issues. As I've learned more about the endorsement process for the Liberty City Democrats, I'm excited for the opportunity Steel City has to create forums for the dialogue to drive the endorsement process. The fact that so many people are reading the blogs and the tweets is positive news -- people are paying attention. And that is a very important lesson to all candidates -- the LGBTQ community, too, is paying attention.
Congratulations to Steel City for a successful, exciting endorsement meeting. Stay tuned ...
The Steel City Stonewall Endorsement meeting is here, today and I'm pretty excited. How fare we've come since I was the lone blogger reporting from last year's event. This year we'll have a variety of instantaneous feedback via the various tweeps planning to attend (hashtag #PghGayPick) along with the usual bloggers. What's most exciting is that some of our allied tweeps are getting involved in the organization and bringing the might of their thoughtful advocacy to the table for the LGBTQ community.
This shows that projects like Blog for Equality are having a systemic impact. People are paying attention. They are educated on the issues. Allies and LGBTQ alike are stepping forward to create meaningful advocacy for our community. We may not agree on the candidate best suited for Governor, but that's the beauty of the primary after all. All this hullabaloo is proof positive that more people are paying attention and using social media.
That's an amazing difference since I first began covering LGBT political events back in 2006. I am excited to follow the hashtag and know that our endorsement will be covered by the region's largest political blog (2 Political Junkies).
If you cannot attend, please do the same. Weigh in, retweet, whatever you like ... just pay attention and help us keep the movement going.
Today's agenda
The PA Governor's Race: Hoeffel, Onorato and Wagner. All three have strong gay backers. Wagner could be a surprise spoiler -- he does have a gay positive voting record to atone for those atrocious City Council votes, a claim Onorato cannot prove.
The Senate: Neither Sestak not Specter can attend so it really will be interesting to see how the inevitability argument plays out in this race.
PA House Wheatley v Payne: Jake and Tonya are both allies. Allegations of petition fraud (on the party of MY City Councilor nonetheless) are a last minute twist. This will be a close vote. I'm curious if Mr. Lavelle will make his first post-election appearance at today's meeting to lend his support.
There are other races of course, but these are the hot ones. Alliances are shifting every day. The bylaws require a 2/3 vote to receive a Strong Endorsement; 50% will get you a Recommendation.
I want to commend my State Representative Chelsa Wagner and my State Senator Wayne Fontana for submitting questionnaires even though they are unopposed. Fontana helped squash the marriage amendment and Wagner is a cosponsor and proponent for HB 300. They deserve a nod.
The military thinks we are stupid enough to accept a faux-relaxing of policies in lieu of real reform on Don't Ask, Don't Tell. You still aren't supposed to tell, but now if a third party tells on you --- they aren't so quick to take action. Geez.
I completely missed this Tribune-Review posting on State Rep Darryl Metcalfe's run for Lt. Governor.
If the next governor doesn't stick to cutting "excessive spending and reducing taxes and protect the liberties of Pennsylvanians," Metcalfe said, he would run for governor in 2014.
Metcalfe said he is the first "accountability candidate" for lieutenant governor in state history and will have the next governor "looking over his shoulder
Here's the scary ... and comforting ... part.
Metcalfe's reputation could galvanize support in the primary season but be more damaging in the longer term, said Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown.
"In the short term, in the primary -- where the electorate is more conservative -- it may strike a few chords with your base," Borick said.
The homo card will pay off in the primary, especially in Jason Altmire's district. Great. At least, we can *hope* that the actual Lt. Governor will support Domestic Violence Awareness Month proclamations.
The Trib also reprints an AP story questioning whether loosening DADT will impact military benefits for the families of LGBT soldiers.
It really is just a matter of time folks until these walls finally crumble down, but it is tough to wait it out especially when we watch our so-called allies doing patchwork that keep the wall up. Imperfect analogy, but you get my point.
Today, I was unsuccessful in getting the Onorato campaign or executive office to provide follow up information to the reports of a commission to provide domestic partner benefits to Allegheny County. One gay supporter confirmed the existance of the commission, but could not name its members. So I've tried another round of contacts with the blessing of other advisors.
I'm speculating that they are saving the reveal for Sunday to achieve maximum impact for the LGBT endorsement. I'm looking forward to the details because I sincerely do not understand how this works. As I've shared, I've been researching the domestic partner benefit process through County Council and the Executive branch. County Council has been very helpful with information from the Home Rule Charter. I can't say the same for the Chief Executive's office. I sort of got the brush off (read I was ignored), but I also really want my friends who work for the County to have domestic partner benefits. They deserve health insurance for their families, just like all of the married heterosexual employees.
The process is very important. Our next Governor will need to expand statewide domestic partner benefits to the state workforce because while the benefits exist, not all of the unions are playing ball. We need a Governor committed to equality to ensure that everyone on his team has access to these benefits and that requires a significant culture shift in the workforce as well as going out on a limb politically.
I guess the next four days will show us if Mr. Onorato is the kind of Governor we need. Yes, I might be somewhat arrogant to assume I deserve an answer in four days. But I've been asking for two years. And never once in that entire period has Mr. Onorato's team even acknowledged me. No matter how politely I've asked. No matter how many proper channels I've followed. No matter how many allies I've approached. No matter that I'm a resident and a voter. They've just ignored the question and all that it represents.
I've been accused of bashing Onorato. The truth is that I'm the one who has been on the beat down side of this entire discussion. I have no money, no power, no particular influence. No one has even paid attention to this issue until the past few months. Where have you all been these past years? I've been responding to every inch of newsprint even hinting of a City-County merged function (ask Michael Lamb how often I've emailed him).
So condemn me for being negative on this issue, but I think years of good faith efforts to get to the truth when I didn't have campaign contributions to help me -- I think that gives me a little room to be skeptical. I can show you the email from the County HR Director saying she'd be in touch ... then show you how she didn't, even when her colleagues at County Council urged her to do so.
Something changed Monday evening. The question was acknowledged by Onorato himself. So now we wait to see if this is more than another promise to be in touch. And we keep hoping that our families get what they deserve.
After four + years of covering the LGBT community in this region, I was depressed that Onorato was the best we could get for our next Governor. Then I met Joe Hoeffel last September and was immediately struck by his intelligence, his broad grasp of issues and his willingness to learn (even from me!). I began reading about is position on the environment, especially Marcellus Shale drilling. I learned about the way he treated his campain staff when health insurance for campaign staff wasn't sexy. Taxes, education, PennDOT funding, issue after issue. So much that makes me hopeful, so pleased to find someone who stands behind his convictions.
But mostly, I'm still struck by how intelligent he is. I want the smartest person possible to be at the helm of our Commonwealth. I want someone who can govern Pennsylvania, not just someone who can be elected.
My hope is that Joe Hoeffel's candidacy shines a light on what an equal society can look like. Let's elect a Governor who has more to offer us than more promises to be in touch. Let's elect the Governor who *is* in touch.
Just a quick nod to our friend, the wonderful Mr. Potter over at Slag Heap.
In a gesture of bipartisan conciliation, I've been trying to find an upside for conservatives in all this, and I think I've found one, thanks to lefty media watchdog group Media Matters (motto: "We listen to Glenn Beck so you don't have to"). It comes courtesy of Pittsburgh's own Jim Quinn, who raises the possibility that healthcare reform will be bad for gays.
Huh. You wonder why Rick Santorum didn't support it.
Good stuff. We are very lucky Mr. Potter is among us.
I have done you all a great disservice on this topic. Someone I trusted told me that Pittsburgh City Council never took a vote on domestic partner benefits and I took that person at their word. I went with the assumption that Onorato has never cast a vote on LGBT issues. I should have done my own research. Bad enough, I thought.
I was wrong. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette May 1999 (I apologize that it is broken into two images, but you can click the link to see the original).
He voted against domestic partner benefits in 1999 as a City Councilman and then spent six years not taking action on them as the County Chief Executive. When he runs for Governor, as I reported earlier, he forms a commission the week before both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia's Stonewall clubs hold their endorsement votes.
That's a pretty brazen maneuver. I was trying to be open-minded and pleased for County employees until I realized that I was played or just lazy.
There's more. While we know that the City Council vote on adding sexual orientation to the human relations ordinance took place in 1990 before Onorato joined the Council, I have a 1998 Beaver County Times article filed from the Associated Press that describes the vote to add gender identity and expression to the same ordinance.
Guess who voted against it? Yes, the sole "nay" vote was Onorato.
Onorato voted no on including protections for gender identity and gender expression. In 1998, he didn't think persons were experiencing discrimination -- there wasn't proof. Do you think that was a reasonable perspective in 1998 Pittsburgh?
Well. I just had a piece published statewide stating that Onorato has no voting history on LGBT issues and I was completely wrong. His voting record on LGBT issues has been 100% against us. Yikes.
But he's a changed man and, oh yeah, he wants to be Governor. To prove he's sincere, he waits until one week before the gay endorsement ... oh, I already said that.
I'm going to take a few hours to rethink all that has transpired over the past 72 hours here at Lesbian Central. I think people are trying to hoodwink you into thinking Onorato has been benign. The articles show that has not been the case. They are also trying to get you to believe that he's changed, but the domestic partner issue flies in the face of that argument.
To be fair, there are Onorato supporters who seem to truly believe he's changed. They didn't obscure anything. But the best I can say is that it is far too little, too late. I'm done with the meaningful conversations with my frenemies. Get me to the nearest Hoeffel phone bank.
Sure, you can go with the inevitability argument and vote for Onorato. He needs our votes and with his alleged speech tonight to Liberty City Democrats, he's indicating he'll tell us what we want to hear. He may even extend domestic partner benefits.
But you have a choice. You aren't bound to the laws of war chests and political family dynasties and loyalties and all of that. You can vote for the candidate who believes in full equality for all persons - Joe Hoeffel.
Turn out Sunday for the endorsement. Don't let the gay community settle for the candidate who is a lukewarm version of an ally when we can have the real thing. You are the only one who can make that happen. You need to show up on Sunday, you need to join Steel City Stonewall and you need to cast your endorsement vote. Plus, there's food. What's not to love?
Joe will be there. He's traveling across Pennsylvania to be there because he believes you deserve equality. Can you give up a few hours of your Sunday to believe in yourself?
I had never heard of him. I began following him on Twitter simply because he's a PA elected official. He's a somewhat frequent tweeter so he began catching my attention. Here's his website.
Last night, he made a comment Speaker Pelosi that caught my attention:
So I retweeted questioning if this is the kind of thing a leader should tweet? Really? I figured it was typical Republican Teabagging bull.
He responded. Oh my God, I'm conversing with a Republican during HCR and no slurs are being exchanged! :-)
So I looked him up. He represents the 150th district which is Montgomery County -- home of our friend and future Governor, Joe Hoeffel! Yes, he's a Republican, but here's what his bio says ...
As a state lawmaker, Mike will work to achieve true property tax reform for all Pennsylvanians. He also will work to preserve valuable open space and improve regional traffic planning. Finally, he will fight to reform the way government does business in Harrisburg.
Public service has long been a calling for Mike. He served as president of the West Norriton Board of Commissioners, where he worked hard to make government more responsive and accountable to the taxpayers by holding the line on taxes, preserving open space and supporting first responders.
He also served as a board member-at-large for the West Norriton Little League, a member of the Hancock Fire Company, a member of the Pastoral Council for Visitation BVM, a board member for Visitation BVM Children Youth Organization and an advisory board member for the Norristown Police Athletic League.
Mike also brings plenty of professional and real world experience with him to Harrisburg. He has 20 years of combined law enforcement and corporate security experience, including 10 years with the West Conshohocken Police Department, and corporate security work at both Comcast and Day and Zimmerman Security Services.
Mike and his wife are raising their family in West Norriton, where Mike has been a life long resident.
Note the lack of references to family values. He's concerned about taxes, urban sprawl and reform. If you follow him on Twitter, you'll see a lot of references to his own family so he's clearly a family man. He just doesn't seem to think MY family has a negative impact on his family.
Then I learned this.
I was like "Shapiro's Discrimination" what? So off I surfed to look this up. Rep Josh Shapiro is also a tweeter. I found out that Shapiro introduced Hate Crimes legislation in 2009. And sure enough I find that Rep Vereb voted "aye" for HB 745 which expanded hate crimes protections to the LGBT community when it was in the Judiciary Committee. The legislation has been recommitted to Appropriations.
I knew this legislation existed, but what a pleasant surprise that a Republican brought it up in conversation.
So that's pretty cool. He saw my screen name and took the time to connect with me. In the midst of a real hatefest over #hcr, I had a nice little interlude with an elected official from across the aisle.
Tonight, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato addressed the Liberty City Democratic Club in Philadelphia (their chapter of Stonewall Democrats). A member asked him about the lack of domestic partner benefits in Allegheny County. This is what he reportedly said:
He said that he's convened a commission and that he told the head of that commission to "get it done" and thy he will sign an exec order, renegotiate labor contracts or whatever it takes to cover all allegheny county residents.
I will try to confirm with his campaign ASAP. More importantly, I'll try to confirm with his administration. I've been trying to get HR Director Kathy Kennedy to respond to me for two solid months to no avail so maybe now that they have GOOD news to report, they'll be more forthcoming.
One point I just have to make. If this quote is accurate, it proves that all along he could have done this and that claims to the contrary were disengenuous. I'm really looking forward to all of those apologies. LOL.
Seriously, this would be good news for Allegheny County and pave the way to a better culture in the County workforce. I'd be very happy.
