The Bilerico Project

TV ads aren't the answer in Maine

matt@yahoo.com (Matt Foreman) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:30:00 -0500

As the campaign in Maine enters the home stretch, our skeevy opponents have unleashed yet another ad claiming that unless marriage equality is overturned, same-sex marriage will be "pushed" on elementary school children.

Our side has responded with calm, rebutting the attacks with facts, statements from authoritative figures, and appeals to higher values. Sadly, that approach has been condemned by well-respected figures in our community, including Andrew Sullivan, Mike Tidmus, the Box Turtle Bulletin and the Bay Area Reporter.

The common thread in the complaints is the belief that we lost Prop 8 last year in large part because our side didn't respond to similar kids/school-based attacks with better, more aggressive ads countering the lies of our opponents. The commentators appear to believe there is some quick way to get out front on the kids/schools issue and our Maine campaign is again failing to do that.

There are several problems with this point of view.

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Prop 8 Ours to Lose? Nope - It Was Always an Uphill climb.

matt@yahoo.com (Matt Foreman) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:30:00 -0500

A lot of people have been saying that Prop 8 was our side's to lose and that missteps by the No on 8 Campaign snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Those analyses ignore hard core obstacles and fundamentals underlying the contest, including how hard it is to hold and move opinions on marriage in the narrow confines of a campaign.

I need to start by saying that I had nothing to do with the No on 8 Campaign. Because the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, where I work, has been so deeply involved in public education work in support of marriage equality, the law literally precluded any contact or coordination with the electoral campaign. So, as a purely armchair quarterback it's pretty easy for me to catalog things I - in my infinite wisdom - would have done differently. But I also know that even if everything- every single thing - had gone our way, it still would have been incredibly hard to win by anything more than a tiny margin. Here's why.

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The State of the Movement

matt@yahoo.com (Matt Foreman) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:48:00 -0500

While this was the plenary speech today at Creating Change, I thought I'd share it with the Bilerico audience too.

As always, I cannot tell you how privileged and humbled I am to be here speaking to you — as I’ve said before, you are the heart, the soul, the brains and the brawn and the past, present and future of our movement for equality and liberation.

Let me preface my remarks by highlighting one piece of incontrovertible good news: No matter what, in 347 days we will have a new president and the most anti-LGBT, corrupt, lying, disastrous administration in history of our nation will come to an end.

One other thing I think we can all celebrate, no matter who you’re for, we can all take pride that for the first time we have a front-runner for president who’s a woman, a front-runner who’s African American, and until a couple of weeks ago a former front-runner who’s a bitter heterosexual crossdresser.

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New Jersey makes transgender inclusion unequivocal

matt@yahoo.com (Matt Foreman) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:30:00 -0500

By a 65-10 vote, the New Jersey Assembly today approved legislation making the state’s anti-bullying and hate crimes laws two of the strongest in the country by making transgender-inclusion unequivocal and significantly bolstering the two laws’ enforcement mechanisms. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund partnered with Garden State Equality and the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey to provide drafting and strategy support for the measure. The legislation passed the state Senate last Thursday by a 35-0 vote. Gov. Jon Corzine’s administration testified in support of the legislation and the governor is expected to sign it into law.

On the heels of a year that closed with Congress stripping transgender people out of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and pulling LGBT hate crimes protections from the Department of Defense authorization bill, this is an important and much-needed victory. New Jersey has long been a national leader on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, but today rises to the top with two of the strongest hate crimes and safe schools laws in the country and unequivocal protections for transgender people.

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World AIDS Day: Greater government and community response to HIV/AIDS epidemic is needed

matt@yahoo.com (Matt Foreman) — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 10:15:00 -0500

On World AIDS Day, we mourn all the people we have lost to this dreadful disease — our lovers, our friends, our family members, our leaders. Our hearts go out to all those who are now suffering and dying. And we acknowledge with great sadness the reality that thousands more will become infected during the coming year, with no end in sight.

Here in the United States, the attitude of so many within our own community is that there's not a lot more to be done. That anyone who acquires HIV today has no one to blame but himself. That HIV/AIDS is most certainly not a gay disease. That it's time to move on.

We must do everything possible to end these attitudes or we will be going through these same grim World AIDS Day motions year after year, year after year.

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We are frustrated, but it will not stop us

matt@yahoo.com (Matt Foreman) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:15:00 -0500

Following six weeks of rancorous debate, the House of Representatives voted today on a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that does not include protections on the basis of gender identity. It passed by a vote of 235 to 184.

When confronted with the possibility of Congress moving forward with a bill that stripped out protections for transgender people, the activist and grassroots backbone of our movement responded almost instantaneously in unprecedented numbers with conviction, passion and political savvy. We are frustrated with this course of action, but it will not stop us from pressing forward toward our ultimate goal: nondiscrimination protections for everyone in our community.

When congressional leadership announced late last month that it planned to advance a version of ENDA that only contained protections on the basis of sexual orientation to the House floor, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc., took a leading role in moving to block that strategy and move forward on the fully inclusive bill. A coalition called United ENDA was created with more than 360 national, state and local organizations joining the struggle.

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Government should not be prying into and punishing relationships between consenting adults

matt@yahoo.com (Matt Foreman) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:24:00 -0500

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc., applauds yesterday’s 3–0 decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit striking down a federal statute commonly known as “Section 2257” because its extensive regulation of visual depictions of adult sexual activity imposes an unconstitutional restriction on free speech.

In a reaffirmation that “[a]dult sexual conduct . . . is in fact constitutionally protected,” the court held that Section 2257 far overreaches the federal government’s goal of preventing child pornography. The court held that the First Amendment free expression rights implicated by Section 2257’s restrictions are so fundamental, and the restrictions and penalties imposed so severe, that they outweigh the government’s purported interest in preventing child pornography.

The Department of Justice recently proposed regulations to implement Section 2257, which would have effectively ended adult social networking Internet sites. The Task Force, Inc., set up an online action center informing the community of the threat and urging people to file formal objections to the regulations. The online action center was viewed by visitors more than 85,000 times, and the Department of Justice received thousands of objections as a result.

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All of us, every one of us

matt@yahoo.com (Matt Foreman) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:15:00 -0500

At this critical moment in our efforts to pass an Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that includes transgender people under its protections, it is important to recall just why so many of us believe that no one can be left behind.

The last five days have been a grueling and defining moment in our movement’s history. When we learned that protections for transgender people would be stripped from ENDA, an unprecedented groundswell of anger, energy and determination rose up to reverse that decision.

The other day, a letter signed by more than 300 national and state advocacy organizations that work on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people was delivered to Congress, asking for more time to garner support for ENDA as it was originally introduced. Some 2,500 congregations were asked to activate their memberships to call Congress. Students are also calling and e-mailing Congress and launching Facebook accounts to build support, working from 120 LGBT campus resource centers. Action alerts, blog postings and opinion pieces supporting a trans-inclusive ENDA have been flying over the Internet.

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ENDA Action Alert From The Task Force

matt@yahoo.com (Matt Foreman) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 13:35:00 -0500

Congress is paying attention: Make your voice heard – again!

Last week, thousands of LGBT people and their friends – just like you – delivered an uncompromising message to Congress: Vote for an ENDA that protects all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (H.R. 2015), and don’t settle for a substitute bill that leaves some people behind (H.R. 3685).

Congress heard you, and postponed a vote on a substitute bill. But we expect a new vote to be scheduled soon – maybe as soon as next week. There is no time to waste!

We know why it’s so critical that transgender people be included in ENDA. One-third of transgender people report facing employment discrimination at some time in their life. And you can’t separate discrimination against transgender people from discrimination against the rest of the LGBT community. For example, many gay and bisexual men get taunted for “acting like a girl.” Many lesbians are criticized for “being too butch.” We all face anti-transgender bias, even if we don’t identify as transgender ourselves.

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A non-transgender-inclusive ENDA? No way!

matt@yahoo.com (Matt Foreman) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:25:58 -0500

IIf media reports from the last 24 hours are accurate, it is unconscionable that congressional leaders would rush to a decision to strip protections for transgender people at the same time as states across the nation are adding these protections at an unprecedented pace.

Over the last few days, we have heard rumors swirling around Capitol Hill about last-minute jitters some Democrats are having about the gender identity language in ENDA. These were expected, as the language was new to the bill this year. Rather than immediately abandoning gender identity at the first sign of nervousness among a few members, House leadership should have worked with the community to shore up the needed support, just as they did when they voted to pass transgender-inclusive hate crimes legislation in the spring.

Gender identity language has twice passed through the House in the hate crimes bill, and earlier this year there were similar last-minute concerns among new members. We were able to overcome them then, and should be given the chance to do so now. It is incredibly ironic that today, the same day news is breaking about the House removing gender identity protections from ENDA, the Senate just voted 60–39 to allow a voice vote on a transgender-inclusive hate crimes bill. The bill then immediately passed.

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A watershed moment

matt@yahoo.com (Matt Foreman) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:24:20 -0500

This week, a House subcommittee held a hearing on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Given that the bill has been languishing for 17 years -- in spite of overwhelming public support -- a collective "whatever" would be understandable. But folks, this is big -- I mean really big -- for two reasons.

One is that for the first time ever, the version of ENDA now moving through Congress will cover all our people -- lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. The other is that for the first time ever, we have every right to expect -- yes, demand -- that both houses of Congress pass ENDA and put it on the president's desk.

Let me start by saying ENDA is not the be-all and end-all of pro-LGBT legislation, but it's a start. By covering employment discrimination only -- and not including discrimination in housing, public accommodations, credit and education -- it is far less comprehensive than the first piece of pro-gay legislation introduced in Congress in 1974. Nonetheless, ENDA would provide legal recourse to victims of job discrimination based on sexual orientation to people living in the 31 states that don't have laws covering anti-gay discrimination and to people living in the 39 states that don't cover anti-transgender job bias. I also have to note how profoundly ironic it is that at a time when marriage equality is at the forefront of national discourse, Congress is only able to take up employment nondiscrimination protections -- which has had between 65 percent to 80 percent public support for years on end. But that's just the way things are -- public support leads, Congress follows (or not).

Why is the inclusion of transgender people in ENDA so monumental? Well, there's the obvious answer that because transgender people face tremendously intense discrimination in this country it would be unconscionable to leave them out. But as important, this week's hearing represents a watershed moment in the internal history of our movement and our collective relationship with Congress.

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We’re desperate. Shut up!

matt@yahoo.com (Matt Foreman) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 14:12:03 -0500

If the country seems increasingly hungry for a change in power, I’d say the LGBT community is desperate. We’ve been taking it on the literal and figurative chin for years, and the extent to which anti-gay ignorance and bigotry has infected virtually every aspect of federal policy is shocking. This isn’t left-wing hyperbole, it’s sad reality.

The Republican Party’s (choose one or all of the following)

abject capitulation to...
takeover by...
immoral shotgun marriage to...
politically expedient alliance with...

the forces of religious and political intolerance is the fundamental cause of this plague, but it’s not the whole story. During this long reign of bigotry, profiles in courage on behalf of LGBT people by Democrats have been few and far between. The other side put our lives and families on the front burner and turned up the flame; those to whom we’d given our votes and money looked away, seemingly embarrassed.

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