Archive for LGBT issues
We Do Campaign In South Carolina
Posted by: | CommentsThough all of the Republican Presidential candidates were invited to the Reconciliation Prayer Service held in Greenville, SC today, none attended. Three same-sex couples sought marriage licenses at the Greenville County Probate Court, and all three were denied pursuant to the laws of the state. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, leader of the Campaign for Southern Equality, told participants today, “Your love is holy. Your love is true. We are here today to stand up to laws that are unjust and to call for full equality for all LGBT people.”
On Wednesday, two more couples will seek marriage licenses. Then Thursday a Charleston couples will do the same in that city. Watch for some surprises along the way.
David Forbes at Mountain Xpress wrote an excellent story about CSE and the We Do campaign.
And here’s one of the excellent videos released as part of the We Do campaign.
WE DO Heads to South Carolina
Posted by: | CommentsPlease share this video and support the Campaign for Southern Equality in all the ways you can. CSE is headed to South Carolina in the midst of a pitched Presidential Primary season to make their case for full equality under the law.
CSE’s work is based upon Empathic Resistance, a new ethic which calls for 1) resisting persecuting systems by expressing the authentic self in persecuting environments; and 2) approaching those who oppose your rights with empathy.
Do We Believe in Equality? We Do.
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On October 3rd, I had the distinct honor to accompany three committed couples to the Register of Deeds office, where they were denied marriage licenses. These couples were turned away because an unjust law does not recognize some families while recognizing others. To go directly to the Campaign for Southern Equality’s website about this effort, click here. Every business day since the 3rd, couples have entreated the state for their rights.
Friday, October 14 will be the final day of the We Do campaign. You’re invited to join with all of the participating couples for an interfaith blessing on Roger McGuire Green. Following the 2pm service, we will all go back to the Register’s office, where the couples will ask again that their relationships be recognized by their government.
Campaign for Southern Equality(CSE) Executive Director & “We Do” organizer Jasmine Beach-Ferrara says, “The campaign is based on a simple premise that LGBT people are fully equal and that we have to resist laws that deny this and treat us as second class citizens, and that we will continue to do this until the laws change on the Federal level ensuring that LGBT people in all 50 states have full equality under the law. That’s why we are here. It’s that simple.”
If you can be there to support these brave couples on Friday, please attend. You’re all invited to stand up for equality. Watch the video below to learn about Monroe and Lupe, who sought their marriage license yesterday. Click over the fold to see a second video demonstrating the breadth and depth of this effort.
We Do
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I had the honor today of escorting committed couples to the Register of Deeds office, where they applied for marriage licenses. They were denied these licenses because their relationships are not recognized by the State of North Carolina. From Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE):
At 12 PM on October 3, 2011, Reverend Kathryn Cartledge and Elizabeth Eve, her partner of thirty years, requested a marriage license at the Buncombe County Register of Deeds Office in Asheville, NC. They were joined by two other couples – Autumn Trama and Amanda McKenzie, and Loraine Allen and Amanda Hilty – as well as a group of sixteen supporters including Representative Susan Fisher, Representative Patsy Keever, Asheville City Council Member Gordon Smith, Asheville City Council Member Brownie Newman, and Reverend Joe Hoffman.
Each of the three couples was denied a license because current North Carolina law forbids issuing a license to same-sex couples. They were prepared for this response, and will be back again to request a license on another day as part of the WE DO Campaign, which calls for full equality under the law for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Organized by the Campaign for Southern Equality, the campaign involves over a dozen couples’ requesting licenses between October 3 and 14, 2011 in Asheville, NC.
“The issue here is that North Carolina laws do not treat people equally, even though we are all equal children of God. The couples taking part in the WE DO Campaign are doing so as an act of conscience, an act of faith, saying these laws are immoral and unjust and they must change,” says Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Executive Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality and a candidate for ordination in the United Church of Christ.
The We Do campaign will last through October 14th, culminating in an interfaith blessing for committed couples on the steps of the Buncombe County Courthouse and a march to the Register’s office to call once more for equal rights. If you are in a committed queer relationship and want to get involved, just click here to get started.
Coverage from WLOS
Asheville Citizen-Times
The Path Forward
Posted by: | CommentsToday your NC Senate will decide whether to send a referendum enshrining bigotry into our Constitution to a May ballot. Yesterday your NC House voted in favor of doing so. Reps. Fisher and Keever were against it, and Rep. Tim Moffitt was with the majority.
These are the remarks I gave last night to hundreds of people who gathered in Pack Square to hold vigil on this process and to offer support to one another. These are a couple of dark days in North Carolina, when representatives choose to offer up the rights of their consituents to a popular vote.
You Belong At This Vigil
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s time to come out and stand together to call for equality for all people. Tonight at 7pm, Asheville will gather in Pack Square. Our state’s General Assembly reconvenes this week and will put forth legislation to hold a referendum to enshrine bigotry into our North Carolina Constitution. Whenever the rights of an oppressed minority are put to a vote of the majority that has historically oppressed them, America loses. For more details about the event, click Read More under this graphic.
Please spread the word to your social networks. If you believe in equality, you belong at this vigil. I hope to see all of you there.
My parents went to Asheville and all I got…
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From Jeff Fobes over at The Mountain Xpress:
In response to N.C. Sen. James Forrester calling Asheville a “cesspool of sin” in remarks at a Gaston church last night, an e-commerce website based in Denver, printfection.com, has begun selling T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase.
As usual, David Forbes, Senior Reporter at the Mountain Xpress — who has been known to dip his toe in the Cesspool himself now and again (usually holding a bottle of most excellent tequila) — gives us the full story:
State Sen. James Forrester, a sponsor of a proposed amendment to the North Carolina constitution that would ban gay marriage, civil unions and domestic partner benefits, called Asheville a “cesspool of sin” in remarks at a Gaston church last night, according to a report in the Gaston Gazette.
Forrester, a Republican whose district includes parts of Gaston, Iredell and Lincoln counties, was trying to rally support for the amendment.
“The topic of larger cities in North Carolina was briefly discussed and how residents of those areas would vote on the amendment,” the report reads. “Forrester mentioned the Charlotte metropolitan area and Chapel Hill. He then called the city of Asheville ‘a cesspool of sin’ and said if he was a homosexual, he’d ‘target’ North Carolina to practice homosexual ‘mischief’ because there is no constitutional law prohibiting it.”
The main sponsor of the proposal in the Senate, the report also quotes Forrester as declaring, about LGBT people, that “‘We need to reach out to them and get them to change their lifestyle back to the one we accept.”
To get on the ballot for the 2012 election, the amendment needs to pass both the state House and Senate by three-fifths. The governor cannot veto such a proposal.
We here at Scrutiny Hooligans will be buying one or two. They’re available in ten styles (and a hat), and an oozing buttload of just fabulous colors.
The Problems With Bigotry
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Well, there are lots of problems with bigotry, but this post is focused on enshrining bigotry into our North Carolina Constitution. This week NC lawmakers will return to Raleigh for a special session in order to stick it to gay people and the people who love them. Consequently, they’ll be injuring our economic environment and promoting vitriolic division. We’re still waiting to see what the language of a proposed anti-marriage Constitutional amendment will look like, but some drafts have it banning even the small advances we’ve made here in Asheville in that it would make illegal any recognition of same-sex relationships.
There’s a vigil on Monday night, 7pm, at the Vance Monument downtown (FB event link here) if you’d like to come show your support for equality. Neither Patsy Keever nor Susan Fisher will support this bigoted move, but Rep. Tim Moffitt has yet to publicly declare whether he respects the lives of his LGBT constituents. You can contact him here: Tim.Moffitt@ncleg.net 828-651-8550.
Follow me below the fold for Equality NC’s comprehensive shellacking of the rationale for bringing forth this terrible, discriminatory, bigoted legislation.
Shame on you, Mayor Bellamy
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I’ve learned that Mayor Terry Bellamy has refused, for the third year in a row, to proclaim October 1 “Blue Ridge Pride Day.” You can find the full text of the proclamation after the jump.
Proclamations, as you probably know, are ceremonial statements that recognize special occasions or outstanding contributions by citizens in our community. They aren’t political things. They cost no money. But Mayor Bellamy doesn’t really like The Gays all that much — fire and brimstone and all that. But, once again, her outdated prejudices get in the way of her being an effective representative for all the people of Asheville.
It’s especially embarrassing for our fair city, a place many proudly see as a shining light of diversity, inclusion, and creativity. Not only will we our hold our annual Pride Celebration on that day, but hundreds of LGBTQ leaders from all over the nation will be in town next year for the Intepride Region 5 Conference. Hell, even Mayor Keith Summey of Charleston, South Carolina (where they’re still fighting the Civil War) agreed to be Grand Marshall of its Pride Parade last year. And he’s an old white guy.
We’ve all witnessed her bizarre meltdowns at City Council meetings and her immature and entitled behavior when publicly dealing with fellow council members. Aside from the fact that she wears her bigotry on her sleeve, I hear from reliable sources that she’s an arrogant pain-in-the ass to work with, she attempts to micromanage city staff (not her role, which is largely ceremonial), she’s uncommunicative with her peers, and she has a Princess Complex that would make Kim Kardashian blush.
Terry’s time has passed. It’s time for the Mayor to go. We need new leadership in City Hall.
Manheimer? Manheimer? Anyone?
