atdleft

(Also at Nevada Progressive)

Remember when I warned you last week that serial anti-equality campaigner Richard Ziser is threatening Nevada LGBT families again, this time considering a ballot initiative to strip away our hard fought domestic partner rights won with SB 283? Well, the threat is real. We now know.

However, there’s a way we can stop it before it really starts. We can help our friends and family in Washington state Approve Referendum 71 so that we send a message to the forces of bigotry out West that we won’t allow any more of their H8!

Tags: Civil Rights, lgbt rights, Nevada Domestic Partnerships, progressive values, radical right, SB 283, Washington

(Also at Nevada Progressive)

Yes, Maine really is close.

Yes on 1: 48%
No on 1: 46%
Not Sure: 6%

Despite the recent attacks on LGBT Mainers, No on 1 is still within a striking distance of victory. However, it will obviously take a lot of work to overcome this deficit and finish out on top. The Yes on 1 anti-equality campaign is already starting the “scare campaign”, and we need to be ready to fight back and win.

This is where Travel for Change steps in.

Tags: 2009 Special Election, Civil Rights, lgbt rights, Maine, marriage equality, progressive values

(Also at Nevada Progressive)

If this doesn’t inspire you, I don’t know what will.

Yes, I know this is Maine. But remember, this can happen anywhere. It happened here in Nevada. It happened in California. It happened in Oregon. It happened in Arizona. It’s happened in states all over the place, but now we have a chance to turn the tide in Maine.

Tags: Civil Rights, lgbt rights, Maine, marriage equality, progressive values

(Also at Nevada Progressive)

It’s sad enough that feminist and labor activist Crystal Lee Sutton has just passed away. But now, it’s even sadder to learn why she’s gone.

Tags: Blue Dog idiocy, Health care, progressive values, public option, Single payer health care

(Also at Nevada Progressive)

Have you seen the new blatantly false Yes on 1 ad?

Oh OK, that wasn’t really it. But seriously, Jackie Beat would have SO MUCH FUN spoofing the real one! Yes, it’s really that lame.

Tags: 2009 Special Election, Civil Rights, lgbt rights, Maine, marriage equality, No on 1, progressive values, radical right, Religious Right

(Also at Nevada Progressive)

Flowery language: A

I’ll admit it. He still speaks well, with complete sentences actually. Nice.

Refuting attacks: A-

He finally called a lie a lie. Good on him. It may not stop the Republicans from lying some more, but maybe there’s a chance that crap like “DEATH PANELS!!!!!” and “GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER!!!!!!” stop gaining traction.

Policy: C+

Yes, he finally said “public option”… But then caved some by remaining “open” to co-op craps and never-to-be-enforced “triggers”. And worse, he called on Congressional Democrats to be ready to cave in as well. I hope they ignore those sentences from him. And hopefully, Obama himself isn’t all that serious in selling out his progressive base AND the chance for real health care reform for a few feel-good “we’ll say there’s no more preexisting condition discrimination, but let the HMOs continue to do whatever they want” thirty pieces of silver.

Tags: Blue Dog idiocy, Congress, democrats, Health care, President obama, progressive values, public option

(Also at OC Progressive)

What happens when you combine a Democratic fundraiser in North San Diego County, a homophobic right-wing neighbor disturbing the peace, and the San Diego County Sheriffs? Apparently, one BIG, nasty mess! Here’s the original TPM story:

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that a fundraiser for Francine Busby, who previously ran for the deeply-Republican Fiftieth District and came close to winning in the 2006 special election and subsequent regular election, was raided by sheriffs after an unnamed neighbor made a noise complaint. Busby now calls it a “phony” noise complaint, and the article says that multiple neighbors said there was no great noise at all.

Here’s the twist: The fundraiser was hosted by a lesbian couple, and shortly before the sheriffs came a particular neighbor had shouted anti-gay slurs at the assembled crowd. “It was a quiet home reception, disrupted by a vulgar person shouting obscenities from behind the bushes,” Busby says.

As one neighbor told the paper: “We didn’t hear anything until the sheriff came, with eight patrol cars and a helicopter.”

And yes, the new developments are becoming more sordid by the minute. Details after the flip…

Tags: 2010 Election, CA-50, Civil Rights, Congress, democrats, Francine Busby, Hate Crimes, lgbt rights, police brutality, police state, San Diego County, US House

(Proudly cross-posted at OC Progressive & My Silver State)

New Orleans may sink into the sea by 2100. Much of Florida may also be underwater by then. Drought will likely become the norm out West, meaning California could no longer provide the food we depend upon. Las Vegas may become downright inhabitable.

No, I’m not fabricating any of this. These will be the consequences of inaction if we continue to delay implementing the solutions we need to solve the coming climate crisis. But for some reason, may of our supposedly wise lawmakers in Capitol Hill are either willfully ignorant of the facts or downright lying about our future.

Seriously, we can’t allow any more of this.

Tags: climate change, Climate Crisis, Congress, democrats, environment, federal, Global warming, House, HR 2454, National Security, President, progressive values, Republican mistakes, Senate

Apparently, this is the news rumored to break before the upcoming LGBT fundraiser for the DNC:

An Obama administration official has confirmed to The Advocate that President Barack Obama will be signing a presidential memorandum Wednesday to provide benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.

The signing is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. in the Oval Office, and the president is scheduled to make brief remarks.

I guess this is good news. I mean, it is progress and LGBT federal employees have been waiting quite some time for domestic partner benefits. But if President Obama is doing this just to placate the community to get the money flowing out of our wallets again for the June 26 DNC fundraiser, this isn’t enough.

We want out full civil rights, and we’re tired of small token gestures and nice words followed by inaction. We want full equality, and we want it NOW!

Again, this is good start. LGBT federal employees deserve this kind of respect and protection. And yes, I’ll commend the President for doing it. I just hope tomorrow we’ll also get word of when the rest of us will get some equality as well.

Tags: C4O Democrats, Civil Rights, lgbt rights, President obama

(Cross-posted at C4O Democrats and My Silver State)

It finally happened. In case you missed last night’s big news, the Nevada Legislature overrode Idiot-in-Chief Jim Gibbons’ veto to make comprehensive domestic partnerships into law. Nevada is the first Mountain West state to offer legal recognition for same-sex couples, and is the first non-coastal state to do so by way of the Legislature. Believe me, I’m quite proud of “my other home state” today.

But hey, our work isn’t over yet.

Tags: Civil Rights, discrimination, domestic partnerships, lgbt rights, marriage equality, nevada