Inside the Statehouse

Here are some wonderful pictures of the victory celebration in Nurse's Hall. Just look at the joyful faces (click on a picture of get a larger view):

Pictures from the Con Con

Here are some pictures from the Constitutional Convention. (Hat tip to Iandb1 at the DemocraticUnderground.com) Click on a picture to get a closer look:

Here are a few pictures of Article 8/Massresistance head Brian Camenker "entering the Lion's Den" to take some photos for their website:

Here is one from the other side of the street where the anti-gay protestors stood. There were really quite a small group. There are more to come from inside the statehouse.

It was Unanimous!

What a glorious week this has been. Every day seems to get better and better. In the up coming days I will be posting some pictures of the past week, you may even see yourself in some of them.

My husband and I were lucky enough to be in the gallery yesterday during the Constitutional Convention when they were voting on same sex marriage. Most of the speakers literally brought tears to my eyes.

Then there were the speakers that were advocating for discrimination in the constitution (I was sorry for them). However this time they were trying a new tactic. Instead of saying how they didn't want same sex marriage, they couched it in a "well we should do the process thing and let the people vote." Amazing. These people didn't even have the nerve to stand up for their beliefs.
One of the anti-gay Reps, Rep. Phil Travers, must have forgotten that he and Emile Goguen submitted the anti-marriage bill (which Article 8/Massresistance take credit for) they were voting on because he called it unconstitutional and said that no one should vote for it. I wonder why he didn't think that when he first submitted it (which WAS after the Goodridge decision)? Needless to say the whole legislature defeated it unanimously. Here's Massresistance's take on it:

Shockingly, today we learned that there's not a single honorable, courageous legislator in Massachusetts. Item #19 on the calendar, the pure definition of marriage with a ban on civil unions (just before the weaker VoteOnMarriage amendment, #20) was voted down 196-0, just before the ConCon adjourned. Now what is wrong with #19? Our group filed it as a bill (H653), in an effort to strengthen the definition of marriage in our statutes. (Gov. Romney recommended this very course in his famous Wall Street Journal op-ed of February 2004!) The bill's co-sponsors were Rep. Goguen and Rep. Travis.

Granted, homosexual activist Sen. Barrios turned #19 from a bill into an amendment. (Though he never said a thing about that in his slimey speech.) But it could never have passed today anyhow (needing 50%+), so the pro-family legislators could safely have voted for it -- but still didn't. Unbelievable.

Reps. Goguen, Loscocco, Parente, DeMacedo, Sens. Brown, Hedlund: What happened to all of you? What twisted strategy were you following? The wording of #19 is exactly the same as the marriage amendment you supported in 2002! So why the change? Not a single legislator in Massachusetts is "brave" enough to confirm marriage is between a man and a woman, and civil unions should be banned! And that the Goodridge ruling is illegitimate; and that current same-sex "marriages" are illegal and should not be protected!

Of course, I don't understand why they call Sen. Barrios' speech"slimey" since he did exactly what they wanted, he just pushed their bill forward. They should be happy that the whole legislature finally got to vote on their bill. Did I say it was unanimously defeated?

I agree with Massresistance, I don't understand why the anti-gay reps (who were either voted out or are retiring) didn't vote for this amendment. It was exactly what they wanted. In the purest sense of the law, the whole legislature was given a choice, vote for marriage as the union of one man and one woman or not. They voted a resounding NO.

Oh How the Mighty Fall!

For the life of me I can't understand this whole Rev. Haggard problem. Here's the timeline:

• Wednesday of last week, a male escort, Mike Jones, announces that he had a three year sexual relationship with Rev. Haggard who called himself "Art".
• Rev. Haggard, head of the New Life Church and president of the National Association of Evangelicals denied even knowing Mike Jones.
• Haggard steps down from both posts pending an investigation.
• On Friday, Haggard denied having sex with Mike Jones but admits to buying "meth" and getting a massage from him in an interview in his car with his wife in the passenger seat and his kids in the back seat.
• On Sunday, a letter is read to the New Life Church's congregation's where Rev. Ted Haggard admits to "sexual immorality" He has resigned from the National Association of Evangelicals and was fired from the New Life Church.

Now here's the thing, if there was such a thing as an "ex-gay" don't you think that the leader of a megachurch, who supposedly has "God's ear" would have been able to break free of his gay tendencies? This man, Reverend Ted Arthur Haggard, was married with 5 kids yet he still snuck out to "hook up" with a male prostitute all the while preaching that being gay is bad.

This "Christian" thought that it was better to admit to buying drugs and lying to thousands of people than to admit to having a relationship with another man.

If God didn't want anyone to be gay, don't you think he would have at least made the leader of a megachurch and president of a National Evangelical organization straight? (My husband says God has a sense of humor)

The Ex-Gay Watch website has the letter that was read to the congregation. In it, Rev. Haggard says he tried to change but couldn't:

Through the years, I’ve sought assistance in a variety of ways, with none of them proving to be effective in me. Then, because of pride, I began deceiving those I love the most because I didn’t want to hurt or disappoint them.

The most telling thing about the whole letter is that Rev. Haggard cannot name what his "sexual problem" is. Additionally, Ex-Gay Watch notes:

Unfortunately, Haggard's failure to name the failed forms of assistance leaves other people vulnerable to the same ineffective and costly treatments.

Ex-gay therapies, PFOX, Exodus and so many others are just a sham and cannot change someone's sexual orientation, Rev. Haggard proved that! I mean come on folks, if he can't reverse his sexual orientation through prayer and accepting Jesus as his personal savior who can? I think God is having a good laugh.

Vote Your Conscience

I must admit that the Massresistance Radio show today was probably the most interesting out of all the shows so far. This only is because of the last guest they had on their show, Pastor Kevin Thompson. Pastor Thompson proudly posts of his appearance on the show:

I will be appearing on Mass Resistance radio this weekend. The program is hosted by Brian Camenker and Amy Contrada. They invited me to come on and talk about voting your conscience.

Pastor Thompson is one of the first people I've heard who is actually intellectually honest. I don't agree with his opinions but I respect the fact that he is not voting for someone because they are the "lesser of two evils" and instead is holding to his beliefs. I find Pastor Thompson more intellectually honest than the Cardinal O'Malley because of Cardinal O'Malley's stance on the Massachusetts anti-gay marriage amendment.

Haggard Resigns

All the media outlets are reporting that Haggard has resigned from his position as leader of the New Life Church:

“We, the Overseer Board of New Life Church, have concluded our deliberations concerning the moral failings of Pastor Ted Haggard,” a statement from the church said. “Our investigation and Pastor Haggard’s public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct.”

Let me repeat that again "SEXUALLY IMMORAL CONDUCT". Apparently, Rev. Haggard is FOR gay sex but against gay marriage since he was one of the most vocal proponents of Colorado's anti-gay marriage amendment.

Rev. Haggard should look at the bright side, next year he can be the keynote speaker at Massresistance's annual fundraising dinner ("Ex-gay" Stephen Bennett is already speaking this year).

Doogie's Gay (oops!)

Yep! I first read it on Take Mass Action and it's been all over the news sites on the internet. Neil Patrick is a happy gay man:

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Neil Patrick Harris is gay and wants to quell any rumors to the contrary.

He wants to make sure that no one assumes he's straight, I love it! I saw Neil in Assassins in New York a few years back. He's been doing more theatre these past few years (he also played the Emcee in Cabaret) and of course he played an "Ex-gay" on Will and Grace.

In case you missed it, one of the cast members, T. R. Knight, who plays Dr. George O'Malley on the hit show Grey's Anatomy also recently came out:

"I guess there have been a few questions about my sexuality, and I'd like to quiet any unnecessary rumors that may be out there," Knight tells PEOPLE in a statement. "While I prefer to keep my personal life private, I hope the fact that I'm gay isn't the most interesting part of me."

How many days/weeks/months do you think will pass until Rev. Haggard does an interview and says "yes, I am a Gay Evangelical?

Update on the Haggard Story

ABC news is reporting that Haggard has admitted to buying drugs from the male prostitute not having sex.

"I bought it for myself but never used it," the Rev. Ted Haggard said today to a reporter for KISS who interviewed him as he was sitting in his car with his wife outside his Colorado Springs, cola., home. "I was tempted, but I never used it."

Oh but it gets better...

Haggard said he got a massage from the man, 49-year-old Mike Jones, after receiving a recommendation from a Denver hotel, but said he never had sex with him.

RRRRight, you got a massage from a male prostitute and you never had sex. wink, wink...

I didn't know that Rev. Haggard had the ear of the President of the United States.

Ok, if you're keeping count (and I know I'm going to miss some here) the Republicans have:

• Gay Male Prostitute posing as "journalist" but with access to the President of the United States.
• The Republican Congressman Mark Foley gay page Scandal
• Senator Rick "man on dog" Santorum's Chief of Staff is gay
• The Republican Party accepting donations from the Gay Porn Industry.
• And now one of the Heads of a HUGE religious group in the US has stepped down over a drug and gay sex scandal.

I hope all the "value voters" are paying attention.

Another Hypocrite

Well, well, well, the leader of the National Association of Evangelicals, a vocal opponent of the drive for same-sex marriage, resigned Thursday after being accused of paying for sex with a man:

The Rev. Ted Haggard also stepped aside as head of his 14,000-member New Life Church while a church panel investigates, saying he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations."

The investigation came after a 49-year-old man told a Denver radio station that Haggard paid him to have sex.

Ok, now how many people, who didn't have anything to hide, would have "stepped aside" because of "accusations"? Don't ya cha love these people who are living almost the same life they are condemning?

Mike Jones, 49, told The Associated Press that Haggard paid him to have sex nearly every month for three years. His allegations were first aired on KHOW-AM in Denver.

Jones said that he had advertised himself as an escort on the Internet and that a man who called himself Art contacted him. Jones said he later saw the man on television identified as Haggard.

He said that he last had sex with Haggard in August and that he did not warn him before making his allegations this week.

Jones said he has voice mail messages from Haggard, as well as an envelope he said Haggard used to mail him cash, though he declined to make any of it available to the AP.

"There's some stuff on there (the voice mails) that's pretty damning," he said.

So much for "leaving the lifestyle" behind, he he.

Had Enought Yet?

Nationally:

They're attacking Michael J. Fox because of his illness.

They've attacked an African American candidate for being African American.

They're now using Gay Marriage to "reignite" their troops for the election.

Locally:

Kerry Healey puts out a racist ad, claims it's not about race (but some in the Boston community believe it is racist)

The Mass "Family" Association also use the New Jersey decision to ask their members to vote Republican (you have to get their emails they don't do it where they can get caught in public)

"It will not be enough for all our supporters to vote. We need everyone to spread the word to their friends, family and neighbors. We need everyone to make sure that their pastor reminds all his congregants that it is their Christian duty to vote. Values voters were instrumental in returning President Bush to office in 2004, with the most obvious result being two pro-family justices being appointed to the Supreme Court."

Meanwhile:

• More soldiers are dying in Iraq. October has been the bloodiest month this year.
• The President no longer wants to use the words "Stay the Course" even though
  that is what we are doing (I guess not saying it out loud will make it sound better)
• The economy is going down the toilet, Massachusetts is losing jobs by the hour.
• Americans are getting profiled and searched while riding the subway.
• Companies responsible for the BIG DIG problems are now the ones we're relying on to inspect the problems they've caused after a fatal accident.
• Since the Goodridge decision in Massachusetts, more people are getting covered by their partner's healthcare, more people are allowed to make medical decisions for their loved ones.
• Oh yeah, no heterosexual marriage has been negatively impacted by two gay people getting married.

Again, I ask you: Have you had enought yet?

I have a Mother-in-law too!

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a ceremony for the new global AIDS Coordinator Dr. Mark Dybul. If you recall, during the ceremony Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice referred to Dr. Dybul's partner's mother as Dr. Dybul's mother-in-law. Simple enough right? Or so you would think....

It seems that since that lovely swearing in ceremony the "Religious" Right has been going crazy. The Agapepress has written about it almost every other day:

At the recent swearing-in ceremony of Dr. Mark Dybul -- an open homosexual -- as the nation's global AIDS coordinator, Secretary Rice referred to the mother of Dybul's homosexual partner as his "mother-in-law." Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council (FRC), among others, reacted to the secretary's remarks shortly thereafter, calling them "profoundly offensive" in light of the Bush administration's lukewarm endorsement of a federal marriage protection amendment.

World Nut Daily asked the President's Press Secretary about it last Friday:

The White House on Friday offered no detailed explanation when asked by Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent, about "how does this adhere to the president's belief in policy that marriage is between one man and one woman?"

"The Secretary said what she said, and she was showing due deference to the people involved," was the response from Tony Snow, Bush's spokesman.

While current reports show that over 600,000 Iraqis are dead from the war and October has been one of the bloodiest months ever for American troops, all these people are concerned with is the use of the term "mother-in-law"!

The use of the "mother-in-law" term normally reserved for legally married heterosexual families rankled Peter Sprigg, vice president for policy at the Family Research Council.

Only in your small mind Peter. To me the term "Pro-family" usually refers to someone who actually cares about the family (not just certain select families) but that doesn't stop you or the other anti-gay organizations from using it.

Do you think the reason they keep using the term "pro-family" whenever they describe themselves is because no one believes them?

Massresistance Radio Show SHOCKER!

David Parker was NOT on the show. I can't believe it! Ok, maybe I can believe it, you see, David "Mad Dad" Parker was one of the speakers at last week's hatefest "Liberty Sunday" and "Liberty Sunday" was held in Massachusetts because it was billed as:

Massachusetts is the only state that has legalized gay marriage, but eight states will vote in November on amendments banning gay marriage.

Now, Massresistance/Article 8 et al are still reciting the "same sex marriage is not legal here" mantra (it's how they started their show today) so I guess they weren't happy with Liberty Sunday. On the show this morning they also continued their attack on Governor Mitt "Did ya here the one about Massachusetts" Romney.

The show was the usual borefest. They had some unknown people running office somewhere in Massachusetts (I'm sure these people's potential constituents can't even receive the radio signal). Somehow they got to talking about Santa Claus and gay sex. I don't really know how they got on this topic but my husband reminded me that if Santa Claus is gay he is GOING to have to start working out.

All in all it's an hour I will never get back. Luckily I was multi-tasking: writing a check out to Brian Linsky (he's great!), finishing my Halloween costume and thanking my husband for buying Activia yougurt, it's delicious!

The Road Not Taken

Brian McGrory of the Boston Globe writes a piece about the speech that Willard Romney should have given on Sunday night at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church. Here's a snippet:

I am, for the record, opposed to gay marriage. I believe, as should be clear to anyone and everyone listening and watching tonight, that marriage should be between a man and a woman, that every child should have a mother and a father.

But I've been reminded of a few things in the 2 1/2 years since the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts legalized gay marriage.

I've been reminded that experience, real life experience, should influence ideology. I've been reminded that fears aren't always a precursor to reality. I've been reminded that the human spirit not only endures amid times of significant change, but it thrives.

More than anything else, I've learned over these 2 1/2 years that my marriage to Ann has not been affected one iota by the legalization of gay marriage. My sons' marriages are no less strong and loving. The marriages of my neighbors and of my friends have not suffered because men are allowed to marry men and women are allowed to marry women.

It's worth a read.

This article reminded me of something I would also like to make a note of that I found ironic when it happened. One of Romney's sons was married early in 2004 (I don't know if it was Tag or Biff or whatever their names are) I remember because the GLOBE did a story on the younger Romney's marriage. I recall wondering if he and his bride-to-be were getting married quickly before history making May 17, 2004 date. I thought this because the story stated that the younger Romney had only met his new wife the year before. By that time I had already known my future husband longer than the younger Romney knew his future bride only he could get married whenever he wanted, I had to wait at least until 2004.

Back to Brian McGrory's story, his ending of the "fake" Romney speech is precious:

Our fight is a long and important one. We need to pick the battles that matter most.

Yeah, imagine. A politician who's honest. A politician who doesn't pander.

Supreme Court Will Not Review Boy Scout's Case

In what can only be called a major blow to anti-gay activists, the United States Supreme Court has refused to hear a case brought forth by the Boy Scouts who claimed discrimination:

The justices on Monday let stand a unanimous California Supreme Court ruling that the city of Berkeley may treat the Berkeley Sea Scouts differently from other nonprofits because the Scouts bar atheists and gays.

You see, the Berkeley Sea Scouts used to get a free public boat slip to use at their leisure. However, the City of Berkeley said that because they discriminate against gays and atheists they had to start paying for the slip. The Boy Scouts claimed this was violating the group's free speech and freedom of association rights and didn't want to pay so they sued.

The California Supreme Court said "local governments are under no obligation to extend benefits to organizations that discriminate." and the US Supreme Court agreed.

The Sea Scouts blame Berkeley elected officials who disapprove of the Boy Scouts' membership policies. Yeah, the policy that allows them to discriminate!

Berkeley would have given the Sea Scouts a free slip if they broke ties with the Boy Scouts or disavowed the policy against gays and atheists. You can guess what was more important to them.

In full disclosure, I must confess that I am an Eagle Scout, however, when I was in the Boy Scouts there was no honor in discrimination.

Lordy! More Gays in the GOP!

While I was in the City of Brotherly Love this morning, I happened to pick up USA Today and saw this little tidbit:
It's from an article on how the GOP plays it both ways. They bash gays and lesbians for political gain during the elections but then put gay and lesbians in very prominent places in their administration. In the above picture, Secretary of State Rice swears in the new global AIDS coordinator Mark Dybul. As first lady Laura Bush looked on, Rice singled out his partner, Jason Claire, (who was holding the bible Dybul was swearing in on) and Claire's mother. Rice referred to her as Dybul's "mother-in-law."

In fact it seems like the higher ups in all the Republican offices are gay! Someone just outted Florida's Republican candidate for governor too! Who knew the Republican party was gaier than the first row at a Barbra Streisand concert!

Touché Margery

Margery Eagan of the Boston Herald has a good column on the Mark Foley scandal. She writes about the scapegoating of gay men by the conservative "spin doctors" and details some interesting issues that haven't been addressed by the MSM:

Yet yesterday, as church bells tolled across Amish country in memory of five young girls who were shot to death by a man who apparently intended to sexually assault them in their one-room schoolhouse - two weeks after another man shot and raped girls in a Colorado schoolhouse - no one was making any sweeping statements about the predatory instincts of straight men.

Nor should they.

There are more or less regular straight men and more or less regular gay men. When either variety starts hitting on underage children - male or female - they cease to be regular.

Touché Margery!

It's a terrible shame how they are trying to portray this as another "gay scandal" (they tried to do it with the Catholic Church too and failed terribly) when it is a problem with DEMENTED MEN period. Because of their smoke and mirrors "gay show" they are overlooking the problems that are going on all over the country and not dealing with it effectively.

How many more Dateline segments are going to show married heterosexual men showing up at a house to have sex with a minor? We need to stop the gay witch hunts and start dealing with the real problem, adult predators, regardless of sexual orientation.

There's a New Blog in Town...

and it's called MassResistanceRadioWatch and will cover the weekly MassResistance Radio show:

Every Wednesday, I will provide a recap of the low points of the Mass Resistance Infomercial so you can spend your weekends doing more enjoyable activities. I will also provide background about Ami, Brian and the cast of reprobates that appear on the "show" each week.

I've got to give the Aguy a lot of credit for taking this on. Listening to the show is incredibly painful and very un-thought provoking. I hope his IQ doesn't suffer! But he does get to look forward to hearing the confirmed bachelor C.J. Doyle and "Mad Dad" David Parker who are two of the most frequent guests of the show.

You Leave the Country and The GOP goes NUTS!

Wow, you leave the country for a week and so much happens! (My husband and I finally took our long delayed honeymoon and we really couldn't get much information about the US on the only English speaking channel we received.) We did have access to the internet for a few days so I did get to read about and post briefly about the RI marriage decision and Republican Mark Foley's inappropriate emails.

• Who knew that Lt. Gov. Sherry Healey, oops, I mean Kerry Healey, would not be able to stand on her own merits (does he have any?) and would go so negative so quickly. Before we left she was running ads that said she was tough on crime yet it seems that gun violence and overall crime has increased since she's been in office.
• It appears that the Republican leadership knew about Mark Foley's inappropriate emails a LONG time ago yet they did nothing to protect the underage youth he was sending emails to.
• The mother of openly gay general manager of the MBTA Daniel A. Grabauskas, Patricia Grabauskas-Caruso, used her son's name in a fund raising letter for gubernatorial nominee Sherry Healey's running mate Reed Hillman. The Florida resident wrote that her son was a good friend of Hillman and strongly supports him. Of course the Healey campaign says that the letter was "an honest mistake".
• Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in an interview on Fox News, suggested that current House GOP leaders reacted cautiously to initial reports of Foley's e-mails for fear of being perceived as gay-bashing. Funny, they had no problem verbally bashing gay families when they were trying to put discrimination into the US Constitution! It's obvious that they are now using the "gay bashing" defense because they were caught in a cover up. The issue is about failing to protect underage children from predators.

And some good news:

Wendy Becker and Mary Norton, after 18 years and two children, were finally wed on October 8th in Attleboro, Massachusetts.

BTW, the news about the U.S. which dominated the airwaves in Europe was not about Mark Foley's emails but rather about the Republican coverup of the emails and, of course, the Iraq war. It was a sad reminder that more soldiers have been killed in Iraq than the number the people who died on September 11th, especially since Iraq had nothing to do with the September 11th tragedy.

Daily Show: Gays in the Military

Tangled Up in Bleu

Hat tip to Allan for this clip from the Daily Show.

I recopied the comments that were listed on the last video clip since that clip was discontinued.

The Real Men of the GOP!

What is this? The party of ¨morality¨ has been caught protecting one of its own a la the Catholic Church. It seems the GOP Rep Mark Foley from Florida was caught (most likely months ago but was shielded):

The Florida Republican resigned Friday amid scrutiny of his e-mail and instant-message contacts with pages. The six-term Florida congressman was co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus and a prominent backer of legislation to crack down on online predators and criminalize child pornography on the Internet.

AND, it is alleged that the GOP leadership of the House KNEW about what he had done and didn´t turn him over to authorities until ABC asked the Rep about some emails! Where´s the outrage? Where the Focus on the Family, the American Family Association? Massresistance has constantly asked where the real men are in the Republican party, here they are, these apparently ARE the real men of the GOP.