Deep Something

Last Fall, during the unfortunately successful campaign to repeal Marriage Equality in Maine, 86 year old WWII Veteran Phillip Spooner stood before a packed hall and delivered a stirring call for equality to a Senate Committee. When asked by a woman at his polling place if he supported equal rights for gay and lesbian people. He tells how surprised he was to even be asked, and said his response was, “What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach?” His statement was subsequently set to music by Melissa Dunphy, and was selected as the winning work for the 2010 Simon Carrington Chamber Singers Composition Competition.

Although defeated because of eight regressive Democrats in the New York State Senate, straight Senator Diane Savino gives one of the finest floor speeches I’ve ever heard, and does an outstanding job of making the case for the importance of equality for all. This is a must watch.

Here are a couple of things to give the krazy kristian kook wing of the Republican Party pause.

Certainly there is a reason to celebrate the ruling by the California Supreme Court on Gay Marriage. Apparently four of the seven justices recognized that gender and sexual orientation, just like race, can not be grounds to deny rights to individuals.

A while back John Stemberger, leader of the Anti-Gay Amendment 2 group here in Florida, was quoted in an Orlando Sentinal article discussing those opposed to Amendment 2 saying, “We’re going to confront deception and we’re going to expose them wherever they are.” Strong words, until one has to eat them.

This is the final in the series analyzing the debate between John Stemberger and Nadine Smith at the Orlando Tiger Bay club luncheon. This debate was held on March 27, 2008. This will analyze the Question and Answer section, and the closing comments by Smith and Stemberger.

In this post, we’ll review the moderated part of the debate between Nadine Smith of Fairness for All Families and John Stemberger of the Krazy Kristian Kooks or Florida. They were debating the Florida Constitutional Amendment 2 at the Tiger Bay Club of Orlando. This is part of series on Florida’s Amendment 2.

Nadine Smith is a long time LBGT activist here in Florida. She’s part of a coalition of nearly 200 organizations that have banded to oppose Amendment 2 as the Fairness for All Families Coalition. This is the second installment in my review of a recent debate between her and John Stemberger at the Orlando Tiger Bay Club.

At the end of March, Nadine Smith, Co-Chair of Fairness for All Families, took on John Stemberger of Florida Family Council at the Orlando Tiger Bay Club for debate on the Amendment 2, the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment. Basically, he got his ass handed to him by Ms. Smith, but I don’t think she was aggressive enough. The event was videotaped, and posted on Youtube in four parts. This is the first in a series about each of the four segments of the debate.

This will be the first in what I expect will evolve into a series of articles related to the upcoming election and the vote on Constitutional Amendment #2. This is the krazy kristian kooks attempt to have a large conservative turnout in Florida, so instead of fielding a worthy candidate, they go for the devisive issue. Amendment #2 is, of course, a “marriage protection” amendment for the Florida Constitution.

I found one of the most despicable and disturbing quote to be from Carrie Gordon Earll, (not surprisingly) a policy analyst for the conservative Christian ministry Focus on the Family. According to Ms. Earll, it’s just not important whether or not the child is loved, so long as it is born to a heterosexual couple. Said Ms. Earll, “Love can’t replace a mother and a father.”

I wanted to give a short update on some of the other things going on in the world of gay news. It’s depressing.