Fake fundamentalist, Reformed Fundamentalist, Unrepentant Fundamentalist, and Scary Fundamentalist

This post has a cute theme yay!

First is Fake fundamentalist Betty Bowers who satirically examines the various “Biblical” definitions of marriage. (via Joe.My.God)

Next is Reformed Fundamentalist Dick Cheney who has now taken a more pro-marriage-equality position than our current president. (In all fairness Dick is more of a neo-con than a “fundamentalist” but I needed to call him one for the post to work.) (via gayzetteblog)

Unrepentant Fundamentalist Marilyn “mad cow” Musgrave sent out a fundraiser letter this week portraying herself as a political victim who stood up for family values and then goes on to quote the Bible. Her letter included a special shout-out for us queers:

“It’s certainly not easy to lose your seat in Congress. And harder still to be true to your values as I have been, but the radical homosexual lobby, abortionists, gun-grabbers and all the rest of the extremists finally spent enough money, spread enough lies and fooled enough voters to defeat me.”

(via the Denver Post)

Lastly in Scary Fundamentalist news the U.S. Marshals are providing 24 hour security for Dr. Warren Hern who runs the Boulder Abortion Clinic and is one of a few doctors who performs late-term abortions. (via 5280)

Moody's Economy.com predicts CO will be one of first states to recover

Using data from employment, industrial production, housing starts and house prices Moody’s Economy has predicted Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Texas and Washington will be the first states to bounce back from the current recession. Moody’s believes CO’s strong tech-related industry will be key to fueling recovery.

Read the full article on MSNBC.com here or just check out this graphic from the article.

Moody’s Economy.com predicts CO will be one of first states to recover

Using data from employment, industrial production, housing starts and house prices Moody’s Economy has predicted Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Texas and Washington will be the first states to bounce back from the current recession. Moody’s believes CO’s strong tech-related industry will be key to fueling recovery.

Read the full article on MSNBC.com here or just check out this graphic from the article.

CO passes law to ban texting whilst driving

We know how queers love them some text-messaging so you should probably be aware of a new law signed on Monday.  Via the Denver Post:

Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law Monday a bill to make it a crime to send text messages — including e-mails and tweets — while driving. The new law will prohibit anyone younger than 18 from using a cellphone at all while driving.

[snip]

The bill’s legislative sponsors applauded the signing as a step forward for public safety in Colorado, but at the same time, they lamented that the bill does not more aggressively deal with cellphone usage while driving. When first introduced, the bill would have also required adult drivers to use hands-free devices when talking on cellphones while driving. It was changed after meeting opposition from Republicans and some Democrats.

The law takes effect Dec. 1. Violations will be considered a Class A traffic infraction, punishable by a fine of $50 for a first offense and $100 on a second offense.

Video of yesterday's Prop 8 excitement

This video which I made for Soulforce in Colorado covers everything that happened yesterday from the picket to the sit-in to the arrests.

Video of yesterday’s Prop 8 excitement

This video which I made for Soulforce in Colorado covers everything that happened yesterday from the picket to the sit-in to the arrests.

CA Supreme Court issues ruling on the legal challenge to Prop 8

Six of these people believe your civil rights can be decided by a popular vote.

The CA Supreme Court has upheld the validity of Prop 8 but also chosen to uphold existing marriages performed prior to Prop 8′s enactment. You can download a PDF of their full decision here or read CNN.com’s online coverage here.

And just a reminder Soulforce has a protest/rally planned this afternoon downtown from 3:00-5:00pm.  Here’s the Facebook event invite which has all the details.  There’s a good old fashioned picket along Colfax but the fun part comes around 4:00pm when several volunteers are going to stage a sit-in at the clerk and recorder’s office (where marriage licenses are issued) and quite likely get arrested.  Again, the protest is open to everyone and the whole arresting part is only for the few people who have already volunteered and received special training.

The GLBT Center of Colorado has released a statement on how today’s decision affects couples here in CO:

“A tremendous number of Colorado couples traveled to California from May to November last year while the state recognized same sex marriage,” said Mindy Barton, legal director of the GLBT Community Center of Colorado. “We continue to encourage those couples here in Colorado to use their marriage as an opportunity to educate others about the importance of having the government, not just friends and family, recognize their relationship.”

Meanwhile in CA already swooping into action the Courage Campaign which is running the following TV ad.  God bless them.

gay news roundup

Kerry Eleveld, a reporter for The Advocate in the White House press pool, asked White House Press Secretary Gibbs about repealing DOMA. Gibbs punted, check it:

With marriage equality sweeping the nation fundies in Pennsylvania are freaking out and and re-introducing a bill to ban it. [Towleroad]

Denver resident, gay rights leader, and former director of the Gill Foundation Rodger McFarlane committed suicide. [New York Times]

GOP Chair Michael Steel makes the absurd claim marriage equality is bad for small businesses. [New York Times] Keith Olbermann lets him have it.

My interview with Deaf + gay Amazing Racer Luke Adams

About a week after CBS’ Amazing Race ended one of it’s most notable contestants, Luke Adams sat down with me over a cosmo at Hamburger Mary’s to talk about the race. Luke was primarily labeled in the show as “the Deaf guy” but he is also gay, a fact not mentioned on the show. Towards the end of the interview we got into a really interesting discussion comparing gay and Deaf in regards to both identity and culture.

Myself: So how many times did you apply for the show and who did you apply with each time? And what do you think it was about this most recent application that finally sealed the deal?
Luke: I applied with my mother three times. I applied with a Deaf friend once. Well, it helped the most is that I kept sending the application in over the years which put my name on the producers’ minds and I knew they would like to have me on the show at some point. I was not sure [what it was about] my most recent application that finally sealed the deal. I guess the producers realized that I might be ready for the show or something like that.

Running across Novosibirsk (Russia) in nothing but his underwear.

Myself: You seemed to be in good shape since you did the cross-town Russian underwear run in the snow and also pulled your mom in a rickshaw in Phuket, Thailand. What sort of training did you do in advance of the show?
Luke: I just tried to run few miles everyday and go up big hills every day with my backpack on. Not serious training though. I knew the race was mostly about mentally. It can tire you out pretty easily – the stress can really wear your mind out. I was physically fine on the race though. I took past racers’ advice which is that there is nothing you could prepare for the race ever! So, I didnt really go into any serious training. Just brushed up on a few words in other languages and studied how to read maps in case that we have to navigate.

Myself: AfterElton.com reported that several cast members were gay or lesbian but this was never shown on the air. How did all the various queer cast members come to learn about eachothers’ sexuality? And were you out to the straight cast members for that matter?
Luke: On [our] first night at the barn in Switzerland, Mel [White] (of Mike and Mel) walked around and telling people that he’s a gay preacher and an activist for SoulForce then my mom just practically blurted that I’m gay, then KIsha just joined and said she’s lesbian as well. It was a strange night. Every cast member are pretty awesome with it so we all are really lucky that we got to race with great people.

Much more interview after the jump!

Photos from Saturday’s marriage rally organized by 3rd grader

We had a couple posts up about it last week but on Saturday Denver third grader Ethan organized, held and spoke at a marriage equality rally on the steps of the capitol building.  From the photos you can see turnout was quite good and all the third graders about made for an adorable media event.

At the bottom of this post you can find some links to video of Ethan’s speech as well as a local news report.

Ethan doing an interview with local news before the rally.

Mindy Barton from The Center served as MC while third graders milled about. Eventually they got tired and sat down on the steps.

Curious how many adults showed up?  More photos after the jump!