Prince Stands Out Against Gay Marriage

“So here’s how it is,” Prince began, “You’ve got the Republicans, and basically they want to live according to this.” He pointed to a Bible.

According to a post in Minneapolis Star Tribune, Prince recently stated in an interview, “But there’s the problem of interpretation, and you’ve got some churches, some people, basically doing things and saying it comes from here, but it doesn’t.”

Prince then went on to say this about Democrats, “They’re, like, ‘You can do whatever you want.’ Gay marriage, whatever. But neither of them is right.”

When asked for his views on gay marriage and abortion, Prince tapped his Bible and said, “God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out. He was, like, ‘Enough.’ “

LGBT Advocates Hope for Success in New York

From Newsday.com:

The fight for control of New York’s Senate that Democrats thought they won in historic fashion Tuesday could go on for weeks with a group of four maverick New York City lawmakers essentially holding the key to the balance of power.

The four Democratic senators met Wednesday with GOP leaders who hold the Senate majority at least until Jan. 1, according to Republicans and Democrats familiar with the meeting. The meeting was to discuss how the four might serve the GOP and what’s in it for them should they defect, according to the officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because leaders wouldn’t confirm the talks.

Jude Engelmayer, a spokesman for the newly formed independent caucus, denied that the four had met with Republicans or Democrats Wednesday. He said the group only met with each other and they are forming an agenda, but Engelmayer declined to provide further details.

The four independent-minded Democrats _ often called the “Gang of Four” _ historically have not been afraid to break ranks and support Republicans. They also have clashed at times with Sen. Sen. Malcolm Smith of Queens, the presumptive next majority leader, and reportedly refused to attend a Democratic conference Wednesday called by Smith.

“I’m very proud of them,” Smith said Wednesday evening after the conference in Albany. “We have an upstate caucus, we have a women’s caucus, we have a council of black senators, we have an urban caucus and now we have an independent caucus. That’s what the Democratic party is all about.”

The senators are Ruben Diaz Sr. and Pedro Espada Jr., both of the Bronx; Carl Kruger of Brooklyn; and Hiram Monserrate of Queens.

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Door for Gay Marriage May Open in New York

According to a post on newsday.com:
Even as voters in California banned same-sex marriage in a tight referendum, Tuesday’s election opened the door for the same debate in New York.

The pending shift in state Senate control away from Republicans removes one clear obstacle to legalizing gay marriage in New York, though opponents aren’t conceding anything yet and advocates say they have work to do.

Democrats won a narrow majority in New York’s Senate, where Republicans have buried legislation to start issuing marriage licenses regardless of gender. A Senate power shift was not a sure thing because four Democrats were considering an alliance with the GOP, which could swing the 32-30 majority back to Republicans.

“The only chance we had for meaningful debate or consideration of these issues in the state Senate was with a new Senate leadership,” said Alan Van Capelle, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, New York’s largest homosexual-rights advocacy group. He added that no bills have passed in New York without some votes from members of both parties.

Colorado Loosing Ground as Republican State

From an article posted on coloradoindependent.com:

Colorado was once known as the square state with lots of farmers and cattle, where Republican politics were a way of life. Not anymore. For the first time in decades, the Grand Old Party has lost ground as evidenced by the latest voter registration data provided by the secretary of state. In fact, as of last weekend, active Democratic voters outnumbered active Republican voters statewide — a reality many experts said seemed unlikely five or 10 years ago.

And it goes on to say;

“Both parties have become more polarized in recent years, with the Republicans moving to the right and the Democrats moving to the left, and that has brought more independents and unaffiliated voters around,” Preuhs said. “But on the Republican side, a lot of folks were attracted to the party because of their fiscally conservative nature and have not been as big on the moral and social issues, like gay rights and abortion.”

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GLBT Americans Have a Friend in Obama

Want to know what kind of president Barack Obama would be for gay Americans? Just listen to his longtime gay friends. That was the thinking of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) PAC, the political arm of the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender group.

So after endorsing Obama, HRC sent a camera crew to Chicago to interview gay folks — like activist Gail Morse — who knew him well way back before the rest of us.

“We’re going to have a partner in the White House. We’re not going to have an enemy,” Morse says in the “Friends” video. “He sees us as people with issues that government can address.”

Like Obama, HRC has a lot of gay friends. And on the night Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, HRC emailed the “Friends” video to nearly 900,000 of its friends and urged them to forward it to their own friends.

Read more at alternet.org.

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