Out On the Street

As a student at Nicolet High School, Kevin never fit in. An African-American who likes to wear a little make-up, he endured constant teasing and bullying. Eventually he transferred to The Alliance School, which helps students who are not succeeding in traditional schools due to harassment.

But when Kevin’s mother discovered he’s gay, she threw him out of the house. Determined to earn a diploma, he camped out on the streets near the Alliance campus and continued attending classes until he graduated. Last fall, an older gay man gave him a place to live in exchange for sex.

Andrea was banished from home because she’s a lesbian. She was placed in foster care with a fundamentalist Christian family and ran away. Most of her teenage years were spent on the streets, sleeping under porches and bridges, dodging the police and street violence.

More at: Wisconsin Gazette!

Wisconsin Court Rejects Gay Rights Challenge

On Tuesday, Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit that challenged the state’s domestic partner registry, but has yet to offer an explanation for the decision.

Since the registry became effective in August, over 900 couples have signed up in order to receive benefits offered therein.

In July, the anti-gay, conservative Wisconsin Family Action (WFA), filed a lawsuit under the premise the registry somehow violated the state constitution’s ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions. The pressed the issue as one of significant importance so they asked the state Supreme Court to take it up directly without going through trial or appeals courts first.

Richard Esenberg and Michael Dean, both attorneys for WFA, stated they were disappointed in the decision but don’t plan to drop the issue as they now plan to file a similar suit at the trial court level. Perhaps back peddling will work for the anti-gay organization, but it’s not very probable a lower court would try to reverse the supreme court’s ruling.

Gay Neighbor Billboard Campaign Gets Underway

The Cream City Foundation comes out with their Gay Neighbor Campaign.

One of eight billboard designs is placed in more than 20 locations throughout southeastern Wisconsin, including the suburbs and on all the major highways, highlighting the LGBT community. Denise Cawley, media coordinator for the campaign, says they want to show what real gay folks look like.

“The reason behind this campaign is so that all people in Wisconsin can get to know what the gay and transgender communty looks like, by meeting their real neighbors.”

The group had kicked off their first outdoor advertising campaign a year ago, and Cawley says it was well-received, driving a lot of traffic to their website and generating some national press coverage. They re-tested the original billboard messages to see whether this new effort needed tweaking.

Read more at: WRN.com!

Republicans Continue to Use Gay Rights as Platform

One may think there were more important issues in the world, but I suppose after the past 2008 presidential election, and the realization that people are not buying the typical Republican B.S. anymore, the only thing they have to hold onto, at this point is gay rights.

Of course, this really doesn’t speak to highly of the GOP, as discrimination and homophobia are not exactly admirable qualities.  However, the GOP knows they need to pander the homophobic bigots of the religious right so they can secure campaign funding and a block of votes.

Now, John Byron Van Hollen, Wisconsin’s Attorney General stated Friday he would not defend the state’s new gay-inclusive domestic partnership registry, calling it unconstitutional.

So, one may ask, what’s unconstitutional about providing rights to a minority?  Well, entirely discarding the notion of separation of church and state, the Wisconsin Family Action (WFA) and the Christian-based Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) (both tax-exempt based on religious affiliation) have asked the state’s Supreme Court to strike down the law, and deny rights to Wisconsin’s LGBT tax-paying citizens under the claim that the domestic partner registry is prohibited by the state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage, which was approved by voters in 2006.

So, what’s the motivation for Van Hollen to speak out against equality?  Well, it appears that Van Hollen, a Republican, is gearing up for a run for the governor’s seat in 2010.   Is it starting to make sense?

Van Hollen stated:

“My duty is to the people of the state of Wisconsin and the highest expression of their will, the constitution of the state of Wisconsin. When the people have spoken by amending our constitution, I will abide by their command. When policy-makers have ignored their words, I will not.”

Now that Van Hollen has made the choice to not defend the policy, that means Wisconsin will have hire legal counsel from outside of the state to defend the policy, which of course is an added expense to the state’s tax-payers.

Now, defending the state’s constitution is something the Attorney General is suppose to do right?  However, there’s one big problem.  The constitutional ban was against marriage equality.  It prohibits equality by not recognizing marriages between gay and lesbian couples.

So, this isn’t about the state’s constitution at all.  This is about pandering to the religious right who don’t believe that LGBT people should be provided with the protections of some basic rights. Domestic partner registries are not marriage, and even though this one does provide some of the same rights as married couples take for granted, it by no means equals marriage or the rights that are granted with marriage.

Wisconsin’s current governor, Jim Doyle, a Democrate who is not seeking re-election in 2010, has brought up a very good point. He stated:“These are people (speaking about those fighting to eliminate the registry), who by the way, when the Wisconsin constitutional amendment was passed made repeated public statements saying that this would not preclude domestic partnership legislation. So now, apparently, they’re singing a different tune.”

So, here we have it. As I’ve expected, it’s not really about marriage. It’s about LGBT citizens being discriminated against, and denied rights that all other citizens enjoy without question.

Those from the religious right want to keep LGBT citizens second class, and those who are running under the Republican ticket for public office are using the bigotry and hate to fund their campaigns…which are tax-free dollars!

Wisconsin’s Domestic Partner Registry has Opened

Lesbian and gay couples lined up outside of county clerk’s offices in Wisconsin hours before the opened earlier today for the opportunity to sign up for the state’s domestic partnership registry.

On June 29th, Democratic Governor Jim Doyle signed the bill into law which made Wisconsin the first Midwestern state to enact protections for gay couples through the legislative process.

The provisions now granted to same-sex domestic partners were added onto a spending plan. The provisions grant same-sex couples some of the same legal protections as married spouses including hospital visitation, inheritance, and medical leave rights.

The registry however has caused a great stir of disapproval from the conservative and religious right.

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