LOCAL CLERGY RELEASE VIDEO OPPOSING PROPOSITION 102

If you're a religious person and you're conflicted over your church's assertions about gay marriage but you know in your heart that Arizona's Propostion 102 is just wrong, watch this video.

The video was produced by No Longer Silent Clergy For Justice which is a large coalition of Phoenix-area clergy.

Reverands John Hagee And Rod Parsley Not "Really" Disavowed By McCain Campaign

It appears that John McCain and his campaign haven't really ostracized Reverands John Hagee and Rod Parsley.

In case you don't remember Hagee's and Parsley's ridiculously outrageous comments that caused McCain to "distance" himself from their support, I'll recap a few. Hagee got in hot water for calling Catholicism a "false cult," blaming gays for Hurricane Katrina, and preaching that Hitler came about "because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel." Parsley, meanwhile, called the prophet Muhammad "the mouthpiece of a conspiracy of spiritual evil" and claimed that Islam was an "anti-Christ religion," in addition to countless anti-gay rantings.

Hagee's group, Christians United for Israel (of which, Parsley is a regional director) went to Washington this week for its third annual "summit" of Christian Zionists amid much self-generated hoopla. The group booked the convention and widely publicized its agenda in the media, encouraging everyone to attend.

However, when reporters showed up for a panel with Hagee and Gary Bauer (president of the group American Values), yesterday morning the group's spokeswoman, Avraleigh Keats told them "I have some bad news for you. There's been a change. There's no press allowed. . . . No interviews. No filming. Nothing."

According to The Washington Post, when Executive Director David Brog was asked why, after announcing the summit agenda with such fanfare and inviting the public to watch, did they suddenly decide to bar the press and the public? Brog speculated darkly: "I don't know if it was someone trying to sabotage us."

The Post article went on to say:

"A secret Christian Zionist meeting? Talk of sabotage? It was the sort of thing that caused McCain to distance himself from Hagee and Parsley in the first place. But while McCain has officially renounced the pair (and they him), the program for the summit suggests the distancing came with a wink and a nod. It touts as speakers top McCain surrogate Joe Lieberman and Bauer, a prominent McCain supporter and an informal adviser to the campaign. It displayed three photos of McCain with Hagee at last year's summit."

Obviously, John McCain would not only continue the disgusting, prejudicial and secretive policies of George Bush but would most likely expand them. Ya wanna see something really scary?

To read the whole store go to: The Washington Post

A Shameful, Corrupted Vote To Send Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment To November Ballot!

Last night I watched (on live streaming video) the Arizona Senate approve a measure to send the Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment to the November ballot. It was one of the most disturbing displays of blatant homophobia and arrogant manipulation of the Senate's own rules I've ever seen.

This morning I received an email from Equality Arizona. They were there, in person, for the entire session. I checked their website and found the content of that email posted. They described, in detail, what happened when Senate Rebublicans showed their true colors of hypocrisy and mind-numbing arrogance. Their report said, in part:

"Tonight's debate was intense for everyone on the Senate floor and those of us watching in the gallery. But what happened to our openly-gay Senators by their colleagues was absolutely disgusting. Senate extremists strategically broke the rules of the Senate, which govern the processes for discussion and voting on bills. During a filibuster-like discussion on another bill during Committee of the Whole, Majority Leader Thayer Verschoor (R-22) and Majority Whip John Huppenthal (R-20), among others, devised a scheme with committee chairman Jack Harper (R-4) to outright violate the rules of the Senate and the rights of Senators Aboud and Cheuvront.

In the middle of their discussion, Senator Harper turned off the microphones of Senators Paula Aboud (D-28) and Ken Cheuvront (D-15) and called on the Majority Leader to make a motion. Then, when Senators Aboud and Cheuvront loudly called for a Point of Order several times, even walking to the front desk where Senator Harper sat, he deliberately ignored their calls. To add insult to injury, these people attempted to justify their actions, even after the Senate President and other Senators admonished them for deliberately breaking the rules. Tonight's actions of these and other Senators have forever tainted that body, and it's important that we all let the people of Arizona know how these individuals acted so unethically."

To give you an example of how breathtakingly two-faced and idiotic the extremist became - earlier they voted against a proposal by Meg Burton-Cahill (D) to make the capitol more accessible to the handicapped even after assuring her, prior to the session, that voting for the measure was "no problem." This clearly smacked of political pay-back for her strong and vocal opposition to the marriage amendment. Following this debacle, Senator Ken Cheuvront (D), who is openly gay, proposed a ban on the sale and use of plastic coverings that slip over license plates and obscure the numbers when a picture is taken of someone speeding. Breaking the law and getting away with it is the sole purpose for these coverings but the Senate Republicans (who are the majority) chose to ignore the logic of the proposal and voted it down. They obviously wanted to "put these people in their place" and couldn't have cared less about the handicapped or the lawbreakers (who, by the way, have been clocked at speeds as high as 120 mph). This is extremism run amok.

It's clearly time for every gay person in Arizona, or anywhere else for that matter, to become involved in whatever way they can. Whether it's writing letters, making phone calls, participating in on-line "Take Action" campaigns or donating as much as you can - your voice NEEDS to heard. If you don't live in Arizona, your support and encouragement, in whatever form, would be GREATLY appreciated also.

To read the rest of Equality Arizona's report, go to: equalityarizona.org

Once at their site, you can also sign up for their emails, take part in their online action programs or make donations if you can afford it.

Do whatever you can - but please DO SOMETHING.

Arizona Anti-Gay Marriage Constitutional Amendment

Yesterday, eleven Arizona Senators voted against Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 1042 effectively killing it - for now. This is the resolution that would put the anti-gay marriage amendment to Arizona's Constitution on the ballot in November.

According to Equality Arizona, SCR 1042 failed to pass by a vote of 14-11, with 5 members not voting on final read. It needed 16 yes votes to pass. Openly-gay Senators Paula Aboud (D-28) and Ken Cheuvront (D-15), along with longtime ally Senator Caroline Allen (R-8), stood strong as leaders to defeat this bill.

While the bill failed to pass yesterday, it could be brought back up for another vote because a majority of Senators on the floor at the time supported a motion to reconsider by Senator Linda Gray (R-10)

In its email announcement, Equality Arizona said that the motion to reconsider "...is one more desperate attempt to activate the extremists within these Senators' districts. This is truly divisive politics. Arizonans should be outraged at this abuse of the Legislative process by a handful of legislators who are pandering to the likes of Cathi Herrod and the Center for Arizona Policy, a subdivision of national extremist political groups."

If you live in Arizona, please take a few minutes to either email, phone or fax your state Senator and urge them to vote NO if SCR 1042 is brought back for another vote.

To find who your State Senator is for your district go to: Arizona State Legislature