I just got back from the White House, where I went to see Obama speak about his signing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act Act, which expands federal oversight of hate crimes to include sexual orientation and gender identity. It was rolled into the defense authorization bill. A couple of reactions:
1) I wrote earlier disagreeing some complaints in the LGBT community that the Matthew Shepard Act wasn't done as a stand-alone bill. The funny thing about progress is, when it's all said and done, no one cares. None of the folks I spoke to at the reception cared one whit about the defense bill- they were simply happy to have gotten to this day after 13 years of working for it. It relates a bit back to what I say about how much voters care about bipartisanship- no one could tell you the vote count on Social Security (an extremely partisan vote). All they can tell you is that they like the result. In other words, policy matters more than process- even to the most die-hard activists.
2) Obama quoted LBJ upon his signature of Civil Rights Act of 1968- "Through this law the bells of freedom will ring a little louder". Very moving and very true.
3) I guess the "HRC hasn't accomplished anything!!" meme can officially die now, even to the most ardent critics. HRC has worked closely with the Shepard family, reached out to the family of James Byrd, Jr., and worked for years to round up the votes. Lots of people and organizations, including Cathy Renna, who originally did the press around the Shepard murder, and GLAAD, deserve congratulations, but HRC deserves a huge slap on the back.
4) I have something of a working theory on how much LGBT individuals who live in places where you rarely see hate crimes- liberal urban areas like where I live, for example- will care about this getting done. Or how much those who work in environments where they don't live under the fear of being fired for coming out will appreciate ENDA when it's done. To some of my friends here, hate crimes is small-ball. One friend even called the Matthew Shepard Act "soooo 1996". To them, they care a little bit for people who live in constant fear of harassment or violence, but care more about DOMA and DADT being repealed- something that affects them more directly. I'll be interested to see if the reactions of the LGBT community at large are the same.
This is more of a sports metaphor, but h/t to Jerry Sullivan, one of my favorite Buffalo News writers, for the title
Some items of note around the country today:
I just got an e-mail from Rep. Eric Massa with the ominous title "An Important Announcement About The 2010 Election", with the text:
The Founding Fathers designed the House of Representative as the People's House, and as such the citizens of this great Nation have the duty to elect their member of Congress every two years. While people sometimes get sick of campaigns, this cycle of frequent elections gives the people the best and most immediate tool possible to hold their member of Congress accountable and make their voices heard.
Accountability is a value that I hold near and dear, and it is with this spirit of service that I write you today.
On Saturday, 10/10 at 10:00 am, I will be making a formal announcement about the 2010 election. I would like to invite all of you, friends of old and new, to join me at Centerway Square in Corning NY on this morning.
It has been my honor and privilege to serve the families of this region and I hope to see you on Saturday in my hometown of Corning.
I called Massa's comm people for comment, and they declined to do so initially. Will update if warranted.
I don't like the sound of it, though. Massa knows it's a tough district (he lost his first race in 2006, which I worked on for a bit, and it's my grandpa's district), so perhaps it's just to prime the pump for a big crowd for his re-election announcement. I can't imagine he's running for higher office- certainly not Gov or Senator, and I don't really see him in something like a primary for comptroller or AG (or even qualified). The worst possibility is that he's not running again, something that would really disappoint me. I've been a huge fan of Massa's, particularly on his pushing for the House health care bill to be more progressive, and on his very strategic ways of talking about health care to constituents. He spent 45 minutes with a group of us NYers at Netroots Nation talking about that, and also hit some nails on the head when speaking at panels, too.
But one term and done would really piss me off, considering how hard the district is and how hard many of us worked for him, and that many of you contributed close to $1 million overall on ActBlue- including several thousand for standing firm on a public option. I hope he stays.
At the polar opposite of one term and done, former four-term Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is running again. I asked former Iowa political operative Mike Lux for comment, to which he replied "I thought we got rid of that m*****f*****."
Last night, the defense authorization bill with the LGBT hate crimes amendment beat a motion to recommit (an effort by the Republicans to strip out the amendment), 178-234. Those are solid numbers, in addition to the fact that the Senate version already has it in by amendment. So we should be all set. HRC reports the conference report should be voted on in both houses by the end of next week before going to Obama's desk. We're close to the first major legislative achievement for LGBT rights in this term.
Glenn Greenwald has a fantastic piece documenting how Anne Kornblut violates the WaPo's own rules by using anonymous sourcing sixteen different times in one piece on the Obama Admin's national security policies, and journalistic ethics in general, as well as some on national security issues.
Yesterday, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009, which would legalize marriage equality in the District, was introduced with much fanfare and 10/13 councilmembers co-introducing it. If you're looking for legislative and process details going forward, I wrote a piece last week on it here, and my friend Michael Crawford of DC for Marriage also has a piece today.
If you live in California, there are two LGBT bills before the Governor- one that would recognize Harvey Milk Day (which he's vetoed before, prior to the movie I believe) and one that would clarify that same-sex couples married out-of-state before Prop. 8 are recognized in CA, and that couples married after Prop 8 are entitled to the same rights. I know a lot of LGBT couples who marry in other states and have talked about moving to California one day- this would ensure they are entitled to marriage recognition. Equality California has phone numbers here of your local office- call Arnold and tell him to sign the bills.
Robert Harding at TAP reports the Rochester D&C is running another column by David Sirota, his latest on Afghanistan, which is a great sign. I wrote a bit last week on the D&C, a staid, center-right newspaper with far too many right-wingers on the ed page and a center-right ed board in a solidly Dem city with some hubs of progressivism. They're considering adding David permanently to the ed page. Take a second and drop an e-mail to Editorial Page Editor James Lawrence at jlawrenc@democratandchronicle.com and tell him that you want to see David Sirota's column made permanent.
