Dear Commissioner Roberts,

Thank you for your letter, entitled “Why I’m voting yes on Measure 36.”

You ask me to join you in “preserving… marriage between a man and a woman.” But no one has proposed outlawing marriage between men and women. Your marriage is not endangered if two lesbians or two gay men choose to marry; the only thing that’s endangered is your “right” to have your family protected by the law while same-sex families are not.

You say that you’re afraid that “the law will be defined in a courtroom.” That is, indeed, the central issue of Measure 36. If lesbian and gay citizens believe they’re being treated unequally by Oregon laws, do they have a right to ask a court to consider the issue - or should a majority vote to make sure they never get their day in court? Should the state have to prove a rational basis for their laws - or should our Constitution say “rational basis is only required for heterosexuals?”

Denying any citizen - but particularly a much-discriminated against minority - their fair day in court is appalling. It’s against the best ideals of America. And any public official advocating such a thing should be ashamed.

I dearly hope a decent candidate runs against you in the next election, so I can donate to them and volunteer for them, and see you driven out of office.

Twenty years from now, you’ll be ashamed to admit the position you took on same-sex marriage in 2004.

Respectfully,

Barry Deutsch

Here. (Via here).

Okay, now I’m done blogging for the day. Honest.

Well, I can’t take today off from work - but I can at least take it off from blogging!

On the (very) off chance that anyone is thinking “geez, I wish I could buy Amp something,” here’s my wish list. (Is it tacky of me to put in such a link? Probably. But heck, it’s my birthday, I’ll be tacky if I want to).

I actually enjoy looking at other people’s wish lists - sometimes they have unexpected tastes. If you’ve got one, feel free to post a link to it in the comments.

Looking at my list, I wonder what’s unexpected to “Alas” readers? Not the comic books, nor the feminist books. But some of the DVDs may be unexpected (have I ever mentioned that I like some anime, or the Marx Brothers?) Hard to say. For folks who don’t know me in real life, the Stephen Sondheim fixation might be surprising, too.

Have a happy Halloween, and see y’all next week.

So we received the new “Yes on 36″ flier today. The first thing I noticed was a big picture of Senator Gordon Smith, right above the “Yes on 36″ return address. The photo was accompanied by a quote from Senator Smith, saying that marriage “is about the tantual rearing and nurturing of children, preparing them for citizenship under the most ideal circumstances possible.”

Turning the image over, there’s a picture of a sad-looking little girl with the caption “The classroom will never be the same.” Then, opening up the flier, I see this claim, in huge letters:

The flier doesn’t directly say that Senator Smith endorses the claim that “if Measure 36 fails, gay and lesbian sex will be taught in Oregon schools,” but that’s sure the impression it gives.

I called Senator Smith’s office in Portland - (503)326-3386. I read the staff person who answered that caption, and politely asked if Senator Smith believes that “if Measure 36 fails, gay and lesbian sex will be taught in Oregon schools.” The person promised to have someone call me back. I then called the Senator’s Washington office - (202)224-3753 - and asked them the same question. The staffer I spoke to asked me to email Senator Smith and promised that someone would get back to me.

Senator Smith is actually one of the most decent GOP members of Congress. He’s not usually a gay-basher, he values his good relationships with gay Oregonians, and I doubt he’d be willing to endorse the claim that measure 36 is about if gay sex will be taught in schools. But he might not address this claim, unless people hold his feet to the fire a bit. Please call Senator Smith, or FAX him - (202)228-3997 or (503)326-2900 are his FAX numbers - and politely ask if Senator Smith agrees that “If measure 36 fails, gay and lesbian sex will be taught in Oregon schools.”

Please call whether or not you live in Oregon. Please, if you own a blog, consider reproducing or linking to this post right away. I’d like to generate hundreds of calls to Senator Smith, if that’s possible.
Read the rest of this entry »

Really good post at Mousewords. Here’s a sample:

Read the whole thing.

A while ago, I wrote:

Ross of This Space for Rent doesn’t endorse my view:

Ross asks if “the Republicans give a flying fuck what the LCR think?” I don’t know, but the question misses the point. Whether or not the RNC cares, the Log Cabin Republicans did the right thing this year by criticizing Bush, the GOP platform and the Federal (anti) marriage amendment, and for that they deserve praise. And to describe them as supporting the Republicans in a year when they’ve been persistently criticizing the Republican presidential candidate in an ultra-close race is simply unfair.

Ross writes:

First of all, by definition someone who rejects same-sex marriage is not a consistent defender of gay rights. Nor has Kerry been very supportive on “don’t ask, don’t tell.” But without any doubt, Kerry is better than Bush.

Does that mean Kerry should get a free pass from all criticism? Is being better than Bush good enough? I don’t think so.

Bush, by opposing gay marriage and supporting the Federal Marriage Amendment, attacked gays and deserved to be criticized by everyone, not just by Democrats. The Log Cabin Republicans were one of the few (or perhaps the only) Republican groups to step up to the bat and call Bush on his garbage. I think that’s praiseworthy.

Right now, the single most important fight for gay rights in the USA is the fight for marriage equality; and the single most important battlefield is Massachusetts, the only state in the union in which same-sexers can be legally wed, and the most likely place for same-sexers to retain that right.

And Kerry stabbed lesbians and gays in the back by opposing same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, as well as by supporting homophobic anti-equality ballot measures all over the country. (Like Bush, Kerry has since stepped back a little from his most extreme anti-gay position).

Let’s get some perspective on this: What Bush did was to support an anti-gay amendment that had no chance of passing. Kerry, in contrast, has supported anti-gay measures and laws that have a very real chance of passing. So why the heck should Bush be criticized while Kerry is given a pass?

When push came to shove, the Log Cabin Republicans were willing to turn and criticize their own President in an election year because he supported anti-gay laws. I think that’s cool - even though I disagree with the LCRs on every other issue.

When push came to shove, the Stonewall Democrats put partisan politics above supporting justice and equality for lesbians and gays. To borrow a phrase, I have to call serious bull-shit on that. It’s easy to criticize the other party’s candidate for being anti-gay. The real test is: Will you criticize your own candidate if he takes an anti-gay positions?

This year, the Stonewall Democrats failed that test.

• AVEN blog, a blog for the asexual community (AVEN stands for “asexual visibility and education network”). Finally, a sexuality-based blog I can relate to! They also have a fairly active forum.

• Sisters Talk, a terrific blog I encountered via Let’s Try Freedom. (Sisters Talk is one of two blogs Robert’s blogroll includes in the “Honorable Enemies” category; the other one is “Alas”).
• DED Space, another good lefty-liberal-feminist-intellectual blog, with a focus on social issues.
• The Comics Reporter. Comics news blog by Tom Spurgeon, the comics-news blogger most worth reading. Via Scott McCloud.

According to the latest “No on 36″ email, polling shows that most Oregonians are against amending the Constitution to ban gay marriage. According to “No on 36,” the big danger now is that, because the wording of ballot measures is often confusing, people might vote “yes” on this measure thinking that they’re voting to protect gay marriage. (My housemate and “Alas” comments-writer Charles, doing volunteer work for the “no on 36″ phone bank, spoke to such a voter last night. She was emphatically in favor of gay marriage and therefore emphatically planned to vote for measure 36, until Charles clarified the matter for her.)

The point is, we could really win this one. If you can, please donate volunteer time (if you live in Oregon) or money (where ever you live) - go to the No on 36 website to find out how.

I also highly recommend this “No on 36″ page - “Top Five False Claims From the Defense of Marriage Coalition,” which are listed as:

1. If measure 36 fails, gay and lesbian sex will be taught in Oregon Schools.

2. Gays and Lesbians can obtain all of the benefits and protections of marriage through contracts.
3. Passing 36 leaves the door open to enact civil unions to protect rights of gays and lesbians.
4. Scientific evidence is undisputable that children do best with a mom and a dad.
5. Measure 36 does not change the Oregon Constitution.

(For the record, I’m not sure I agree with them about number 3.)

They give supporting quotes for why they think each of the above claims is false. Here’s a sample:

We’ve already given what we can afford, so today I’m going to go volunteer.

Damn, I can’t wait until this election is over. It’s giving me ulcers.

I’m not one to get excited about a new Superman comic. But this upcoming comic - written and laid out by Scott McCloud - looks like it could be fun.

It’s a shame that the finished drawings are so mediocre. Worse, judging from a page for which both Scott’s layout and the finished art are available to be seen, the artist seems to miss the point. On the page before this one, a bad guy has just blown some smoke from his cigarette into Superman’s face.

In Scott’s layout, check out Superman’s expression in panel three. Superman is pretty serene; some guy blowing smoke into his face isn’t enough to ruffle his feathers, because he’s, you know, Superman. He’s too big to let his feathers ruffle so easily. This fits in with Scott’s interpretation of the character:

“If you can lift an elephant, if you can fly through steel walls, if you can do all this amazing stuff, in a lot of ways you’re going to be a calm guy. That strength is going to manifest itself in an unflappable character.”

Now look at how the finishing artist, Aluir Amancio, has rendered the same panel. Superman in the finished art is anything but unflappable; every muscle on his face is tense. It’s the face of a man who is either severly pissed off or suffering mild constipation, and in either case it’s failing to communicate what Scott’s layout called for.

It’s too bad, because Scott’s vision - that true strength actually reduces the need to strike a macho pose - is a pretty interesting counterpoint, not only to the usual superhero writing, but also to contemporary politics.

(Via Kip).

Two posts by Hugo Schwyzer I found particularly interesting.

First, a post on abstinence and gay marriage, in which Hugo laments that those folks who favor both generally go unheard. Good disucssion in the comments, too. (What I love about Hugo’s comments is that they’re practically the only place on the internet in which you can find both feminists and right-wing Christians but not a flame war.)

The other recent Hugo post I wanted to point out is “Feminism, Food and Pleasure.” Here’s a sample:

An “Alas” reader emailed me this:

I’m bewildered by this; I don’t recall making any important changes to the Alas template within the past week. I also know nothing about Safari. Anyone else experiencing this problem? If anyone has a suggestion to post, it would be appreciated.

Posting may be slow this week, since I should really be spending more free time volunteering, plus I have work.

In the meanwhile, I have a question for Alas’ readers, and in particular for feminist readers and long-time readers. How can the comments at “Alas” be improved?

I enjoy a partisan debate more than most people - but only when both participants are willing to at least pretend to be civil and mutually respectful. That’s been very lacking on the “Alas” comments lately, especially in the ongoing abortion discussions.

I’d like most of the discussion at “Alas” to be intelligent, respectful, and spirited - but not full of barely-hidden contempt for opposing views. Although there are frequently good comments here, I haven’t been very satisfied with the discussions here lately. It seems to me that “Alas” is becoming less civil over time.

Am I the only one who is unsatisfied?

Do folks have any ideas about how comments here should be moderated?

Frankly, I don’t think most of the “opposition” posters here are very high quality. But I don’t think that high-quality opposition posters would be tempted to post here, since they’d only be flamed to death by my allies.

(I do apologize to our current crop of “opposition” posters for the above paragraph; I know it may be hurtful for you to read, and I regret that. However, there’s no way to discuss the problem I perceive without bringing this up.)

Is there any way I can get higher-quality opposition posting here? If the only way I could do that is to strictly moderate the pro-gay, feminist and pro-choice posts to make sure that this became a “safe space” for intelligent disagreement, would that piss off my allies?

(When I’m talking about moderation of comments, I’m speaking only for the comments on my own posts. Bean and Lucia and any future co-posters are free to moderate the comments on their own posts however they like, of course.)

Consider this an open thread for discussion of the comments, and also for any suggestions you have about “Alas” in general.

Girlamatic is doing switcharoos in honor of Halloween this week, so I’ve drawn an installment of The Return of Doctor Dragonwagon. (It’s a two-page segment - I followed Marilyn Scott-Waters’ style of doing multiple pages but very few panels per page - so after you read the first page, click on the link at the bottom to see the second page). I’m not sure that the segment will make any sense unless you’ve been following Marilyn’s strip (which is terrific) and also know something about Little Nemo, but what the heck, you can always look at the pictures without following the story.

As for Hereville, no one is sorrier about the lack of new Hereville updates than me. My plan is to return to drawing weekly Hereville updates beginning a week from this Thursday.

So what about this Thursday? Well, this Thursday’s Hereville will be a special Halloween strip drawn by fellow Girlamatic cartoonist Heather Meek of Meek City. I’ll put a link up once it’s available.

From The Oregonian:

By an amazing coincidence, what Dr. Pruitt told The Oregonian isn’t far off from what British demographer Kathleen Kiernan told me when I pointed out how anti-SSM folks were using her work. (She called it a “misuse” of her work, and said that in her opinion the data contradicts claims that same-sex marriage causes any harm.) It’s almost as if the opponents of SSM have a pattern of distorting legitimate social science…

[Update: Screwed-up link corrected, thanks to “Alas” reader Sam!)

I actually think this is pretty funny. I’m tempted to get a t-shirt printed up that says “homophobes stole my mailbox.”

Nonetheless… On Monday, someone came into our yard, knocked over our “No on 36″ sign, and stole our mailbox (with Monday’s mail inside it).

I doubt this was just random vandelism; Oregon mailed out voter ballots last week (Oregon does the vote entirely by mail), and a huge number of Oregonians got their ballots on Monday. So I think someone grabbed our mailbox and ran hoping that they’d get our ballots and thus keep us from voting agianst measure 36.

As it happens, we got our ballots on Saturday. But I doubt I’m the only voter this has happened to. If you’re a registered Oregon voter, have a “no on 36″ sign and haven’t yet received your ballot, it’s possible that your ballot has been stolen by some jerky “yes on 36″ person. Wait a few days, and if you still haven’t received it, call your county election office and ask for a replacement ballot to be sent.

(Actually, all registered Oregon voters should do that if they haven’t received a ballot by early next week, regardless of if you have a “no on 36″ sign up or not.)

Earlier this week I posted a repsonse to Joshua Baker - Joshua’s original post is here, and my response is here.

Now there are two responses to me on marriagedebate.org, one from Joshua himself, and one from Maggie Gallagher. I’ll probably post a response to them early next week, but meanwhile I thought I’d put up a pointer to their rebuttals.

An “Alas” reader asked me to link to MoveOn’s search for computer-savvy volunteers. What they need is folks who’d be willing to volunteer from their homes to provide tech support for other, less tech-headed MoveOn volunteers. If you’ve got the tech skills and are looking for a fairly painless way to volunteer in the 2004 election, check it out.

From the San Francisco Gate (and via Bush v. Choice).

Actually, I’m not sure if I should be feeling schadenfreude or not. It’s possible that the three women suing are actually such idiots that they didn’t think it was possible for Planned Parenthood to disagree in good faith about the issue (which is what they’d have to believe to think that PP had engaged in false advertising). In that case, they’re three fools fooled by the pro-life movement, and I feel sorry for them.

But it’s also possible that they knew full well that their suit was a nuciance suit with no merit, in which case they’re three jerks who deserved what they got.

How did I miss this? Frequent “Alas” comment-writer Mythago has a blog - not too frequently updated, alas, but (as you’d expect from reading Mythago’s comments here) what’s there is well worth reading.

Also, I’ve added two new blogs to the “blogs that frequently discuss same-sex marriage” section: Marriage Matters and Gay American.org. Both of them are solid pro-equality blogs, so if you enjoy the SSM posts here you’ll probably enjoy reading those blogs, too.

Andrew Sullivan is probably right to say that these MTV ads for equal marriage rights won’t have much impact - since the youthful MTV-watching crowd is probably overwhelmingly for same-sex marriage already.

But still, the commercials were loads of fun to watch. “Threats” and “permission” were my favorites. You should probably skip the first one if you’re squicked by piercings, however.