With the General Assembly’s likely overturn of the Domestic Partners Funeral Arrangements bill’s veto by Gov. Carcieri only days away, NOM-RI’s Christopher Plante has issued an entreaty not to overturn the veto — arguing, among other things, that adequate provision already exists under Rhode Island law. To wit:

The right of any person, without regard to sexual preference or relationship to the decedent, to serve as a designated funeral-planning agent is already expressly guaranteed by Rhode Island Law 5-33.1-4. That statute only requires a simple notarized form naming an agent.

Mr. Plante is partly correct and partly not. He is incorrect in that “that statute” in fact describes escrow accounts relating to funeral service contracts. The statute outlining the form of designation is in fact 5-33.3-4.

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I have a short post up at HuffPo, about the obvious ridiculousness of the self-appointed defenders of the Constitution and all that is righteous pushing through a bill of attainder to single out ACORN for punishment without trial:

We’ll know the Mad Hatters really care about the Constitution when they start heaping praise upon the small minority of elected officials who stood up to the unconstitutional “Defund ACORN Act.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner offered the measure in September in the wake of the emergence of video showing ACORN employees taking the bait of right-wing activists posing as pimp and prostitute. It was conceived, concocted, and even named with one undeniable intention: to single out a particular organization for punishment, by making it ineligible for federal funds. But even the most rudimentary survey of the the Constitution makes it clear that this isn’t allowed. According to Article 1, Section 9, “No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed,” with bill of attainder typically defined along these lines: “A legislative act that singles out an individual or group for punishment without a trial.”

Perhaps learning how to read is now considered a form of judicial activism:

U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon issued a preliminary injunction against the government, saying it is in the public’s interest for the organization to continue receiving federal funding. Gershon found that ACORN had was “singled out by Congress for punishment” without “any judicial, or even administrative, process adjudicating guilt.”

If you’re equally pissed-off about Governor Carcieri’s deplorable, inhumane veto of the domestic partners’ funeral rights bill last week, come out and show it this Thursday, November 19th. From the Facebook invite:

On Tuesday November 10, 2009 Governor Donald Carcieri killed a bill that would allow non-married couples the right to plan the funerals of their deceased partners. Please join in solidarity for a vigil and funeral procession this Thursday, November 19th @ 7:30pm sharp, along the Statehouse sidewalk facing the Providence Place Mall. Please wear black if you are able.

Come. Tell your friends. Tell your friends’ friends. Just don’t let the governor get away with being a complete and utter plonker.

As we accrue more evidence of this joke-of-a-governor’s detest for civil liberties, I’m reminded to wonder: How did he ever manage to live down his mini Patriot Act of 2004?

The 18-page bill included language from ill-considered laws dating back to World War I — a time of public hysteria, when American rights came under assault. The Carcieri bill would have made it illegal to: display foreign flags in a way that suggests other countries are superior to the United States; “speak, utter or print” statements supporting anarchy; or speak in favor of overthrowing the government. It would also have allowed businesses and government to keep secret from the public whether they were complying with safety laws.

As of this second, Maine voters have approved gay marriage by a margin of 52-47 with 14% of precincts reporting, according to the live election news feed at the Bangor Daily News.  If voters vote no (to ban gay marriage; no means yes, in other words) then it will be the first time that gay marriage has been approved when put to a popular vote.

Bay Windows reported nineteen minutes ago that the Yes On 1 (anti-gay) people were winning, so it appears to be neck and neck.  In more distressing news, Bay Windows also reports that a band playing at the Holiday Inn in Portland just broke out into ‘their rendition of Men at Work’s “Break My Stride.”‘  Because apparently Bay Windows doesn’t like factchecking and/or thinks every musician from the 80’s is interchangeable.

(In case you didn’t know, Men At Work were a band who came from a land down under.  Matthew Wilder is one man who comes from New York.)

Over at the HuffPo, I’ve tried to do a (nearly, or at least somewhat) comprehensive post on the prostitution situation in Rhode Island.  It’s incredibly complex, even moreso after last night, and next to impossible to explain in any remotely linear fashion.

State legislators will be gathering again next week, and more likely than not they’ll be voting on proposed legislation to change the state’s prostitution law.  One of the primary people trying to force this legislation through has been URI professor Donna M Hughes, who earlier this year started an organization called Citizens Against Trafficking.  Those interested in the problem of trafficking have probably heard of her, and may even get her newsletters which, it just so happens, are really crazy and misleading.  (This should come as no surprise, really, if you’ve been following the issue.  See here, here, and here.)

Citizens Against Trafficking calls itself a “broad-based coalition formed to combat all forms of human trafficking in 2009.”  In reality, from what its own website indicates, it is a coalition of two:  Donna M. Hughes, a Women’s Studies professor at the University of Rhode Island, and Melanie Shapiro, the office manager in the Women’s Studies department at the University of Rhode Island.  No other names of other coalition members are mentioned anywhere on the site.

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I spoke with Governor Carcieri’s office today about his speaking engagement at the Massachusetts Family Institute Banquet tomorrow night. I asked to confirm the Governor’s belief that homosexuality “is an unhealthy practice and destructive to individuals, family, and society,” as MFI’s website states. His press secretary, Amy Kempe, responded that the Governor “has never and does not support discrimination.”

I don’t know about you, but Carcieri’s stated belief that two loving and committed people should be denied the ability to marry based on their sexual orientation certainly sounds like discrimination to me.

Regardless, I asked Kempe why, if the Governor didn’t believe homosexuality to be “unhealthy and destructive,” he was speaking at a fundraiser - meaning helping to raise money - for an organization with that stated belief. Kempe assured me multiple times that he was not speaking at a fundraiser, but at MFI’s “annual banquet.”

But MFI’s homepage state’s that Carcieri “will be [MFI's] keynote speaker at our Annual Fundraising Banquet.”

I think it’s a disgrace that our Governor would speak at a fundraiser for an organization that believes that many of my friends and acquaintances by virtue of their existence are “destructive” to society.

You can call the Governor’s office at 222-2080 to let them know your thoughts as well.

Come see author and activist Sherry Wolf speak on the political struggle for queer liberation, here and around the world, this coming Monday at List Hall at Brown University. (List is near the top of College Street, on the north side — big white blocky modernist building.) Participate in a public discussion on the history, politics and theory of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender oppression and how we can fight to end it. Also, learn how you can get involved with the National Equality March coming Sunday 11 October (locally organized by PEAC).

Sherry Wolf is the author of Sexuality and Socialism: History, Politics, and Theory of LGBT Liberation. She is also Associate Editor of International Socialist Review, and a member of the National Equality March Steering Committee.

7pm, Monday, List Hall Rm 120, Brown

Originally posted yesterday morning:

Let me open this by acknowledging that I’m a community member of Marriage Equality Rhode Island and the separate but associated action group Providence Equality Action Coalition (see Facebook page), who are acting as local organisers for Equality Across America. I am a longtime gay activist with a number of prior affiliations, including once moderating an LGBT discussion board when I was on the Board of Directors of Ocean State FreeNet.

Disclosure is an important part of public discourse, particularly in media and political spheres, where a person’s involvement and affiliations communicate important information about their role in subjects of discussion. While most ordinary citizens can’t be expected to fully understand this and act accordingly, in media and politics failure of disclosure is practically a crime.

In a letter in Saturday’s ProJo, one Dr. Michelle Cretella offers a mostly pointless remark in reference to the ongoing battle over gay marriage in Rhode Island. Her actual remarks demand little attention (just another reason, besides ProJo’s awful and unfriendly website, not to link it here), but her lack of disclosure does, as both she and ProJo failed to disclose that she’s on the Advisory Board for the National Organization for Marriage’s Rhode Island chapter (NOM-RI). more »

If you’re in the Boston area today, and are in need of a mid-afternoon, same-sex activity, wander over to Boston Common and partake in the Great National Kiss-In at 2pm. From their Facebook Group:

After recent incidents in El Paso, TX and Salt Lake City, UT - where two different gay couples were harassed or detained by law enforcement or other people for the simple act of kissing in a public place - we need to make a strong statement to everyone everywhere: kissing is not a bad thing, nor has it ever been. It’s not vulgar or inappropriate. It’s a sign of affection that is as old as time itself. It’s a beautiful thing that we share with our loved ones every single day.

Since there’s no Providence Kiss-In, I guess I’ll give out kisses to interested parties during kickball today at the Dexter training ground. I’m the little fellow with the big, orange epaulets and soft, pillowy lips.

This is still almost two weeks away, but on the 16th the National Organization for Marriage plans to hold a Marriage And Family Day at the Aldrich Mansion in Warwick, and the National Director of NOM (nom nom nom) is going to be making an appearance. Hopefully the weather will hold out!

It’s free and open to everybody, which I think means we should all go.  I’m not really sure whether I can secure myself a wife and kids before then, but it’s worth a shot, right?  There’s an ice cream social at the end, so it’ll totally be worth it.

(PS: if anyone can find out who the ‘local bands’ are that are playing in the afternoon, I’d like to know.  Thanks!)

Holy crap, this is so incredibly ridiculous (and impolitic). Emphasis is RIFuture’s.  Now sit down, and shut up.  (And tell us who you are and where you live.)

Public Viewing Guidelines

Our Goal. To honor First Amendment Rights while protecting the people of Providence and our guests.

The Providence Public Safety Team will ensure the safety and well-being of all persons who live and work in, or visit Providence during the 77th US Conference of Mayor Annual Meeting. The enormity of this task cannot be overstated.

Rationale:

That the public health, welfare and safety of the community require that the movement of vehicular traffic on such roadways be lawfully conducted with a minimum of disruption;

That the practice of unhindered or unrestrained picketing or demonstrating on such roadways causes disruption of police, fire and emergency services, and injury to persons regardless of participation in the march, assembly or demonstration;

That the practice of multiple demonstrations on the same day in different locations in municipalities has unreasonably deprived citizens of the police, fire and emergency services.

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After all those terrorism jabs with his right, maybe Cheney’ll throw a nice left hook at Obama on this issue:

I agree with the mantra of MERI et al — that we don’t put civil rights up to a vote. The thing that makes democracy interesting is the tension between majority rule and minority rights. Part of the bargain is that we recognize that we’re all minorities in some respect or another, and that we should not discriminate on such grounds. (Out of altruism, and lest we be discriminated against per the respects in which we ourselves are minorities.)

That said, having an objective source release a poll like this, with 2-1 support for gay marriage, certainly helps its chances of passage.

PROVIDENCE — The majority of Rhode Islanders support the idea of same-sex marriage in the Ocean State, with 60 percent in favor of gay nuptials and 31 percent opposed, according to a new Brown University poll.

This year’s testimony was just so so stark — couples denied rights because of their sexual orientation vs NOM members demanding that their religious sensibilities be forced on everybody else. Let’s get this done now, once and for all. (The probable alternative is being a pathetic conspicuous dot on the map, surrounded by New England, and likely New York, just as we were a few years ago when our Governor refused to join the regional greenhouse gas initiative.)

Marion Barry is back in the limelight, for being the “1,” in the 12-1 vote by the DC City Council to recognize other states’ gay marriages:

(Unfortunately, the only time the world seems to give a hoot about the good people of Ward 8 is when Councilman Barry does something stupid — for instance, the ward’s 80,000 residents just recently ended a decade without a supermarket!)

Only because it’s so damned strange, whenever Barry’s name pops up I like to point out that for a nationally-renowned buffoon, he’s led one hell of an interesting life — and one that was productive way-back-when.  I’m talking a masters in organic chemistry/first chairman of SNCC/shot near the heart during a Hanafi Muslim terrorist take-over of DC City Hall sort of life.  And stuff like this:

While at LeMoyne, his ardent support of the civil rights movement earned him the nickname “Shep”, in reference to Soviet propagandist Dmitri Shepilov.^[1] Barry began using Shepilov as his middle name.

Just sayin’.