7-Year-old Marriage Equality Advocate

By Advocate.com Editors

In an effort to teach a 7-year-old boy named Malcolm the importance of improving the world around him, he was given $140 to donate to the charity of his choice.

After hearing a story on the radio about the mistreatment of gays and lesbians, he selected two charities — the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

In a letter to the center, Malcolm wrote, “I am sending you this money because I don’t think it’s fair that Gay people are not treated equally.”

The donation also included a note from Malcolm’s mother, who challenged the center to raise $27,000 in her son’s name. Center officials have launched a campaign to do just that, and they plan to send confirmation that the goal has been reached along with a “big thank you note.”

Click here for more information on donating.

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At HRC N.Y. Gala, Eyes on Marriage

Calls for marriage equality dominated the Human Rights Campaign gala in New York, which was headlined by Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo, stars of the Oscar-nominated film The Kids Are All Right.

By Julie Bolcer

The Human Rights Campaign held its 10th annual New York gala Saturday night and put the focus on efforts to achieve marriage equality in the state. Headliners included Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo from the Oscar-nominated film The Kids Are All Right.

Moore, who stars with Annette Bening in the Lisa Cholodenko film about a lesbian couple and their family, told The Advocate on the red carpet that she felt cautiously optimistic about the chances for marriage equality in New York this year. She and Ruffalo both appear in videos for the New Yorkers for Marriage Equality campaign, which most recently included former first daughter Barbara Bush.

“I think, you know what, get it together,” said Moore. “I think we will be shocked. We’ll look back at this time and we’ll be shocked historically. It’s going to seem like barbarism the same way segregation did.”

Inside the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom in Manhattan, where video screens displayed the evening’s theme of “No Excuses,” elected officials and advocates sounded even more hopeful, with New York city council speaker Christine Quinn announcing her plan to lobby state senate majority leader Dean Skelos in Albany on Monday ahead of advocacy groups' lobbying effort the next day. The Republican from Long Island pledged during the election not to block another vote of the bill, which has passed the assembly three times but failed in the senate by 38-24 in 2009 with no GOP members voting in favor.

“I will give him all of your personal regards and tell him the Waldorf-Astoria wasn’t even big enough to hold all the people who want him to do the right thing right away,” said Quinn of her visit with Skelos, who does not support the bill.

Also key to the effort is Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who has made repeated public calls for marriage equality this year, although he did not attend the gala on Saturday. Instead, Alphonso David, whom the governor appointed to the new position of deputy secretary for civil rights last month, spoke briefly on his behalf during the cocktail hour.

“Governor Cuomo is committed to making marriage equality a reality in New York this year,” he said.

That goal is aided by the addition in the past year of three senators who support equality, thanks to groups including HRC, the Empire State Pride Agenda, and Fight Back New York that worked to unseat senators who opposed the measure. Currently, 26 senators, all Democrats, support the bill, which needs 32 votes to pass. Bipartisan support is a must in the closely divided chamber where Republicans hold a 32-30 majority and some Democrats oppose the bill.

HRC president Joe Solmonese reviewed his group’s local and national efforts including the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” during his remarks, which followed an introduction by Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir, who told reporters afterward that he is planning a move to New York.

Solmonese said, “The next step in the national journey for all of us is right here in New York. HRC will do everything in our power to play an effective role in bringing marriage equality to New York State very soon.”

U.S. senator Charles Schumer of New York reinforced the push for marriage equality in his keynote address, which was introduced by Brian Ellner, HRC senior strategist in New York. The senator also announced that he was recommending that President Barack Obama nominate out lesbian Alison D. Nathan to the federal bench in the southern district of New York. The president recently nominated J. Paul Oetken to the same court on a recommendation from Schumer.

Moore, a Golden Globe nominee for best actress in the same category won by costar Bening this year, received the Ally for Equality Award from HRC. Ruffalo, an Oscar nominee for supporting actor for The Kids Are All Right, presented the honor.

Earlier, the actor reflected on the red carpet about the social impact of the film.

“There’s an honesty in the film that resonates with people,” he said. “It makes people understand that these relationships and families are no different. I think it’s had a significant contribution to the pro–gay marriage fight.”

A performance by the cast of the new Broadway adaptation of Priscilla Queen of the Desert rounded out the evening.



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RFK Jr. for N.Y. Marriage Equality

By Julie Bolcer

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. joined the fight for marriage equality in a video released Thursday for the Human Rights Campaign’s New Yorkers for Marriage Equality series.

In the video, the son of the late senator from New York and member of the prominent American political family compares the marriage equality campaign to his father’s battle against the Jim Crow laws.

"This is the last vestige of institutionalized bigotry that's left in this country and we need to get rid of it,” he says.

The video is the latest in a series featuring prominent New Yorkers for marriage equality, including Whoopi Goldberg, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon, Fran Drescher, Moby, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Julianne Moore, and Kenneth Cole. More ads are scheduled to be run online, with possible placement elsewhere, in the coming weeks and months as the battle for marriage equality heats up in the New York state senate.

Also on Thursday, a new Quinnipiac poll showed that New Yorkers support marriage equality by 56% to 37%, the largest margin ever. Crucially, 54% of upstate voters approve, which matches the percentage of support from people living downstate in heavily Democratic New York City.

"The most recent polling today shows a record number of New Yorkers from across the political spectrum supporting marriage equality,” said Brian Ellner, senior strategist for HRC’s Campaign for New York Marriage. “This support continues to grow with our campaign highlighting New Yorkers from all walks of life who support basic fairness for everyone."

The findings follow a Siena Research Institute poll earlier this month that showed 57% of New Yorkers support marriage equality.

Evan Wolfson, founder and executive director of Freedom to Marry, said the new poll indicates that it is time for the Republican-controlled senate to pass a marriage equality bill, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo is eager to sign.

"Today’s poll is yet another confirmation that a strong majority of New Yorkers believe that loving and committed same-sex couples should share in the freedom to marry,” he said. “New Yorkers, like all Americans, are looking at their gay neighbors, coworkers, and family members and realizing that they deserve the same fairness, the same treatment, and the same respect under the law as everyone else. The assembly has passed a freedom to marry bill three times. Governor Cuomo has urged and promised action to end this exclusion. It is indeed time to act. Both chambers should swiftly sent a marriage bill to the governor’s desk so that New York can move forward, as New Yorkers want and deserve.”



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HRC to Share Harvey Milk Storefront

By Advocate.com Editors

The Human Rights Campaign announced Tuesday the group will share Harvey Milk's old Castro Camera storefront in San Francisco with a crisis hotline run by the Trevor Project.

The HRC came under fire last month when it was announced the group would be setting up shop in the space where Milk launched his historic political campaign. Friends of Milk, including activist Cleve Jones, argued that the HRC represented "the antithesis of Harvey Milk's organizing strategy."

In an effort to quell complaints, the HRC will donate $10,000 per year and space inside the building to the Trevor Project.

The deal will continue for as long as the Washington, D.C.-based organization leases the store.

"We are honored to partner with the Trevor Project in offering this important resource for LGBT youth across the nation from such a historic location," HRC President Joe Solmonese said.

Read more here.

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LGBT Groups Scale Back Goals In 2011, Search For Smaller Victories With New Congress

by Amanda Terkel

WASHINGTON -- Facing an emboldened Republican House unlikely to consider significant gay rights legislation in 2011, the nation's leading LGBT advocacy organizations are aiming to push for measures that advance pro-equality causes but are a far cry from historic bills like the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

A new analysis by the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest LGBT advocacy group, argues that the 112th Congress will have 53 more lawmakers unlikely to vote on behalf of advancing gay rights than in the previous session; the Senate will have five more, bringing the total of such members in the new Congress to 265:

"There will be some opportunities that will be presented to us," said Allison Herwitt, legislative director at HRC. "I think that going into the 112th Congress, generally, we'll be looking at, what are the bigger bills that will be moving that we can put pieces of pro-equality -- either amendments or provisions -- into those larger moving bills?"

She said the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act might provide opportunities to include measures addressing bullying and harassment. The Older Americans Act could allow advocates to push for provisions that benefit older LGBT Americans. A piece of free-standing legislation, the Tax Equity for Health Plan Beneficiaries Act, would equalize tax treatment for employer-provided health coverage for domestic partners and other non-spouse, non-dependent beneficiaries.

HRC will still work on larger pieces of legislation, like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Defense of Marriage Act, pushing to introduce the bills, educating lawmakers and holding hearings on the issues.

R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, also acknowledges that major measures are unlikely to go anywhere but said there are opportunities to marry the fiscal concerns of the Republican Party with pro-equality legislation. Like Herwitt, he pointed to inequalities in the tax code.

Currently under federal law, employers who offer health benefits for the domestic partners of their employees face unequal treatment: both the employers and employees are taxed at a higher rate and essentially, employers are rewarded for discriminating.

"We have drafted a tax reform bill that would address a 'donut hole' -- people call it different things -- there is currently a problem with the way the federal tax code is written that is punitive to employers, and employees who may have a same-sex partner," said Cooper, noting it would be LCR's first piece of legislation this Congress. "We figure, with the current appetite in Congress for tax reform, and the current appetite for economic growth and limiting the federal budget and balancing the budget, this may be an opportunity for a successful piece of legislation that could be introduced and sponsored by Republicans, with bipartisan support from Democrats."

He is less pessimistic that Republicans will try to take away LGBT rights, pointing to 11 of LCR's endorsed candidates -- including five new members -- who will be in the 112th Congress. He also noted that on Dec. 15, the Republican Study Committee, run by the socially conservative Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), convened a meeting with conservative and Republican auxiliary organizations -- including the Heritage Foundation, National Rifle Association, and LCR -- and made clear the party will be focused on fiscal issues.

"What Chairman Jordan shared with us is that all the priorities for this Congress are fiscal-related," said Cooper. "One could interpret it as there have been lessons learned either at a pragmatic or principled level by certain Republicans on social issues, that they're not good for the party; they are divisive. And frankly, in many respects, from a true definition of conservatism, social issues don't have a role in the government."

The three priorities identified by Jordan, according to Cooper, were: 1) a rescission package that would eliminate previously approved spending; 2) balancing the federal budget; and 3) federal welfare reform.

Herwitt is less optimistic. She said that LGBT advocates will have to look closely at budget numbers Republicans put out and where they decide to cut spending. Will they go after funding for HIV/AIDS programs? Hate crimes enforcement?

Additionally, as the 2012 elections heat up, she said Republicans might bring social issues to the table again.

"I think they're going to have to give some red meat to their base, and I assume it's either going to be anti-gay, anti-choice, or anti-immigrant, or all of the above," said Herwitt. "So I just think that when you have someone like Jeb Hensarling, who is chairman of the House Republican Conference, he's extremely connected and close to a lot the right-wing religious groups, so there's going to be pressure on the leadership to deliver on some of these issues."

One branch of government that could hold major victories (or upsets) for the LGBT community: the judicial system. There currently are two major cases making their way through the courts, one challenging the constitutionality of DOMA, the other the constitutionality of California's same-sex marriage ban. Either could end up at the Supreme Court.

There will also be action at the state level, with Maryland, New York and Rhode Island looking to advance marriage equality bills, and states like Tennessee, Arizona and Florida likely considering legislation to restrict adoption rights for same-sex parents.

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