The Progress Report.

Protect Marriage, Protect Children, Prohibit Divorce

Well done.

Oklahoma Newspaper refuses to announce Obama's win.

Kind of astonishing, but then again, not entirely.

The Sapulpa Daily Herald (Oklahoma) is being protested for not reporting that Barack Obama won the presidency. The paper did report that John McCain had won the most votes in the county. Upset residents say that the paper's selective reporting of news is racism.

More here on Tulsa station KJRH's web site: Local paper fails to report Obama's victory.

Lamest Excuse of the Year Award:

"I'm sure they read about it (the election) and watched it on T.V.; or got on the Internet and followed it as many people did and knew complete coverage before we were gonna go to press."

Gee, what if all newspapers took that tack?

The Onion's take.

I haven't written much about Obama's historic win because I've mostly been speechless about it and so much has already been said that says it for me. But I was moved to tears by the history and meaning of it all, and am proud to be an American.

On the other hand, why does he want this job, is one question -- with G W Bush having left him, as one of the Daily Show pundits put it last night, a "giant shitburger supreme" on his doorstep.  Or, as the Onion put it today (just for laughs):

Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job

NOVEMBER 5, 2008 | ISSUE 44*45

WASHINGTON-African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation's broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, "It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can't catch a break."

Quick thoughts on Prop 8

(UPDATED BELOW)

I heard a friend this morning ask aloud, "How can we have voted in Barack Obama by such a wide margin here in California and yet also vote to ban gay marriage?" It's a valid question. Here we voted to give chickens more rights in their cages but not to keep what I think is a fundamental right for human beings.

I haven't looked at all the numbers yet, and it will be awhile before we see the most accurate, specific demographic breakdown we can get, but here's one stab at it.  And this is NOT meant to blame/scapegoat in any way, simply trying to better understand how this can happen. There was a large turnout of African American voters and Latino voters here, as well as nationwide, which is fantastic. While those voters turned out huge for Obama, many of them (again this is just speaking broadly) are also fairly religious and even traditional churchgoers, and in many respects vote in the traditional values set on social issues even when voting progressive for individual people and on other issues (economic, environmental).  Again, this is just a guess, but it's possible that may have been one difference in the vote on Proposition 8 here in California. (That and the incredible amount of funding that the Yes on 8 campaign had in their coffers, almost all of it from out of state people -- I can't tell you how much I resent that.) Clearly, a ton of white folks voted for this proposition, too. A lot of misinformation about it was spread, fear-mongering about teaching school kids to be gay/accept gay marriage, when that had nothing to do with it at all. So there is plenty of blame to go around on this one. I live in a bubble here in San Francisco where it of course was voted down overwhelmingly, and am just trying to understand.

It does make me a bit sad if true that while we took a huge step forward in civil rights for people of color yesterday with this monumental Presidential election, we here in California have a divide when it comes to civil rights for gay people. Until those ideals become all-encompassing, it's clear we still have a ways to go.

One giant leap for man yesterday, one step backwards for man (and woman)kind, too.

UPDATE:
Michael Musto in the Village Voice seems to agree with my guess, though in more emotional terms.

Also: Here's a picture of some of the people, in Orange County, who were avid supporters of Prop 8. In case you, you know, want to photoshop that photo to put them all in lavender or something cathartic like that.

Lastly, here's a list -- it's public record -- of people who donated large to Yes on Prop. 8.  Know any of them? Feel free to give them a piece of your mind.

2nd UPDATE (11/7):

More optimistic note from Todd Palmer and Rob Pringle, on how the demographic reflects that 61% of voters under 30 voted against 8 and an even higher percentage of voters under age of 24.  Most of the "Yes"s came from older voters, so the hope would be that homophobia dies with them.  And they note that it's unfair to blame the African American vote for turning the tide when that's only 6% of the electorate.)

AND: A really thoughtful email from the No on 8 coalition which also cautions against scapegoating and blaming. Please read. 

Dear Craig,

This has been an incredibly difficult week for Californians who are disappointed in the passage of Proposition 8, which takes away the right to marry for same-sex couples in our state. We feel a profound sense of disappointment in this defeat, but know that in order to move forward we must continue to stand together as one community in order to secure full equality in California.

In working to defeat Prop 8, a profound coalition banded together to fight for equality. Faith leaders, labor, teachers, civil rights leaders and communities of color, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, public officials, local school boards and city councils, parents, corporate law firms and bar associations, businesses, and people from all walks of life joined together to stand up against discrimination. We must build on this coalition in order to achieve equal rights for all Californians.

We achieve nothing if we isolate the people who did not stand with us in this fight. We only further divide our state if we attempt to blame people of faith, African American voters, rural communities and others for this loss. We know people of all faiths, races and backgrounds stand with us in our fight to end discrimination, and will continue to do so. Now more than ever it is critical that we work together and respect our differences that make us a diverse and unique society. Only with that understanding will we achieve justice and equality for all.

                 

Dr. Delores A. Jacobs CEO Center Advocacy Project

Lorri L. Jean CEO L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center

Kate Kendell       Executive Director     National Center for Lesbian Rights

Geoff Kors       Executive Director     Equality California

A year later: My grandfather and the election.

Almost a year to the day that my grandfather passed away, just after reaching 100 (which I wrote or rambled about here and here), comes this year's Presidential Election. Between the fact that this year it falls on my grandfather's birthday and then hearing the sad news that Barack Obama's beloved grandmother had passed away, it is impossible not to think now of him again.

And to wonder about how he would have reacted to this election, and how he would have voted.

For you see, my grandpa Lou was a lifelong, well, what I'd call an FDR Democrat (and he could certainly remember FDR -- in fact, he could vividly remember Coolidge and Harding!) He couldn't stand nor trust most Republican leaders, and up until the last few months of his life maintained a keen sense of interest and active engagement in political affairs. I sometimes felt his abject hatred of George Bush was one of things that kept him going in his final years. (In fact, I swear I think one of his final active physical movements from his deathbed was to shake his fist at the TV screen as CNN showed the president from the Rose Garden.)

But for a long time he also seemed to have a bit of a paternal racist side, not, alas, uncommon among older Jewish retirees in Florida. Feelings about African-Americans in particular, while not at all spiteful, were definitely of the patronizing variety. My dad loves to tell the story of us driving around Golden Gate Park during one of my grandparents visits to San Francisco, and my grandfather from the passenger seat noticing one of the street names in the park, Martin Luther King Blvd. "I see they made a concession to the coloreds, eh?" And the rest of us sinking down as low as we could into our seats, my poor grandmother digging her nails into my knees -- though she often did that to represent her terror at whoever was, and how they were, driving. On the other hand, my grandfather also spoke respectfully at other times about MLK and what a great man he was. It was like that -- the occasional disrespect at African Americans followed by a surprising statement to show he appreciated their contributions.

And so here we have this year's model, an African-American presidential candidate, of mixed race to be precise, versus a "maverick" Republican whom I'm pretty sure my grandfather couldn't stand. We joked that if he was still alive this year, this election would've killed my grandfather anyway.

I'll never know how he would've voted in this one, had he been both still alive and capable of voting, but I like to use an anecdote I heard today from Miles Gerety (volunteering down in Florida), as reported on Huffington Post:

Sometime after 2:30 a man with a Jamaican accent called me and asked me to help an elderly man who was "fading." The elderly man, George McLain (85), father of a police officer and of a speech therapist and grandfather of twelve, looked very tired. It was obvious he needed to sit down. So I walked Mr. McClain across the grass (avoiding the longer sidewalk path) and into the library and found him a seat. The system was that someone in the line would have to act as Mr. McClain's placeholder. Mr. McClain had laughed when I'd softly said I thought Obama would be our next president and he responded "a black man can't be president." He looked frail, I didn't want him to be kept waiting too long inside, so rather than having the Jamaican man act as his place holder, I asked a group of women closer to the front of the line to claim Mr. McClain as their own.

Sometime later, I saw Mr. McClain leaving the polling place. He had voted. I said."Mr. McClain can you tell me who you voted for?" He looked up (I noticed he had a cataract growing in his right eye), tilted his head close to mine, and whispered "Barack Obama, who did you think I'd vote for."

In the last months of my grandfather's life, as his health faded, he was cared for by a lovely Jamaican man whom I had the pleasure of meeting when I had to go say my goodbyes. I saw pictures of the man's family, and heard stories of how he patiently fed my grandafther, gave him liquids when he couldn't eat, even held his hand when he was in pain. As his life slipped away, I heard and then I saw how my grandfather grew to appreciate, even, I think, love the man who helped care for him and could care less about the color of his skin. Some people, as they get older, get even more stubborn with their racist tendencies, clinging to them as if a tattered security blanket. But I think even more people let go of such pettiness. 

I will never know how my grandfather would have voted this year if he had the chance, but that anecdote from Florida and my own experience at the end of his long, long life make me think he would've whispered "Barack Obama" and quietly voted for him, too.

A vote on the future of the US - and so the world (from the Guardian UK)

It's good to get some perspective from abroad, and here's the clear-eyed Jonathan Freedland, who is writing on the Presidential race from Washington for the Guardian UK:

A vote on the future of the US - and so the world

(excerpts below)

Sometimes it felt as if this day would never come. But today, the 21 long months of the 2008 presidential campaign, a saga packed with higher drama than any contest in living memory, finally comes down to a straight choice. By tonight, perhaps as many as 140 million Americans will have stepped inside a polling both, pulled back the curtain and made a quiet, private decision that will determine the course of the United States - and so the world - for the next four years.

...

If voters reject McCain today they will also be rejecting that McCarthyite brand of politics, embracing Obama's insistence that, at a time when the problems facing America are so big, it makes no sense that its politics are so small.

This is what stands before Americans today. They can decide to see the world in a new light, full of potential partners as well as enemies, or remain in the Bush crouch of permanent warfare. They can decide it's time to address the gravest questions, or run from them, retreating into the same cultural spats that have dominated for at least 40 years. After 21 months of candidates debating and pundits yammering, it's time for the American people to speak.

How Social Media Has Been Used to Monitor Election

Simon Owens pointed me to a really interesting piece he wrote on how this election is being monitored via Web 2.0 tools like Twitter, YouTube, Voter Suppression Wiki and others.

Citizens, Media Use Social Media to Monitor Election

In a YouTube video uploaded on October 24, a husband and wife couple from Oregon sit at their kitchen table and fill out their mail-in voting ballots for the 2008 election. The wife explains to the camera that Oregon has had mail-in voting for "about the last 10 years," and the two walk the viewer through the entire voting process, at one point announcing that Barack Obama was their "candidate of choice."

The video was created for Video Your Vote, a joint project between PBS and YouTube that encourages citizens across the U.S. to document their own personal experiences at the voting booth by shooting and then uploading the video onto YouTube (not to be confused with Video the Vote, a similar project). The effort is just one of many examples of citizen journalists utilizing crowdsourcing and Web 2.0 tools to monitor the voting practices -- and problems -- from an on-the-ground perspective. The groups that are monitoring campaigns said they will help create a much more transparent voting process, and in doing so, hopefully target and solve any voting problems before it's too late to fix them.

Read the whole piece.

Election Day Tips.

1) I think every employer nationwide should give employees the day off or as much of it as they need if they still need to vote. Especially with lines in some places reportedly hours long.

2) Vote today (Monday) if you can. Lines are still long in places but wait should overall be less than tomorrow.

3) If you've voted already, and have some spare time, volunteer to go down to a populous voting location and give out drinks and snacks, give out umbrellas, etc. Whatever it takes to keep spirits up!

4) Do not become discouraged if you are in a long line. It is an historic election beyond all proportions. Do not leave your place if you are in line. Bring an iPod or a book or a fully charged cell phone that you can keep yourself entertained with. (And of course bring a checklist for voting for all the other things you have to vote on besides President.)

Bring your ID, too, just in case. Most states don't require it but many do now. Don't give problematic voting precincts any reason to question you as a legit voter. Shove your ID in their face and VOTE.

5) If you encounter any difficulties in voting - challenges to you or others around you: Election Protection Coalition (1-866-OUR-VOTE). Or report them here.  Make sure you get at least a provisional ballot. You can also report voting issues to the Obama campaign, too.

And TWITTER any voting problems, too! The Twitter Vote Report is urging those with Twitter accounts to report voting issues by adding #votereport to a Twitter update. The resulting tweets flow to the site's home page, and will also be plotted on a Google map

More good advice here:
If you experience any problem or confusion while voting report the situation to one of the poll workers or election officials immediately. Do not wait until you have finished voting. If the election officials at the polling place are unable or unwilling to help you, the problem should be reported directly to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. There are no special forms to use or procedures to follow--just call the Civil Rights Division toll-free at (800) 253-3931, or contact them by mail at:

 

Chief, Voting Section
Civil Rights Division Room 7254 - NWB
Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20530

6) Share your voting experiences with HuffPost.

7) Appreciate that we have the right to vote and that you are a part of something possibly historic.  Make it happen.

And lastly, here's everything in a nutshell in a short attention span video -- keep this in a safe place.

Time for real "good Americans" to turn the tables; a plea for the undecideds.

Time to Turn the Tables

With all the rhetoric from right-wing politicians and some of the fringe supporters of the Republican Party on "real Americans" it seems it's time to turn the tables on them on the eve of this historic election. I know for many of you this feels a bit risky, voting for this Obama fellow, even if you ignore the lies against him. I will not mock your fear, I will only try to reassure you.

Regardless of party affiliation, in these trying times, as we stand, or teeter, on what is truly a precipice, what defines a true American?

Is it the people who can't move forward? Who can't do what it takes to make this country great again?

No. It's we the people, all the people who must work together  to form a more perfect union -- again. 

As Thomas Friedman puts it, the world is now a flat earth, and not in the pre-Gailileo astronomical sense, but in the sense of global interconnectedness. We're all in this together.

Those people who can't move forward to make this country greener, to help us get off oil dependence (and not just foreign oil dependence, but oil altogether), to preserve both the economy and the environment for future generations, those people who cannot look past the color of one's skin or accept that there are people who practice spirituality in a way that may differ from their own -- those people must be left behind.

In my opinion, "bad Americans" are people who not only put their self before country, but put their own hand-me-down fears ahead of progress, hope and their children and grandchildren's future. If that is their choice, we should all be sad by it. But if we cannot get their help nor change their ways, they must be left behind.

Racism and divisiveness must be left behind.

I have never felt as strongly about an election as I do the one on Tuesday. The past two were also critical, of course, and we failed in my opinion (and, I would argue, the election system also failed, but let's not go back there). I remember in 2000, hearing from several people I knew that there wasn't much difference between the two candidates, between Bush and Gore, that they were both products of a corrupt system and so, what does it matter? Well, while I understood then and I understood now what they mean - and feel the Democratic party is not entirely blameless for the situation we're in now financially - is there any doubt in the world now that there would have been the same results and the same messes had Al Gore been properly elected instead? We certainly would've moved faster on global warming. We would have had a better relationship with the rest of the world. We would, I would argue, not have invaded Iraq after 9/11.

Just as Al Gore would not have been our savior in every way, I don't expect that of Barack Obama, either. But we are at one of those critical junctures in American history that happen once in a generation, where we HAVE to make the right decision, the one that moves us forward with a progressive thinker, an open mind. If we chose to go on with a close-minded dinosaur it's not just going to be more of the same. It's going to be a disaster because we simply cannot afford it.

We have to have a leader whom the world will respect. And who will respect the world.

We have to have a leader who will both listen to what those around him say to him, AND who surrounds himself with the brightest of minds in the first place.

We need someone who understands what it will take to revamp our educational system, by understanding what is broken.

We need someone who understands that "going green" is good for the economy, too, i.e., that green = green, that it is not something to be feared but embraced. That energy companies and other big corporations need to get on that train or jump off.

We need someone who knows we have to stop giving tax breaks to American companies who take their jobs overseas.

We need someone who understands what it means to be from a modern, middle-class family, who can empathize. Obama and Biden empathize because they have literally been there. It is McCain-Palin who are the true "elitists." Just as Bush did not understand nor care about you if you are not a millionaire, you cannot expect a sudden bout of empathy from the GOP. I do not understand how people in the lower and middle-class can be so fearful of someone like Barack Obama and run to the very people who have been screwing them over for years.

We cannot afford to step backwards now because we are facing the wrong direction on a high cliff.

I cannot state this strongly enough. I have never felt as clear-headed about an election in my life. So even if it is hard for you, even if you have doubts, look deep inside yourself, feel excited about the choice, about the chances of being in an amazing time where we can make a difference. When future generations can thank us for taking that chance and making the right choice.

I urge you with all my convictions to vote for Barack Obama on Nov. 4.

No on Prop 8: Two Personal Pleas

For California voters, I bring you two fairly personal emails (not directly sent to me of course, but I got 'em!) from Jim Miller at Brave New Films and Anthony Romero of the ACLU.  Read on.

--------

Our friend Anthony Romero, the Executive Director of ACLU, sent us a letter recently asking for our help in pushing defeat of Proposition 8 which asks the citizens of California to deny marriage to same sex couples. He wrote an emotional and highly personal letter which we are sharing with you below.

Although I am not known for sharing my own personal life, I wanted to add a few words of my own regarding this Proposition.

I grew up in New York in a Catholic family going to church every Sunday (okay, sometimes we went to the 5pm Saturday mass) and believing in my heart that God loved everyone equally. As I grew older, I learned that although God may love everyone equally, the people made in his image had other thoughts about the issue. My family and the morals they taught me growing up shaped me to be who I am today. It is the reason why I ended up in the career I have now, helping to shine a light on social justice issues to fight injustices and hopefully make the world a better place for everyone.

It is also the reason why I wanted to have a family of my own, but I wasn't allowed to because I am gay. Instead of fighting for my rights, I denied my sexuality and thought it easier, no BETTER, to conform to acceptable society. I was wrong. I made the mistake of getting married to a woman to satisfy my need to have a family. Luckily I met someone with a good heart and although we are no longer married, we are still close friends. From that experience I was able to confront my own shame for being who I am and to realize that the only thing 'wrong' with being gay is the stigma placed on a person's personal sexuality by the Government's refusal to treat gays equally under the law.

Now, better people than me have been fighting for all of us, and there is a chance that we can get closer to equal rights. There is an opportunity here to allow men and women to fulfill the simple dream of being together in the state of matrimony for as long as they both shall live. When you think about it, the vows should be the easy part. The hard part is finding the person you want to be with for that damn long!

I hope that you all vote NO on Proposition 8 this Tuesday, and that you go one step further by sending a personal e-mail to 10 of your friends letting them know why you are voting NO.

Thank you for reading and as always, thanks for your support.

Best,
Jim Miller
Executive Director
Brave New Foundation
www.bravenewfoundation.org

From ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero:

 

I'm angry and heartsick about what may happen in California on November 4th.

In the most personal way possible, I'm writing to ask you for a favor: help us ensure that gay couples all across California keep their fundamental right to marriage -- the basic right to be treated just like anybody else.

Anthony Romero, ACLU

I hope you will forgive the indulgence when I speak from the heart and tell you my personal story.

You see, I grew up in a loving and supportive household, where my family believed I could be anything I chose -- anything except being an openly gay man. Neither of my parents finished high school, and yet, they believed I could accomplish all I set out to do as I went off to Princeton University and Stanford Law School.

They got me through the toughest of times, scrimped and saved, and always believed that failure wasn't in the cards for me. They had more faith in me than I often had in myself. Whenever my parents visited me at Princeton, my Dad would slip a $20 bill in my pocket when my Mom wasn't looking. I never had the courage to tell him that the $20 wouldn't go very far towards my bills, books and tuition. But, it was his support and belief in me that sustained me more than the tens of thousands of dollars I received in scholarships.

When I finished college, they were hugely proud of my -- and their -- accomplishments. That was until I told them I was gay and wanted to live life as an openly gay man.

Though I always knew I was gay, I didn't come out to them for many years, as I was afraid of losing the love and support that had allowed me to succeed against all odds. When I did tell them, they cried and even shouted. I ended up leaving their home that night to spend a sleepless night on a friend's sofa. We were all heartbroken.

When my Mom and I spoke later, my Mom said, "But, Antonio (that's the name she uses with me), hasn't your life been hard enough? People will hurt you and hate you because of this." She, of course, was right -- as gay and lesbian people didn't only suffer discrimination from working class, Puerto Rican Catholics, but from the broader society. She felt that I had escaped the public housing projects in the Bronx, only to suffer another prejudice -- one that might be harder to beat -- as the law wasn't on my side. At the time, it felt like her own homophobia. Now I see there was also a mother's love and a real desire to protect her son. She was not wrong at a very fundamental level. She knew that treating gay and lesbian people like second class citizens -- people who may be worthy of "tolerance, " as Sarah Palin asserts, but not of equality -- was and still is the last socially-acceptable prejudice.

Even before I came out to them, I struggled to accept myself as a gay man. I didn't want to lose the love of my family, and I wanted a family of my own -- however I defined it. I ultimately chose to find my own way in life as a gay man. This wasn't as easy as it sounds even though it was the mid-1980s. I watched loved ones and friends die of AIDS. I was convinced I would never see my 40th birthday, much less find a partner whom I could marry.

As years passed, my Mom, Dad and I came to a peace, and they came to love and respect me for who I am. They even came to defend my right to live with equality and dignity -- often fighting against the homophobia they heard among their family and friends and in church.

The right to be equal citizens and to marry whomever we wish -- unimaginable to me when I first came out -- is now ours to lose in California unless we stand up for what's right. All of us must fight against what's wrong. In my 43 short years of life, I have seen gay and lesbian people go from pariahs and objects of legally-sanctioned discrimination to being on the cusp of full equality. The unimaginable comes true in our America if we make it happen. But, it requires effort and struggle.

One of the things I love about the ACLU is that it's an organization that understands we are all in this together. We recognize that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Given what's at stake in the outcome of this election, I am personally appealing to you for help to fight the forces of intolerance from carrying the day in California next Tuesday.

If you have friends and family in California, please contact them right now, and ask them to vote NO on Proposition 8. You can send them a message here.

We need to make sure people keep in mind that gay people are part of every family and every community -- that like everyone else, gay people want the same rights to commit to their partners, to take care of each other and to take responsibility for each other. We shouldn't deny that, and we shouldn't write discrimination into any constitution in any state. Certainly, we can't let that happen in California after the highest court in the state granted gay and lesbian people their full equality.

Unfortunately, due to a vicious, deceitful $30 million advertising blitz, the supporters of Prop 8 may be within days of taking that fundamental right away.

To stop the forces of discrimination from succeeding, we have to win over conflicted voters who aren't sure they're ready for gay marriage but who are also uncomfortable going into a voting booth and stripping away people's rights. With the ACLU contributing time, energy and millions of dollars to the effort, we're working hard to reach those key voters before next Tuesday.

If you have friends and family in California, please contact them right now, and ask them to vote NO on Proposition 8. Share this email with them. Call them. Direct them to our website for more information.

Don't let other young people grow up to be afraid to be who they are because of the discrimination and prejudice they might face. Let them see a future that the generation before them couldn't even dream of -- a future as full and equal citizens of the greatest democracy on earth.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." As we strive to defeat Prop 8 and the injustice it represents, the ACLU is trying to make that arc a little shorter.

On behalf of my Mom and family, and on behalf of all the people who will never face legally-sanctioned discrimination, I thank you for being part of this struggle and for doing everything you can to help.

It is a privilege and honor to have you as allies in this fight for dignity and equality.

With enormous appreciation,

Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
ACLU

P.S. All the polls show that the vote on Prop 8 could go either way. By making just a few calls or sending just a few emails, you could help make the difference. Please, don't let this fundamental right be taken away. Send an eCard to everyone you know in California.