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AJC looks back at those on front lines of Ga. same-sex marriage fight

The Georgia Voice Editors
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a good story that was posted late Tuesday night titled "As Supreme Court weighs same-sex marriage, Georgians in 2004 battle look forward."

What we learned from the story:

• Jeff Graham, now executive director of Georgia Equality, said in 2004 Georgia LGBT activists didn't take the right approach when taking their message to voters.

"We didn’t begin to change people’s minds (with) the big politics; it’s about the simple message of wanting to take care of the person you love,” he said. “Once we stopped being afraid to talk about that fact … that’s when the public attitudes about this started to change.”

[Interview] Log Cabin Republicans look to the future with new executive director

The Georgia Voice Editors
National
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Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director Gregory Angelo

The Log Cabin Republicans, a political organization that advocates LGBT inclusion in the Republican Party, announced late last week that interim Executive Director Gregory Angelo will continue in the role permanently.

“I started going to Log Cabin meetings in 2008,” Angelo tells GA Voice. “At the time, the local chapter was in the midst of rebirth of sorts and I saw an organization that was doing great work that I believed in, but I thought could benefit from having someone with media expertise that was able to amplify the work the organization was doing on the state level.”

Angelo eventually became the chairman of the New York chapter of the organization and helped work toward New York's marriage law, the only marriage equality bill that had ever passed under a Republican-controlled state legislature.

Log Cabin expands board, promises to ‘strengthen Republican party’

The Georgia Voice Editors
Politics
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Log Cabin Republicans today announced the addition of six new board members, ranging from a pair of lawyers to the CEO of a technology company and a defense and intelligence expert. Atlantan Jamie Ensley is vice-chairman of the board.

The Log Cabin Republicans is a conservative political organization that advocates LGBT inclusion in the Republican Party.

Jennifer Breitinger, Mitchell Cantor, Bob Kabel, Victoria Kerley, Jo-Anne Prokopowicz Sears and Rich Weissman will join newly elected Chairman Jerry Katlin, Vice-Chairman Jamie Ensley, Treasurer Sarah Longwell and Secretary Thomas Purdy the organization said.

Katlin welcomed the new board members in a prepared statement released to media today.

Romney promises ENDA support in secret Log Cabin endorsement deal?

The Georgia Voice Editors
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Yesterday, gay conservative group Log Cabin Republicans officially endorsed Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney.

Left-leaning gay rights groups blasted the endorsement, saying the LCR had turned its back on the fight for LGBT equality. Out-going U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) also criticized the endorsement in a video posted to Youtube Tuesday. In it, Frank lays out the records of both Romney and his VP pick Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) on gay issues to poke holes in the LCR endorsement.

Ben Adler from The Nation did a little digging and speculates that LCR Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper was given assurances by the Romney campaign that the candidate would support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) as president. Such assurances helped convince LCR to endorse, Adler suggests.

Log Cabin endorses Romney; Stonewall Democrats call nod ‘shameful’

The Georgia Voice Editors
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Mitt Romney endorsement

With just two weeks to go before the Nov. 6 general election, gay GOP group Log Cabin Republicans officially endorsed Mitt Romney to be the next president of the United States.

The endorsement was the topic of much speculation in recent weeks, as Romney, and nearly all of the other major Republican contenders during the primary season, signed a pledge to push toward a federal marriage amendment. Such a pledge caused the Log Cabin Republicans to withhold an endorsement of former president George W. Bush in the 2004 general election.

But the pledge was largely a non-issue for Log Cabin in 2012.

Gay groups head to Tampa for GOP convention

The Georgia Voice Editors
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Homocon

We're just a handful of days away from the kickoff of the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., where attendees are expected to nominate former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney to represent the party in the upcoming fall presidential election.

Possible hurricanes aside, officials in Tampa are expecting more than 50,000 delegates, media and other convention visitors to descend on the city in the coming days, including representatives from gay conservative groups like Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud.

Gay groups will need to shake off an unwelcome feeling amid reports that this year's Republican Party platform remains as anti-gay as ever.

Still gay in the GOP?

The Georgia Voice Editors
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Still gay in the GOP

Lower taxes, more personal freedom and less government interference in the lives of Americans are the core principles of the Republican Party. At least, that’s what the GOP says. According to critics, including many LGBT people, what it does once in power is actually very different.

The anti-gay charge in recent years has been led by conservative groups, often with religious ties, like the National Organization for Marriage, the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. These groups overwhelmingly support GOP candidates in local and national elections.

Republicans know a large portion of their base view homosexuality as inherently sinful. They also know to get elected, they have to sell their conservatism as well as their religious credentials.

Obama mentions gay soldiers in State of the Union, but was it enough?

The Georgia Voice Editors
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President Barack Obama briefly mentioned gay soldiers in his third State of the Union address last night.

Sitting in attendance with First Lady Michelle Obama were Loreliei Kilker and Cononel Ginger Wallace, two out and proud lesbian women. Kilker was awarded a monetary settlement after an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation found systemic sex discrimination at her previous employment. Wallace and her partner, Kathy Knoph, participated together in Wallace's recent promotion ceremony, the first promotion ceremony featuring a same-sex couple after the repeal of the military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy.

The president didn't mention either Kilker or Wallace in his address. His only mention of anything close to acknowledging the gay rights struggle came just four paragraphs from the end of his speech.

Which brings me back to where I began. Those of us who’ve been sent here to serve can learn from the service of our troops. When you put on that uniform, it doesn’t matter if you’re black or white; Asian or Latino; conservative or liberal; rich or poor; gay or straight. When you’re marching into battle, you look out for the person next to you, or the mission fails. When you’re in the thick of the fight, you rise or fall as one unit, serving one Nation, leaving no one behind.

Reaction to the speech was mixed among gay rights groups.

DADT stay lifted by federal appeals court

The Georgia Voice Editors
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The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today issued a ruling today which effectively halted the enforcement of the military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy. The three-judge panel previously blocked an order from Federal Judge Virginia Phillips in 2010 after her ruling in the case Log Cabin Republicans vs. United States found the policy to be unconstitutional.

A stay was issued to allow the policy to remain in place while the repeal made its way through Congress, but the three-judge panel said today that “The circumstances and balance ofhardships have changed, and appellants/cross-appellees can no longer satisfy the demanding standard for issuance of a stay.”

The law, commonly known as DADT, was repealed during the final days of the 111th Congress, though service members must wait for the president, the head of the Department of Defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs to certify repeal before gay and lesbian soldiers can begin to serve openly.

The armed services are currently in the process of training soldiers and other personnel for the change in policy and are expected to have all service members trained by mid-summer.