GLBT News and Political Roundup 3/7/09

Here's some of the news items that impacted the GLBT community this week:

From the Washington Blade, the Obama administration plans to boost domestic AIDS spending in 2010.

Proposition 8 had its day in court on Thursday. The reports indicate that the court seemed to lean toward upholding the validity of the referendum, but leaving marriages legally performed prior to its passage as valid. Here are reports from the San Francisco Chronicle and Time Magazine.

HRC President Joe Solmonese called out Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele in this essay in Politico.

This is a time for a new direction, not more of the same old, same old when it comes to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered America and the Republican Party. Most voters are dead tired of rhetoric that vilifies one group of Americans, or diminishes one family over another, or says to one teenager, “You’re OK” and to another, “You’re not.” And those lines are not drawn by a level of civic participation, scholastic aptitude or family values; they’re drawn by age-old prejudice that has no place in the uncertain world we all live in today.

Chairman Steele would do well to look closer at where America is headed on these issues of family, heart, and basic fairness and to lead his party forward. Hip-hop, after all, is about authenticity, if nothing else. This three steps forward, two steps back approach not only won’t win elections; it won’t win many new party members, either.

On a trip to Brussels, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton spoke out very clearly in support of GLBT rights.

In an answer to a Moldovan gay rights activist who was wearing an 'I Love Hilary' tshirt, she said:

“Human rights is and always will be one of the pillars of our foreign policy. In particular, persecution and discrimination against gays and lesbians is something we take very seriously.

"I can only hope that we all live long enough to see the end to this kind of discriminatory treatment and recognition that human rights are the inalienable rights of every person no matter who that person loves."

Former NLGTF Executive Director Matt Foreman says GLBT advocates need to get more personal.

“I believe that if every LGBT person in California had a heartfelt discussion about Proposition 8 with three people they knew, we would have won,” Foreman said. “The personal is essential to the political. We can’t look to Equality Texas or Equality Maryland to do this for us if we can’t do it for ourselves at home.”