Same Sex Living

The data from a fourteen-year period has been collected and presented on the topic of “Explicit Support for Same-Sex Marriage by State and Age.” The time frame covers 1994 to 2008 and has been published in the American Political Science Review by authors Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips. Over this period of time, every state in the country, with the glaring exception of Utah, has expressed an increasing support for gay marriage. (Utah actually indicates less support now than five years ago!) Some states have large increases and others have small ones, however, they do express positive gain.

Additional demographics indicate the support percentages for differing age groups. The big winners here for supporting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are the eighteen to twenty-nine year olds across every state in the nation. The lowest percentages of support are in the sixty-five and up age group. Lest we be too harsh with the golden age citizens, their lives, opportunities and experiences do not include even the option of discussing LGBT issues during their earlier years. Had the “world been a different place” in their youth, they would likely score higher all these years later!

The largest explicit support for gay marriage geographically comes from Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Hampshire, Maine, California, Washington, and Hawaii, in that order. The lowest percentages of citizens supporting gay marriage live in Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Utah, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama coming in dead last.

For additional info, please visit

http://baselinescenario.com/2009/11/04/same-sex-marriage-and-time/

Chaz Bono gave his first interview since announcing that he will undergo sex change operations to transition from female to male. The child of Sonny and Cher, made the brave announcement some months ago and now is sharing his experience with the world. He states that he first fully realized that “gender is something between your ears, not between your legs” (People Magazine) back in the early 1990s. It has taken him this many years to make peace with that fact and take the positive steps for living an authentic life.

After getting clean and sober in 2004, Chaz began the process of gender reassignment. But the spark for moving forward was his 40th birthday. He now states that he is the happiest he has even been, and looks forward to completing the process over the next few years. Part of this happiness stems from his four-year relationship with partner Jennifer Elia. According to Chaz, Jennifer has known about his plans since they first met and has been supportive throughout the whole process. “I feel really grateful to be going through this with a partner,” Chaz states (People Magazine).

Back in the summer, Chaz’s mom, aka Cher, made the following comment to People magazine, “The one thing that will never change is my abiding love for my child.” Chaz is a symbol of courage and conviction for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. And, if you listen to him closely, his voice sounds a whole lot like his dad, Sonny!

The US Senate has voted its approval of the Defense Authorization bill with a final tally of 68 for and 29 against. The importance of this measure for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is the provision contained within re-titled The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. This historic legislation has been on the floor for a vote thirteen previous times, and the fourteenth time it passed.

The next, and final step of the process is for President Obama to sign the bill into law when it reaches his desk. The President has repeatedly made promises of unconditional support and his endorsement should follow without concern. Joe Solmonese, President of the Human Rights Campaign, a relentlessly active organization for passage, stated, "[This is] our nation's first major piece of civil rights legislation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Too many in our community have been devastated by hate violence. We now can begin the important steps to erasing hate in our country."  http://www.hrc.org/sites/loveconquershate/index.asp

The Act "provides the Justice Department with the ability to aid state and local jurisdictions either by lending assistance or, where local authorities are unwilling or unable, by taking the lead in investigations and prosecutions of violent crime resulting in death or serious bodily injury that were motivated by bias" (HRC). It also provides federal funding for local and state assistance, training, and the combating of youth violence. This event is a critical step in assuring the safety and well being of LGBT people across the nation.

In Queens, New York a 49-year-old man was brutally beaten outside his home. Jack Price lived as an openly gay man and for this, and this alone, he was attacked and is now in a medically induced coma in an area hospital. The two perpetrators taunted and yelled anti-gay hate speech prior to violently attacking Price. A security surveillance camera taped the incident. This latest attack on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community occurred only days before the United States Senate is scheduled to vote on hate crimes legislation including the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Act.

One of the attacker's fathers, Daniel Rodriguez, Sr., spoke on camera about the beating. While fighting back tears, Rodriguez said he was "sorry for his son" (AP). He took the blame for his son's heinous acts by saying that, as a father, he had failed his son. He was clearly very distraught that his son had participated in this type of crime. His willingness to speak about it sends a strong message of support for the LGBT community despite the fact that it was his family that had caused the pain.

Price's sister, Joanne Guarneri, also spoke saying that she felt badly for Mr. Rodriguez. She said he now has to go "down a long road with his son, just as we do with my brother"(AP). She continued, "It's heartbreaking that three families are torn apart"(AP). Unfortunately, these types of hate crimes have a ripple effect and touch many lives and many families with pain. Contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to support the hate crimes legislation that is now before them.

There exists in the sociological culture of humanity a phenomenon called “Spiral of Silence” (Noelle-Neumann, 1974). This concept has been observed among the masses when the media repeatedly broadcasts the results of some poll regarding the “majority opinion” on an issue. These are generally “hot button” topics, like gay marriage. What happens with repeated and carefully scripted broadcasts is that those people who do not agree with the “majority” find it increasingly difficult to express their “minority” opinions. Somehow the majority opinion becomes “factual” and any differing position is suspect, threatening or unwelcome.

We in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are very often in that “minority” opinion on civil rights issues, particularly those specific to LGBT rights. While the majority may feel vindicated by numbers, we know that this is not the measure of equality. As Representative Barney Frank, the first openly gay Congressman, states, “Call or write your representative or senator, and then have your friends call and write their representative or senator” (AP Website). He suggests that we should “borrow from the playbooks of the two most effective interest groups, the National Rifle Association and the AARP” (AP Website) since they have the most effective lobbies in the country and that is the strategy they use.

We may not have the numerical majority, but we do have the elevated position of defending and promoting justice. Call, write or email your Representatives and Senators in Congress and express your minority opinion. It matters!

See the following Congressional Email Directory website for contact info on all members of Congress from every state. A couple of clicks and you are on your way out of the spiral of silence.

http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html