The newly male Chaz Bono makes his debut on Good Morning America...

A new public opinion study published in the American Political Science Review ranks Oregon 13th nationwide in support for same sex marriage rights, with about 45 percent of Oregonians supporting the cause.

The study backs up the assertion that support for gay marriage splits by age, with people ages 18-29 more than 30 percent more likely to be supportive of same sex marriage than people over 65.

It also basically affirms what Oregon LGBT group Basic Rights Oregon has been saying: our state's not ready for a statewide vote on gay marriage. They're hoping that hard campaigning for the next three years will turn that 45 percent into a supportive majority (or at least maybe some of those over 65ers will have dropped off by then?).

Here's the graph, check it out:

H/T to Sociological Images.

Ted Gideonse:

As Jesse Ventura said last night, “You can’t put a civil rights issue on the ballot and let the people decide. You have to have elected officials to who have courage to make the right decision. If you left it up to the people, we’d have slavery, depending on how you worded it.”

But when our lives aren’t run by mob rule, we do pretty well: We’ve pretty much conquered Hollywood.
We’ve conquered academia. The press is ours. Book publishing? Ours! The governments of Western and Northern Europe? Ours! And considering how people until 40 feel in this country, the future is ours, too!

So, this is what I have to say to Frank Schubert, Maggie Gallagher, Brian Brown, the Catholic Church, LDS, to the born-again nut jobs who haven’t a clue what the Golden Rule means and to the people who think that telling children that gay people exist is something like terrorism: Fuck you. Really: Fuck you. Fuck your lies. Your hypocrisy. Your cruelty. Fuck your pick-and-choose-only-the-most-bigoted-parts religion. Fuck your ignorance. Fuck your fear. Fuck you. Please: Eat shit and die. Fuck you. Very much.

Wayne Besen writing about last night's heartbreaking defeat in Maine...

It is time we wake up and acknowledge that the GLBT fight for equality is the world’s first “Civil Likes” movement. Each year, a popularity contest is held somewhere on the map and if the locals find us likeable our families are protected. If the natives have a negative view of gay people, we remain second-class citizens.

Given this reality we have to make a major choice.

We can declare the current process a disgusting and humiliating insult to our humanity and opt out of all future referendums. The movement would make the case to the nation why such votes are anathema to American values and in the process educate people about our families and quest for equality. A powerful campaign of continued and sustainable civil disobedience would have to supplement this strategy.

Or, we can continue to participate in degrading referendums. But, if we do so, we have to stop pretending that the majority of the American people understand the U.S. Constitution, much less the notion of equality. Those who vote against GLBT rights simply do not like gay people and their antipathy, often masked by religious bigotry, overrides the idea of equal protection.

Lefty? Progressive? Got gay friends? Support gay rights? Don't spend your tourist dollars in Jamaica.

When THE STAR visited the area, a small group of residents pointed out an old community centre which is said to be the main 'hang out' spot for the lesbians. According to the residents the lesbians gather there almost nightly and can be seen hugging, kissing and even "touching".

The residents say they are mostly worried about the lesbian group as they are most prevalent and influential. The number of persons in this group is said to be steadily increasing. In terms of the suspected gay men, the residents claim they are not as bold as the lesbians and are fewer but they too are expected to comply with the two-week notice.

No quotes from the authorities about protecting the gay men and lesbians in town where the "eradication" is under way. Because, of course, the authorities in Jamaica don't protect gays and lesbians from mob violence. Background on boycotting Jamaica is here. And if Barack Obama is going to send an openly gay ambassador anywhere, he should send one to Jamaica.

How To Find A Masculine Halloween Costume For Your Effeminate Son

It's actually kind of heartbreaking, isn't it?

Basic Rights Oregon (BRO) is preparing for a long-haul campaign to win marriage equality for Oregon in 2012 but some frustrated local activists say that's too long to wait for civil rights.

A new group in town is leading a march downtown tomorrow to demand LGBT marriage equality now—they say BRO is moving too slowly and missing the opportunity to pressure Obama and mainstream Democrats to push for same sex marriage rights nationally.

"This is a civil rights issue. No one would look at a black person now and say, 'Hey, you should have waited,'" says Chani Geigle-Teller, a local social worker who helped organize fledgling march-leaders the Portland Equal Rights Coalition. The loose group has been meeting every week for the past three months, discussing how Portland LGBT allies could push for marriage equality in a different way than the big, mainstream groups like BRO and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). "BRO as the leader of gay rights here in Oregon should be calling for equal rights now. DOMA should have been overturned, like, yesterday," says Geigle-Teller.

Across town in Forest Grove, a group of Pacific University students are bringing gay activist Cleve Jones to town on Monday night (info here). Jones is fresh off organizing the giant marriage equality march in DC, where he urged the crowd, "Do not accept delays. And when we see leaders and those who represent us saying, ’You must wait again.’ We say, ‘No! No! No longer will we wait!’"

Student Co-Director of Pacific University's Center for Gender Equity Kayla Johnston was at the DC march and is part of the group that felt it was urgent to bring Jones to Portland. "A lot of us on our staff agreed that the HRC approach of, 'Let’s go slow, see what they give us' wasn't enough. We’re tired of waiting. We’re more attracted to Cleve Jones voice."

BRO spokesman Thomas Wheatley defends his organization's tactics, saying that winning gay marriage in Oregon now just isn't politically realistic. Legalizing same sex marriage in Oregon means passing a constitutional amendment in a statewide vote, after Measure 36 passed five years ago in a wave of anti-gay backlash. Winning a statewide vote takes time and money—BRO knocked on 17,000 Oregon doors this summer to talk about marriage equality.

"We’re putting our energy into the things people can do right now that will actually make a difference," says Wheatley, explaining that BRO is sending members to campaign in Washington and Maine, two states facing measures for LGBT civil rights restrictions this November. "I think a march is a great way to capitalize on folks’ energy, but we’re focusing on these campaigns that will be won or lost in 10 days," says Wheatley.

But Geigle-Teller thinks Oregon is prepared to pass a marriage equality constitutional amendment as early as 2010. "I want to believe in the public. People are ready, both gay and straight," she says.

Below the cut—a pro-equality video featuring an old man we can all agree is awesome.

• Victory!

The NYT put together a cool interactive map of the votes, allowing us to gaze in shame at Russ Feingold, the only Democrat who voted against the bill.

Basic Rights Oregon's Thomas Wheatley was ecstatic when he answered the phone. "We’re elated — this is a tremendous victory!" he said. In response to criticisms of the law creating "thought crimes" rather than combating the actual problems that lead to hate, Wheatley responded that the new legislation is necessary and important because it gives $5 million in federal grants annually to state and local governments to fund prosecution of hate crimes. It also gives federal money to fund local programs to combat juvenile hate crimes committed.

"You think about the hate crime that happened five years in Hillsboro that's still unsolved. In this case, the Sherriff's office might be able to access resources from the federal government that could help them solve the case," says Wheatley.

No one's really talking about a small section of the bill mentioned briefly by the AP: "The bill also creates a federal crime to penalize attacks against U.S. service members on account of their service." So maybe that's how legislators got so many red state politicians on board?

Of course, not everyone is celebrating. From the Catholic News Agency: "The advance of a bill that would create penalties to punish “hate crimes” comes at a time of increasing intolerance towards those who support the traditional definition of marriage and reject homosexual activism, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins noted on Wednesday, causing him to ask, 'Where's the protection for them?'"

Apparently not:

A gay man tried to poison his lesbian neighbours by putting slug pellets into their curry after he was accused of kidnapping their three-legged cat.

It's actually true that smoking is gay...

This is kind of funny in a "science confirms what we always knew" kind of way, but it's also TERRIFYING, right? In the future, your internet friends unintentionally out you to scientists. Also: how long until this become an all-too-quickly-used iPhone app?

via Gawker.

Hey Christians! Maybe it's time to reassess the whole "using the bible as a weapon" thing. Especially against the gays (who are generally more clever than you).

Hat tips to I Am Bored.