CASTRO STREET FAIR: Sunday, October 4, 2009, San Francisco, 11am - 6pm

The theme for this year’s Castro Street Fair is “Come Get Hitched in The Center of The Gay Universe!”

 

Once again, MyQueerWedding.com will showcase a selection of our community members at the Castro Street Fair in San Francisco. Stop by our booth at this special event to celebrate same-sex weddings and connect with wedding vendors who are supportive of marriage equality.

 

Meet these featured wedding vendors in person who could help you with your special wedding plans: Simply Perfect- It’s Your Day!,  My Wedding Portraits, Rev. Ed Wright, Rev Max and more!

Our booth at San Francisco Pride 2009 on Saturday June 27 and Sunday June 28 showcased a selection from our community of wedding businesses who are supportive of marriage equality. Participating MyQueerWedding.com member businesses included: Angelica Limousines, Bayleaf Restaurant, Ben Janken Fine Photography, Dark Garden Unique Corsetry and Couture Clothing, Debut, Global Pride Tours, The Reverend Edward J. Wright, Reverend Max, San Francisco Gay Wedding Video, and Wildwood Acres Resort.

 

We reached out to hundreds of same-sex couples who are planning their wedding in spite of the legal status and the economy. One of the things we heard over and over again from same-sex couples who visited our booth was relief and gratitude that there are wedding businesses who will support them, which is why MyQueerWedding.com is here! Ben Janken took photos of more than 30 same-sex couples who visited our booth.

By Straight Talk

 

Nothing irritates me more than a news article spouting facts that deceive the uneducated reader. Except perhaps a journalist who writes the article.  Recently, Cathleen Decker had an article in the Los Angeles Times saying:

 

“…Overall, the poll showed a majority of voters in Los Angeles support the right of same-sex couples to legally marry, with 56% in favor and 37% opposed. That finding closely tracked results of November’s election, when Proposition 8, which limited marriage to a man and a woman, won statewide but lost in Los Angeles. 

 

But the poll also showed that within the city, views on the issue differed widely among racial and ethnic groups. 

 

White voters were most emphatic in supporting same-sex marriage, with 68% approving of it and 27% opposing. African American voters were almost the opposite, with 54% opposing same-sex unions and 37% supporting them. Opposition to gay marriage by African Americans was widely seen as a major factor contributing to the passage of Proposition 8…”

The last sentence here is not only absurd it’s ridiculous. According to the recent government poll African Americans make up 6.3% of the California population. That means (and we’re talking grade school math here…) 6.3% = African Americans in California Population and 54% of THEM opposed same-sex marriage. This means that African Americans that opposed Same-Sex Marriage = 3.4% of the population of California.

 

To say that the opposition to gay marriage by African American voters (3.4% of the population) is a “major factor” in the passage of Prop 8 is bordering on stupid. In fact, if Blacks voted the same as Whites you would only reduce the spread by 2%. Since according to state totals the voting results had a spread of 4.5% this means that Blacks voting identically to Whites in California would NOT have changed the results.

 

It makes me wonder what is the motivation behind Cathleen Decker’s articles? Is she just trying to stir up conflict between the Black community and the Gay community? Is she being paid by the Right Wing groups to divert the blame from them to the small group of Black people. I don’t know her or her motivations but she is clearly NOT able to convey the truth.

 

Useful Links:
Los Angeles Times article by Cathleen Decker

On Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28, the MyQueerWedding.com booth will showcase a selection of our community of wedding businesses as part of the San Francisco LGBT Pride event. This is a great opportunity to meet queer-owned and queer-friendly wedding businesses who provide products and services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other un-labeled and non-traditional couples for their wedding celebration. 

 

Participating wedding businesses include: Angelica Limousines, Bayleaf Restaurant, Ben Janken Fine Photography, Dark Garden Unique Corsetry and Couture Clothing, Global Pride Tours, The Reverend Edward J. Wright, San Francisco Gay Wedding Video, Wildwood Acres Resort and more!

 

San Francisco LGBT Pride is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender event in the country, with over a half million people expected to gather in the Civic Center of downtown San Francisco during the last weekend of June to enjoy the celebrations.  Watch Video of highlights from SF LGBT Pride Celebration & Parade 2008.

We are deeply saddened by the CA Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Prop 8, however we are delighted that the 18,000 same-sex couples who were married in California in 2008 will remain legally married.

 

Loving and committed relationships cannot be stopped by passing a law against them! Now more than ever, MyQueerWedding.com continues to be committed to providing resources to same-sex couples for their wedding celebration as the fight continues, to achieve marriage equality for all in the state of California and beyond!

The waiting is almost over for the California Supreme Court to make their ruling about Proposition 8, which will be announced on Tuesday, May 26.

 

Same-sex couples who were married last year when marriage was legal for all loving couples are anxious to find out if their marriage will continue to be legally recognized. Whatever the California Supreme Court’s decision, it will impact not only the lives of same-sex couples, but also their families, children, friends and everyone fighting for equal rights.

 

Whether it will be time to celebrate or protest, organizations around the country who support marriage equality will be ready. To find the closest community gathering near you, visit The Day of Decision or Marriage Equality USA.

 

By Queer Talk

 

The military has a “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gay and lesbian members of the military. While most of the emphasis is placed on the “don’t ask” part of the equation, where government won’t interfere with private lives because they won’t ask you about your sex and love life, I would like to talk about the “don’t tell” part of the equation.

 

What this says is we will respect your service to our country, we will respect the fact you are willing to give your life in battle for us all, unless you say the words “I am gay,” at which time we no longer respect your service and the fact you put your body in between us and those who would do us harm. We don’t want to hear the truth about the world. We want to live in our fantasy world.

 

So, the second part of the phrase, the “don’t tell” part of the equation is mostly a matter of respect. America says don’t talk about who you are as a person. We don’t want to know who you represent. We don’t want to know the truth. We don’t want those people who care about our wounded soldiers to walk into a hospital and hold the hand of a dying soldier because they are the same sex as that soldier.

 

We as Americans are not giving the dignity and respect to our soldiers because we have a bazaar “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Which makes law the restriction of telling the truth. So please Mr Obama, do not allow another soldier a single injustice to occur again. 12,000 military men and women have been kicked out of the military since “Don’t ask, don’t tell” has been enacted.

 

Lieutenant Choi is about to be the next in a long line of loyal soldiers to be kicked out, not because he was bad at his job, quite the contrary. He is being kicked out because he spoke the truth. He was honest with himself and country. This is a tragic injustice. Mr Obama, please end this before more acts of injustice are committed in the name of America.

By Queer Talk

 

As a consumer of both Right-Wing and Left-Wing media, usually I enjoy watching Keith Olbermann’s TV show, but recently I found he showed his lack of education on the topic of the word “Queer”.

 

Keith was talking about the word being used by “Joe the Non-Plumber,” an opportunist who listens to too much Right-Wing talk radio, who is not really a plumber and who’s culture very likely considers the word “Queer” to be a derogatory term. For those of us who prefer not to use labels of “Gay,” “Lesbian,” “Bisexual,” “Transgender,” etc, Queer is a word of power and not at all insulting. Like many other terms, intention equals meaning. For example, I consider the term “Right-Wing” to be a derogatory term, a kin to lack of education, ignorance, selfishness, and a general state of anger on a genetic level that can’t see reason.

 

So, what have we learned here? (1) I love Keith. (2) Queer is good. (3) Right-Wing is bad.

Marriage Equality USA Press Release:
Oakland, California - “Today, Vermont legislators lived up to their state motto – freedom and unity – and their override of the Governor’s veto ensures that thousands of same-sex couples living in Vermont will have the freedom to marry the person they love,” said Molly McKay, Marriage Equality USA Media Director. “We know in our hearts, it is only a matter of time for America to turn its back on this history of discrimination against same-sex couples. To witness within a week the Iowa Supreme Court’s unanimous decision, followed by Vermont’s legislative stand, both in support of marriage equality gives us hope that we may be able to live our happily ever afters sooner than we think.”

 

“We hope the California Supreme Court recognizes how its leadership in last May’s marriage decision contributed to these changes in the heartland and across the country,” said Pamela Brown, Marriage Equality USA Policy Director. “The Court must continue to illustrate this leadership by overturning Prop 8 and ensure that equal protection and fundamental rights mean something…that they just can’t be plucked away in a willy-nilly fashion from minority groups by the majority.”

Marriage Equality USA Press Release:
Des Moines, IA- “Today is another historic day for Iowans in our long history of equality and fairness for individual liberties. The Iowa Court has declared that the promise of ‘liberty and justice for all’ includes marriage equality for Iowans like myself and Marla who have been together for twenty-five years,” said Phyllis Stevens, Chapter Leader of Marriage Equality USA-Central Iowa, who married her wife, Marla Stevens, in Canada in 2003, and whose marriage will now be legally recognized under today’s court ruling.

 

The Iowa State Supreme Court Opinion concludes, “We are firmly convinced that the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective. The legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification. There is no material fact, genuinely in dispute, that can affect this determination.”

 

Equal protection under the Iowa Constitution “is essentially a direction that all persons similarly situated should be treated alike.”

 

Across the United States, Marriage Equality USA chapters will be hosting local celebrations. “Marriage equality is popping up all over, so we will celebrate with an Iowa staple…. popcorn….which we will hand out in partnership with local movie houses across the state,” said Molly McKay Media Director of Marriage Equality USA. “We are so glad to see that the value of fairness and equality for all has resonated today in America’s Heartland. The tradition of extending civil rights to all minorities continues and that is a good thing.”

 

“Iowa joins the growing number of states that recognize that marriage discrimination is both un-American and unconstitutional. Our country is a nation which guarantees the rights of all of its citizens to be treated equally under the law,” said Stuart Gaffney Marriage Equality USA Asian Pacific Islander Outreach Director. “Just a generation ago, my parents were legally married in California, because the California Supreme Court overturned the state’s law prohibiting interracial couples from marrying, but faced government discrimination against their marriage when they moved to Missouri and waited until 1967 for the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the bans on interracial marriage. My husband, John, and I married in California last year, and we believe that marriage discrimination against same-sex couples will end soon, too, and that our marriage will be recognized throughout the country.”

 

“While we celebrate history being made in Iowa today, we must remember that federal law continues to deny all same-sex couples access to the 1,138 federal rights, benefits, and protections that come with civil marriage recognition at the federal level. The federal government continues to maintain a second class citizenry in direct violation of the equal protection guarantees contained in the U.S. Constitution.” stated Davina Kotulski, Ph.D. Author of Why You Should Give A Damn About Gay Marriage, who spoke last week about marriage equality with students from Iowa State and Drake Universities hosted by Lynn Fallon and her husband, Former State Legislator and marriage equality pioneer Ed Fallon, and the Marriage Equality USA-Central Iowa chapter. “We will not rest until there is equal justice under law for all Gay Americans.”