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The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend:
"a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."

He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior." (CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)


Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:
"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).

"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008



Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:

A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist."
(Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)

"A nutty lesbian blogger."
(MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)


Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.
--Impeach Bush


who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.
--"Joe"

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Victory in Maryland! Court of Appeals Throws Out Anti-Trans Ballot Initiative in Montgomery County

by: tfeminist

Tue Sep 09, 2008 at 13:27:37 PM EDT


( - promoted by Pam Spaulding)

Breaking news: The Maryland Court of Appeals has thrown out an anti-trans ballot iniative.  From Equality Maryland:

MARYLAND HIGH COURT THROWS OUT REFERENDUM PETITION THAT ATTEMPTED TO OVERTURN A TRANSGENDER ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAW   (Annapolis, September 9, 2008) -
Today, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that an inadequate referendum petition to block a unanimously enacted transgender protection law may not go on the ballot for the November general election, and the law must be allowed to go into effect. The high court reversed the decision of a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge, who had previously ruled that the referendum effort to overturn the law should be allowed on the November ballot, despite the acknowledgement that the petition did not carry the legally required number of signatures.

Today's ruling by the high court is the final word on the fate of the referendum.  "The bottom line is that the court said a petition sponsor shouldn't be allowed to cut corners and circumvent legal requirements to get a referendum attacking minority protections on the ballot," said Natalie Chin, Staff Attorney at Lambda Legal. "We are very happy that this duly enacted law can take effect and protect a vulnerable group of Montgomery County residents." 

tfeminist :: Victory in Maryland! Court of Appeals Throws Out Anti-Trans Ballot Initiative in Montgomery County

A little note:  I spent over a month and a half and many late nights assisting in the preperation of the final evidence for this case with Lisa Mottet from National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Anna Lucas and Briget from Equality Maryland, and a small handful of other dedicated volunteers. This included many late nights pouring over thousands of signatures.  So I am so happy to see this effort was a success.

This is a huge victory for trans and gender variant individuals in Montgomery County, Maryland, but also across the US.  

Normally I do not do this either.  I have to thank EVERY queer organization in DC and Maryland for being so supportive of this effort, including the HRC.  All of them deserve credit,  they contributed both money and recruited volunteers for this effort lead by Lambda, Equality Maryland, Equal Rights Montgomery, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.   

 

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Oops...its Basic Rights Montgomery
Sorry for the error.  Its basic rights Montgomery.  

Definitely good news
but too bad the decision is based upon the technicalities of submitting a ballot initiative rather than on the issue itself.  Still a giant plus.  

Well...
As I understand it, that was the only issue in the case.

I, of course, assume that the same christianist Palindrones who tried to shortchange the initiative process will also try to get challenge the substance of the law in court.

Kat

>^..^<


[ Parent ]
They can't
Usually when a Court of Appeals strikes down a petition like this, even when its on technicalities, it usually signals that the court would probably uphold the substance of the ordinance itself as well.  Basically speaking...the court decision killed any legal challenges to the act itself.  It also signaled which way the Court of Appeals will lean on civil rights matters involving queer people, even if it was not explicit in the decision.  
They decided on technicalities, because that was all that was at issue, and the court applied a very strict standard.  From being close to the case I can tell you, we were hopeful this would be the case, as previous precedent in Maryland suggested it would be.  

[ Parent ]
Concur, in my understanding of the different courts.
GREAT WORK ... all .. LETS Spread NON-Discrimination all across this land with a fully inclusive ENDA.

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.


[ Parent ]
I agree, but...
Usually when a Court of Appeals strikes down a petition like this, even when its on technicalities, it usually signals that the court would probably uphold the substance of the ordinance itself as well.  Basically speaking...the court decision killed any legal challenges to the act itself.

All I was commenting on was the tendency for the court-hatin' christianists to be overly-litigious.

I still say someone among them will either file suit preemptively or bring in the ACLJ or the (cough, hack) Liberty Counsel to attack it whenever the first case is filed pursuant to the law.

I'm not saying they'll win; I'm just saying they'll do something to occupy our time, energy and financial resoources.

Kat

>^..^<


[ Parent ]
congrats to all
who fought this fight or in any way supported this.
Every victory is critical right now, with the possibility of having Caribou Barbie and her Domionist friends controlling the government in a year or two should disease catch up wih candidate McCain

I tell you Chica that no greater abomination exists than women denying their spirit of sisterhood and instead becoming the oppressor. -Rebeca, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

OUTSTANDING!
Such exciting news.  It's refreshing to see Laws being upheld in the Country for a change.

Besser ein ende mit Schrecken als ein Schrecken ohne ende

Excellent news
One less hate campaign to worry about.  For now....

"Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain" -- Iowa state motto

Awesome!
I donated $$ to Equality Maryland to help defeat the initiative.
Glad to see we triumphed. Way to go, gals and guys!

Victory
Thanks to all who contributed their time and effort to defend our trans civil rights law. The attack may have been limited to Montgomery County as a test case, but it was directed at all of us.

While the petition drive was focused solely on predation and bathrooms, the petition could only be challenged on petition issues and process unrelated to content. The 1st amendment protects all but the most hateful of speech, and the fear-mongering was sufficient for them to collect 26,000 inadequately signed signatures. Turns out they didn't make the cut, even with fraudulent and poorly canvassed signatures counted in the mix.

We have no idea why the Court ruled as it did, and while they were certainly aware of the law's content, it's unlikely they took that primarily into account. The Board of Elections messed up badly, the circuit court let them get away with it, and it took our highest court to set the law straight.

Now it's on to extending these protections to all the residents of Maryland. Anyone who lives in District 16 -- Bethesda -- please lobby your liberal Senator, Brian Frosh.

Dr. Dana


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