I've made it to the initial round for favorite progressive blogger in the Air America Cruise Contest. I have to stay in the Top 5 before the second voting round begins, so your vote is appreciated! First voting round:
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.
Today the Human Rights Campaign launched a national, grassroots campaign called "No Excuses" to demand action from Congress on key issues of equality. Designed to take advantage of the Congressional summer recess when members are in their local offices and meeting with constituents, "No Excuses" will mobilize HRC's 750,000 members and their allies to meet directly with lawmakers and push for federal legislative change. Members and supporters can be involved by visiting: http://noexcuses.hrc.org.
Said HRC President Joe Solmonese of the effort:
"While we salute and acknowledge the heroic members of Congress who have worked tirelessly on our behalf, far too many have dragged their feet on basic matters of fairness and equality that have lingered too long and hurt too many LGBT people and their families. Yes, there are many challenges facing this Congress and this President. But LGBT people often face additional hardship protecting their families, their loved ones and their jobs, and too few in Congress are willing to champion these issues of basic fairness. Now, more than ever, members of the LGBT community need to make their voices heard face-to-face and in the districts where they live."
The in-district meetings will focus on the following key legislative priorities in the 111th Congress:
Repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which denies legally married lesbian and gay couples more than 1,000 federal protections;
Prohibit workplace discrimination for the LGBT community by passing an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA);
Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell to ensure that service members who contribute to our nation's security are no longer summarily discharged for who they are;
Pass immigration reform that recognizes permanent same-sex couples and ends the painful separation of families;
Provide health benefits equally to the nearly 3 million federal government employees, including same-sex domestic partners.
Compare that to the full civil rights goals outlined in The Dallas Principles. They are below the fold.
My fellow co-authors of The Dallas Principles, Juan and Ken Ahonen-Jover, decided to sit down and write an address that this President, if he is serious about being a "fierce advocate" could deliver. They crafted it based on the Proclamation issued by President Obama on June 1, 2009 to proclaim June 2009 as the LGBT Pride Month.
In recognition of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion, many people anticipate that the White House will announce a significant package of LGBT equality measures and that the President will deliver a speech on equality in front of a large audience.
The following is a speech we hope President Obama would deliver. We humbly recognize we cannot match his eloquence and rhetorical power; we put this forward as an example of the content we would expect from someone who has called himself a fierce advocate for full equality.
Below the fold, an address to the nation (and to the spineless people who represent us on the Hill) that the President could craft in support of civil rights.
While some of you might want to take the word of Rich Tafel, former head of the Log Cabin Republicans with a grain of salt, this fundamental truth in his Advocate commentary isn't partisan. The Dems, long out of power, haven't had to worry about LGBTs demanding action on civil rights legislation. Now that there are precious few barriers, they are as spineless and paranoid as ever about being assertive regarding our issues.
"They've got a vision. They've got a plan"
This was what Joe Solmonese, head of the Human Rights Campaign, assured LGBT Americans after his White House visit.
What Joe and the national gay movement don't realize is that it is not the Obama administration's job to have a vision and a plan -- that's the LGBT community's leadership job.
This lack of vision is the biggest roadblock to gay equality in America today -- we don't have vision and we don't have a plan.
...In 2009 we now have the most gay-friendly president possible in the White House, and the Republicans are politically irrelevant. But it's happening again. This time Barney Frank is telling us that we should wait until 2010 to address "don't ask, don't tell."
"People have to understand the political pressures," he said in a Roll Call article headlined "Frank: Democrats Punting on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Until 2010."
Our vision is not their vision. We need a movement that speaks truth to power. We want marriage equality now. We need to undo the damage signed into law the last time we confused our vision with their vision -- "don't ask, don't tell" and DOMA. Advocates are not willing to wait.
I don't fault the Democrats for doing what is in their best interest. I just want LGBT leaders who will fight for ours. Until we have leaders who can say, "We have a vision and we have a plan," we are missing the historic opportunities that this administration offers us.
We have frequently laughed at the ineffectiveness of the LCR in moving the GOP out of the dark ages, but what Tafel is saying is sadly true -- our faithful votes and dollars are taken by the Dems without fear of consequence if they stall and stammer about what they can't do. The can suddenly claim the inability to multi-task or even give a straight answer to a question that passes the smell test. They can put our agenda off because they fear no blowback.
But the bottom line is that's not the fault of our organizations -- it is just as much our responsibility -- each of us, for demanding clarity, transparency, dialog with that change, particularly when you decide where you want to send your hard-earned money and offer your spare time to work for change. It's exactly what we're talking about in The Dallas Principles.
The following eight guiding principles underlie our call to action.
In order to achieve full civil rights now, we avow:
1.Full civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals must be enacted now. Delay and excuses are no longer acceptable.
2.We will not leave any part of our community behind.
3.Separate is never equal.
4.Religious beliefs are not a basis upon which to affirm or deny civil rights.
5.The establishment and guardianship of full civil rights is a non-partisan issue.
6.Individual involvement and grassroots action are paramount to success and must be encouraged.
7.Success is measured by the civil rights we all achieve, not by words, access or money raised.
8.Those who seek our support are expected to commit to these principles.
People need to wake up, including our President, the Democratic Congress, all of us. Waiting for leadership is clearly not an option. We can't afford to sit back and expect civil rights to be delivered by the tentative, comfortable set while too many of us have our jobs, families and lives at risk because of passivity and inaction at all levels, including our own. Sign up, speak out. Being treated like reliable and well-worn doormats and ATMs has to be a thing of the past.
(UPDATE: Nadine has responded to questions raised in the comments. See below the fold.)
Nadine Smith of Equality Florida wrote this timely and valid piece, "'No Excuses. No Delays.' Do we really mean it?" and asked me to post it on the Blend to generate discussion.
It's a fair question to ask -- what are we really willing to sacrifice to call attention to the severity of the discrimination that profoundly our day-to-day lives?
At a recent speaking engagement, I asked a group of people what the world would be like if from the day they were born prejudice had never touched their lives.
No homophobic bullying in school. Supportive families at homes No trans-bashing humor on TV. No workplace discrimination. Equal treatment of all families regardless or orientation or gender identity. No closet, ever, because you had never, ever needed one.
Most of the people responded by talking about new laws that would be in effect but they struggled to name the deeper, more personal impact on the texture of their daily lives. A few talked about what they would no longer fear but struggled to articulate what affirmative would replace those fears.
And one man wept and said it broke his heart that he could not imagine, even for a moment, what his life would have been without the constant presence of bigotry and hatred he'd endured for more than 60 years.
I encourage everyone to try this exercise because it is surprisingly difficult, and because I believe it is the pathway to our most potent tools in response to government-imposed second class citizenship:
A Sense of Urgency and the >Willingness to Sacrifice to harness the transformational power of living "as if." "As if" the laws had already changed. "As if" society were just.
Sitting at a lunch counter that bans your presence is living "as if". Keeping your seat when ordered to relinquish it to someone the law has designated your superior is living "as if."
As a child I was told that Rosa Parks was tired and fed up one fateful day and decided right then and there that she would not give up her seat. I was impressed by her courage.
Later, when I learned that her protest had been contemplated at length with the consequences fully measured, I was inspired even more deeply by her willingness to intentionally sacrifice her freedom and safety to make the country confront the ugliness of Jim Crow.
So where are the places where we contemplate the consequences of living "as if" equality had already arrived. Housing discrimination, workplace discrimination, adoption/ custody issues and hate violence are constant threats in LGBT lives, but not in inevitable or predictable ways. Where are the "sit-in" opportunities for the LGBT movement that can expose the contradiction between what our fellow Americans believe they stand for and what they allow to be done in their name?
Certainly discrimination in marriage laws and the military provide the most direct opportunities. These are the places the law defines us specifically as unequal, where we can make a reliable appointment with discrimination and be certain it will show up right on time.
Servicemembers who come out while on active duty and fight for the right to continue to do their jobs are a model for this kind of personal commitment and sacrifice. They decide not to participate in their own discrimination. They and the organizations fighting for them are shifting public opinion in dramatic ways.
What is the civilian equivalent? What can we do that demonstrates not only the rhetoric of equality but the personal sacrifice that will awaken the conscience of a nation?
Media consultant extraordinaire Joel Silberman wrote a great post in support of The Dallas Principles and I asked him to let me share that, along with his video, with you on the Blend. -- Pam
I sat glued to my television. President Obama was addressing the nation in front of the United States Constitution at the National Archives. For sure I thought, he was going to announce an end to all the discrimination against those of us in the LGBT community. After all, he was talking about the rule of law. Here was our Constitution teacher-in-chief and he was going to end the unconstitutional policy of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Well... as I watched our President, followed by the former Vice President, it was obvious that no such pronouncements were to take place.
Yesterday, as I watched our first African American President nominate a Hispanic woman to the Supreme Court (imagine that 40 years ago!), and I thought, finally the time has come when he will use this historic moment to announce that gay Americans deserve the same civil rights granted all Americans and call for the end of Don't Ask Don't Tell and the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, actions promised during the campaign when we were asked to give money to see him elected.
But this was not that moment.
As a middle-age gay American, I'd like to think that being gay is the least interesting thing about me. But it's not when I'm being denied the civil rights promised all Americans in the Constitution - liberty and justice for all. What part of all am I? The time for full equality for all is now. Separate is never equal. No delays. No Excuses.
On May 16-17 twenty-four committed donors, activists and thinkers from the LGBT community came together in Dallas and put together a document called - The Dallas Prinicples. I commend them for it. Two of the people who attended this convening called me with great excitement and asked me to sign on.
THE DALLAS PRINCIPLES
The following eight guiding principles underlie our call to action. In order to achieve full civil rights now, we avow:
1. Full civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals must be enacted now. Delay and excuses are no longer acceptable.
2. We will not leave any part of our community behind.
3. Separate is never equal.
4. Religious beliefs are not a basis upon which to affirm or deny civil rights.
5. The establishment and guardianship of full civil rights is a non-partisan issue.
6. Individual involvement and grassroots action are paramount to success and must be encouraged.
7. Success is measured by the civil rights we all achieve, not by words, access or money raised.
8. Those who seek our support are expected to commit to these principles.
After reading the principles I signed on immediately and I urge each of you, gay and straight, to do as I did. Go to the website - www.thedallasprinciples.org -- and go here to sign on.
This is not a veiled ask for money. It is a gathering of grassroots activists and the more of us who simply show-up and sign-on, the faster we move to the promise of full equality.
Last week's Don't Ask Don't Tell witch-hunts only bring home the terrible waste of military talent being thrown away for being gay when we need them most. Full equality is civil rights for all. When anyone's civil rights are denied all of our civil rights are diminished. It's really simple and its time to make it the law of the land for all of us.
Many of my friends have asked why these principles and what distinguishes them from those of other gay organizations. To me the difference is accountability. Right now I have made a promise to myself that I will only support organizations, businesses, and political leaders who actively support my values. If they don't, they won't get any of my time or money - pure and simple. It's time to put principles ahead of politics and personas.
I ask each of you to go to the website - www.thedallasprinciples.org - and sign on. More than that I urge you to make a simple video stating your support of the principles. The more we put faces on these principles, the faster we effect political change. We are not statistics. We are Americans asking for the promise of our country - liberty and justice for all.
Visit The Dallas Principles... * On Facebook * On Twitter * On YouTube. Here are some of the videos voicing why now is the time to provide full civil rights to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in this country:
I'm never particularly comfortable in front of the camera, but here you go...it's like take #50. But the message is sincere, not scripted, (thus the multiple do-overs). I was just winging it from what I expressed in my original post introducing The Dallas Principles. But this is what it's about -- grassroots efforts, not a lot of polish!
PAM SPAULDING: Hi. I'm Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend.com, and I'm here to talk to you about why I support The Dallas Principles. It's time to take a fresh look at the equality movement and how we can best achieve full civil rights under the law for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in this country faster.
In 2008, people turned out for change, and the voted in unprecedented numbers. Here in North Carolina, people voted for change by electing the first woman as governor of the state as well as flipping us from Red to Blue.
Unfortunately, for those of us who are LGBT North Carolinians, we don't have full civil rights under the law. There is no hate crimes legislation the books. There is no anti-discrimination law in place statewide.
What we have is a chance to make some difference at the federal level with your help. You can get involved by talking to your neighbors, your friends, your family, your legislators...and you can also share grassroots ideas about how to achieve full civil equality at the federal level by going to TheDallasPrinciples.org. I hope you'll join me. Thanks!
I actually shot a better version of it in HD, but for whatever reason, the file hosed my computer.
It's nice to see the effort get attention at this level. Jose Antonio Vargas gave an overview of the initiative, and from an interesting POV -- the use of technology to spread the word:
A gay rights movement that began in the streets has increasingly moved online. And last weekend, a diverse group of gay activists, bloggers, Democratic Party organizers and fundraisers from across the country came together in Dallas to discuss how to more aggressively advance their agenda.
...The group created a site, TheDallasPrinciples.org, where visitors can sign on and endorse the principles. (The endorsers will be asked to participate in targeted activities such as calling their elected representatives to help pass a piece of legislation.) It also launched a Facebook fan page and Twitter account. Soon, people can post a video on the group's YouTube account explaining why they support The Dallas Principles.
The YouTube Channel is up and running. I plan to add a video over the weekend. The Facebook Group is at 1476 fans so far. The WaPo piece also quoted from the first post on the Blend about launch of The Dallas Principles.
(Note: This post will be up top for the morning. New content is below.)
There were a lot of things I could have done this past weekend. Get to that pile of laundry, hit the pillow for some sorely-needed shut-eye, and, of course, spend quality time with my wife. But I hopped on a plane to meet with 23 other people at a hotel at the Dallas Fort Worth airport. Why?
The reason we gathered was to see how we could seize this special moment in history, to think outside of the box about how we can accelerate achieving full civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in this nation. I had no idea who was on the list of attendees, by the way (see the list below the fold).
President Obama and Congress pledged to lead America in a new direction that included civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. We now sit at a great moment in our history that inspires the nation to return to its highest ideals and greatest promise. We face a historic opportunity to obtain our full civil rights; this is the moment for change. No delay. No excuses.
Nearly forty years ago, a diverse group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people stood up to injustice at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. In doing so, they submitted themselves to bodily harm and criminal prosecution. Their demand was simple -- equal protection under the law.
Still today, full civil rights has eluded the same community that rioted forty years ago. Instead, untold sums of resources have been spent to divide our nation and turn our lives into a political football.
At several junctures in American history, the stars have aligned to deliver the promise of equal protection under the law to those previously denied. At this unique time in history, our nation must once again exercise the great tradition of making its people equal.
Justice has too long been delayed. A clear path toward full civil equality for the LGBT community is overdue and must come now.
Using fear and misunderstanding to justify discrimination is no longer acceptable in this nation. Those content with the way things are will be judged harshly by history. Those who do not actively advance these ideals or offer excuses will be judged just as harshly. Those who attempt to divide our community or to delay and deny action on civil equality, waiting for the right moment to arrive, will be held accountable.
We reject the idea that honoring the founding principles of our country is controversial. We believe in the inherent human dignity of all people. No longer will we submit our children, our family, our friends and ourselves as a political tool for any Party or ideology. A new day has arrived.
Here in my home state of North Carolina, we enthusiastically voted for change in 2008, turning out in unprecedented numbers, flipping North Carolina to Blue in the presidential election; we also elected a woman as our governor for the first time.
Despite these landmark changes, for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender North Carolinians, our newly Blue state does not see us as equal citizens under the law. We have not passed state hate crimes legislation; we can be fired from our jobs because of our sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. My marriage to my wife Kate -- we wed in Canada in 2004, is not recognized in this state. We are strangers under the law.
Sadly, too many of my fellow residents and state elected officials do not yet believe in extending full civil rights to tax-paying LGBT North Carolinians. It doesn't look like positive change here will come at the state level any time soon, either. That's why we need to work together at the federal level to bring us closer to full equality now.
The Principles, Goals, and Call to Action are below the fold.
Check out 
"While we salute and acknowledge the heroic members of Congress who have worked tirelessly on our behalf, far too many have dragged their feet on basic matters of fairness and equality that have lingered too long and hurt too many LGBT people and their families. Yes, there are many challenges facing this Congress and this President. But LGBT people often face additional hardship protecting their families, their loved ones and their jobs, and too few in Congress are willing to champion these issues of basic fairness. Now, more than ever, members of the LGBT community need to make their voices heard face-to-face and in the districts where they live."
My fellow co-authors of 
At a recent speaking engagement, I asked a group of people what the world would be like if from the day they were born prejudice had never touched their lives.
