At least one major Yes on 8 contributor is regretting spending the piggy bank on defeating marriage equality in California. After dumping $539,000 in the coffers of the Yes on 8 campaign as well as an additional $83,000 in non-monetary support, James Dobson's Colorado Springs-based Focus on Family organization announced today that it was cutting 202 jobs, raising the total number of layoffs this year to 950.

Mark Lewis, a Colorado Springs resident who organized a No on 8 protest this past Saturday said:

“If I were their membership I would be appalled that [Focus on the Family] would spend any money on anything that’s obviously going to get blocked in the courts is just sad. [Prop. 8] is guaranteed to lose, in the long run it doesn’t have a chance — it’s just a waste of money.”

While the 7th largest contributor to the Yes on 8 Campaign, Focus has seen better days. Their Christian book, CD & DVD sales have slashed by competition with big box store like Wal-Mart and has laid off employees for the last three years in a row.

This is so so sad. Oh, wait, it's awesome! Perhaps the laid-off workers will find new jobs in California– and as they're asking if you would like fries with that, at least they'll be secure in the knowledge that their shitty minimum-wage lifestyle is protected from the dark, dank horrors of gay marriage.

As reported earlier, Attorney General Jerry Brown submitted his response to three lawsuits made my marriage equality advocates seeking to overturn Prop. 8. The Attorney General:

"Steered clear of taking a position on the validity of the voter-approved ballot measure, which restored California's ban on gay marriages. Instead, the attorney general argued that the justices must agree to review legal challenges to Proposition 8 to "provide certainty and finality in this matter."

While Brown's position is that all the marriages performed before Nov. 4 are still legal, he asked the court not to issue a stay on the gay marriage ban as it would cause further confusion. None of the proceedings today dealt with the issue of the validity of Prop. 8, but rather, whether the court should address the question.

CONTINUED »

» Polis Wins Big!

Thirty-three year old homo-politico Jared Polis won his Colorado Congressional race hands down yesterday: he received 60% of the votes. Said Polis of his win: "I look forward to taking my out-of-the- box approach and creative ideas to help shake up Washington." Out of the box? Indeed. [Denver Post]

  Respond
» Gay "Backfire."

"In his liberal Colorado district, it's no big deal that Jared Polis is gay. Yet his expected victory Nov. 4 in a congressional race would be a historic milestone and, he hopes, send an encouraging message to gay and lesbian young people nationwide… 'Sexual orientation has been a non-issue in our district. …If any of my opponents tried to raise it, it would backfire,' Polis said in a telephone interview." [AP]

  Respond
» Deserving?

"[Anti-gay] Focus on the Family plans to restructure its distribution arm, a move that will affect 46 employees through layoffs or reassignment next year." [The Gazette]

  3 Responses
Business Man Wins Colorado's 2nd District


It looks like Congress will soon have a new homo-politico.

Colorado-based Jared Polis won his Congressional primary last night, beating out long-time lawmaker Joan Fitz-Gerald. An entrepreneur who also sat on his state's Education Board, Polis based much of his campaign on Iraq and environmental sustainability. And, from the sound of it, his constituents liked what they see.

Fitz-Gerald pulled out before all the votes had been counted, when Polis had forty-three percent of the vote, while she had thirty-nine.

Accepting the Democratic nomination last night, Polis spoke of breaking boundaries: "This election cycle, a lot of barriers are being broken. At the congressional level, we are showing that people are willing to elect a candidate based on their values and ideas and not their sexual orientation."

CONTINUED »

» Words…

"Sexual orientation shouldn't be a barrier to participation in the public sphere. It's a difficult issue for my opponents to try to use against me overtly without a backlash," he says, "but there have been some jabs, insinuations and whisper campaigns." - Colorado Congressional hopeful Jared Polis on today's primary. If he wins, Polis has a good chance of being the third openly gay Congressman. He spoke with us last April. [Time]

  1 Response
» No Brainer.

"The beating murder of a Colorado transgender teen [Justin "Angie" Zapata] last week has left detectives stumped and friends wondering if it was a hate crime." [Fox News]

  Respond

focusonfamilyad.jpg
Continuing their grand tradition of inciting sexual panic, Focus on the Family released this ad in the Colorado Tribune. They're evidently still pissed off about the state's trans-inclusive non-discrimination bill.

We can't quite make out the small print, but can see that it begins "Human decency dictates…" As if these people know anything about human decency - remember that vile radio ad claiming trans folk would prey on small children? Well, they're at it again with yet another radio ad decrying "sexual predators."

» Brain Trust.

An off-duty police officer in Colorado threw the first punch against a man he and his son thought was cruising them. The man, it turned out, simply had a lazy eye. And these people carry guns. [Towleroad]

  1 Response
» Unbelievable.

We know the right wing's wacky, but we have no idea how Virtue Online turned a queer-inclusive non-discrimination bill into this: "A new Colorado law is helping homosexual activists achieve their goal of forcing Christians to teach biblical condemnation of homosexuality only behind the closed doors of their sanctuaries." [Virtue Online]

  12 Responses
» Pumping.

Boulder-based homo-politico Jared Polis gave his Congressional campaign another $2.1 million, which brings his total self-contribution to $3.7 million. Polis once told us that his campaign has grown slowly because he doesn't accept money from PACs. Our friends from Colorado, however, say Polis has simply been having trouble fighting the fundraising power of his well-known opponent, Joan Fitz-Gerald. [KRDO]

  1 Response

bill_ritter-1.jpg
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter made many a homo happy this weekend.

The politico sealed the legislative deal and signed a comprehensive non-discrimination bill, which includes sexual orientation and gender identity. While Ritter tried to keep fan fare to a minimum didn't release a statement, Senator Jennifer Veiga offered her congratulations, "I think it's a step in the right direction for Coloradans and civil rights."

Official silence didn't keep the righteous Focus On The Family from voicing their opposition. Founder James Dobson claims that Colorado's lawmakers are as "radical" as those in California and just want to "appease" the gays. Not that we're surprised by such an insane argument - Focus did did release those wretchedly panicked ads equating queers with sexual predators.

helen_lovejoy_children.jpg
Sick.

That's the only word to describe a new Focus On The Family radio ad describing trans folk as "predators" who want nothing more than the feed off the flesh of the state's students.

The commercial comes as Governor Bill Ritter debates whether or not to sign or veto a Senate Bill including sexuality and gender identity in the state's non-discrimination legislation. And you can bet Focus and their friends are pulling out all the stops to raise public panic.

Give the audio a listen, after the jump.

CONTINUED »

burnsschroeder.jpg
America sure can be screwy sometimes.! Here we have a country that's supposed to be all about equal rights and the such, and then we have something like this:

A lesbian couple who staged a sit-in at the Denver Clerk and Recorder's Office after being denied a marriage license was found guilty today of trespassing.

Within minutes of the verdict by an all-woman Denver County Court jury, Judge James Breese sentenced Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder to 28 hours of community service each and ordered each to pay $41 in court costs.

Breese said he was imposing no jail time because the women conducted themselves in a "rational and calm" manner when they sought the marriage license last fall and during the sit-in after it was refused.

Well, at least there's some rationality in all this irrational, illiberal garbage.



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