Tag: Alabama

Posted on

Human Rights Campaign launches Southern initiative – Project One America

Based on the fact that people are far less inclined to oppose equal rights for gays and lesbians when they know someone who is gay, the Human Rights Campaign will begin a three state project involving “front porch visits” and one-on-one chats in an effort to develop a more open environment for people of all sexual orientations in the South.

Via HRC press release:

Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) announced Project One America (POA), a comprehensive campaign to dramatically expand LGBT equality in the South through permanent campaigns in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. This substantial and lasting initiative—with a three year budget of $8.5 million and a dedicated staff of 20—is the largest coordinated campaign for LGBT equality in the history of the South.

“Right now, this country is deeply divided into two Americas—one where LGBT equality is nearly a reality and the other where LGBT people lack the most fundamental measures of equal citizenship. Project One America is an unparalleled effort to close that gap, and it opens up a bold, new chapter in the LGBT civil rights movement of this generation. In this grand struggle for equality, we can’t write off anyone, anywhere,” said HRC President and Arkansas native Chad Griffin.

Project One America is the very first campaign of its kind to work exclusively on LGBT equality in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas—where there are no non-discrimination protections for LGBT people at the state or local level in employment, housing or public accommodations, and where each state’s constitution expressly prohibits marriage equality.

“Despite the legal landscape, it’s long past time that the country stopped treating the South like the ‘finish line’ for equality. HRC has more than 57,000 members and supporters in these states, and there are millions more fair-mined people ready to stand on the right side of history,” Griffin said.

Posted on

Alabama: Lawsuit filed regarding recognition of same-sex marriages from other states

A gay man in Alabama has filed suit against the state challenging the current ban on same-sex marriage.

Paul Hard filed the suit hoping to repeal laws banning legal recognition of his marriage that was performed in Massachusetts.

From SeattlePi.com: 

Plaintiff Paul Hard and David Fancher, both of Montgomery, were married in 2011. Three months later, Fancher was killed in a car accident.

Hard says hospital staff initially refused to speak with him, and Fancher’s death certificate says he died unmarried. Hard is also not recognized as the surviving spouse in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Posted on

The Daily Show – Which state will legalize marriage equality last?

The Birmingham News has a recap of The Daily Show’s funny assessment of “which state will be the last to legalize marriage equality”:

Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” put its satirical eye on Alabama Tuesday night, asking what people in Alabama – a state the show noted “still has segregated sororities” – and our cousins in Mississippi really think about gay rights. One segment of the show, “Last Gay Standing,” was built around a prediction made by Nate Silver, likely the nation’s most famous elections and sports statistician, that a majority of voters in a majority of states would approve gay marriage in a ballot initiative by 2020.

“The states that are probably going to be the slowest to move toward legalization are mostly in the South, particularly in the Deep South,” Silver told The Daily Show correspondent Al Madrigal. “In particular, Alabama and Mississippi are maybe the last two.” Former U.S. Attorney for North Alabama Doug Jones and Mississippi newspaper columnist Slim Smith told Madrigal the same: each suggested that their respective states would be the last to approve gay marriage in the U.S. But then The Daily Show started pushing real buttons.

Posted on

Alabama: High school teacher tells students “I don’t like queers”

A northern Alabama high school teacher is being investigated after a student recorded him making derogatory statements about gays and First Lady Michelle Obama.

School district officials are investigating allegations that a Lauderdale County High School teacher made slurs in the presence of students regarding first lady Michelle Obama and gays.

Superintendent Jennifer Gray confirmed the investigation concerns the school’s head football coach, Bob Grisham, who also teaches driver’s education and psychology.

The investigation includes a 1-minute, 24-second audiotape of Grisham asking who knows who is behind the 600-calorie school lunch. “Fat butt Michelle Obama,” he said. “Look at her. She looks like she weighs 185 or 190. She’s overweight.”

Male voices interject comments during the discussion, at one point referring to Michelle Obama as a “fat gorilla.”

Later in the tape, Grisham referred to the U.S. as going in the “wrong direction” and tells the students they can “get pissed off at me or not. You can go tell the principal, call the superintendent and tell her. I don’t believe in queers. I don’t like queers, I don’t hate them as a person, but what they do is wrong and an abomination against God.”

The tape was reportedly recorded by a student Monday and took place on school campus during the school day.

Grisham told the TimesDaily on Wednesday afternoon he misspoke. “I misspoke in a debate-type situation,” he said. “I have no hatred toward anyone or any group. People that know my heart, they know that.”

Check out the audio recording above.