LGBTQ news and entertainment
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has already filed a request for a federal judge to stay any order regarding same-sex marriage she may issue.
Van Hollen, a Republican, filed the motion to stay on today in advance of any future order.
During an interview with WISN-TV last weekend, Van Hollen said he expects the state to lose its case. Many court watchers feel this further telegraphs a sense that Van Hollen expects U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb to rule against the state.
The current March cover story of Milwaukee Magazine examines the possible economic benefits of same-sex marriage should the state of Wisconsin were to legalize it. The headline on the cover – “For Love & Money: Same-sex marriage is big business and Wisconsin is losing out on millions.”
A customer to Sendik’s Fine Foods in Brookfield, Wisconsin, took the photo above showing a black card had been placed in front of the magazine in some form of censorship. When the customer asked why the black card, a clerk said the ownership deemed the cover photo ‘inappropriate’.
Milwaukee Magazine editor Kurt Chandler told the blog Romenesko:
We anticipated there would be reaction to the cover photo and the story. I’m disappointed the reaction in this case came in the form of censorship. More constructive would be an open dialogue about Wisconsin’s ban on same-sex marriage.
Gov. Scott Walker says having a state-wide constitutional ban on marriage equality makes for a “healthy balance” in Wisconsin.
Said Walker: “In Wisconsin, we’ve had anti-discriminatory laws that are very similar to [ENDA] for more than 30 years and they work quite effectively. We’re also a state that has a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as one man and one woman… I mean, we’ve not had problems. We’ve had no problems — I should say, limited problems — with [anti-discrimination laws]. At the same time, we still have a constitutional amendment that defines marriage. There’s a healthy balance there.
Chilling behavior in the Wisconsin state Senate
By a party line vote of 17-15 yesterday the Wisconsin state Senate approved a bill requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before an abortion so that “they know they are killing a live baby.”
Democrats demanded further debate but GOP Senate President Mike Ellis (above) screamed, “The vote is non-debatable!” as he broke his gavel.
According the Associated Press, the microphone for the Democratic Minority Leader was then turned off.
As a result of the anti-woman Senate Bill 206:
-a woman who wants to receive an abortion in Wisconsin must first get information from a doctor 24 hours before that abortion
-she must receive an ultrasound. Earlier the requirement was for a transvaginal ultrasound, but an amendment was adopted by voice vote June 11th to allow the ulstrasound of the the woman’s choosing. Link to amendment
-if the ultrasound occurs at a location other than the abortion clinic then the doctor performing it must fill out a form which must be presented to the physician at the abortion clinic
-if the professionals aiding the woman do not properly give information and implement this informed consent procedure they risk a fine of $1,000 to $10,000
-the bill adds new punitive fines if a person successfully sues for liability against the clinic professionals for not exercising the informed consent process properly
If the GOP wanted to actually reduce abortions then improving Sex Ed & making birth control options more readily available would be a better approach.
(via Blue Cheddar)
Former (and famous) Green Bay Packer Leroy Butler has lost out on an $8,500 speaking gig for praising Jason Collins on Twitter.
A church in Wisconsin pulled the plug on the contracted gig after noticing Butler congratulated Jason Collins for coming out of the closet, citing a morality clause.
Here’s how he responded (read bottom to top):
“Wow, I was scheduled to speak at a church in WI, and a member said that the pastor wants to cancel my event. I said ok why? Then I was told, because I said congrats to Jason Collins on Twitter,” Butler wrote. “I said really? we have a contract, he said check the moral cause, FYI the fee was $8,500, then I was told if I removed the tweet, and apologize and ask god forgiveness, I can have the event. I said no, only god can judge.”
(via Instinct)
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin holds a nine-point lead over former Governor Tommy Thompson in the closely watched U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin, according to a new poll from Marquette University Law School.
The 50% to 41% advantage marks a reversal for Baldwin, who trailed Thompson by nine points in a Marquette poll last month.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that while Baldwin firmed up support among Democrats following the convention in Charlotte, her biggest shift came from independents. Thompson held steady among Republicans with support around 93%, while the poll showed President Barack Obama jumped to a 14-point lead over Mitt Romney in Wisconsin, compared to a three-point lead last month.
Should she win, Baldwin would be the first openly gay senator.
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| Gov. Scott Walker |
From ThinkProgress: Wisconsin Judge Juan Colas ruled that Governor Scott Walker’s (R-WI) law eliminating collective bargaining rights for public-sector unions was unconstitutional under both the Wisconsin and United States constitutions.
The law, which does not save the state any money but crushes the political and economic influence of unions, has been in effect for roughly one year.
It is unclear, per ABC’s reporting, whether union restrictions will be suspended immediately pending a likely Walker appeal.
State Senator Mark Pocan of Wisconsin cruised to a huge victory in his primary in hopes of taking the US Congressional seat currently held by Rep. Tammy Baldwin.
Pocan got 72% of the vote in a four way primary. His strongest challenge came from Rep. Kelda Helen Roys, who only garnered about 22% of the vote.
Being a heavily Democratic district, this makes Pocan, who is openly gay, on track to replace Tammy Baldwin, who is stepping down as she runs for US Senate. If she wins her race, Baldwin will become the first out senator in the nation and the first woman to represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate.
So the long and short of it is: after out spending challenger Tom Barrett on a scale of 8 to 1, Gov. Scott Walker remains the governor in Wisconsin. With 99% of the vote in, Walker beat Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) by seven percentage points, 53%-46%, which was almost identical to the margin in their 2010 contest.
What apparently helped Walker – besides 75% of his campaign money coming from out of state – was 60% in exit polls said that recalls are legitimate only for official misconduct, which they didn’t feel was the case here.
However, a couple of bright spots for Democrats from the evening:
1. The Obama White House and Chicago campaign headquarters can take comfort that the exit poll shows Obama beating Romney by seven points, 51%-44%, and it even shows him slightly ahead of Romney on improving the economy, 42%-38%.
2. Wisconsin Democrats appeared to have assumed control of the state Senate with results posted early Wednesday showing former Sen. John Lehman (D-Racine) defeating incumbent Van Wanggaard in a tight race.
Voters across Wisconsin are relaying stories via Twitter, Facebook and online message boards about anonymous “robocalls” from allies of Scott Walker, telling them–incorrectly–that if they signed petitions to recall Governor Walker, their vote in today’s crucial election has been recorded.
An NBC reporter tweeted that a family friend was one recipient of the call:
Tom Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee and the Democratic nominee to unseat Governor Scott Walker, told MSNBC host Ed Schultz last night that his campaign began receiving complaints yesterday that voters had been contacted with the misinformation. This morning, Salon reported on the robocalls too, and included comments from Carol Gibbons, a Wisconsin resident who got the call herself. And a local CBS affiliate is even reporting that the caller sounds eerily similar to Tom Barrett, suggesting the group behind the call may have hired a Barrett impersonator.
So far no recording of the call has surfaced, but the reports from voters was enough to prompt the Barrett campaign to make calls of its own, warning voters not to listen to the first call. For its part, the Walker campaign denied any involvement in or knowledge of the robocall or who was behind it.
Election day antics were a near certainty in Wisconsin. In the last week, reports of other campaign antics surfaced, including an attempt by Walker supporters to disable the Barrett campaign’s phone lines by flooding their call centers with spam phone calls.
(source)