California To Rule On Same-Sex Marriages On Thursday

Despite repeated legislative efforts for marriage equality that were vetoed by the Governator, California's Supreme Court is set to rule on the question of equal treatment in marriage law tomorrow.

Assuming that the court rules in favor of equality, it will be interesting to see what the response of anti-gay activists will be. After repeated majority votes to send gay marriage legislation to the governor for signature, it will be very difficult for those individuals opposed to equal government treatment to argue their standard "overruling the will of the majority" canard.

As always, Outright Libertarians and the Libertarian Party will continue to fight hard to advance marriage equality in California and every other state where it is not yet legal reality.

Outright Press Release On Bob Barr's Candidacy

The Executive Committee of Outright Libertarians today released the following statement regarding Bob Barr's candidacy for president:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Outright Libertarians Executive Committee Comments on Bob Barr's Declaration of Candidacy for the Libertarian Nomination

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO, SEATTLE, KNOXVILLE, PHILADELPHIA and ATLANTA -- This Monday, former Congressman (and recent LNC committee member) Bob Barr announced his candidacy for the Libertarian Nomination for President of the United States.

Many of you are wondering where Outright Libertarians stands on this recent development, and the short answer is this: our position has not changed.

We continue to strongly support Dr. George Phillies as our endorsed candidate. Dr. Phillies has shown the courage, character and commitment that Outright's membership seeks in a presidential nominee. A longtime Libertarian activist and longtime supporter of equality under the law for all people (including LGBT Americans), Dr. Phillies has established an enviable record of achievement in the fight for liberty.

His platform includes uncompromising support for the rights of LGBT Americans in military service, marriage, immigration, adoption, and tax treatment. He has been an implacable foe of the Defense of Marriage Act and the military's anti-gay recruitment policy since their inception. Most importantly, he has led important initiatives to fight for us everyday, while bringing the message of the Libertarian Party to LGBT people. We can think of no finer candidate, and are proud to reinforce our support for Dr. Phillies' candidacy.

Regarding Mr. Barr, we find that though he has shown some welcome evolution on the issues, he has a record that remains notably different from the other Libertarians in the race. Mr. Barr has not completed Outright's Candidate Survey, but is "on the record" regarding two issues key within the LGBT Libertarian community and the broader LGBT electoral base.

First, while we applaud the former Congressman's repudiation in the Wall Street Journal of the anti-gay military policy, and the evolution that this represents for Mr. Barr, his opinion on this issue simply moved into the Libertarian mainstream -- rather than pushing the debate forward. Every Libertarian candidate who has answered our survey -- plus Dr. Mary Ruwart (who has not yet answered our survey but is "on the record" on this issue) -- shares that view.

On the Defense of Marriage Act -- an odious law that Bob Barr co-sponsored as a Congressman -- his evolution has been far slower. We have discussed the law with him a number of times, and recently he has telegraphed support for repealing the half of the law that creates a federal definition of marriage. However, he has not consistently campaigned on this point, and seems reluctant to speak of it. An example of this reluctance may be heard at approximately 16:30 in the linked Atlanta radio interview with Mr. Barr.

In contrast, Democratic nomination candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has adopted a similar position, yet appears more willing to campaign upon it. Barack Obama has declared that he would repeal the law altogether.

Every Libertarian candidate who has completed our survey, as well as Dr. Ruwart, goes a major step further by calling for repeal of the law.

We believe that the difference between the Democratic and the Libertarian commitments on this issue is that while the two Democrats talk about doing something (despite a multi-year do-nothing record as Senators), Libertarians will fight from day one for us. We are not yet convinced that Mr. Barr would fight vigorously to promote his reluctantly-expressed position, a problem given that his position is the most statist of the serious Libertarian candidates in this race.

We welcome Bob Barr's engagement with the Libertarian Party, and are always delighted to welcome new Libertarians into the movement. We look forward to continuing to work with him as an LNC member or in any other role he takes within our Party. However, we must hold our presidential candidates to the highest possible standards, for the benefit of both our Party and LGBT Americans. In this regard, we believe that Bob Barr has quite a bit of work to do in order to enter the mainstream on LGBT issues in comparison to the other declared Libertarian candidates in this race. Just as many of us did when we first joined the LP, he needs to "steep in the brine of Liberty" for a while longer before running for nomination as our Party's standard-bearer.

Further, we note that regardless of who is nominated, the Libertarian Party will perform an invaluable service to the queer community in this election cycle -- even if the delegates ignore Outright's endorsement of George Phillies and instead choose Bob Barr as the Libertarian Party's nominee, the silver lining for the LGBT community will be that a Barr candidacy will almost certainly spoil any possible victory by John McCain.

In summary, recent news has only reinforced our commitment to Dr. George Phillies, and we encourage Outright members and supporters -- as well as all Libertarian Party convention delegates -- to support his candidacy in Denver with their votes, their ideas, and every other resource at their disposal.

About Outright: Outright Libertarians is the largest association of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Libertarian Party supporters. With hundreds of members across the United States, it is the intellectual and policy hub of the LGBT libertarian movement, serving as the voice for LGBT Americans within the Libertarian Party as well as a voice for Libertarian candidates in the LGBT community. Its web site is http://www.outrightusa.org.

Outright Annual Meeting and Hospitality Suite at Denver LP National Convention

Please join us at the Libertarian National Convention in Denver from May 21 to 26, where Outright Libertarians will hold its annual meeting concurrently in the convention hotel (Sheraton/Adam's Mark). We will be electing officers and hearing reports from our state coordinators.

We will also have a hospitality suite most nights, so please stop by and visit with other GLBT and straight ally Libertarians in a social setting.

(Please visit the Outright Libertarians booth just outside the main convention hall for details on date/time/location of our events in Denver.)

Another Gay-Basher for Obama

Former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn has endorsed Barack Obama, and is taking a senior role on the Obama campaign as a policy adviser.

If Nunn's name sounds familiar, it's because he was instrumental in the effort to preserve the military's anti-gay ban. In 1993, Bill Clinton's half-hearted effort to repeal the military's anti-gay ban was opposed stridently by Nunn.

Nunn, then a senior Democratic Senator, stood up and declared that "homosexuality is incompatible with military service."

That same bigoted, hateful language is now enshrined in the most recent Republican party platform as well.

This news underscores three realities central to the 2008 campaign:

1) Obama has a bad habit of cozying up to anti-gay forces, be they religious bigots like McClurkin and Meeks, or political bigots like Nunn;

2) Gay Democrats who support his candidacy are in fundamental denial of Obama's lack of leadership on gay issues and willingness to pander to homophobia for political power;

3) There's not much difference on gay issues between the leading Democratic and Republican candidacies. In fact, the GOP's language for opposition to equality in military service was provided, verbatim, by the military "brain" in the Obama campaign.

It really is just that simple

I've had several people ask me why Outright Libertarians hasn't put together a proposal for what to do about the Defense of Marriage Act. I've always wondered at this question, because I thought that's what we had been doing for the past several years -- our proposal is simply that DOMA be repealed entirely.

However, I understand that what most of these folks are asking for is language that would only partially repeal DOMA -- the part that's the most anti-federalist (or in Dixiecrat terms, "violates states rights"). And while I consider this option sub-optimal, it's clearly better than nothing, and nobody out there (Clinton, Obama, Barr, etc.) has laid out the specifics of what exactly a partial repeal would look like. So here goes:

Repeal from Chapter 1, Title 1 of the United States Code:

Sec. 7. Definition of `marriage' and `spouse'

`In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word `marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word `spouse' refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.'.

In addition, there'd need to be a clerical amendment to the table of sections at the beginning of chapter 1 of title 1, USC, removing:

`7. Definition of `marriage' and `spouse'.'.

It's just that simple. This tiny bill to repeal the anti-federalist second half of DOMA would overnight require that the IRS, Immigration (ICE), federal courts, and all other federal bureaucracies treat same-sex couples married in Massachusetts exactly the same as they treat opposite-sex married couples. Joint filing of taxes, sponsorship of one's spouse for a green card, being able to deduct spousal health benefits from taxation, etc. -- nothing all that sexy, just stuff that straight married people take for granted. And once this repeal passes, we can repeal the other half or just wait for the Supreme Court to realize that the other half is a blatant violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause and rule the law unconstitutional.

So, hopefully, this puts to rest once and for all the various criticisms that amount to "but what's Outright's proposal?" You have it now, in plain text, and it was just this simple all along.

Tax Day proves that separate is unequal

While all of us Libertarians tend to be activists on Tax Day each year, those of us Libertarians who are also LGBT-identified have an extra reason to be angry. Not only are we not getting our money's worth, just as most Americans do not, but those of us who have married in a jurisdiction where same-sex unions are recognized face an extra penalty of not being able to file our federal income taxes jointly.

There are two main effects of the different treatment under federal law.

One is the tax rate. Take two couples where one partner has a taxable income of $20,000 and the other makes $40,000. If they can file their federal taxes jointly, the tax bill would be $8,217.50. Filing separately, the combined bill would be $9,032.50 -- more than $800 higher.

Another disparity comes with the federal government's treatment of employer-provided health insurance, which also affects unmarried heterosexual couples.

For example, Dan Jessup is a project manager at JPMorgan Chase in Indiana. His partner, Bob Chenoweth, is self-employed, running two businesses out of the couple's Mooresville, Indiana, home. So Chenoweth gets health insurance through Chase.

But Jessup is required to count the company's cost of his partner's benefits as additional income for tax purposes.

State and federal taxes on those benefits cost about $1,800 per year, Jessup said.

Let's see Congress fix that marriage penalty!

Philadelphia Gay News Calls Out Obama's Arrogant Dismissal Of Gay Voters

Once again, Democrat Barack Obama has shown his contempt for gay Americans.

After courting anti-gay votes through affiliations with anti-gay preachers, and advocating segregation for gay Americans, Obama has refused to speak with the Philadelphia Gay News, one of the largest and most established LGBT papers in the country.

Unfortunately for Obama, the gay press has been operating increasingly independently of the Democratic Party as of late. They struck back and called Obama out on the carpet -- embarrassingly so.

Mark Segal, publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News, said, "Senator Obama's lack of dialogue with the local gay press is disappointing. The local gay press often is to the LGBT community what churches are to the black community."

Despite concerted efforts, Senator Barack Obama has not granted a formal interview to the Philadelphia Gay News. PGN, now in its 32nd year and the nation's most-honored LGBT newspaper, is taking the unusual step of displaying Obama's lack of communication to the local LGBT press, leaving blank space on the newspaper's front page where Obama's interview would have appeared, illustrating his lack of accessibility to the local gay press. Obama has not granted a formal interview to any local gay press in 1,522 days, when he spoke to the Windy City Times during his Senate race in 2004.

Good for them.

And to be fair to the other Democrat in the race, Hillary Clinton spoke with the PGN and pledged to eliminate unequal treatment in immigration and taxation.

Good for her (though it took her long enough to follow the Libertarian lead on these issues). We'll be sure to follow up on her commitments.

Even John McCain's campaign had the gumption to respectfully decline an interview with PGN. As their editor says:

"It's a sad day when we are treated with more respect from the Republican candidate, John McCain, than a Democratic senator," said Segal. "With McCain, his top press representative called us back within three hours. It took seven weeks for Obama's representative to acknowledge."

It's time that gay voters demand respect from candidates. Candidates who are not willing to speak to the LGBT press are showing a profoundly dismissive lack of respect for queer voters and our families. They do not deserve the time of day from gay people, let alone the continuous accolades they receive from their LGBT partisans including Chris Crain, John Aravosis and David Mixner.

We look forward to seeing the Philadelphia Gay News also interview Libertarian candidates for president, including Outright's endorsed candidate, Dr. George Phillies.