The president of the Boy Scouts of America, just hours before the National Council is scheduled to vote, said that he believes the Scouts should “Let in gay boys.” Tomorrow, in a highly-anticipated and highly-discussed meeting, 1400 voting members of the organization from across the nation will decide whether or not to drop the organization’s ban on gay scouts. Gay Scout leaders are not allowed in the century-old organization and the vote does not pertain to adults within the organization.

LOOK: Dr. Phil Announces Support For Allowing Gays Into The Boy Scouts

“The BSA makes no connection between sexual abuse and homosexuality. The nation’s leading experts agree,” Wayne Perry, the BSA’s President writes in a USA Today op-ed. “The BSA has stringent polices that protect the safety and privacy of youth and has always worked to ensure that it is a supportive and safe environment.”

LOOK: Boy Scouts Of America Employee: I’m Gay, And I Can’t Live A Lie Any Longer

“Today’s proposed resolution reaffirms our core belief in doing one’s ‘duty to God,’” Perry writes:

It would remove the restriction denying membership to youth on the basis of sexual orientation alone and would maintain the current membership policy for all adult leaders. Further, the resolution reinforces that Scouting is a youth program, and that any sexual conduct, heterosexual or homosexual, is contrary to the virtues of Scouting. It also prohibits the use of the organization to promote or advance any social or political positions or agendas.

Perry also acknowledges the controversy surrounding the vote.

“While some people wish the proposed resolution would go further, it was clear from our listening phase that changing adult standards would have conflicted with the majority of our partners, 70% of which are religious organizations, and would have disrupted our ability to deliver Scouting,” the BSA president writes.

“Conversely, some have asserted that the proposed change for youth runs counter to the values of, and raises concerns among, Scouting’s religious chartered organizations,” Perry adds. “We are unaware of any major religious chartered organization that believes a youth member simply stating he or she is attracted to the same sex, but not engaging in sexual activity, should make him or her unwelcome in their congregation. We reviewed a variety of policy options and concluded this option would provide kids a place to belong while they learn and grow.”

Unfortunately, in trying to strike a bargain, Perry ignores the fact that a great many religious organizations and religions support civil and equal rights and treatment for LGBT people, even marriage. He also ignores the fact that not allowing openly-gay adults in Scouting sends a strong and dangerous message to LGBTQ youth that gay is not OK.

Image via Facebook

Hat tip: Jeremy Hooper

Related:

Take A Look At Who’s Supporting The Boy Scout Ban On Gay People

Rick Perry: Gay Rights Are ‘The Flavor of the Month’ And Must Be Resisted Like ‘Slavery’

Why The Boy Scouts Proposal To Allow Gay Scouts Is Anti-Gay

Recently-retired Democratic Congressman Barney Frank says he supports the immigration reform bill that does not contain protections for LGBT binational couples, which the Senate Judiciary Committee passed yesterday.

READ: Senate Democrats Cave To GOP, Sacrifice Gays, Pass Immigration Reform Out Of Committee

“The choice we have is not between an Immigration Bill which helps same-sex couples and one that doesn’t,” Congressman Frank said in a statement, “but a choice between an Immigration Bill that does not include same-sex couples or no bill at all. Opting for no bill at all–which would have been the result if Sen. Leahy offered his amendment–would not help LGBT couples, but it would deprive millions of people of needed help.”

Yesterday, in a move widely characterized by the LGBT community and progressives as a “sell-out,” and even “rank discrimination” by none other than Senator Chuck Schumer — whom some feel was all-too-comfortable leaving LGBT couples out of the bill, Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy decided to remove his amendments from the immigration reform bill to allow it to move forward to the full Senate.

WATCH: DOMA Separates Now Legally-Married Couple, 17 Times In Six Years (Video)

Republicans from the start have made clear the LGBT protections would enable them to vote against the bill, just as they for months filibustered the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) because it contained LGBT protections.

“I know this was a painful decision for Sen. Leahy who has been an unwavering supporter of LGBT legal equality,” Rep. Frank said, “but it was the right one.”

“As a member of the House fighting for fair treatment for those of us who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, I greatly appreciated the strong support I received from members of the Hispanic caucus. I urge my friends not to push an amendment which would destroy the chance for success on the immigration issue which is important to the Hispanic community, without advancing our cause in any way,” the retired Massachusetts Congressman stated.

“Unfortunately, while Congressional Democrats are ready to provide this aid for same-sex couples, the overwhelming opposition from the Republican members to our rights means that a bill protecting them has no chance of beating a Senate filibuster, or passing the right-wing dominated House,” Frank added. “Given that reality, the morally and politically appropriate course is to help adopt a good Immigration Bill, and continue our fight for marriage rights on a parallel path,” Congressman Frank concluded.

Related:

Barney Frank Receives Role Model Award, Offers Straight Talk About Being Gay

Breaking: Massachusetts Gov. Snubs Barney Frank, Replaces Kerry With Political Mentor

Watch: Barney Frank Slams Log Cabin Republicans For Endorsing Romney

Former Bush Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told Larry King that he just doesn’t know about marriage equality and gay rights, and thinks same-sex marriage could lead to polygamy.

When asked about his position of the subjects, Rumsfeld, author of Known and Unknown: A Memoir and his latest, Rumsfeld’s Rules, stammered:

“You know, I’m, I guess, of a generation that I don’t … I listened to some of the Supreme Court justices and one of them said, ‘Well what’s next after that? Is it two people, three people?’”

The Supreme Court question, which came from same-sex marriage supporting Associate Supreme Court Justice and Obama-appointee Sonia Sotomayor, does not mean she believes same-sex marriage leads to polygamy– and Rumsfeld should know better. Anyone who follows judicial proceedings knows that justices often ask questions to rule out issues, or to test lawyers, or to prove a point.

Rumsfeld is best-known for comments he made in a 2002 press conference:

There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don’t know.

Rumsfeld, who was supportive of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, although, more than a year after the repeal, which has gone smoothly, still sees possible difficulty as if repeal has yet to begin, said he doesn’t equate LGBT civil rights with the civil rights movement.

Apparently, there are many unknown unknowns in Rumsfeld’s mind.

Hat tip: Towleroad and Huffington Post

Tomorrow 1400 members of the Boy Scouts of America National Council will decide whether or not to remove the organization’s ban on allowing gay scouts.

Today, this is who is supporting the ban on gay people in Scouting.

LOOK: 

Dr. Phil Announces Support For Allowing Gays Into The Boy Scouts

Boy Scouts Of America Employee: I’m Gay, And I Can’t Live A Lie Any Longer

The meeting, held in Grapevine, a Dallas-Fort Worth Texas suburb, is being covered by the Dallas Voice, who posted the image above to Twitter:

We’re in Grapevine and can’t find any anti-gay protesters. Just this unattended hate truck. #BSAvote twitter.com/DallasVoice/st…

— Dallas Voice (@DallasVoice) May 22, 2013

Related:

‘Stand With Scouts’ Warns US Approaching End Times, Gays Are Unclean (Video)

Look: Boy Scouts Say Under 18 And Gay, OK. 18 Or Older And Gay, Possible Pedophile.

Why The Boy Scouts Proposal To Allow Gay Scouts Is Anti-Gay

Watch today’s White House ceremony live right here, below.

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Harvey Milk, the murdered, openly-gay San Francisco politician who had the vision to encourage gay men and women to come out as a means of changing public opinion. For his contribution to, and sacrifice for gay rights, Harvey Milk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian award, by President Obama, in 2009. To further honor Supervisor Milk’s legacy, the White House has established The Harvey Milk Champions of Change Awards, to be given to elected or appointed public servants who “demonstrated a strong commitment to both equality and public service.”

The Champions of Change program was envisioned by the White House as a way to promote the best of the best. Candidates are nominated by regular citizens, not chosen by politicians. From the Champions of Change website:

“All across the country, ordinary Americans are doing extraordinary things in their communities to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. Every week, we will invite these Champions of Change to the White House to share their ideas to win the future.”

In conjunction with the Champions of Change program, at 3:oo this afternoon, President Obama will present the Harvey Milk Champions of Courage Award to 10 LGBT public servants who have, in their own way, furthered the goal of equality. That esteemed group includes at least one transgender woman, Kim Coco Iwamoto, which appears to be a first. I could find no other occasion where a trangender person was the guest of honor at the White House.

If you missed it, the White House issued the following citations, praising the work of the men and women who will be honored today:

Simone Bell
Georgia State Representative
Atlanta, GA

Simone Bell serves in Georgia House District 58 in Atlanta, Georgia. After more than 20 years of advocacy and activism around a host of issues she won a special election in 2009 and became the first African American out lesbian to win a seat in a State House in the United States. Representative Bell serves on Inter-Governmental Coordination, Juvenile Justice, and Human Relations and Aging committees, and is a respected member of the Democratic Caucus WHIP Team. Representative Bell shares her life with her partner of 24 years, Valarie Acree.

Angie Buhl O’Donnell
South Dakota State Senator
Sioux Falls, SD

Senator Buhl O’Donnell, 28, is in her second term in the South Dakota State Senate, serves as the minority caucus chair, and is the first openly LGBT person elected to any office in the state.  Senator Buhl O’Donnell has a background in non-profit work, and has advocated for LGBT South Dakotans, as well as for women, Native Americans, workers, low-income families, domestic violence and sexual assault victims.  A proud 4th generation South Dakotan, Senator Buhl O’Donnell represents the heart of Sioux Falls, South Dakota’s largest city, where she resides with her husband, Jacob.

Karen Clark
Minnesota State Representative
South Minneapolis, MN

Representative Karen Clark was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1980, making her the longest serving openly gay or lesbian state legislator in the country.  She represents three inner city neighborhoods in South Minneapolis, the lowest income district in the state.  Representative Clark is an advocate for low income, Indigenous American Indian and community of color constituents, including many new Americans.  A former public health nurse, current college instructor and co-founder of the Women’s Environmental Institute, some of Representative Clark’s major legislative accomplishments include chief authoring and passing worker and consumer right-to-know toxic exposure laws, affordable housing and homelessness initiatives, youth and dislocated worker job training strategies and numerous  human rights, environmental justice  and anti-discrimination protections. Recently, Representative Clark authored and helped pass the 2013 Minnesota Freedom to Marry bill with bi-partisan support.

Michael A. Gin
Mayor of Redondo Beach
Redondo Beach, CA

Mayor Michael A. Gin is currently serving on his second term as the 28th Mayor of the City of Redondo Beach, having been reelected in March 2009.  As Mayor, he has seen the city through several years of economic challenges with a consistently balanced budget and a thriving local economy.  He has worked to bring the community together from all sectors on various issues, resulting in uniquely collaborative solutions.  Mayor Gin has been in public service for over 20 years.

Kim Coco Iwamoto
Hawaii State Civil Rights Commissioner
Honolulu, HI

Kim Coco Iwamoto, a certified therapeutic foster parent, was elected to Hawaii’s State Board of Education in 2006 and re-elected in 2010.  During her time in office, Commissioner Iwamoto was able to implement many of the policy recommendations of the Department of Education’s Safe School Community Advisory Committee, and in 2011, she drafted the Hawaii Safe Schools Act, which gave the legislature and the governor an opportunity to join the effort to reduce bullying and harassment in public schools.  The bill was signed into law later that year.  In 2012, Commissioner Iwamoto was appointed and confirmed to the Hawaii State Civil Rights Commission.

John Laird
California Secretary of Natural Resources
Santa Cruz, CA

John Laird has a forty year public service career, including twenty-three years in elected office.  In 1983, he was one of the first openly gay Mayors in the country.  His election to the state legislature in 2002 made him one of the first openly gay men elected to the California legislature, where he was author of 82 bills signed into law and was part of leadership as Budget Chair. He was appointed California’s Secretary of Natural Resources on January 5, 2011.  Secretary Laird resides in Santa Cruz and Sacramento, with his spouse John Flores.

Ricardo Lara
California State Senator
Long Beach, CA

In 2012, Senator Ricardo Lara, a native of East Los Angeles, became the first openly gay person of color elected to the California State Senate.  He is the first LGBT legislator to Chair the California Latino Legislative Caucus and also serves as Vice Chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and as a member of the Committee on Senate Rules.  Senator Lara represents parts of Southeast Los Angeles and Long Beach, which is home to the nation’s largest port complex and one of the most diverse populations in the United States.

Kim Painter
Johnson Country Recorder
Iowa City, IA

Kim Painter serves as Johnson County Recorder in Iowa City, Iowa.  In 1998, she became the first openly gay person to win election to public office in Iowa.  In 2007, she was selected by peers to serve as president of the Iowa State Association of Counties.  She has also chaired Iowa’s Commission on the Status of Women.  She and spouse Jessica Kardon have been together for 17 years. They married in Iowa in 2009.

Chris Seelbach
Cincinnati City Council Member
Cincinnati, OH

When he was elected in 2011, Chris Seelbach became the first openly gay person ever elected in the city of Cincinnati.  Since taking office, Council Member Seelbach has led efforts to extend equal partner health insurance to all city employees, create an LGBT liaison in the police and fire departments, and make it mandatory for anyone accepting subsidies or funding from the city to agree, in writing, to follow an inclusive non-discrimination policy.

Pat Steadman
Colorado State Senator
Denver, CO

An attorney by training, Senator Pat Steadman has worked for equal rights for LGBT Coloradans for over two decades.  In 1992, he helped organize the lawsuit challenging Colorado’s infamous “Amendment 2,” an anti-gay initiative that was declared unconstitutional by the United State Supreme Court in 1996 in the landmark Romer v. Evans ruling.  Prior to his election, Senator Steadman was a partner in a successful lobbying firm in Denver where his clients included LGBT advocacy groups, and on their behalf he championed anti-discrimination laws, second parent adoption, hate crimes protections and equal benefits laws.  Senator Steadman was the lead sponsor of Colorado’s recently enacted civil unions law.

May I extemporize for a moment as a straight person looking in? I was disheartened by a number of comments that were left by readers regarding the New Civil Rights Movement’s announcement of the Harvey Milk Awards. I understand the disappointment over the immigration bill being passed out of committee without recognition of same-sex spouses, and yes, I know about the injustice being perpetrated against Kaitlyn Hunt, I even wrote about it. I know DOMA is ruining lives, and that gay men are still being beaten in New York City. But the Harvey Milk Awards is not the right forum for all those valid complaints.

This is a moment for the LGBT community to stand up and applaud. Take a bow. Make a toast. You have been waiting for this to happen for 236 years. The President of the United States is going to congratulate gay and lesbian and yes, a transgender person, for their contributions toward LGBT equality. People like them have been beaten. Been jailed. Been refused employment and lodging, and I hear bigoted bakers are now withholding wedding cakes. People, like Harvey Milk, have been killed for doing the same kinds of things these honorees are being recognized for. This is not the moment to air complaints against President Obama. This a time for pride!

These honorees had nothing to do with any of those things you are angry about. They are fantastic people trying to stop bullying. Trying to bring marriage equality to their states. Trying to help homeless teens. They exemplify the spirit of community, and they deserve our support. More than that, the LGBT community deserves this moment in the sun. Just because spinach still exists in the world, doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a piece of candy. Today’s chant should be: We’re here. We’re Queer. And the president is giving us medals!

You can watch today’s White House ceremony live right here:

The event is scheduled to begin at 3:00 P.M. EST. If you would like to say “well done” to the honorees, I included a link to their Facebook pages next to their pictures. If you’d like to brag a little, or “rub it in” to your favorite Republican homophobe, that is also encouraged.

This is a day for accolades and celebrations. Tomorrow we can fight anew.

Jean Ann Esselink is a straight friend to the gay community. Proud and loud Liberal. Closet writer of political fiction. Black sheep agnostic Democrat from a conservative Catholic family. Living in Northern Oakland County Michigan with Puck the Wonder Beagle.

Follow me on Twitter as @Uncucumbered or friend me on Facebook.

All photo are from the honorees Facebook Pages.

Yesterday, popular TV talk show host and psychologist Phil McGraw, best-known as Dr. Phil, voiced his support for allowing gays into the Boy Scouts. Dr. Phil via Twitter and Facebook posted support for removing the ban on gay scouts and support for GLAAD’s campaign.

It’s wrong to deny any boy a chance to learn the values and be a Scout. No one should be excluded. #BoyScouts glaad.org/scouts

— Dr. Phil (@DrPhil) May 21, 2013

“Let’s give ALL boys the chance to become a Scout,” Dr. Phil wrote on Facebook:

Discriminating against young men and families simply because of who they are is wrong. The Boy Scouts should be an example of inclusiveness. As a former Cub Scout, I don’t want any child to miss the opportunity. http://www.glaad.org/scouts

Tomorrow, 1400 delegates from the Boy Scouts of America National Council will decide if they want to change the rules banning gay boys from scouting. Gay adults, regardless of the results of the vote, will still be banned from the century-old organization.

E.W. Jackson, the Republican Party’s newly anointed nominee to become Lt. Governor of Virginia, last October told local church-goers that they same-sex marriage leads to bestiality. “I’m serious,” Jackson, a Christian minister told his church.

Jackson has a long and well-documented history of anti-gay attacks:

LOOK: Gays Are ‘Very Sick People Psychologically, Mentally And Emotionally’ Says GOP Lt. Gov. Nominee

“If we don’t stand up” for so-called traditional marriage, Jackson warned, “Adam and Steve” will lead to “Adam and a bull.” He also warned that if society doesn’t stop same-sex marriage now it will be “overwhelmed by the torrent of wickedness.”

Jackson is on the gubernatorial ticket with current Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. The Democrat in the Virginia governor’s race is former DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe.

On Monday, The New Civil Rights Movement published a story showing that Virginia’s GOP nominee for Attorney General to replace Cuccinelli, state Senator Mark Obenshain, sponsored a bill that would have thrown women in jail if they had a miscarriage and did not report it to police within 24 hours.

Video via Right Wing Watch

Violent anti-LGBT hate crimes have almost doubled this year over last year, and last year’s were up double digits as well. This month alone, there have been at least seven anti-gay hate crimes, including the shooting death of Mark Carson, a 32-year old gay man, on Friday.

Over forty community, local, state, and even national groups and politicians joined together with thousands of New Yorkers to mourn Friday’s murder of Mark Carson, and to “rally against hate,” and hate crimes in the city that has seen at least 25 this year.

Local NY politicians are making their concern known — in person. The list of those who have spoken out and/or attended Monday evening’s march and rally include:

NYC City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, New York State Senators Brad Hoylman and Daniel Squadron, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Assembly Member Deborah Glick, New York City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, candidate for Manhattan Borough president Julie Menin, and NYC City council candidates Yetta Kurland and Corey Johnson.

Also, this list of more than 40 organizations and politicians, via HRC, supported Monday night’s march and rally:

300 West 23rd, 22nd, 21st Streets Block Association | Ali Forney Center | Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS | Catholic Lesbians and Gay Catholics of the Church of St. Francis Xavier | Chelsea/West Village for Change | Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats | GLAAD | God’s Love We Deliver | Greenwich Village Chamber of Commerce | The Greenwich Village Chelsea Chamber of Commerce | Haitian Americans United for Progress (HAUP) | Harlem Pride | Harlem United | HK5051 Neighborhood Association | Human Rights Campaign, Greater New York | The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission ( IGLHRC) | Judson Memorial Church | The Latino Commission on AIDS | League of United Latin American Citizens, NYC Chapter | The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center | Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens | The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York (LeGaL) | LGBT Task Force | London Terrace Tenants Association | Make the Road NY | Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer | Manhattan Community Board 2 | Manhattan Community Board 4 | New York City Anti-Violence Project | New York State Assembly Member Deborah Glick | New York State Senator Brad Hoylman | Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation | NYC for Action | Project Find | Russian-Speaking Community Council of Manhattan and the Bronx | Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) | The West 47/48 Street Block Association | Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund | Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office | Village Alliance | West 8th Street Block Association

But up until late yesterday, conspicuously absent from these lists was the Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg.

Yes, Mayor Bloomberg let four days and a rally by thousands of New Yorkers to mourn and protest the hate crime murder of a gay man pass before showing up to say something. Until yesterday, Bloomberg had not made one public comment this year about the anti-LGBT hate crime wave in his city. Not a word.

And his PR people have been equally absent. An email to the Mayor’s office yesterday from The New Civil Rights Movement received no response.

Heck, even National Organization For Marriage president Brian Brown and hate group head Tony Perkins yesterday, after much prodding by LGBT activists and The New Civil Rights Movement, issued statements condemning the hate crime violence — on the same day the Mayor of New York City got around to it.

It’s not like the Mayor was on vacation. A quick glance at his press releases shows he had time for several commencement addresses and joining Yahoo! for an announcement, all since Mark Carson’s murder.

But finally, the Mayor spoke yesterday.

“Last Friday, the murder of a young man named Mark Carson shocked our city. He was murdered because of his sexual orientation – and only because of his sexual orientation,” the Mayor said at a press conference with NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly. Kelly has been on scene and very visible in these hate crime investigations.

“It was a cold-blooded hate crime that cut short a life full of promise – and brought back awful memories for people who were once afraid to walk down the street with the person that they loved.

“Thankfully, we have come a long way from those days – but the murder of Mark Carson is a tragic reminder of how far we still have to go.

“In recent weeks, there have been a number of incidents where people were attacked, verbally and physically, because of their sexual orientation. And in just the last 24 hours, the NYPD learned of two other incidents of New Yorkers being attacked violently because of their sexual orientation.

“Both of these incidents took place in Manhattan – and Commissioner Kelly will provide some more details about each.

“Thankfully, in this case nobody was killed – but that doesn’t for a moment make these crimes any less despicable, or any less unacceptable. New York City has zero tolerance for intolerance.

“We are a place that celebrates diversity – a place where people from around the world come to live free of prejudice and persecution. Hate crimes like these are an offence against all we stand for as a city – and we will do everything possible to stop them, whether that hatred is based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or ethnicity.

“That’s why we work hard to protect every community that’s victimized by hate crimes, and that’s why we’ve increased patrols in the areas where hate crimes have occurred, something Commissioner Kelly will discuss.

“The NYPD, however, can only do a certain amount to protect New Yorkers from violence. We’ll do everything that we can and we’ll prosecute, to the fullest extent of the law, anyone who commits hate crimes. But all of us can do our part as well to end hate crimes and spread tolerance: as parents, as teachers, as friends, and as members of the community.

“No person – regardless of what they look like or who they love – should ever walk down the street in fear.”

Related:

NOM President Brian Brown ‘Condemns The Murder Of A Gay Man In New York’

Two More Violent Anti-Gay Hate Crimes In NYC — Just Hours After Thousands March In Protest

LOOK: Edie Windsor Joins NYC Political Leaders in March Against Anti-Gay Hate Crimes

Today is Harvey Milk Day. Milk was born today in 1930, and shot to death 48 years later. Barack Obama awarded Milk the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

Today, the White House will honor 10 members of the LGBT community with the Harvey Milk Champions of Change Award in a ceremony scheduled for 3:00 PM EDT. We’ll have live streaming video so come back to the site to watch!

The Harvey Milk Foundation sponsors Harvey Milk Day each year on this day, as a day of service.

“We are asking you to celebrate Harvey Milk’s life story, message and legacy in celebrating globally on his birthday to give hope and inspire disenfranchised communities,” Milk’s nephew, Stuart Milk, founder of the foundation, says on their website:

Harvey was a pioneer of the 20th century. His struggle and his deeds will prove to history that there’s no such thing as a gay way, there is only one way. We can make Harvey live forever by continuing to do things his way, in the deeds and in the accomplishments of our daily efforts to make our world live.

He believed broad public education and dialogue was paramount to his life’s work as a civil rights leader and with your energy we hope you will work to inspire individuals, communities and organizations to carry on his values in a timeless vision for a better world.

You can learn more about Harvey Milk Day by visiting Harvey Milk Day on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter.

Image by Memeographs via Facebook

It’s often said the two things you never want to see being made are laws and sausage. Sadly, binational same-sex couples were the sacrificial lambs in today’s sausage-making legislation. Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy, Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, Dick Durbin, and even Al Franken all agreed to not include protections for LGBT couples that essentially mirrored language in the Uniting All Families Act (UAFA) in the hopes their Republican colleagues — the minority — will allow them to avoid a filibuster and pass (almost) comprehensive immigration reform.

WATCH: DOMA Separates Now Legally-Married Couple, 17 Times In Six Years (Video)

Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, withdrew two LGBT-inclusive amendments to the legislation that would have given Republicans an opportunity to bow out of passing immigration reform. The bill, which perhaps should be called Immigration Reform For Almost All, passed out of committee 13-5.

“Members of the committee said the issue should be addressed at another time,” MetroWeekly’s Justin Snow reports:

Democratic members also said the issue could be resolved by passage of UAFA or after the Supreme Court rules on DOMA in June.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a member of the “gang of eight” that drafted the bill, warned that “the bill would fall apart because the coalition would fall apart” if the amendment was adopted.

“It would be a bridge too far,” Graham said if same-sex marriage made its way into the final bill.

Added Arizona Republic Sen. Jeff Flake, “It would certainly mean this bill would not move forward.”

A number of Democrats, known as LGTB allies, voiced concerns that Leahy’s amendments would cause the bipartisan coalition that helped draft the legislation to disintegrate as well.

“I would just implore to hold off on this amendment at this time,” said Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), stating it would “blow this bill apart.”

Said Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, “I believe that this is the wrong moment, this is the wrong bill.”

Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) both expressed concerns as well, despite avowing their opposition to discrimination.

Describing this as the “most excruciatingly difficult decision” of his career and saying not to adopt the amendment would be “rank discrimination,” Schumer said he could not support the amendment if it would bring down the bill.

“I will be here and ready to work with you, LGBT community, at each turn after this one to advance the cause of legal equality,” Schumer said. “This is far from our last battle together,” Schumer said.

Senator Leahy, in a statement, noted:

“I take the Republican sponsors of this important legislation at their word that they will abandon their own efforts if discrimination is removed from our immigration system,” Leahy said. “So, with a heavy heart, and as a result of my conclusion that Republicans will kill this vital legislation if this anti-discrimination amendment is added, I will withhold calling for a vote on it. But I will continue to fight for equality.”

Chad Griffin, President of HRC, issued this statement:

“As we come together as a nation to tackle our broken immigration system, it is deplorable that a small number of Senators have been able to stand in the way of progress for lesbian and gay couples torn apart by discriminatory laws. Instead of working to achieve common-sense solutions, Senators Graham, Flake, McCain and Rubio threatened to derail the entire immigration bill to appease a small but vocal group of anti-gay social conservatives that will do anything to stop progress for lesbian and gay couples.

“We are extremely disappointed that our allies did not put their anti-LGBT colleagues on the spot and force a vote on the measure that remains popular with the American people. We will continue to work hard to include bi-national same-sex couples as the bill moves to the floor and remain committed to the underlying principles of inclusive and comprehensive immigration reform. We owe it to the estimated 267,000 undocumented LGBT adults and estimated 24,700 LGBT bi-national couples living in the U.S. today to get the job done.”

Lavi Soloway of the DOMA Project, a veteran immigration reform activist, wrote:

Twenty years of grass roots organizing and exhaustive advocacy has brought us here, and yet it will now fail. The historic opportunity to pass a Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with an amendment providing for the unification of LGBT families, is almost certainly gone.

Without an amendment in Committee, there stands zero chance of such an amendment being added next month on the Senate floor. Media reports (Politico, Washington Blade, AP) in the past few days has all but confirmed that at least two leading Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have caved to empty Republican threats to sabotage immigration reform if lesbian and gay Americans are included. These two prominent members of the Senate Judiciary Committee could have stood up to the outrageous Republican scapegoating of lesbian and gay Americans, but they did not.

Brian Brown, president of NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, today issued a strong and definitive statement condemning the anti-gay hate crime murder of Mark Carson, a gay man shot to death Friday in New York City. Brown, whose organization exists to oppose and prevent same-sex marriage in the U.S. and now around the world and was extremely active in France this year, had also condemned anti-gay violence in France, five hours after lawmakers voted to allow same-sex marriage.

“We condemn in the strongest possible way the murder of a gay man in New York by a killer who apparently hurled anti-gay insults at him moments before the killing,” Brown’s statement, posted to NOM’s blog almost four full days after the shooting-death murder, reads:

This senseless act cannot be condoned in America or anywhere, and we urge that the perpetrator be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Our heart goes out to the family of the victim, and we hold them in our prayers. While this killing appears to have no connection to the current debate about redefining marriage, there is no room for violence toward any American — whether they support traditional marriage or not. No person should be subjected to violence because they are gay or lesbian or because they believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. There is no place for violence, period.

Just hours before Brown’s comments, LGBT activists today, including Scott Wooledge, drew parallels between the response of more than 25 LGBT organizations which immediately condemned the violence perpetrated upon the headquarters of the Family Research Council last August, in which a security guard was wounded in the arm by a crazed gunman angry with FRC’s anti-gay policies.

Wooledge had written:

LGBT rights orgs have been very clear violence will not be tolerated. Opponents of LGBT rights however have never made it clear to their followers that anti-gay violence is not a tactic to “fight the gay agenda.” After a big spike in anti-gay hate crimes in 2012, can they not issue a joint statement such as gay rights groups did here. And remind people, we can disagree without hurting each other?

This afternoon, Wooledge says he “appreciates” Brown’s statement.

“While we disagree on many things, Americans can all agree everyone has a right to live their lives free of fear of violence,” Wooledge told The New Civil Rights Movement in an email conversation. “The spree of shocking hate crimes in New York City are reminders that the threat of violence is lamentably omnipresent for too many gay, lesbian and transgender Americans, even in the country’s most progressive areas. I appreciate the National Organization for Marriage acknowledging that sad reality and hope it signals a newfound sensitivity to the effect inflammatory and hyperbolic rhetoric can have on American citizens’ daily lives.”

President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton are asking the Illinois legislature to pass a same-sex marriage bill that is awaiting its final vote in the House. The House sponsor of the Illinois bill says he has the votes to pass it, and marriage “absolutely” will come to the Land of Lincoln by month’s end.

“President Obama would support Illinois’s same-sex marriage bill if he were still serving in the legislature there, the White House said Tuesday,” according to Politico:

“Were the president still in the Illinois State Legislature, he would support this measure that would treat all Illinois couples equally,” spokesman Shin Inouye said in response to a question from POLITICO.

…

“While the president does not weigh in on every measure being considered by state legislatures, he believes in treating everyone fairly and equally, with dignity and respect,” Inouye said. “As he has said, his personal view is that it’s wrong to prevent couples who are in loving, committed relationships, and want to marry, from doing so.”

The President is in good company.

“Clinton urged the Illinois House to approve the bill in a looming vote in a statement distributed by LGBT advocacy group Freedom to Marry,” the Huffington Post reports:

“Our nation’s permanent mission is to form a ‘more perfect union’ – deepening the meaning of freedom, broadening the reach of opportunity, strengthening the bonds of community,” Clinton said in a statement. “That mission has inspired and empowered us to extend rights to people previously denied them. Every time we have done that, it has strengthened our nation. Now we should do it again, in Illinois, with marriage equality.”

Perhaps the push by the Democratic presidents is helping.

“Rep. Greg Harris told Windy City Times May 21 that the ‘Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act,’ which would bring equal marriage to the state, will pass by the end of session,” Kate Sosin at the Windy City Times reports:

“When I put it up on the board, it’s going to go up to win,” Harris said, adding that he would “absolutely” call for a vote on the measure before spring session ends May 31.

“This issue is at the front and center of virtually every conversation going on in Springfield,” Harris said.

Harris declined to offer a specific date for the vote or a count on the roll call. The bill needs 60 votes to pass the House. It has already cleared the Senate.

Indeed, on Valentine’s Day this year, the Illinois Senate as expected passed a highly-debated same-sex marriage bill, by a vote of 34-21.

Just twelve days later, a House committee passed the bill onto the full House, in a close 6-5 vote.

If the bill passes, as Presidents Obama and Clinton hope, Democratic Governor Pat Quinn will sign it into law, making Illinois the thirteenth state in the nation to extend the right of marriage to same-sex couples.