A twelfth letter was sent to the weekly independent newspaper The Stranger. That letter allegedly said the paper should be “prepared to announce the deaths of approximately 55 individuals.”

City Clerk Scott Borling said former city commissioner and current Kalamazoo County Treasurer Mary Balkema officially turned over 189 pages of petitions that circulators said contained about 1,600 signatures.

Due to the New Year’s Day holiday Thursday, Borling said certification of those signatures will begin Friday.

Borling expects the process to extend into next week before it is officially determined that the petitions contain at least 1,273 signatures, the minimum Borling said are necessary to trigger reconsideration of the anti-discrimination ordinance.

Under the city charter, if there are sufficient signatures on the petitions, the city commission must either repeal the law or put it up for a vote as a referendum in the next election in order to be restored. The commission passed the expansion of the ordinance unanimously in early December.

From Birkey’s report:

Previously, employers could decline and surviving same-sex partners would have to pay tax on the inheritance of the deceased partner’s retirement savings. Legally married heterosexual couples automatically avoid that tax penalty.

Birkey also quoted LGBT rights organizations hailing the law:

National LGBT rights groups hailed the move. “This legislation secures much-needed protection for lesbian and gay couples,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solomonese. “Our community faces unique challenges in preparing for retirement because we are denied Social Security spousal and survivor benefits. Protecting our hard-earned retirement savings is even more crucial to us, and until now, the tax code made it that much harder.”

Bush signed the law two days before Christmas.

“(The Church) should also protect man from the destruction of himself. A sort of ecology of man is needed.”

“The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less.”

The Pope also said the church should continue to defend the “traditional” roles of gender and marriage.

In other news, the Pontiff still has not responded to my April letter seeking clarification on cross dressing, the church and Pope Benedict’s attitudes.

* And for the very first time, there will be a group representing the interests of LGBT Americans participating in the Inaugural Parade.

But Majors wanted nothing to do with the controversy, responding to an e-mail inquiry with the following statement:

The Lesbian and Gay Band Association is totally focused on its preparation for the Inaugural Parade. We take very seriously our responsibility to represent America and the LGBT community with the best performance possible. We have no comment on other aspects of the festivities at this time.

Other leading LBGT groups have called on the President-elect to reconsider his invitation to Warren, including the Human Rights Campaign, a national LBGT rights organization in Washington, D.C. and Truth Wins Out, a NYC based non-profit.

Citing the brief filed by Starr, the Sacramento Bee quoted the former prosecutor as arguing the nullification of marriages performed under the Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriage as this:

“Proposition 8’s brevity is matched by its clarity. There are no conditional clauses, exceptions, exemptions or exclusions.”

In an irony fit for his days as former President Bill Clinton’s nemesis, Starr continues in the brief arguing:

“For this court to rule otherwise would be to tear asunder a lavish body of jurisprudence. That body of decisional law commands judges - as servants of the people - to bow to the will of those whom they serve - even if the substantive result of what people have wrought in constitution-amending is deemed unenlightened.”

Meanwhile, AG Brown has concluded, according to the L.A. Times, that the ban cannot go into effect:

“Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification.”

Brown’s brief argued that the amendment violated the Constitutionally promised rights established in case law, and allowing the amendment to become effective would create a “tyranny of the majority,” which, he argues, is supposed to be prevented in part by the Constitution itself.

The cases could be heard as soon as March.

(photo: barackobama.com)

Firstly, sir, let me extend my belated congratulations to you on your historic victory. I was sitting in a hotel ballroom in Battle Creek when you gave your acceptance speech, and I, like so many other people there that night, was moved to tears. After the nightmare of the last eight years, as an openly gay man living with HIV I was moved by your campaign of hope, your mantra of change, and your sincerely delivered ideals of bridging gaps. Your voice was, and is, a necessary and important voice for an America in pain, lost from years of abusive, divisive politics.

But Mr. President-elect, you have failed your message by asking Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration.

You claim to want Dr. Warren at the Inaugural as a gesture of bipartisanship; you say you disagree with him on many issues, including LGBT rights. But Mr. President-elect, Dr. Warren is liar, and as such cannot be considered an honest broker. And that offends me as a person of faith.

How, you might ask, has Dr. Warren lied?

During the debate on Proposition 8, the successful California ballot measure banning same-sex marriage, Dr. Warren said he opposed marriage equality for the LGBT community in California because “[t]here were all kinds of threats that if that [Prop 8] did not pass, then any pastor could be considered doing hate speech if he shared his views that he didn’t think homosexuality was the most natural way for relationships. … And you should be able to have freedom of speech to make your position, and I should be able to have freedom of speech to make my position. And can we do this in a civil way?”

Please, don’t take my or Jim Burroughway’s citation of this quote at face value. Watch the interview and hear Dr. Warren say this in his own word.

As a constitutional scholar, Mr. President-elect, you know that his claim — a favorite of the religious extremists and bigots — is patently false on its face. Marital status is a protected class here in Michigan, and no minister has been taken to court for “hate speech” for condemning divorce.

Beyond this simple reality, however, is the very ruling from the California Supreme Court, which directly contradicts Dr. Warren’s lie. It states:

“No religion will be required to change its policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs.”

Dr. Warren asks if the discussion cannot be had in a civil way. How does civility rule when the conversation is being driven by lies? Honesty is a broker on which healthy dialogue about sincerely held beliefs is held. From honesty comes understanding and building a bridge. From lies and falsehood come broken promises, pain and anguish.

You made a point during your campaign of championing change, of ushering in a new era of honesty. But your selection of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation violates the very spirit of your calls for change and your attacks on the cynicism of Washington. By allowing Dr. Warren to speak, you are saying his lies are acceptable. You are saying a man of faith is allowed to lie in order to pursue his own religious beliefs, even when lying is a violation of those tenets.

While I am not naive enough to think that this bell can be un-rung, that Dr. Warren will be uninvited from participating in one of the most important moments in American history, as an openly gay man with HIV and a man of faith, I must ask you — are you going to call Dr. Warren out on his lies? Or will you allow him to continue to perpetrate this fraud on the American people? You had no issue calling black congregations out on their homophobia and how it impacted the black communities response to HIV/AIDS. Are you willing, ready and able to call Dr. Warren out for his lies, his deceit and his own admission that he failed to respond to the crisis of HIV at first because it was “a gay disease”?

This is a test, Mr. President-elect. One which you are failing miserably. The eyes of the nation are upon you, and they are waiting for you to bring the change you said you would. I believed in you, the question now is, how will you restore my faith?

Warren supported the controversial ballot initiative Proposition 8 in California, claiming that allowing gays to marry would infringe on his free speech rights.

Not only has the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights organization, issued a letter calling the appearance by Warren an act of “disrepect,” but other national lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender organizations are weighing in as well.

Wayne Besen, executive director of New York based Truth Wins Out which is an organization dedicated to monitoring the right wing, confronting what it calls the “ex-gay” myth and educating the country about gay Americans, put out a press release this morning. In the release he said:

“Choosing Rick Warren to deliver the invocation may be an olive branch to evangelicals who largely opposed the election of Barack Obama, but it is poison ivy to the gay and lesbian voting block who overwhelmingly supported him. Far from an act that will unify, this is a stick in the eye to lesbian and gay Americans who played a key part in Obama’s victory. For all of Obama’s political gifts, he has an odious track record in picking preachers.”

Most interesting however has been the leaked talking points memo from the Inaugural Committee on how to address the controversy. Pam Spaulding at PamsHouseBlend.com, a leading LGBT blog, posted the memo early this morning.

* This will be the most open, accessible, and inclusive Inauguration in American history.

* In keeping with the spirit of unity and common purpose this Inauguration will reflect, the President-elect and Vice President-elect have chosen some of the world’s most gifted artists and people with broad appeal to participate in the inaugural ceremonies.

* Pastor Rick Warren has a long history of activism on behalf of the disadvantaged and the downtrodden. He’s devoted his life to performing good works for the poor and leads the evangelical movement in addressing the global HIV/AIDS crisis. In fact, the President-elect recently addressed Rick Warren’s Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health to salute Warren’s leadership in the struggle against HIV/AIDS and pledge his support to the effort in the years ahead.

* The President-elect disagrees with Pastor Warren on issues that affect the LGBT community. They disagree on other issues as well. But what’s important is that they agree on many issues vital to the pursuit of social justice, including poverty relief and moving toward a sustainable planet; and they share a commitment to renewing America’s promise by expanding opportunity at home and restoring our moral leadership abroad.

* As he’s said again and again, the President-elect is committed to bringing together all sides of the faith discussion in search of common ground. That’s the only way we’ll be able to unite this country with the resolve and common purpose necessary to solve the challenges we face.

* The Inauguration will also involve Reverend Joseph Lowery, who will be delivering the official benediction at the Inauguration. Reverend Lowery is a giant of the civil rights movement who boasts a proudly progressive record on LGBT issues. He has been a leader in the struggle for civil rights for all Americans, gay or straight.

* And for the very first time, there will be a group representing the interests of LGBT Americans participating in the Inaugural Parade.

The group representing LGBT Americans in the parade will be the Pride Marching Band. Their participation has been criticized by Americans for Truth, a right wing organization which believes gays can change their sexual orientation.

From Americans for Truth’s Peter LaBarbera,

Bob [sic] oh boy! A band created by the Lesbian and Gay Band Association — built around men and women who share disordered sexuality and, for some, gender confusion — is marching in Barack Obama’s inaugural parade — the first ever “gay” Inaugural marching band! What a civil rights achievement — the Democrats should be so proud. Despite the enormity of this “progressive” milestone, apparently it is only somewhat of a technical “first”: the Aberrant Sex Band played twice for Bill Clinton but reportedly never marched for the … Aberrant Sex President.

Emails to the Pride Band were not returned.

The inaugural program, which begins about 10 a.m. on the West Front of the Capitol, is an historic ritual that is both an intensely personal statement by the new president and a way for him to set the tone of his new administration.

The program was announced today by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, chaired by Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California.

Dr. [Rick] Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” will deliver the invocation. He will be followed by Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, who sang “Someday We’ll All Be Free” and “Respect” at a concert for Bill Clinton in 1993, but not at the inaugural ceremony.

Warren is the head of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest Calif., and RightWingWatch.com, which monitors the right wing for the People for the American Way, calls Warren “a friendlier version of James Dobson.”

Warren is drawing fire because of his outspoken support of Proposition 8, the marriage amendment in California. During the campaign for Prop. 8 Warren called for the passage of the amendment to protect free speech of ministers who disagreed with homosexuality — something supporters of marriage equality say is a “lie.”

In a letter from HRC President Joe Solomnesee, he asked that Obama reconsider the invitation for Dr. Warren.

Let me get right to the point. Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans. Our loss in California over the passage of Proposition 8 which stripped loving, committed same-sex couples of their given legal right to marry is the greatest loss our community has faced in 40 years. And by inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table.

But in this case, we feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination. Only when Rev. Warren and others support basic legislative protections for LGBT Americans can we believe their claim that they are not four-square against our rights and dignity. In that light, we urge you to reconsider this announcement.

It is unclear if President-elect Obama selected Warren, or if the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.

Sean Penn as Harvey Milk (photo: greg hefner via Flickr.com)

“I want to recruit you,” Harvey Milk used to scream at rallies all over California in the 1970s as he campaigned against the Briggs Initiative, which would have banned homosexuals from teaching in public schools.

The recruitment meme was something the religious right, which was just getting its legs, had discovered was playing well as a scare tactic with the electorate.

In the new film by Gus VanSant, Sean Penn as Harvey Milk not only recruits but charms the pants off viewers in a powerful, riveting, challenging and ultimately life-affirming portrait of a progressive politician.

Milk was one of the first openly gay people elected to public office in the U.S., winning a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk and Mayor George Moscone were murdered by former supervisor Dan White, bringing to an end a political mind that was committed to doing something for people, not politics.

VanSant’s film is carefully crafted, paying loving homage to the everyman Milk was, while at the same time providing us with a fully realized character with human foibles. There is no sentimentalizing Milk in this film. He is there for everyone to see, blemishes and all. He ignored his partners in favor of his politics; he went to the bathhouses. And yet in spite of, perhaps because of all this, Milk rises to the level of an everyday hero.

And VanSant is just as careful with Milk’s killer Dan White. White, played by Josh Brolin, is a confused, frustrated man struggling to find his place in an ever-shifting world. Brolin’s portrayal is very real, never sentimental and most importantly layered with depth to make him a complex character.

While this film is a powerful biopic about a man few outside of the gay rights movement may have heard of, it is also a testament to the ideas of progressive coalition-building. Milk used to tell his crowds, “You gotta give them hope.” Sounds pretty familiar. And this film does give you hope. A hope for a country where people are accepted for who they are and people look for the best in each other.

While the film is currently opened in limited release, it is a must see. If you can’t get to Detroit to see it, then demand that your local theater play it. Then go see it, but bring tissues and prepare to have your heart opened.