Forward, Wisconsin!

Wisconsin has been called the original "gay rights" state, after being the first in the country to pass measures denouncing discrimination based on sexual orientation.

It might also be the first state to turn the tide of the campaign of bigotry the Republicans seem to think is destined to turn out votes for them. This editorial in the Wisconsin State Journal, the state's second-largest paper, indicates the progressive, independent, fair-minded thinking for which the people of Wisconsin are known.

Marriage Benefits Should Be For All
A State Journal editorial

The cause of equal rights is at the heart of the debate over gay marriage and a powerful reason for legalizing it.

Under Wisconsin law, a married couple has nearly 200 legal benefits and protections; under federal law, an additional 1,138, according to a recent report by Action Wisconsin and the Human Rights Campaign.

For instance, married people can:

• Receive the medical records of a spouse.

• Seek worker's compensation claims if a spouse dies.

• Avoid a state fee after transferring real estate between spouses.

• Claim separate personal tax exemptions.

• For eligible state employees, purchase long-term care insurance for a spouse.

The many benefits and protections married people enjoy extend to most facets of life. It is discriminatory and demeaning not to offer them to some of our citizens on the sole basis of sexuality.

Wisconsin should speak up for equality this November by opposing a constitutional amendment against gay marriage and civil unions if it makes it onto the ballot.

The proposed amendment defines marriage as strictly between a man and a woman. State law already limits marriage to a husband and wife. But amendment supporters want to ensure that the inequality of marriage rights is cemented into our society.

The state Senate in December passed the amendment, which is now before the Assembly. If passed, voters may have to decide in a statewide referendum.

The change would make it much tougher for gay marriage to become a reality in Wisconsin. And it would forbid civil unions, which are supported by a majority of state residents.

An unmarried couple, whether gay or straight, would not be able to gain "a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of a marriage," under the amendment.

Such a ban could even jeopardize domestic-partner benefits, which many Wisconsin employers offer to be fair and to help their bottom lines by attracting talented employees.

The government could conceivably sue companies for offering insurance coverage that gives a gay couple the same protection as a married couple.

The vehemence and finality in the amendment's exclusionary language is truly disheartening.

It tells the world that, in Wisconsin, some people's rights to health care, spousal support and tax relief don't matter.

And by including it in this state's constitution, the amendment would institutionalize inequality.

Wisconsin should not stand for that.

Read It And Weep

The sh*t is slowly starting to hit the fan.

Outing Cardinal Egan
A priest's lawsuit alleges the Catholic Church is hiding pedophile clergy — and offers a stunning reason why

February 7 — Who knows whether Cardinal Edward Egan is sleeping soundly these days. But as head of the New York archdiocese—as the top Roman Catholic prelate in the state—he'd have every reason to be restless after the recent advent of a little-noticed lawsuit.

The suit, now pending in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, was filed on December 13 by Bob Hoatson — a 53-year-old New Jersey priest considered a stalwart ally among survivors of sexual abuse by clergy. Hoatson, the now-suspended chaplain for Catholic Charities in Newark, is suing Egan and nine other Catholic officials and institutions, claiming a pattern of "retaliation and harassment" that began after Hoatson alleged a cover-up of clergy abuse in New York and started helping victims.

But that's not all his lawsuit claims. Halfway through the 44-page complaint, the priest-turned-advocate drops a bomb on the cardinal: He alleges Egan is "actively homosexual," and that he has "personal knowledge of this." His suit names two other top Catholic clerics in the region as actively gay—Albany bishop Howard Hubbard and Newark archbishop John Myers.

It's not that Hoatson has a problem with, as the suit puts it, "consensual, adult private sexual behavior by these defendants."

No, what Hoatson claims is that, as leaders of a church requiring celibacy and condemning homosexuality, actively gay bishops are too afraid of being exposed themselves to turn in pedophile priests. The bishops' closeted homosexuality, as the lawsuit states, "has compromised defendants' ability to supervise and control predators, and has served as a reason for the retaliation."

Hoatson realizes what he's up against. "I stopped and I thought long and hard about these allegations," he says. "It's time the church confronts this dysfunction. I couldn't do this outside of filing a lawsuit. The only thing the church responds to is negative publicity or a lawsuit. If I kept trying to do this within the system, I would be gone."

The case hinges on several statutory and legal claims. It argues that Egan and the other bishops retaliated against Hoatson for being a whistle-blower, that they intended to harm him and his career, and that they engaged in a conspiracy to do so.

Two years ago, a flurry of allegations that Hubbard had sexual relationships with several men, including a teenage street hustler and three diocesan priests, rocked local churches. Hubbard, who denied the charges, called for an investigation, and his handpicked lay review board hired Mary Jo White, a respected former federal prosecutor in Manhattan. White was paid $2.2 million for a four-month inquiry that ended up clearing Hubbard of all accusations. Aretakis represented the two main accusers.

Aretakis puts little credence in the investigation, calling it "the most expensive piece of fiction ever produced." He denounced White for essentially investigating her own client, and he and his clients refused to cooperate.

Now that similar allegations are written in a lawsuit, the landscape has changed. Now, Aretakis has the platform to try to prove them — and he says he's prepared to do it. He says he's accumulated a list of priests and witnesses who have agreed to provide "firsthand evidence
of the sexual proclivities" of Egan, Hubbard, and Myers, if subpoenaed. Some have written statements relaying "homosexual relationships with these bishops," he maintains; others know people who have had the affairs.

Aretakis declined to show written documentation on the three bishops, saying, "I don't want to reveal my hand at a time when I don't need to." He describes the evidence against Egan and Myers as involving consensual contact with adult men. Egan has a sporadic history of gay affairs, Aretakis claims, most of them dating back to his time as a seminarian. The lawyer alleges Myers has had gay affairs more recently, some within the past five years.

For Hubbard, it's a different story. On the condition that his clients' identities be shielded, Aretakis allowed the Voice to view videotaped interviews with two men who allege they had sex with Hubbard for money as troubled teens, one in the 1970s, one in the early 1980s. Neither was included in the White investigation, though their allegations do resemble ones it ruled unfounded.

One of the men is now in prison and couldn't be reached before press time. The other, reached through Aretakis, told the Voice independently that the details on the tape are true and that he gave the testimony of his own free will. Now married and living upstate, he has sought help from Aretakis for a potential abuse case against an Albany priest who he says also paid him for sex and introduced him to Hubbard. He says he may sue Hubbard as well. — Kristen Lombard, The Village Voice

The article continues here.

Daily Thought

Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?

— Ernest Gaines

Moral Fraud

Out of one side of his mouth, George Bush says Iran and Sudan are terrorist states, reprehensibly denying human rights to their own citizens. Out of the other, he says they are our allies when it comes to denigrating people who are gay.

I realize that, according to recent approval polls, most people in America realize the (p)resident is a fraud and miserable failure. Tell me again, though, why do some "compassionate conservatives" still consider him their moral example?

U.S. Sides With Iran, Sudan To Bar Gay Groups From UN

February 2, 2006 — In a surprising reversal, the United States voted with Iran and other anti-gay countries at the United Nations to deny observer status to two gay rights groups at the world body.

The UN Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations of the United Nations Economic and Social Council voted January 23, 10-5 with three abstentions to deny the International Lesbian and Gay Association of Brussels and the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians of Denmark consultive status at the UN.

Such status, which is enjoyed by over 3,000 NGOs around the world, allows access to UN proceedings, presence at conferences, and the right to propose agenda items…. — Eric Resnick

Read the entire article here.

Fascism Anyone?

Randi Rhodes from Air America — which those of us in small towns can only hear on the Internet at this point (but, trust me, it's so worth the hassle) — shared this today in an e-mail. Sound like any administration you know?

Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes.

Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism — Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights — Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of
torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause — The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military — Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism — The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media — Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security — Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined— Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and
terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected — The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial
business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed — Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Art — Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is
openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment — Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption — Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections — Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

The above is a summary of the more detailed orignal article "Fascism Anyone?" first published in Spring 2003 edition of Free Inquiry.