In today’s White House briefing both Metro Weekly and Kerry Eleveld with Equality Matters got in questions about LGBT issues, with Eleveld following up on her column regarding Brian Bond’s departure from the White House and Metro Weekly asking about this past week‘s developments regarding DOJ’s new policy not to oppose joint bankruptcy filings by same-sex married couples. Neither question elicited much of a response from White House press secretary Jay Carney.
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From the transcript:
Q And on just a completely unrelated subject, it’s been reported that Brian Bond, who was in charge of constituency relations for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues, is leaving the White House for the DNC. Currently, there’s no senior LGBT advisor to the President on this issue, arguably one of the biggest civil rights questions of his presidency. Does he — does the President plan to appoint someone to advise him on these issues going forward?
MR. CARNEY: I don’t have any personnel announcements for you. I think that his record on these issues is something he is proud of and he gets advice from a lot of quarters. I don’t have an announcement for you on that.
Chris.
Q On July 7th, DOJ announced it would no longer oppose married, same-sex couples who are seeking to file joint bankruptcy petitions. And that was a move that DOJ had opposed in the past, basing it on DOMA. You in the briefing room, however, in the past have said that the President doesn’t have the ability to waive [sic] a magic wand and change policy.
MR. CARNEY: I wish he did.
Q And that was with regards to immigration situation and same-sex couples seeking equal treatment. Can you explain what the difference between those situations is, and also, whether or not the President supports DOJ’s decision to allow same-sex couples to file join bankruptcy petitions?
MR. CARNEY: Chris, I honestly haven’t talked about this with him in terms of that specific decision by DOJ, so I’d have to refer you to that. I think the overall principle that he doesn’t have a magic wand — although some of us wish he did sometimes, maybe this week in particular — to make things happen is just a statement of fact. And there are processes that involve legal analysis and decisions that obviously are handled over at the Department of Justice. So I just don’t have any more information for you on that.
Q But the President has said that until there are final court rulings that he expects DOMA to be enforced. Is this situation — does the President feel that this is enforcing DOMA by allowing same-sex couples to file joint bankruptcy petitions?
MR. CARNEY: I haven’t had that conversation with him. I mean, I can take that question for you.
[Image: Carney at White House press briefing on June 27, 2011.]
Lucien Bates, a transgender man, says security guards threatened to arrest him after he used the women’s restroom at a Round1 arcade inside the North Riverside Park Mall in suburban Chicago. Bates, an Indiana resident, was visiting the venue on September 28 with his fiancé and a friend to play Dance Dance Revolution.
Bates, who presents as alt-masculine with facial hair and piercings, had just arrived at the arcade when he needed to use the restroom. He chose the women’s restroom, a decision he often makes in public because he feels safer there and is less likely to be harassed.
I remember doing the time warp in a living room. As a gay kid in the suburbs of Seattle who loved black-and-white monster movies like Bride of Frankenstein, I was drawn to The Rocky Horror Picture Show in late-night viewings on cable. Overloaded in image and sound, Rocky Horror had everything: a spooky old mansion, creepy caretakers, a young couple in danger, rock and roll.
And still more: Patricia Quinn's blood red, disembodied lips. Barry Bostwick's buttoned-up Brad Majors dressed down to his high-waisted tighty-whities. Tim Curry's Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a mad scientist in fishnets and heels. And, of course, that writhing bundle of muscles, bulging in gold booties and briefs, the credit to Frank's Frankensteinian genius, Peter Hinwood's Rocky Horror, the film's titular Adonis.
An interracial gay couple who run an award-winning farm in King George County, Virginia, say they were the targets of a hate-filled act after someone deliberately dumped medical waste on their property following last week’s state elections.
Kevin Graham, 44, and Dragan Kurbalija, 47, own Gardening Gays Farm, a 27-acre property along U.S. Route 301 where they sell flowers, eggs, seasonal produce, and pasture-raised meats, including lamb and chicken.
They also sell jams, sauces, teas, herbal remedies, local honey, handcrafted candles, and other artisan goods at their on-site store, and share their experiences as farmers on YouTube. The business was recently voted King George County’s “Overall Best Business,” “Best Family-Owned Business,” and “Best Agricultural Business” in a county-sponsored “Best of the Best” contest.
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