Out in News: May 2008 Archives

I'm so excited to see this story on my friend Karen Ocamb in LA Weekly (one of the LA People of 2008) that I am going to post the entire thing. What Karen does becomes all the more important as the battle to preserve gay marriage in California heats up. I'd say that Karen would be working harder than ever but I don't think that's possible!

Here's the story, "Hard news as a civil right," by Patrick Range McDonald

On a recent Monday morning, Karen Ocamb sits back on a couch and gears up for another heavy week of hard-news journalism. Her one-bedroom apartment in West Hollywood is the command center, where she calls up sources, writes copy on a MacBook Pro and always keeps the television turned on to MSNBC or CNN as her three dogs lie around and nap. For 20 years, Ocamb has been reporting about a world few Los Angeles journalists, if any, have covered so consistently and with such passion.

"These are civil rights issues," she says. "Whenever someone is denied the right to the pursuit of happiness, we should all be concerned. That's what I continue to write about."

Lorri L.Jean of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, a tireless activist whose efforts on the issue go back years, said at a news conference: "Today, I can marry the love of my life." Jean added that her father had died seven months ago. "He so wanted to walk me down the aisle," she said. "But I know he's dancing in heaven!"

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, pictured next to Lorri, told The Advocate after: "I feel proud to be a Californian. I feel that today we reassert the fundamental obligation of every freedom-loving Californian, that is, that life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness is essential and must be protected by the Constitution."

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San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom: "Today, the California Supreme Court took a bold and important step forward to end discrimination in California. The Court's ruling to grant same-sex couples the right to marry affirms the very best of what California stands for - and proudly continues our state's long-standing commitment to equality and justice.

As San Franciscans, we have taken an irrevocable step toward resolving one of the most important civil rights issues of our generation, and the state's highest court has done the right thing with their ruling. San Francisco is the first government entity in American history to challenge the constitutionality of state marriage laws that discriminate against gay and lesbian couples. I believe that the path San Francisco pursued was not merely right - it was inevitable. It is America's path - the road to true freedom and equality.

The rights afforded by California's Constitution have triumphed, as they must, over laws restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples. In the late 1940s, California courts were among the nation's first to strike down laws banning inter-racial marriage. The state's Supreme Court has once again distinguished itself as a leading defender of our civil rights.

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John Amaechi, via The Advocate: "My very first reaction was that I was quite surprised. I watched the arguments on television and I watched the debates, and to me, as a partisan member of this debate, it seemed like it was such a wonderful logical argument that wasn't about special treatment but about pure equity. Still, I just didn't expect that the supreme court would come back with such a wonderful decision. So I am thrilled.

But at the same time, I want to see how this is going to translate. The sad fact is that when reasonable people move to bring equity to the masses, there always seems to be an objection and someone who wants to try and stop that from happening.

I would have to have a partner, of course, first, before I would consider getting married, but I hope to get married someday. The inability for LGBT people to get married and have their partnership recognized publicly does damage to their relationship. It hinders the recognition of LGBT people in society on the whole. And I think everyone deserves to have that spectacular day that sits beautifully in their memory for the rest of their lives.

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Melissa Etheridge (with wife Tammy Michaels) did this interview with The Advocate today:
"I feel they have made an honest woman of me. What a wonderful blessing for us and the gay community. We're moving forward. It makes me feel happy for the whole human race that we are finally getting out of our differences and coming together and we are putting this all behind us. It really is going to be the thing that we talk to our kids and our grandkids and say, "That was the olden days -- wasn't that ridiculous?"

Where were you when you heard? Were you following the case closely?
Yesterday my wife [Tammy Lynn Michaels] said, "Hey, they are going to vote." And it had been since March since they said they were going to do it, so you kind of forget that people are fighting every day for this. So yesterday my wife said, "Tomorrow they are going to come down with it." So I turned the news on this morning and they said any minute we are supposed to hear this, and so I have been listening. But then I dropped the kids off at school and I did a couple of errands and when I came home I said, "Honey, have you heard anything?" She went back and got on her computer and five minutes later she came back and said, "Whoo! We are married!" [laughs]

So I assume you are planning on getting legally married now?
Well, we had a wedding in 2003, and then we got the domestic partnership after that, so now my wife and I have to sit down and think, what will the formal thing be that we do? I don't know if we want to do the whole full-on thing again because we did do that, and that was our ceremony to ourselves. But I think this calls for a party.

Most important, what do you think this means for your kids?
You know that's the thing. I was just talking to someone about this, and I get all choked up about this because I think that the part that people who don't really understand this issue don't realize is that we are people with jobs and families. We have kids. And there have been years and years of explaining to them. I remember when it was on Schwarzenegger's desk and we were like "Oh, if he signs it, we may be able to get married." And then he vetoed it, and we were like, "Oh, mean governor!" So they have gone through this with us, and I can't wait to pick them up from school today and say, "Hey, your parents are just as married as anybody else's." That's a big thing. It's going to be a good day.

I'll be updating this throughout the afternoon...

Ellen DeGeneres (with girlfriend Portia de Rossi): "I'm thrilled that the California supreme court overturned the ban on gay marriage. I can't wait to get married. We all deserve the same rights, and I believe that someday we'll look back on this and not allowing gays to marry will seem as absurd as not allowing women to vote."
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Chad Allen (via Advocate.com): I have to say I was completely shocked at the level of emotion of my own reaction. It's not that I didn't care, it's just that I didn't know that I cared that much. But when I found out about it, I was so full of joy and happiness and I was really emotional. I think that just relays the sense that when you are denied something, at least for myself, I tend to try and disregard its importance. And when all of a sudden it happened, I realized there was a part of me that wanted it so desperately.

I think it's of massive importance for our self-esteem and the personal level of acceptance that we all struggle for as gay and lesbian people, for us to simply know that this part of our dreams is even capable of coming true.

I'm thinking about getting married. I am in love with my partner, deeply madly in love with him, and though I am not ready to propose yet, it is in there. I have always said that I wasn't going to do it until I could do it legally, and now that we can and it's real, there is even a little bit of pressure now, like "I can't use that excuse anymore." It's a kind of pressure that, say, my sister has always had going into a relationship, wondering if this is the one and what about popping the question, and when do you do it and how do you know. But I have lived in ignorance of that until today.

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Rosie O'Donnell posted this picture of herself and wife Kelly Carpenter O'Donnell on her blog with these three simple and beautiful words: love now legal...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: "I respect the Court's decision and as Governor, I will uphold its ruling. Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling."

(The state legislature had passed a marriage bill twice only to be vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger both times.)

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California State Senator Sheila Kuehl in an interview with The Advocate said of Schwarzenegger's statement: "I thought it was generous and wonderful of the governor that literally 10 minutes after the opinion was announced, he issued a statement backing the opinion of the court. He said that he would uphold the opinion, and he said he would come out in opposition to any attempts to strike it down. "

Kuehl, a former actress, told The Advocate about how she heard the news and her reaction: About one minute to 10 a.m., people started gathering around my desk, and when we were able to get the document, we started going through [Chief Justice Ronald] George's opinion. Then at about 11 a.m., the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee was on the phone with Justice George, and so I got a chance to get on the phone with him and I got to thank him. Then, Justice Joyce Kennedy was in the building, speaking in favor of an appointment nominee, so I went down to the chambers and spoke with her too.

How will she celebrate this victory? "I already have tickets to the theater, so I can't go to the big party in West Hollywood. But I felt like I got the best of my world today because my friends in the legislature were all here. We went through all the gay bills together over the past decade -- the students bill, the hate-crimes amendment, the fair employment act. We've got a great group here."

This just in from Lambda Legal: It's an unforgettable day for same-sex couples and advocates of fairness and opportunity across the nation! The California Supreme Court has ruled that the state may no longer exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage. We are so proud.

Lead counsel NCLR, Lambda Legal, the ACLU and Equality California have been fighting for this victory for four years and today we have made history! But we must all do what we can to make sure that discrimination is not written into the state constitution in California through a ballot initiative.

Just a few weeks back, I posted about Thomas Roberts, wondering what the heck happened to him and why he wasn't on "The Insider" anymore. Well, we find out in the new issue of The Advocate which features for former CNN Headline News anchor on the cover. He was let go from the show in February.

Here are some excerpts:

A tall, muscular, classic hunk of a man, Roberts is the all-American matinee-idol version of a broadcaster, as opposed to, say, Anderson Cooper's effete, almost European vibe. But Roberts isn't talking to me today to name names or speculate about other people's careers and choices. He's here simply to talk about his own experience being gay in broadcasting -- which, for the most part, has been positive, despite what you may think.

Indeed, Roberts says, being gay has never held him back. "I've worked my ass off, I've been fortunate, and luck doesn't hurt either," he says. "If people don't like that I'm gay or that I talk about being gay, I'm sorry. Because that's not my problem."

On the photo scandal that hit the first week of his job at "The Insider" ...

It was September 6, Roberts's fourth day at The Insider, when the Manhunt photos were posted online last year. The next day, a Page Six item dripping with homophobia detailed the whole thing. The headline? "New Sex Mess Jolts Insider." Roberts had come out to California excited about the new gig -- he had spent the summer looking for a good opportunity like this -- and now he was faced with potential disaster.

So Roberts was out of a job -- but the blogger had made a name for himself. Funny thing is, if you go to his site now (and, full disclosure, he once discussed writing for The Advocate with me, though nothing came of it), you can't find the original item without some assiduous searching. Instead, you'll see links to the coverage it got -- and an undated photo of the blogger with Roberts at an event, both smiling. It's a paradox of contemporary fandom not unique to the gays: We love our stars, but we also love to tear them down.

I wonder if Cokie Roberts thought maybe I was some kind of weirdo groupie when we met the other day.

My great friend, Beth Barrett, was being honored Wednesday night at the Society of Professional Journalists awards at the Omni Hotel in downtown LA. She had called me in the afternoon and said, "We're all going to be there at 5:30 to buy Cokie Roberts' book."

Cokie was the event's keynote speaker and is promoting her latest best seller, "Ladies of Liberty." I get to the Omni a little before 6 p.m. and no Beth, no anybody. Except for a nice woman from SPJ who said hello and as I was talking to her, I suddenly noticed Cokie was standing next to her, was surprised, and said something like, "Oh my gosh! It's Cokie Roberts!" She kind of laughed nervously as she held a glass of red wine in her hand. I went on to say that I'd watched her for years on ABC's "This Week" and blah, blah,blah. Frankly, she could not have cared less.

I wandered off as they set up her table and stacks of books. Beth and co. were still NOWHERE (I later learned she and her entourage were over at the hotel bar!) so I'm lingering and other than the SPJ officer on hand, I'm the first person to buy Cokie's book. I waited for her to finish chatting with a woman who was clearly an old friend then approached her to sign my copy.

Cold. As. Ice.

I told her my name and mentioned that I also have her mother's book (her mom is former congresswoman Lindy Boggs). She handed me back the book with I think a slight smile and I walked away. I opened it and she had written, "To Greg, Cokie Roberts."

Gee thanks. not even an "Enjoy!" or "Best wishes" or "Thanks for shelling out $24 for this opus." I was actually kinda miffed. But the Cokie snub made for a pretty funny story once Beth and her gang finally arrived and we had some wine before dinner. I started getting really good at telling the tale and probably started to exaggerate as the wine took hold: "And then she SHUT the book on my hand!"

Oh well. Got home and Cokie was on Tavis Smiley's show hawking the book and she was smart and insightful as ever. The real reasons why I have long admired her anyway.