The Human Spectrum News Network

Feminist poet and essayist Adrienne Rich dies

From USA Today:

Adrienne Rich, a fiercely gifted, award-winning poet whose socially conscious verse influenced a generation of feminist, gay rights and anti-war activists, has died. She was 82.

Rich died Tuesday at her Santa Cruz home from complications from rheumatoid arthritis, said her son, Pablo Conrad. She had lived in Santa Cruz since the 1980s.

Through her writing, Rich explored topics such as women’s rights, racism, sexuality, economic justice and love between women.

Read the rest here: http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/obit/story/2012-03-29/adrienne-rich-feminist-poet-dies/53852362/1

Gay-Marriage Foes Sought to Split Gays and Blacks

From ABCNews:

By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer, March 27, 2012

The leading national organization opposing same-sex marriage has sought to split the Democratic Party base by pitting African-Americans and Hispanics against gay-rights groups, according to confidential strategy memos made public by court officials in Maine.

“The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks — two key Democratic constituencies,” says one of the memos. It also suggests “interrupting” the process of cultural assimilation for Hispanics in hopes of curtailing support for same-sex marriage.

Read the rest here: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/gay-marriage-foes-sought-split-gays-blacks-16014071#.T3OWrPVy5PN

NOM Strategies Revealed: Document Dump Exposes Tactics of Racial Division, Victimhood, Attacking Obama

From Towleroad:

03/27/2012

The documents the National Organization for Marriage fought long and hard to keep sealed in Maine were unsealed yesterday as part of investigations into the group’s finances, and published late yesterday by HRC’s ‘NOM Exposed’ campaign.

The documents reveal that what pro-equality activists suspected about NOM’s state-by-state and national strategies were correct all along – that the group works to sow racial division, paint liberals (and the President) as radicals, and collect evidence for memes that can construct a storyline that anti-gay activists and Christians are victims.

Read the rest here: http://www.towleroad.com/2012/03/nomdocs.html#ixzz1qSip1qua

Top 10 Highlights From NOM’s Race-Wedging, Donor-Hiding, Victim-Playing Confidential Strategies

From ThinkProgress:

By Zack Ford on Mar 27, 2012 at 9:08 am

The fallout has begun from the National Organization for Marriage’s failed attempt to circumvent Maine’s campaign finance disclosure laws. The Human Rights Campaign has published four of NOM’s confidential strategic memos from 2009, which explicitly confirm many of the insidious tactics LGBT bloggers have been documenting for years. Most alarming from the memos is NOM’s admission that it has tried “to drive a wedge between gays and blacks” and also specifically targeted Latino groups with its messaging.

Read the rest here: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/03/27/452430/top-10-highlights-from-noms-race-wedging-obama-smearing-donor-hiding-victim-playing-confidential-strategies/?mobile=nc

Thousands Attend Marriage Equality Rally

From Fox8:

Posted on: 7:07 pm, March 24, 2012, by Maria Scali, updated on: 10:05pm, March 24, 2012

The issue of gay marriage played out in downtown Cleveland Saturday in a mass wedding. Thousands of people gathered at the Galleria to witness more than 250 same-sex couples exchange wedding vows.

But, their marriages are only a symbolic statement of their commitment to each other, as same gender marriages are banned in Ohio.

State Representative Nickie J. Antonio said the Ohio Constitution would have to be changed to legalize these marriages. A referendum would have to be put on the ballot and put to a vote by the voters of Ohio. “So to repeal the part of the Constitution that now says that marriage is only between a man and a woman,” State Rep. Antonio said.

Read the rest here: http://fox8.com/2012/03/24/thousands-gather-downtown-for-marriage-equality-rally/

The Weinstein Company Will Release ‘Bully’ Unrated

From Towleroad:

03/26/2012

The Weinstein Company will release the film Bully unrated on March 30 after the MPAA refused to budge on its ‘R’ rating on the film, according to a press release received by Movieline:

Furthering proof that the R rating for some language is inappropriate for a film that’s meant to educate and help parents, teachers, school officials and children with what’s become an epidemic in schools around the country, the fight against the rating continues on. The outpour of support by politicians, schools, parents, celebrities and activists for the film’s mission to be seen by those it was made for – children – has been overwhelming. Nearly half a million people have signed Michigan high school student and former bullying victim Katy Butler’s petition on Change.org to urge the MPAA to lower the rating.

Read the rest here: http://www.towleroad.com/2012/03/the-weinstein-company-will-release-bully-unrated.html#ixzz1qSaRCg5c

U.S. Customs Will Recognize Same-Sex Families At Borders

Newsflash from ThinkProgress:

The Department of Homeland Security announced today that same-sex families will soon be able to cross the border together, filing just one form for all “members of a family residing in one household.” Before, married same-sex couples had to go through customs separately because the policy referred to married couples, and thus fell under the purview of the Defense of Marriage Act. The proposed change will undergo a series of reviews and a period of public comment before it takes effect.