More No on 8 Madness

This really is hard to fathom, though relative to the rest of the missed opportunities of the No on 8 Campaign it shouldn't come as a shock. Apparently Barack Obama did make a very emphatic statement against Prop 8 and, more powerfully, congratulated all of the gay and lesbian couples who got married in California -- except, the No on 8 Campaign decided not to let everyone know! The letter read as follows:

As the Democratic nominee for President, I am proud to join with and support the LGBT community in an effort to set our nation on a course that recognizes LGBT Americans with full equality under the law. That is why I support extending fully equal rights and benefits to same sex couples under both state and federal law. ...

And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states. ...

Finally, I want to congratulate all of you who have shown your love for each other by getting married these last few weeks.

Activist Michael Petrelis dug up the letter and points us to a Bay Area Reporter article in which one of the outsourced heterosexual political strategists for the No on 8 Campaign explains that since the letter was sent to a Bay Area group most people across California wouldn't be familiar with the group, thus he decided not to use it. Jeez, it doesn't matter who the letter was sent to -- it was coming from Barack Obama! The impact would be enormous in many constituencies across the state if you put it in ads.

These people actually got paid our dollars, sent to the No on 8 Campaign, for this:

[L]ittle use was made of Obama's opposition in a letter last June to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, and right before Election Day the Yes on 8 campaign sent out a mailer featuring Obama's image and quotes that he is opposed to same-sex marriage.

"That was a close call," Smith said. "Maybe we should have."

Smith said that people outside the Bay Area wouldn't know what the Alice Club was, but club Co-Chair Susan Christian spoke up and said that in fact, Obama's letter to the club been widely reported, including in the New York Times.

Insane.

On Today's Show

At 3:30 ET: Kate Kendall, executive director, National Center for Lesbian Rights and one of the leaders in the battle to save marriage for gays and lesbians in California will join me. Kate is on the executive committee of the No on Prop 8 Campaign, which recently went through a shake-up after criticism of the group's ads and sagging poll numbers. Prop 8 is a dead heat in California as voters go to the polls. We'll talk about the campaign,the polls, the shake-up, and what may happen tonight.

At 4:20 ET I'll check in with Andy Towle of Towleroad.com, which has covered the election and the battle over Prop 8. Andy will be live-blogging all afternoon and this evening. (I'll be a guest panelist too, popping in now and then to Towleroad in between posting live discussion right here on Signorile.com -- more on that later).

At 4:30 ET I'll talk with Sirius OutQ host Diana Cage who will be holding a round table discussion tonight during her show (10 ET) on the outcome of the election with various OutQ hosts, and I'll be calling in as well.

Sold!

Little Rocco 2 sold last night in our auction for No on 8 for $1275.00 to a regular listener to "The Michelangelo Signorile Show," Jamie Paul of Toledo, Ohio. Jamie went above and beyond the call of duty and made it an even $1300.00!

Congratulations and thanks to Jamie, who is going to call in to the show at about 5:15 ET today. Jamie told me this was an important cause for him because Ohio had passed the most draconian marriage amendment, and he understands why keeping marriage legal for gays and lesbians in California will go a long way toward changing things across the country.

Thanks to all of you, on the show and on the blog as well. We raised much more than $1300, just by having Rocco 2 up on the site and talking about him on the show, creating awareness and reminding people to dig deep. People who got priced out of the auction early on sent whatever money they could to the campaign, and passed on emails to me letting me know. Others were made aware of the campaign and the importance of beating Prop 8 by hearing about Rocco 2 every day on the show and also sent whatever they could, including a lot of smaller contributions that add up, and many let me know about that as well. A lot of listeners and readers here also said they contributed to 8Against8, which we'd also asked people to do, (That fundraiser -- eight lesbian bloggers raising funds for eight days -- ends today, and they've raised well past their expectations, which is just great.)

So thanks to everyone! Polls are showing it's tight, every little bit helps, and there's still time to give. Got to 8Against8 today or go to NoOnProp8 between now and next week.

"Rocco 2" at $1025.00

The current highest bid for little "Rocco 2" is $1025.00 and it's only the third day of our 7-day auction against hate. We're hoping to raise as much as possible for the No On Prop 8 campaign, so, if you are able, please go and make a bid and take the cuddly guy home -- as well as all the swag he's wearing from my various political convention outings -- and help out an important cause.

And if you're priced out already for this particular fundraiser, donate whatever you can to the campaign. Go to the 8Against8 fundraiser -- 8 lesbian bloggers raising money for 8 days to beat back Prop 8.

"No on Prop 8" Campaign Revs Up

Andy Towle has a report from last night's big Beverly Hills fundraiser to raise money to beat Prop 8. Amid reports of a shake-up in the campaign recently, and some dissatisfaction with the ads being run from our side, this is welcome news:

"'No on Prop 8' raised at least $3.9 million from last night's event! Ron Burkle underwrote the entire evening so that every dollar donated went to the No on Prop 8 campaign. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom donated $100,000. David Hyde Pierce donated $50,000. They also announced that in the past two weeks, 'No on 8' had taken in $10 million to the 'Yes on Proposition 8' campaign's $2 million. If I'm doing my math correctly, at this point we should be fairly even with the bigots in terms of funds raised...

"...Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stated that the campaign was trying to reach out to Hispanic voters and that he would volunteer to be the face of the television ads and the voice of the radio ads."

"Rocco 2" Update

Thanks to all the bidders so far in our auction against hate. My little bear Rocco 2 is now up to $610 on Ebay and we're only in the second day of the auction for No on 8. He needs a good home and I'm so glad to see so many people wanting to give him one. Check him out and bid on him if you can for this critically important cause.

Bid on My Bear!

Meet Rocco 2.

He is a bear I built (at Build A Bear) which I'm auctioning off with all proceeds going to the No on 8 campaign, to fight against the antigay ballot measure in California. (There are more photos of him on Ebay.)

Rocco 2 was made in New York City by me, and he has a birth certificate. Rocco 2 is wearing a Sirius Satellite Radio hat, and has around his neck my official credentials from the 2008 Republican and Democratic conventions. As many of you know, we had broadcast live this year from both conventions, interviewing politicians, activists, newsmakers and crazy wingnuts like Rick Santorum, Sally Kern and Gary Bauer! Rocco 2 also is holding a cell phone, is wearing sunglasses and has two pins on. Both buttons were given to me at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston: one is from a transgender delegate and says, well, "Transgender Delegate"; the other says, "I'm Doing My Part to Piss Off the Religious Right."

We did something similar a few years back, benefiting the Mathew Shepard Foundation, asking listeners to bid on Rocco 1, raising some good money for the cause, though that auction lasted for ten days. (Rocco 1 had my credentials from the 2004 conventions on.) With limited time left in the campaign and money needed, we're keeping this auction to 7 days; it ends next Sunday night. But let's do the best we can No on 8 and find Rocco 2 a home. I will be talking about him on the show every day urging people to go to ebay and bid, and of course posting on the blog all week reminding you about the auction.

UPDATE: Pam Spaulding is also holding on online fundraiser for No on 8 on her site today. Go check on 8 Against 8 and do what you can.

Ellen Turns Up the Heat on Prop 8

Via Towleroad: Joe Biden, in a taped interview with Ellen DeGeneres to air Monday on her show, comes out strongly against Prop 8, something Ellen surely focused in on. (At a campaign fundraiser after the taping later in Hollywood, he repeated his opposition.) Good for Joe, and for us.

Ellen, meanwhile has made a 100,000 ad buy to air the PSA she made and which was released last week, clip below. Thank you Ellen!