Triangle Club Meeting Time (Winter 2012)

Monday 4:30pm - 5:30pm in room MAC 210 (next to the bookstore)

Tranny Roadshow

The Tranny Roadshow visits Seattle Central.

Triangle Club Meeting Time (Winter 2011)

Monday 3:30pm - 4:30pm in room MAC 210 (next to the bookstore)

- Plan and decide on what to do for the club.

Not So Lame After All

It seems that President Obama's "caving in" to the Republicans and top 2 percent wealthy elites was not true at all. On Wednesday morning, the President signed the bill repealing the unpopular "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law. On the same day, the Senate passed the START treaty and the 911 Responders Health Bill. This has been the most productive lame duck session of Congress in decades. Several Republicans like Senators Collins & Snowe promised to pass the Obama bills only after the Bush tax cuts were extended by Congress and it seems the other side kept their promise. Even the START treaty garnered 71 "yea" votes from the Senate surpassing the two-thirds requirement.

Republican Senator McCain remains bitter and seems to be preparing to make the transition to the new military rules very difficult. He is actively courting the Family Research Council (FRC), an anti-gay conservative Christian group. Tony Perkins, the FRC's leader said this "I’ve already been in conversations with Hill leaders about holding hearings in the New Year, as well as statutory and legislative oversight steps that can be taken to turn back aspects of the repeal and slow down–if not stop–the rest. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and others will be working with FRC to put a strict evaluation process in place. We want to ensure that the Pentagon is monitoring the effect of this radical change on the men and women in harm’s way. One way to do that is demanding specific measurables–like tracking the sexual assaults, dips in recruitment and retention, combat distractions, and more. If there’s the slightest disruption to the military’s mission, you can bet that FRC will be on the Hill, demanding to revisit this repeal." They want to sue the government to stop implementation of the new law. It seems when they want something changed in government they are more than happy to go to a judge for help. That's in contrast from last September, when the FRC accused Judge Virginia Phillips’ ruling on DADT as the "very definition of judicial activism".

You can bet that the next two years leading to the next Presidential election will be the most contentious, expensive and partisan we have yet to see.

Do Ask, Do Tell

After 17 years of discrimination and discharges, the United States Senate has finally voted to repeal "Don't Ask Don't Tell" law. The final tally was 65-31 votes. 57 Democrats and 8 Republicans (Senators Scott Brown, Richard Burr, Susan Collins, John Ensign, Mark Kirk, Lisa Murkowski, Olympia Snowe and George Voinovich) voted to repeal the law. Democratic Senator Harry Reid, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Steny Hoyer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Independent Senator Joe Lieberman led the effort to repeal the law on both the House and the Senate. Before the Senate vote, the House introduced the bill to repeal and past it as a stand alone bill 250-175 on December 16.

Prior to the Senate passage, Republicans were planning on running out the clock before the holiday recess. Senator Reid had this to say about that "Fine -- you want endless debates to waste time? Then we'll just stay in session over the Christmas break, how's that?" Republican Sen. Jon Kyl responded "It is impossible to do all of the things that the majority leader laid out, frankly, without disrespecting the institution and without disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians and the families of all of the Senate, not just the senators themselves but all of the staff." Vice President Biden fired back "Don't tell me about Christmas. I understand Christmas. I've been a senator for a long time. I've been there many years where we go right up to Christmas. There's ten days between now and Christmas. I hope I don't get in the way of your Christmas shopping but this is the nation's business. This is the national security that's at stake. Act."

In 1992, former President Clinton campaigned to allow all citizens to serve in the military regardless of sexual orientation. After being elected, Congress added an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 requiring the military to ban and discharge all GLBT from military service. As a compromise, former Pres. Clinton issued the Defense Directive 1304.26 to forbid the military from asking new military applicants about their sexual orientation. That policy was originally called the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue, Don't Harass" policy. Today, it is simply known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as the military leadership ignored the "Don't Pursue, Don't Harass" parts.

Some of the activists and organizations responsible for pushing this Congress to act are Lady Gaga, the Human Rights Campaign, Dan Choi, and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. President Obama issued this statement after the vote "By ending 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' no longer will our nation be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans forced to leave the military, despite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay." He is expected to sign the bill into law days before Christmas Eve.

Gay Marriages Delayed Again

The delay is due to Judge Walker giving the proponents of Prop 8 time to ask the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for a stay on his ruling. It makes sense for the judge to do this because it would be horrible if the stay was lifted today 8/12/10 and then stayed again a week later by the higher appeals court.

“Proposition 8 violates the equal protection clause because it does not treat them equally," the judge ruled. Judge Walker's broad and clear ruling may eventually amount to a landmark court decision for gay rights when it reaches the US Supreme Court. “The evidence shows that, by every available metric, opposite-sex couples are not better than their same-sex counterparts; instead, as partners, parents and citizens, opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples are equal."

Meanwhile, groups like the Liberty Counsel, National Organization For Marriage, and Fox News continue to fight gay marriage by attacking Judge Walker or by scaring people about same-sex marriage.

Prop 8 Overturned & Now CA Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Approves It

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker overturned California's Prop 8 law today. Prop 8 was passed in the Golden State on November 2008 banning same-sex marriage. Supporters of Prop 8 contend that the law protects the traditional understanding of marriage. Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson teamed up with David Boies to fight Prop 8 and legalize gay marriage in the country. The two lawyers are best known for representing George W. Bush and Al Gore in the controversial 2000 presidential election. However, Judge Walker has yet to decide whether to implement his ruling now and allow GLBT people to marry in California or put it on hold until the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals can review it. Both legal teams were ordered to submit their arguments for or against the implementation by Friday, August 6.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker was originally appointed by former Pres. Reagan but the Senate Judiciary Committee at that time stalled the nomination process over the "Gay Olympics Controversy". He was later re-nominated by former President George H. W. Bush in 1989 and confirmed to take the seat vacated by Spencer M. Williams.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who vetoed his state legislature's approval of gay marriage two times, issued this statement in response to Judge Walker: “For the hundreds of thousands of Californians in gay and lesbian households who are managing their day-to-day lives, this decision affirms the full legal protections and safeguards I believe everyone deserves.”

The decision is now on appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has a liberal reputation for its past decisions. After that it goes to the the US Supreme Court, which will definitely uphold Judge Walker's decision with Supreme Court Justice Kennedy as the tie-breaking vote. The US Supreme Court may even go further to abolish the gay marriage bans all over the United States of America. It will take at least a year for this happen.

The full legal court decision is here.

The court case is named "Perry v. Schwarzenegger". Kristin Perry sued Gov. Schwarzenegger for denying her & same-sex partner, Sandra Steir a marriage license.

According to an LA Times investigation, 687,000 California voters changed their minds to vote "Yes on Prop 8" six weeks before the November 2008 elections after being peppered with anti-gay ads. 500,000 of those voters were parents of children under 18 yrs old. Prop 8 passed by about 600,000 votes. The ads targeted parents to scare them that their kids will learn gay sex and learn to be gay at school. Examples of such ads are here and here.

Marriage Equality In Argentina

Argentina joins Canada, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Portugal, Iceland and the Netherlands in granting full marriage equality rights to same-sex couples. It is the first Latin American country to do so. In a 33-27 vote with 3 abstentions, the Argentinian Congress passed their gay marriage bill. The Catholic Church organized thousands of opponents to protest at the government buildings before the vote. The law also allows gay adoptions, which was argued and used by the Catholic Church as their big issue against it. The bill now goes to President Cristina Fernandez's desk, who is expected to gladly sign it.

New Zealand, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Switzerland, Australia, and the United Kingdom all have some form of civil unions laws for same-sex couples but doesn't have the full marriage rights afforded to straight couples.

Wonder Woman Gets A Modern Look

Does any fan even like this new Wonder Woman? Guess what? The publishers of her comic not only changed her costume but her background story as well. She was no longer raised by her Amazon mother and sisters but was now raised by modern day humans.

This new story about Wonder Woman goes against history and the loyalty of her true fans. The publishers shouldn’t follow some consultant who is not even a fan of hers. Also, if they want to update her costume, they should only do it in the movies like what they did with the X-men. This new wonder woman looks like a hipster daughter of Wonder Woman (if she had a daughter). They can kill her off in the comic or have her rule her homeland but they should have this new one be the daughter of Batman or Superman with Diana.

Gloria Steinem, a renowned feminist who used the original heroine for the 1972 issue of Ms. Magazine, does not agree with both the costume and back story change. This new back story imitates Superman's story. “This destroys her home, her Amazon mother and sisters, and gives her no place to go to gain strength and create an inspiring storyline.”

Below is an updated but still original looking image of Wonder Woman with darker color tones.

Seattle Pride 2010 Videos

Pride 2010 Rave





Nick Performs






Seattle Pride 2010