KnowThyNeighbor.org

KnowThyNeighbor.org Expands to Oregon (Official Press Release)

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Tom Lang, Co-Director, KnowThyNeighbor.org (978) 335-0477
Contact: Aaron Toleos, Co-Director, KnowThyNeighbor.org (978) 821-4620

Oregon’s Anti-Gay Petitioners to Have Names Posted Online at KnowThyNeighbor.org

Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA, September 5, 2007 – KnowThyNeighbor.org, the gay rights organization that drew national attention for posting online the names of over half a million anti-gay petition signers in Massachusetts and Florida, announced today that it will be expanding its efforts to Oregon where anti-gay rights groups are seeking to overturn two new laws: one granting domestic partnership benefits to same-sex couples and the other expanding the state’s anti-discrimination laws to include sexual orientation.

The petitioners have until September 26 to collect about 55,000 signatures on each of two petitions.  If they are successful, the new laws will not go into affect as scheduled on January 1 and could be overturned by voters on the November 2008 ballot. KnowThyNeighbor.org will post the names of those that sign these petitions on their website sometime next month.

“This is about responsibility,” said KnowThyNeighbor.org co-director Aaron Toleos.  “Petition signers are making a choice to be directly responsible for a discriminatory and dehumanizing attack on fellow taxpaying citizens and should not be allowed to do so under the cover of darkness. Our website hopes to drive home the gravity of this situation and encourage potential signers to be fully connected to the very real and hurtful consequences their actions will have on gay individuals, couples, and their children.”

As in Massachusetts and Florida, KnowThyNeighbor.org expects that Oregon’s pro-equality citizens will visit the website, discover the names of people they know, and make an effort to confront those people about their actions. "These conversations can be uncomfortable for both parties,” explained Toleos, “but they are desperately needed if people are to understand how important these basic rights and protections are to the gay community."

Tom Lang, a gay married Republican, and Aaron Toleos, a straight married Democrat, founded KnowThyNeighbor.org in July 2005 to counter a proposed anti-gay marriage amendment in Massachusetts. That amendment was defeated with over 75% of the state legislature voting it down. The organization expanded to Florida in 2006 where it partnered with Christ Church of Peace in Jacksonville to post almost 400,000 names online. The Florida battle continues and another 300,000 names are scheduled to be posted in the next few months.

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Kris Mineau Comes "Out of the Closet" in Iowa

Where Oh Where Has Our Homophobe Gone, Oh Where Oh Where Can He Be...?

Just two days after Ethan Jacob's BayWindows article,  "Silence of the 'Phobes"  which talks about the uneasy silence and shift of focus coming from Massachusetts equality foes and bigoted gadflies, Massachusetts Family Institute spokesperson Kris Mineau appears in an Associated Press story story about the Iowa Marriage Decision.

The AP story goes on to say, "On Friday, Romney discussed the matter in a private conference call with Iowa House Republican Leader Christopher Rants, who has endorced Romney, and Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, which worked on gay marriage issues in Massachusetts."

Mittler Romney said later that day that he "would renew his calls to amend the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage" and said "that's essential to our future."
And I guess it was important to Mittler to consult the one man whose attempt to stop Marriage Equality in Massachusetts was "all potatoes and no meat" as that sort of issue-based campaigning has proven effective before for the uber-conservatives.  Kris Mineau as you remember used his spin " a groundswell of support to stop same-sex marriage" to dupe, fraud and mis-inform Massachusetts voters and we all suspect that he will be doing it again (at least in an advisory position) in other states such as Oregon.

You should be outraged!  Read this AP article again.  It is easy to hate Mitt Romney, Kris Mineau and and the other reprehensible "conservatives" and Republicans.  But take a closer look at what the Democrats have to say.  Hillary Clinton was evidently the first to offer a reaction to the Iowa decision on of all things, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show"  and instead of applauding the decision in Iowa for Equal Rights, she gave her support for civil unions "with full equality of benefits."   So, if Hillary Clinton is elected, "benefits" will get equality but gays and lesbians won't.  Come on Mary Breslauer (who I think may have come up with that stupid phrasing), you can do better than that!  LGBT people are not idiots and you are more Uncle Tom than Karl Rove.

Let the games begin.

Tom Lang, Director KnowThyNeighbor