Uppity Wisconsin

New Hampshire just joined the list of states allowing gay marriage, after a quick trip through the legislature and a world-record-breaking signing by the governor. 

And yet, Wisconsin has somehow lost its progressive way on this issue.  2006 was the sad year in which Wisconsin legalized discrimination, both legally and morally.  It's time to fix this. Let's try again.  Let's keep trying until we get it right.

Well, okay then, let me see if I understand this:

Fred Risser introduced a bill to ensure that women will not be legally prevented from breast feeding in public. A reporter from the Badger Herald asked Julaine Appling about her opinion on the bill, and printed a (and it looks reasonable to me) truncated quote from her.

I thought I would forward over this action alert from the folks at Fair Wisconsin:

Today Governor Jim Doyle will release his budget proposal to the Wisconsin Legislature. For the first time, he will call on state lawmakers to extend domestic partner health insurance to all state employees.

Please urge your state lawmakers to support domestic partner benefits today. Click here to send a message:

http://eqfed.org/campaign/DPB

From Dave Zweifel at the Capital Times - Maybe the Gay Marriage antagonists would be better served by trying to work on Heterosexual Marriage- -

I've got a suggestion for Julaine Appling and her colleagues at the euphemistically named Family Research Institute of Wisconsin, the state chapter of the organization founded by Christian bomb thrower James Dobson: Quit worrying about homosexual marriage and get to work saving the heterosexual ones.

Appling was the ring leader in last fall's campaign to amend Wisconsin's Constitution to double-ban already banned gay marriage in our state.

From 365Gay.com

(Madison, Wisconsin) Madison, Wisconsin city council Tuesday night approved a measure allowing city officials to include a statement supporting same-sex marriage in their oaths of office.

In our continuing attempt to become well-known in a very small circle of people who care --- Uppity Wisconsin (and hey - MY FARM - ) are on the BBC web site.

Really - go take a look! As part of the Up All Night show's coverage of the US elections and citizen reporters in the US, they asked me to write a piece for British readers about the elections in Wisconsin. I wrote about the Marriage Amendment.

As the very close battle over the marriage amendment heats up, they pro-amendment folks are starting to seriously strike back -

Gay marriage opponents hope new TV ad will help in close race - Supporters of an amendment banning gay marriage launched their first television ad Monday and plan to spend hundreds of thousands dollars on a last-minute ad blitz before the Nov. 7 election. [Stateline.org Wisconsin News]

I'm normally a fairly positive person, and God knows I hate to regurgitate anything that Nancy Reagan said, but here it is:

Just Say No!

It's been a difficult time for progressives. The house and senate and presidency have been firmly controlled by the Republicans. Corruption in Washington has reached levels that are incomprehensible to me. There's a new story every day, so it seems. We've become embroiled in a war that most of the country does not support, and the war has killed as many as 650,000 people in a foreign country. We made up a reason for invading the country, and continue to make up excuses for our war, our conduct, our history of torture (and saying that it's justified).

The Republican party is proudly pointing to the "economic progress" of the country. There's been plenty of economic progress for the people with money, for the people with investments, for the friends of the Republicans. But damn little for any of the rest of us. For most of the country. For the poor, for the middle class, for the people we used to think were the backbone of America. They give us answers like fences, Health Savings Accounts (if you can't afford to take your kids to the doctor, it's a cinch you can't afford those).

According to Channel 27 in Madison , some canvassers in Madison are spreading incorrect information about the Marriage Amendmen coming up for vote in November.

Although it's not clear who these folks were, they claimed to be from Vote Yes for Marriage. The Vote Yes folks seem to be trying to disclaim responsibility.