Mike Tidmus

Details and reactions are being added as they come in … Tonight! Summer’s here and so’s equality. The time is right for dancing in the streets. Day of Decision II in San Diego: There will be a march and town hall meeting tonight in San Diego: We’ll march at 6:00 pm from Sixth & University [...]

“GOProud should not even be considered a gay Republican group, and should not be called so. They are a Republican ultra conservative group, apparently made up of only a handful of members. They don’t even support pro gay Republicans. In California last month they endorsed the same candidate in the U. S. Senate race as [...]

The huge crowds apparently went elsewhere as NOM’s own photograph indicates (photo: The National Organization for Marriage) The National Organization for Marriage has taken their anti-gay dog-and-pony on the road this summer. So far, attendance at NOM’s anti-marriage equality tea parties has been underwhelming by any standard, especially given the organization’s multi-million dollar per annum [...]

Activist and possible Presidential candidate, Fred Karger‘s organization Californians Against Hate has a brand new nationwide focus, a brand new look and a brand new name: Rights Equal Rights. Here’s a taste of the online announcement that went up this morning: We’re Changing Our Name Rights Equal Rights It’s been just two years since a [...]

It’s the same old song and it didn’t have a beat you could dance to the first time around: “The group believes the commission does not have the authority to conduct the investigation,” said NOM’s attorney of the state’s official investigating body, the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. That commission, on a [...]

Some curious news from San Diego: Papa Doug Manchester is giving up control of his Downtown Hyatt. For just under two years, the posh hotel has been the subject of a highly successful boycott — millions in lost bookings and cancellations — due to Manchester’s $125k donation to kick off California’s notorious Proposition 8, which [...]

A high-ranking Iowa Republican official, reacting to Californians Against Hate‘s role in bringing the National Organization for Marriage to justice in Maine, has vowed, via an email, to ‘abort’ the political aspirations of the group’s founder, Fred Karger. Karger and Californians Against Hate have aggressively hounded anti-marriage equality organzations across the country — including NOM [...]

Californians Against Hate founder, Fred Karger, to Mitt Romney: Apologize! (all photos: Mike Tidmus. Fair use encouraged) As former Massachusetts governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney signed copies of his new book, No Apology – The Case for American Greatness, a dozen demonstrators from Californians Against Hate assembled on the sidewalk outside the posh suburban [...]

On the heels of yesterday’s news that staunch advocate for traditional marriage and contributor to California’s Proposition 8 Papa Doug Manchester has been granted a legal separation from his wife Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Manchester, who filed for divorce in August, we learn the American Psychological Association has cancelled its August meeting at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in [...]

Mormon church documents headed to Prop 8 trial? (video: Chino Blanco at YouTube) Over in Mormonland, they must think of the founder of Californians Against Hate as some kind of Great Gay Satan. Lock up the wives and children. Here comes Fred Karger!! Karger was nominated recently at a popular Mormon blog in a poll [...]

8: The Mormon Proposition, a film by Reed Cown (video: Minority Films at YouTube) As we Californians are aware, those Mormons sure do love to meddle in elections. The Salt Lake Tribune this morning reports that, despite the fact that Reed Cowan, the director of 8: The Mormon Proposition, scored the most votes in a [...]

Papa Doug Manchester’s worst nightmare (all photos: Mike Tidmus, fair use encouraged, drop me an email for larger sizes) Close to 300 LGBT activists, union workers and allies descended on Doug Manchester’s Grand Hyatt in Downtown San Diego yesterday afternoon. The demonstration and rally were staged to commemorate the anniversary of Manchester’s donation of $125,000 [...]

On 16 December 2009, the New York Times Magazine ran a piece on the Chairman of the National Organization for Marriage, Robert P George. The Times piece lauded George as the intellectual force behind the Manhattan Declaration, a document signed by scores of radical religious right leaders and Catholic bishops. The Manhattan Declaration was nothing [...]

Proposition 8 Documentary To Debut At Sundance (video: ChinoBlanco at YouTube) Immediately after it was announced that Reed Cowan’s film detailing the Mormon’s meddling in California’s Proposition 8 would premiere at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, a website was thrown up calling for a boycott. Nancy Van Valkenburg, writing at The Standard, filed this report: [...]

If you’re thinking about making a holiday donation to the American Civil Liberties Union, don’t. The ACLU has come down on the side of the radical religious reich and the phony-baloney preservers of traditional false-witness bearing. This morning we learn the ACLU thinks the Yes on H8 crowd should not have to comply with Chief [...]

Bad news Thursday morning for the National Organization for Marriage’s Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown. Jonathan Wayne, Executive Director of the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, announced the commission is “eager” to proceed with their investigation into the role played by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) in the state’s election held [...]

Whoa! Ain’t this a kick in the pants? It seems the National Organization for Opposite Marriage has had some second thoughts about its predacious relationship with the former Miss California, Carrie Prejean. Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown once lavished opulent praise upon Prejean, calling her “the future of our movement, and the future of America.” [...]

One year ago, by a slim majority vote, the State of California enshrined religion-biased bigotry in its constitution, and, for the first time in history, a civil right that had been legally granted was taken away (all photos, Mike Tidmus, fair use encouraged, larger sizes available) Last night, San Diegans gathered to mark the first [...]

On top of the significant legal problems already facing the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), today the President of People for the American Way, Michael B Keegan, sent a letter to the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices — the same commission approached by Fred Karger, of Californians Against Hate, with allegations of financial [...]

(satirical graphic: mine) Justice D Brock Hornby, a federal judge, has ruled against two out-of-state, anti-equality organizations that are working to repeal Maine’s marriage-equality law. The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and American Principles in Action (APIA) sought a temporary restraining order that would afford them a special exemption from Maine’s election laws in their efforts [...]

Scott James (The New York Times): The San Francisco Movie Bears is not a politically-oriented organization, but, because Cinemark’s CEO donated $9,999 to eliminate marriage equality in California last year, the 1500 strong group is launching a bear boycott of Cinemark theaters … Movie Bears’ Boycott Is Small Growl in Larger Gay Roar Senator Patrick [...]

NOM’s head honcho, Brian Brown, addresses a small crowd in San Diego last May during a celebration of the elimination of marriage equality in California (photo: Californians Against Hate Blog, used with permission) The Bangor Daily News, earlier today, broke the news that the National Organization for Marriage and a relatively new player in the [...]

According to the Bangor Daily News, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and a second group, the Washington, DC-based American Principles in Action (AIPA), are suing the State of Maine over its campaign contribution disclosure laws: The state ethics commission voted Oct. 1 to take a closer look at contributions by the National Organization for [...]

(graphic: No on 1 : Protect Maine Equality) This is way beyond rich. For those of you who’ve managed to hold onto your sanity (and your cookies) by never ever ever sifting thought the unique brand of bullshit one encounters at make-believe Christianist news sites like Donald Wildmon’s OneNewsNow, here’s an eye-opener. Over on planet [...]

The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics & Election Practices voted 3-2 this morning to override its staff’s recommendation and proceed with an investigation into election improprieties on the part of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and Stand for Marriage Maine PAC (SFMM). Both groups are deeply involved in a highly contentious election campaign, reminiscent [...]