(warning watching  Glenn Beck may be dangerous to your sanity)

This program is funded by Stanislaus County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, and is a collaboration between El CONCILIO and the Stanislaus PRIDE Center.

SJIFF3 will feature:

• New independent American and International films
• Cultural and national focuses
• Educational programs, interactive

discussions, and film arts classes

• Guest celebrities, entertainment luminaries, and filmmakers from around the nation and the world
• Festive receptions and parties
• Diverse programs for all ages

As February’s most anticipated cultural arts and entertainment event in the Valley, SJIFF3 brings in a multifarious group of people from the home base of the Stockton-San Joaquin region, with audiences from the Sacramento Valley, Stanislaus-Fresno Counties, the Great San Francisco-Bay Area, and Southern California. In addition, expected guests will be flying in from around the world, along with media exposure, news, reviews, and information broadcasted in various formats near and far.

For tickets and more information, please call (209) 423-4719

Via.

“Mr. Chairman, speaking for myself and myself only, it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. For me, personally, it comes down to integrity — theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.”

Robert Gates announced that there would be a investigative study launched that should conclude by the end of the year as to how to go about repeal with implementation starting shortly thereafter and probably taking another year to complete. There was also talk of enacting stop-loss measures to prevent further discharges under DADT, such as not investigating people who are outed by third parties.

Of course there was the typical backlash. AMERICAblog caught John McCain’s flip-flop from a statement in 2006 about how we should listen when military leaders say it’s time for repeal to his flip-out today about how a thousand retired admirals and generals had signed a petition against change. Guess he’s more interested in the opinions of retired military leaders who agree with him than what the people who actually run the military think.

Watch Admiral Mullen’s full statement after the jump.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys closed their case by playing excerpts from two simulcasts that were broadcast to gatherings of evangelical voters during the Prop 8 campaign. These simulcasts were sponsored and paid for by ProtectMarriage.com, the official Yes on 8 campaign organization.  In the portions shown, one speaker said, “The polygamists are waiting in the wings, because if a man can marry a man and a woman can marry a woman, the polygamists are going to use that exact same argument and they probably are going to win.”  Another speaker referred to a man marrying a horse, and a third speaker compared the impact of permitting same-sex couples to marry to the 9/11 attacks.

The videos of these outrageous statements, made in a forum sponsored and paid for by the official Yes on 8 campaign, provided a fitting end to the plaintiffs’ case.   It brought the focus back to the long history of demonization the LGBT community has faced in the public sphere– from the grim historical events described in Professor George Chauncey’s testimony two weeks ago to the themes of the Yes on 8 campaign, as shown in today’s videos and the highly inflammatory testimony of Prop 8 proponent Dr. Bill Tam.  The plaintiffs have done an admirable job of laying out the case that Prop 8 was a product of the same kind of prejudice that has driven many other anti-gay laws throughout our nation’s history.

Which means today the Protect Marriage people started up their case. Which consisted of calling a professor they characterized as “an expert on the political power of gay men and lesbians in California and nationally” however I don’t think they did their research on this one:

In addition to offering a surprisingly superficial account of political power, Prof. Miller made several admissions that undermined his credibility as an expert.  Under a withering cross-examination by David Boies, Prof. Miller admitted that, at the time of his deposition, he did not know how many states prohibited sexual orientation discrimination.  He did not recognize many of the leading scholars on gay politics and history, and acknowledged that he had not read their work.  He could not offer an opinion on whether gay people have more political power than African-Americans, even though much more of his scholarship has dealt with the African-American community than the LGBT community.  He also declined to comment on the level of prejudice and negative stereotyping LGBT people face compared to other groups such as African-Americans or women.  Prof. Miller did concede that lesbians must face more prejudice than other women, however, because they experience discrimination on the basis of both gender and sexual orientation.

Boies also questioned Prof. Miller at length about articles Prof. Miller has authored or coauthored that are critical of the initiative process.  In fact, at times, it almost seemed that Prof. Miller might have been offered as an expert by the plaintiffs on the dangers of the initiative process.   For example, Prof. Miller has written that initiatives violate the democratic norms of openness, fairness, and accountability and tend to preclude compromise and informed deliberation.  When asked if he still agreed with those statements, Prof. Miller agreed that he did.  He also acknowledged that initiatives are particularly troubling when they target disfavored minorities.

I really wish this had been broadcast, I’d love to see the faces of the Protect Marriage attorney’s as their case got torn to shreds…

I hope the Central Valley comes and supports the very good foundation not only will it show that the Central Valley cares, but it will also show unity among all gay and lesbians, in the whole world that we do care about others not just ourselves so please come support Empress 36 of San Diego and friends to raise money for a wonderful foundation all money raised that is 100% will be given to the Matthew Shepard foundation. Hope to see you all there!!!!!

The eQuality Scholarship Collaborative awards scholarships to honor and encourage northern and central California students for their service to the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender community.  Scholarships of $2,000 and $5,000 may be used for post-secondary education at approved institutions – colleges, universities, and trade schools. Some of the scholarships are specifically for nursing or medical school. Applications are due by February 16,2010.

For complete information, see eQuality Scholarship Collaborative.