Leave it to Seaver » Youtube

Harvey Milk’s “Hope” Speech

nseaver — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:00:48 +0000

I recently attended a conference which included a session on video. This video of Harvey Milk’s famous “Hope” speech was shown as a sample and I figured I’d share since it’s so well done, and such an important message.

The Wildly Ill-Informed Tea Partiers

nseaver — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:19:18 +0000

Disturbing, but worth watching.

An Evan Bayh Tribute

nseaver — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:37:24 +0000

Really clever, and not badly performed. Don McLean must be proud.

New York Senate Speech on Marriage Equality

nseaver — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:00:54 +0000

A smart and impassioned speech worth watching. Senator Savino describes what we, as the culture of “The Bachelor,” have done to marriage and why she supports marriage equality.

We in government don’t determine the quality or validity of people’s relationships. If we did, we wouldn’t issue three quarters of the marriage licenses we do…

…I’m a Roman Catholic. The Catholic Church has the right to deny me the sacrament of marriage if they determine the person I choose to marry is unfit or our relationship doesn’t meet their standards. City hall does not have that right. That will not change under this bill. That will never change. Religious institutions cacn continue to practice discrimination with respect to the sacrament of marriage.

h/t Debbie and Kate P.

Stepping Back from the Education Argument

nseaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:58:34 +0000

I shared this video I made a while back and I’ve tried to make this point before, but with the focus the campaign has taken towards the issue of schools, I think it’s important to remember that while this isn’t about curriculum, it is about what we teach kids (and adults) with the example the state sets in recognizing gay couples as equal. Like I said in my last post, we can’t let this be about anything more than respecting our family, friends and neighbors. No on 1 can’t ignore the deceptive attacks, but even Mutty has agreed that the education argument is misleading (up to you to decide if it was “inadvertent”).

What Polls Don’t Show Us

nseaver — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:13:01 +0000

Nate Silver revamps his expectations of the outcome of Question 1 in light of yesterday’s poll, but he’s still putting his money on the “No” side. Another interesting read.

While the breakdown of demographics can be frustrating, I’m reminded of one of the most memorable speakers from the hearings back in April. One of the factors that polling identifies as an indicator of how one will vote is age. While this is sadly true, let’s remember that there are also older men and women who agree with Philip Spooner, a World War II vet. (Update: Towleroad has this clip up too)

The Danger of the Teleprompter (or Cue Card)…

nseaver — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:43:58 +0000

…is that you might look like this insincere schmuck. Either he reads at a 6th grade level, or he had never seen the remarks he was reading.

via Towleroad

More on Obama’s Speech

nseaver — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:25:24 +0000

“We did not come to fear the future. We came to shape it.”

Full disclosure: before I wrote that last post, I hadn’t seen the end of President Obama’s speech.

There has been no better eulogy for Senator Kennedy than Obama’s remarks tonight.

Obama’s closing lines:

“I understand how difficult this health care debate has been. I know that many in this country are deeply skeptical that government is looking out for them. I understand that the politically safe move would be to kick the can further down the road, to defer reform one more year, or one more election, or one more term.

But that is not what this moment calls for.

That’s not what we came here to do. We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it. I still believe we can act even when it’s hard.

I still believe that we can act when it’s hard. I still believe we can replace acrimony with civility and gridlock with progress. I still believe we can do great things and that here and now we will meet history’s test, because that’s who we are. That is our calling. That is our character.”

Why Marriage Equality Matters Part IV

dcnick — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:06:48 +0000

Bishop Harry Jackson on Hate Crimes–Not Enough to Justify Action?

dcnick — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:10:57 +0000

Bishop Harry Jackson, who leads Stand4Marriage in DC, appeared on the Diane Rehm Show with Joe Solmonese, the President of the Human Rights Campaign. The episode was on the Obama Administration and gay rights. It was a fascinating episode that also included an interview with John Berry, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management and the Obama Administration’s highest ranking openly-gay official. In the section with Solmonese and Jackson, the issue of hate crimes comes up and this is what results.

To Jackson, it seems, equal rights have to be fought for by each group in a vacuum. The progress that one group has seen should not help any other group. He argues that only a few people have been victims of hate crimes, but ignores the fact that makes hate crimes unique. The crimes are to inspire fear in others. The victim of a hate crime is an individual and everyone who fears because of it. I don’t buy his statistics that there are only a handful of hate crimes towards gay and transgendered individuals, and more importantly, there were more than 4,700 victims of the crimes he describes against African Americans.

Hate crimes legislation is to prevent the terrorizing of a group of individuals and it’s to help communities investigate and prevent more crimes like this.

Two questions for Bishop Jackson:

How many victims would it take for you to support Hate Crimes legislation, Bishop Jackson?
Don’t you wish there had been Hate Crimes legislation to try and stop the crimes that took those 4,700 lives?