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Obama article

It may come as a surprise to some readers that I conducted the interview for “Assessing Obama” a little while ago. I’m learning to become more of a journalist and to anticipate things. Everyday newspaper writers gather material and spend time writing stories that never see print. That’s just the nature of the business, I’m told.

Even back in October it was clear that Obama was beginning to build a substantial lead. I knew also that the particular issue I wanted to cover, the fact that black Christians were so overwhelmingly rallying behind Obama, despite his liberal social policies, was so deep that I wouldn’t be able to start writing the article the day after the election. The three-hour interview was exciting, but it was really the easy part. Keeping the pulse of the news leading up to the election, then writing and revising took a long time. I’m still not completely happy with my prose but I think it worked.

In other words, I did the interview on a newsman’s hunch and took my chances. Perhaps if Obama had lost I could have reworked the material somehow but that would probably have taken a better writer than me.

So, after Oct. 9, I had a great interview and photo in my bag, but it was clearly one sided (I wasn’t talking to white pastors about McCain; but, really, the same issues didn’t apply) and running it before the election could have been interpreted as an attempt to persuade people and I didn’t want to do that.

So, things worked out in the end.

The gentlemen in the article were very candid and frank and I could have written at least twice as much as I did. They’re all the best of men and it continues to be my pleasure to cover them.

I’ve just finished an article about the new religious studies program that will begin in January at Ole Miss. I am a graduate of the Ole Miss philosophy department and it was a real pleasure going back to the campus and seeing familiar faces, like my former teacher Dr. William Lawhead. When I interview a couple of weeks ago, it was mid afternoon. I couldn’t drag myself away from the campus so I hung out a while then just drove up to Hernando to see my wife.

Then? Let’s see. I’m working on a piece for Thanksgiving about people who’ve fallen on hard times but still remain thankful and exhibit a spirit of Christian gratitude.

I’m speaking next Tuesday at the Ripley Rotary Club meeting and I’m nervous about that. Say a prayer for me.

Thanks for reading and God bless.

Peace,

Galen

AP articles

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Hundreds of people protesting California’s new ban on gay marriage demonstrated outside a Mormon temple in Westwood on Thursday, blocking traffic on a major boulevard.

The protesters claim the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spent millions to air deceptive advertisements in support of Proposition 8, which passed on Tuesday with 52 percent of voters casting their ballots to define marriage as a heterosexual union.

Mormon church spokesman Keith Atkinson said members were encouraged to support the ban on gay marriage, but the church made no institutional donations.

Police Department spokeswoman April Harding estimated that about 1,000 people came to the Westwood protest.

Sign-waving demonstrators spilled into the lanes of Santa Monica Boulevard, bringing afternoon traffic to a halt.

Advocates of gay marriage, which the state Supreme Court allowed in May, argue that the right to marry is a civil right. They have filed lawsuits to repeal the vote and have held rallies throughout the state.

Shift in Senate improves prospect for gay marriage
By MICHAEL VIRTANEN
Associated Press Writer

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ Even as voters in California banned same-sex marriage in a tight referendum, Tuesday’s election opened the door for the same debate in New York.

The pending shift in state Senate control away from Republicans removes one clear obstacle to legalizing gay marriage in New York, though opponents aren’t conceding anything yet and advocates say they have work to do.

Democrats won a narrow majority in New York’s Senate, where Republicans have buried legislation to start issuing marriage licenses regardless of gender. A Senate power shift was not a sure thing because four Democrats were considering an alliance with the GOP, which could swing the 32-30 majority back to Republicans.

“The only chance we had for meaningful debate or consideration of these issues in the state Senate was with a new Senate leadership,” said Alan Van Capelle, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, New York’s largest homosexual-rights advocacy group. He added that no bills have passed in New York without some votes from members of both parties.

The Rev. Duane Motley, founder of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, which opposes gay marriage, said they knew that with Republicans in control of the Senate that legislation to legalize it “was not going to come up.” With Democrats in control, he said party members will be pushing for it, but he questioned whether they have the votes.

“I think there’s at least four or five Democrats who wouldn’t support it,” said Motley, who said his group represents more than 2,000 evangelical churches and 500 other Christian organizations statewide. He believes the Republican senators will remain opposed.

“The Senate has never taken it up because the leadership of the Senate and the rank-and-file of the Republican senators were not in favor of it. You might find one maverick in there, but on that subject there was unity,” Motley said. “We’re going to wait to see who the new leadership is in the Senate and what the agenda is going to be. There’s no need to yell wolf when there’s no wolf around.”

One of the four Democratic senators who met a day after the election with GOP leaders was Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. of the Bronx, who opposes legalizing gay marriage.

Though Sen. Malcolm Smith of Queens, leader of the Senate’s Democratic Caucus, supports gay marriage, he said his conference’s first priority is the state’s fiscal crisis, followed by job creation upstate.

The Democrat-controlled state Assembly in 2007 passed legislation to legalize gay marriage 85-61, a measure backed by then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

In May, Gov. David Paterson, also a Democrat, issued a directive requiring state agencies to immediately recognize as valid in New York gay marriages performed legally elsewhere, such as Canada, Massachusetts and, for the past several months, California.

Paterson has said that if the Assembly and Senate pass legislation to legalize gay marriage that he will sign it.

It’s not clear yet if political support for gay marriage will be affected by Tuesday’s vote in California, where 52 percent of those voting favored the ban versus 48 percent against. It was the first time a state took away gay marriage after it had been legalized. Amendments to ban gay marriage also were approved in Arizona and Florida.

Van Capelle said Empire Pride achieved both its election goals Tuesday.

“Every member of the Assembly who voted for marriage equality and transgender civil rights won their re-election,” he said, adding that the second goal was to flip the New York state Senate by two seats in an attempt to put in a pro-gay rights majority.

“And I’m happy to say we replaced two longtime homophobic members of the state Senate with two long-standing supporters of our community.”

He was referring to Democrat Joseph Addabbo, who beat Republican Sen. Serphin Maltese in Queens, and Democrat Brian Foley, who beat Republican Sen. Caesar Trunzo on Long Island. Both Maltese and Trunzo publicly opposed gay marriage.

A Quinnipiac poll in June showed New Yorkers split over gay marriage, with 42 percent saying same-sex couples should be allowed to legally marry, 31 percent saying they should be allowed to form civil unions but not marry, and 21 percent saying there should be no legal recognition of same-sex unions.

However, 53 percent of voters supported Paterson’s order to state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed outside New York, while 40 percent disapproved.

“New York is fairly liberal on this. If you didn’t have a fiscal crisis and you had a nice even-toned, even landscape for politics, maybe you could do it,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “You never know, but I can’t believe that the Senate leadership would want to get embroiled in this when they’ve got tough mainstream things to do. This is a social issue with a lot of emotion.”