CDC Releases New Data on HIV Infections 2006-2009

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released their latest analysis of HIV infections from 2006-2009 today. The full report (pdf) is available online. This is the first time the CDC has been able to estimate HIV infections from actual HIV test data, thanks to the passage of HIV names reporting legislation which has been enacted by several states (including California) in recent years. 2009 is the most recent year for which data is available so far.

A key excerpt from the press release:

According to the new estimates, there were 48,600 new HIV infections in the United States in 2006, 56,000 in 2007, 47,800 in 2008 and 48,100 in 2009.  The multi-year incidence estimates allow for a reliable examination of trends over time.  They reveal no statistically significant change in HIV incidence overall from 2006 to 2009, with an average of 50,000 for the four-year period.  In 2009, the largest number of new infections was among white MSM (11,400), followed closely by black MSM (10,800).  Hispanic MSM (6,000) and black women (5,400) were also heavily affected.   

“While we’re encouraged that prevention efforts have helped avoid overall increases in HIV infections in the United States, and have significantly reduced new infections from the peak in the mid-1980s, we have plateaued at an unacceptably high level,” said Kevin Fenton, M.D., director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention.  “Without intensified HIV prevention efforts, we are likely to face an era of rising infection rates and higher health care costs for a preventable condition that already affects more than one million people in this country.”

Some of the key take-aways from the report are:

• Overall HIV incidence in the U.S. has been relatively stable, with approximately 50,000 annual new infections

• New infections among young men who have sex with men (MSM) increased 34% between 2006 and 1009

• Young, black MSM (aged 13-29) is the only subpopulation in the U.S. to experience a statistically significant increase from 2006 through 2009
• New HIV infections increased 48% – from 4,400 in 2006 to 6,500 in 2009

• The new data confirm that HIV continues to disproportionately affect MSM of all races/ethnicities
• MSM represent 2% of the total U.S. population, but accounted for 61% all new HIV infections in 2009
• Among MSM in 2009, white MSM represented the greatest number of new HIV infections (11,400), followed closely by black MSM (10,800) and Hispanic MSM (6,000)
  

Read that line again: "MSM represent 2% of the total U.S. population, but accounted for 61% all new HIV infections in 2009." People who says HIV/AIDS is not a "gay" issue don't know what the heck they are talking about!

D.C., "Chocolate City" Now White Chocolate?

A curious result from the 2010 Census (which generally showed how America in general is becoming less white) is that Washington, D.C., a city which was nearly 71% Black is now only plurality African-American.

The Washington Post reports:

The number of African Americans residing in the District plummeted by more than 11 percent during the past decade, with blacks on the verge of losing their majority status in the city for the first time in half a century.

According to census statistics released Thursday, barely 50 percent of the District’s population was African American in 2010 — a remarkable shift in a place once nicknamed “Chocolate City.” 

The black population dropped by more than 39,000 over the decade, down to 301,000 of the city’s 601,700 residents. At the same time, the non-Hispanic white population skyrocketed by more than 50,000 to 209,000 residents, almost a third higher than a decade earlier. 

The census statistics showed a steeper change for both blacks and whites than had been estimated. With the city ‘s black population dropping by about 1 percent a year, African Americans might already be below the 50 percent mark in the city.

In a city that prides itself on being a hub of black culture and politics, a majority of residents have been black since whites began moving to the suburbs en masse at the end of World War II. By 1970, seven out of 10 Washingtonians were black.

The loss of blacks comes at a time when the city is experiencing a rebound, reversing a 60-year-long slide in population and adding almost 20,000 new residents between 2000 and 2010.

I wonder if the change in racial demographhics will make it more likely that D.C. will finally become  a state and get actual representation in Congress? It has a larger population than Wyoming, which of course is overwhelmingly white. It's within striking distance of Vermont and North Dakota's population in size as well.
Of course the bigger question is "Does it matter if the racial demographics of a city (or country) change over time?" And, what is race, anyway?

Speaking of race, you MUST read this Daily Kos article on the nature of race which ran yesterday. Here's a small excerpt:

Historical research has shown that the idea of "race" has always carried more meanings than mere physical differences; indeed, physical variations in the human species have no meaning except the social ones that humans put on them. Today scholars in many fields argue that "race" as it is understood in the United States of America was a social mechanism invented during the 18th century to refer to those populations brought together in colonial America: the English and other European settlers, the conquered Indian peoples, and those peoples of Africa brought in to provide slave labor.

From its inception, this modern concept of "race" was modeled after an ancient theorem of the Great Chain of Being, which posited natural categories on a hierarchy established by God or nature. Thus "race" was a mode of classification linked specifically to peoples in the colonial situation. It subsumed a growing ideology of inequality devised to rationalize European attitudes and treatment of the conquered and enslaved peoples. Proponents of slavery in particular during the 19th century used "race" to justify the retention of slavery. The ideology magnified the differences among Europeans, Africans, and Indians, established a rigid hierarchy of socially exclusive categories underscored and bolstered unequal rank and status differences, and provided the rationalization that the inequality was natural or God-given. The different physical traits of African-Americans and Indians became markers or symbols of their status differences.

As they were constructing US society, leaders among European-Americans fabricated the cultural/behavioral characteristics associated with each "race," linking superior traits with Europeans and negative and inferior ones to blacks and Indians. Numerous arbitrary and fictitious beliefs about the different peoples were institutionalized and deeply embedded in American thought.

I strongly encourage you to read the piece (which includes a quiz!), which was written by Denise Oliver Velez.

Eye Candy: Darrell Holloman (reprise)

Darrell Holloman has been featured Eye Candy on this blog before, on March 21, 2011. He has an incredibly cut physique, and beautiful, deep chocolate brown-hued skin. He has worked with photographers like Ulrich Oehmen and is represented by Silver Model Management.

Hat/tip to ManWatch.

Isadore Hall Announces Intention To Run For Congress

Assemblymember Isadore hall has announced his
intention to run for a South LA Congressional seat

The decennial redistricting will lead to a lot of turnover of the California congressional delegation, especially since a non-partisan commission is drawing the boundaries of every congressional and state legislative district in the state. This means that every current officeholder will be running in a brand new district. Many ambitious politicians will seize this opportunity to run for higher offices.

One such politician is Assemblymember Isadore Hall III, an African-American pastor who represents the 52nd Assembly District which includes part of North Long Beach and all of Compton. Hall recently announced his intention to run for a new Congressional district which is intended to be "majority-minority." There are currently 4 Black members in the 53-member Congressional delegation, all women: Maxine Waters (CA-35), Karen Bass (CA-33), Laura Richardson (CA-37) and Barbara Lee (CA-09). The district that Hall is eyeing would probably be one that Waters would be expected to run in, unless the 72-year-old Congresswoman decides to retire instead.

Hall's staff sent out a press release about his political intentions:

Compton, California – California State Assemblymember Isadore Hall announced his campaign for Congress today. Hall intends to run in a new Congressional District, which according to the first draft of maps released by the California Citizens Redistricting Committee on June 10th, might include the cities of Compton, Carson, Lynwood, Hawthorne, Gardena, Lawndale, portions of the City of Los Angeles and Unincorporated Los Angeles County.  

“As a local School Board Member, Councilmember and Assemblymember, I have worked tirelessly to make a difference in this community,” said Hall. “Our district needs a representative that will fight cuts to education and gang prevention programs, protect critical frontline services, and partner with President Obama to create family wage jobs.” 
“I have spent the past few days talking with friends and community leaders about running for this new seat,” Hall added.  “The response has been overwhelming and I am energized by the grassroots support we have already received.”

Hall is a former two term President of the Compton Unified School District Board of Trustees. He was elected to the Compton City Council in 2003 where he served in various leadership positions including Mayor pro Tempore.  Hall was elected to the California State Assembly in 2008 and served as Assistant Speaker pro Tempore during his first term. He currently serves as a member of the Appropriations, Elections and Redistricting and Human Services Committees. He chairs the Assembly Committee on Government Organization.
The youngest of six children, Hall was born and raised in the City of Compton. Hall holds a bachelors degree in Business Administration, a Masters Degree in Management and Leadership from the University of Southern California, a Masters Degree in Public Administration from National University and will be conveyed his Ph.D. from Next Dimension Bible College later this summer.

No incumbent member of Congress currently lives in the proposed Congressional District; however, Hall will not seek election to Congress in the event that Congresswoman Maxine Waters seeks to represent the new district.

I'm pretty confident that this will be the first of a lot of similar announcements.

Eye Candy: Quentin Turnage

Quentin Turnage is a 22-year-old model from Watsonville, California (according to his ModelMayhem profile). I first found pictures of him on Gorgeous Sexy Guys. He is most definitely Eye Candy!

Juneeteenth 2011 NEXT SUNDAY!

There is only one week until the 2011 edition of the Juneteenth Awards and Pride Celebration run by the Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition. Buy your tickets here.

Eye Candy: Max Philisaire (reprise)

Max Philisaire has appeared as an Eye Candy model before, on April 27, 2009. According to LOL Darian, He is a Haitian-American former Army Combat Engineer. Max has his own website, HollywoodBodyClub, and is a well-known fitness trainer in Los Angeles. According to his website, he was born in August 1984. He has modeled for various publications and appeared in multiple music videos.

I think we can see why, yes?

Now There Are 4: GA Black Gay State Rep Comes Out

Georgia State Representative Rashad Taylor,
comes out at a press conference May 27, 2011

There are now four openly gay, African-American male state elected representatives nationwide. Previously known were Marcus Brandon of North Carolina, Gordon Fox of Rhode Island and Jason Bartlett of Connecticut. State Representative Rashad Taylor of Georgia joined these three on Friday by coming out as gay at a press conference in Atlanta on Friday.

Taylor, 30, came out in order to respond to and refute charges of improper conduct which had been emailed to various state legislators from a jealous former lover of Rashad's current boyfriend. You can watch video of the press conference here.

Georgia Voice reports:

According to the national Victory Fund which works to elect openly gay officials, Taylor is only the sixth openly black LGBT person to serve in a state legislature. State Rep. Bell was the first black lesbian elected to a state legislature in 2009. 

Yesterday and in days prior, a man who is the ex-boyfriend of Taylor's partner sent an email to state legislators outing him and alleging Taylor misused his office by promising men jobs in exchange for sex. Taylor denied those allegations today, but did say the truth is is he is gay. 

"For some it may take two days, for some it take two years or 20 years [to come out]," he said.  

"I serve in public office and try to retain some semblance of a private life. This is a journey I've been on," he said. "i wouldn't want to expedite anyone else's journey. It ought to be a personal decision."

Taylor admitted that if the allegations against him had not been made he would not have come out.

"I would not be standing here today," he said, adding he considered ignoring the allegations.

But now was the time to tell the truth, Taylor added.

"I felt like honestly this was it unless I spoke the truth," Taylor said, saying he didn't want someone to feel like they had something "over his head."

He said before today, he could "count on one hand" the people who knew he was gay. Taylor also said that he came out to his mother and family in the past 24 hours. He thanked his mother for his support and she hugged him warmly after he spoke to the media.

MadProfessah has previously blogged about Simone Bell's election as the first Black lesbian state representative in December 2009. In Maryland, Mary Washington is the other openly lesbian elected state representative in the country. There are 6 openly LGBT, Black elected representatives nationwide.


Hat/tip to Wonder Man.

FOOD REVIEW: Island Flavors (Laurel, MD)

While I was on a research trip in Maryland/Delaware in early May I discovered the unassuming West Indian restaurant Island Flavors in a strip mall right off the Route 197 exit off the Baltimore-Washington Expressway (Maryland Route 295).

I'm always one to look out for really good West Indian food, and the best I have found so far is in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. That's a long, long ways from my home in Los Angeles, so often when I am on the East Coast I try and sample new restaurants. In Los Angeles, there is some pretty good Caribbean food (Ackee Bamboo, Caribbean Treehouse, Kassava) and some just okay (Derrick's Jamaican Cuisine, Juicy's, Wi Jammin).

Island Flavors is in a very unassuming, somewhat unprepossessing space, with cheap plastic chairs and tables and covered steam tables. You should go to Island Flavors for the food, not the atmosphere or service.

I ordered the brown stew chicken ($7.75) and homemade sorrell ($3.50). The brown stew chicken was excellent. It is very tangy and piquant but not overly spicy. It comes with steamed vegetables and fried plantains. The sorrel was also quite good, much more heavily infused with ginger than I am used to, and quite a bit more concentrated. Halfway through eating my small brown stew chicken I knew I wanted to sample their "Curry Chicken & Roti" ($8.00) and take a large brown stew chicken to-go ($9.25) on my 6-hour flight home to Los Angeles.

The curry chicken roti ended up being very unusual, with the roti skin being uncharacteristically left open, serving as a bowl for the curry chicken stew, instead of fully enclosing the thick curry chicken stew burrito-style that I am used to. The roti skin used was delicious, lighter and more flavorable than most (I suspect butter must be involved) and by not enclosing the stew, it seemed they were able to use more tender cuts of chicken with bone attached, as opposed to the sometimes dry, boneless chicken which appears in most chicken curry rotis. The brown stew chicken I brought home to Los Angeles was just as good when I ate it microwaved after being in the refrigerator as when I had eaten it inside the Island Flavors restaurant two days before. Both dishes were better than anything I have had from any West Indian restaurant on the West Coast, except perhaps for what's served at Kassava.

If you're in the Laurel, Maryland area (about 30 minutes north of Washington, D.C.) I would strongly recommend that you check out Island Flavors and order yourself a roti and a brown stew chicken to go, you will not regret it!

Name: Island Flavors.
Location: 12633 Laurel Bowie Road, Laurel, MD 20708-2603.
Contact: 301-776-7208.
Visit: May 7, 2011.

AMBIANCE: B.
SERVICE: A-.
VALUE: A+.
FOOD: A.

OVERALL: A- (3.75/4.0).

Celebrity Friday: Jackie Lacey Could Become LA County DA

Jacquelyn Lacey is the front runner to become the first female (and first African-American)
District Attorney of Los Angeles County

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley announced that he would not be seeking a 4th term next year and endorsed the #2 person in the office, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jacquelyn Lacey as his replacement.

Jackie Lacey had already been running for Los Angeles County District Attorney. If she wins, she will become the first Black and first female District Attorney in Los Angeles County, the state's largest. Interestingly, Kamala Harris was the first Black female District Attorney of San Francisco and famously defeated Lacey's boss by a razor-thin margin to become California's first Black and first female Attorney General earlier this year.

STUDY: Racial Disparities In Perceived Racial Progress Revealed!

There is an interesting new study ("Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game That They Are Now Losing,” Michael I. Norton and Samuel R. Sommers, Perspectives on Psychological Science, May 2011) which compares how "Black" Americans and "White" Americans perceive racial progress of the last few decades in America. The Wall Street Journal (!) reported a summary of the results:

The researchers contacted a random national sample of 209 whites and 208 blacks, and asked them how much discrimination each group faced, on a scale of one to ten, for each decade since the 1950s.

Black Americans saw anti-black bias as declining steadily, from 9.7 in the ’50s to 6.1 in the ’00s. Over the same period, they perceived a small increase in anti-white bias, from 1.4 to 1.8.

White Americans saw an even steeper decline in anti-black bias: from 9.1, in the ’50s, to 3.6, in the ’00s. But more striking, according to the researchers, was the sharp increase in perceived anti-white bias: Among whites, it shot up from 1.8 to 4.7.

White Americans, in short, thought that anti-white bias was a greater societal problem by the ’00s than anti-black bias.

The researchers described the pattern—which did not vary markedly with regard to age or education levels—as evidence that white Americans see race relations as a zero-sum game, in which one group’s gains must be offset by another’s loss.

My friend, Professor Ange-Marie Hancock of the USC Political Science department, would call this an example of Leapfrog Paranoia, which is the mistaken belief by one group that they are going to be surpassed in status by another group which they previously had perceived to be their inferior. Leapfrog paranoia generally leads to or is coupled with Movement backlash which is where the movement for progress by the inferior group experiences backlash as the currently superior group portrays itself as the victim precisely because there has been progress by the previously (and currently) inferior group. One obvious example of this is fundamentalist Christians saying that "militant homosexual activists" are persecuting them for their beliefs and forms of worship when LGBT activists are asking for equal access to civil liberties and civil rights without discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in the public sphere.

Eye Candy: Rob Evans

Rob Evans is a 23-year-old, 6'3" British model who has been catching the all over the blogosphere and on fashion runways all over the world. He has been signed by multiple modeling agencies. The shots shown above were taken by noted photographer Joseph Bleu. There are a whole bunch of more pictures of Rob at Socialite Life. 

He has an interesting look reminiscent of another Black British hottie, Ben Lauder-Dykes, who was an Eye Candy model back in September 2010. I can't really decide between the two, can you?

Eye Candy: Darrell Holloman

Darrell Holloman is another beautiful find by TonyJoe over at the Dark Flex blog. Darrell is "a personal trainer, actor and fitness model originally from Jacksonville, Florida and now living in New York City."

He has  a Model Mayhem page and a Facebook page.

Review of 2011 LGBT POC Film Festival: Fusion Shorts

I attended the Fusion LGBT POC Film festival yesterday and checked out the Fusion Shorts program. Here are my reviews.

STOP IT - ALMA 

Dir: Mike Rose

A spoof on intervention reality shows that features a woman, who compulsively cooks to the dismay of her family who just wants her to Stop It! This is a very clever spoof of reality shows whose comic appeal is based on the sheer ridiculousness of the "addiction" it depicts as well as the gender-bending nature of the lead character. The person  I saw the films with was curious whether the laughs would have started so quickly if the drag element was removed. I think probably not, but even without that, this short would be a funny hit. GRADE: B+.

REVOLUTION  

Dir: Abdi Nazemian

A coming-of-age story about Jack, a 16-year old Iranian boy growing up in 1989 Los Angeles. (In Farsi, Tagalog with English subtitles). This is a lush, dramatic film with a haunting score and an emotionally complicated plot. Unfortunately, the numerous, various pieces (cultural assimilation difficulties, teenage homosexual experimentation, father-son tension, the AIDS tragedy, mother-son angst and a too-cute  small dog) fail to really coalesce into a whole which matches the components. The central metaphor is flawed and the acting of several of the characters is unconvincing. GRADE: B-.

TIME AFTER TIME 

Dir: Laurie Thomas

The unspoken dance of a love triangle unfolds in the time it takes to sing this song. My first response is that this is a curious choice for an inclusion in a collection of shorts in an LGBT people of color film festival. On the surface it appears to be a dialogue-free depiction of a complicated moment between the red-haired, female singer of the classic Cyndi Lauper song and the two people who are interested in her affections: a laughing, smiling dark-haired white guy and a presumably multiracial dark-haired gal who is ultimately disappointed by whatever she sees in object of affection's eyes. GRADE: C+.

ANDY

Dir: Andrew Ahn

A six-year old boy discovers what it means to be a man. (In Korean with English subtitles). This is a too-short meditation on father-son dynamics by considering the ways in which gender roles are performed and policed by little boys and adult men with the complicated cross-cultural (mis)interpretations of same-sex interaction thrown in for good measure. The film definitely leaves it up to the viewer to interpret  nuanced reactions of a Korean father to a lipstick-wearing six-year old as well as the problematic depiction of an adult male stranger interacting with the child in a public men's room. GRADE: B+.

REMEMBER ME IN RED 

Dir: Hector Ceballos

Fidelia must find a way to honor what would have been her friend’s wishes before it is too late. (In Spanish with English subtitles). One of the highlights of the 2011 Fusion Shorts was this beautifully shot, tautly written depiction of the real deprivation(s) of the life and death of transgender individuals. The complicated ways that family ties can constrict and limit an individual's potential as well as the ways that they can be recreated in a more authentic way among a family of choice are the main themes here. The acting is particular strong, although some may feel that the storyline veers perilously close to telenovela melodrama. GRADE: A.

FAMILY IN THE FRAME 

Dir: Neelu Bhuman

Accentuated by voices of family members, this short film is an honest portrayal of the experience of bisexuality (English subtitles). A rather experimental short film which attempts to show the dilemmas of a bisexual, Indian immigrant and the tensions her identities produce within those around her. Generally, I found the film to be visually uninteresting and dramatically obtuse; it's differences from the other films are so extreme it was ill-served to be included in this collection. GRADE: D.

THE QUEEN 

Dir: Christina Choe

Bobby, a Korean-American teenage outcast, is working at his parents’ dry cleaners on prom weekend. When the prom queen and her boyfriend, stop by with their dress and tuxedo, Bobby has his own prom to remember. A near-perfect short film for any LGBT film festival. Almost any gay man can identify with the lead character of Bobby and his desire to be the consort to the Prom King, which is realized in a thrilling, pitch-perfect, well-choreographed crescendo and a surprise ending which is sure to generate squeals of delight from even the most jaded "queen." GRADE: A.

CHANGE 

Dir: Melissa Osborne & Jeff McCutcheon

A gay African-American teenager grapples with his young identity on the night Obama was elected. This is a well-produced short which tries to depict and (possibly defuse?) the complex emotions surrounding the inextricably coupled events of the passage of Proposition 8 and the election of Barack Obama in the African-American, LGBT and African-American LGBT communities. Happily, the directors have chosen to tell the story through a closeted Black teenager played by a young actor with a handsome, expressive face. It is thrilling to recall the historic events of Election Night 2008 and devastating to be reminded of the day after when the implications of California's passage of a ban on same-sex marriage began to sink in. The short film is engrossing but has some slightly odd pacing problems. The person I saw the film with was very disappointed in the very final scene; we both wanted more explanation of the motivations of the main characters' reactions to the Election Day events. GRADE: A-.

Overall, I'm very glad that I went but felt that this collection was slightly weaker than last year's, but just barely. If you see The Queen, Remember Me in Red or Change at a film festival near you, I strongly urge you to check them out!

"Bye-Bye" Buju!: Anti-gay Reggae Singer Convicted On Drug Charges

Mark Myrie, who performs as Buju Banton, before his 2nd federal
 drug conspiracy trial on February 14, 2011

The notoriously homophobic reggae singer Buju Banton was found guilty on 3 drug charges by a jury today.

On Tuesday, Banton was found guilty by a 12-member panel of jurors on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine, attempted possession with the intent to distribute cocaine, and using the wires to facilitate a drug-trafficking offence. He was found not guilty of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offence.

His bail was revoked after the guilty verdict was announced and Banton will now awaiting sentencing, which could send him to jail for up to 20 years.

Earlier this month, Banton won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album category.

"Bye-Bye, Buju!" He could be sentenced for as many as 20 years. I imagine a federal drug conviction could make it a bit dicey to continue touring the United States singing "murder music."

Black Female Senator Holds Deciding Vote On Marriage?

State Senator Joan Carter Conway (D)

As regular readers of this blog know, Maryland is currently engaging in a legislative debate about expanding civil marriage rights to same-sex couples. State Senator Joan Carter Conway, an African-American woman who represents the Baltimore area has emerged as the likely 24th (and deciding) vote to legalize marriage equality in the great state of Maryland.

Rod 2.0 reports:

The deciding vote: Joan Carter Conway, a veteran Baltimore Democrat.

In interviews Monday, two more senators said they intended to vote for the bill, increasing the number who have made such commitments to 24 - the bare majority needed for passage in the 47-member Senate - according to an ongoing Washington Post tally.  The Post's count of 24 senators includes one - Joan Carter Conway (D-Baltimore) - who has said she will not vote for the bill if she believes it will fail. Conway told The Post last week that she "would pray real hard" and vote for the bill if hers was the deciding vote. Still, it is clear that the legislation, which has stalled in previous years, has considerable momentum.

The Baltimore Sun has a tally of publicly announced Senator's positions on the legislation, which will face its first committee votes on Thursday February 17th and a full Senate floor vote on Tuesday February 22nd.

For (23)
Sen. James Brochin, Baltimore County Democrat
Sen. Bill Ferguson, Baltimore Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Jennie Forehand, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Brian Frosh, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Rob Garagiola, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Lisa Gladden, Baltimore Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Verna Jones, Baltimore Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Edward Kasemeyer, Baltimore and Howard counties Democrat
Sen. Delores Kelley, Baltimore County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Nancy King, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, Howard County Republican
Sen. Katherine Klausmeier, Baltimore County Democrat
Sen. Richard Madaleno, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Roger Manno, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Nathaniel McFadden, Baltimore Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Karen Montgomery, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Paul Pinsky, Prince George's County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Catherine E. Pugh, Baltimore Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Victor Ramirez, Prince George's County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Jamie Raskin, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. James Robey, Howard County Democrat
Sen. Ronald Young, Frederick County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore County Democrat (sponsor)


No public position/Undecided
Sen. John Astle, Anne Arundel County Democrat
Sen. James Brochin, Baltimore County Democrat (supports)
Sen. Joan Carter Conway, Baltimore Democrat
Sen. Ulysses Currie, Prince George's County Democrat
Sen. Edward Kasemeyer, Baltimore and Howard counties Democrat (supports)
Sen. Katherine Klausmeier, Baltimore County Democrat (supports)
Sen. James Rosapepe, Prince George's County Democrat

If any one of the twenty-three seators in the "For" column actually votes against the measure then Sen. Conway may vote against the legislation, fearing it would fail? This is such an insupportable position! Either one thinks marriage should be between two people regardless of gender or you don't! I hope that Sen. Conway discovers that as she "pray[s] real hard" that it is not okay to vote to discriminate against any other group of people, especially as a "double minority" herself.

I must say that it is pretty shocking that in such a Democrat-dominated state that this is even an issue. Already Maryland will recognize marriages from other states, this is about giving that same opportunity to Marylanders to not have to leave the state to get married.

Also, when the Governor O;Malley signs the marriage bill into law, the National Organization for Marriage will do all it can to try to overturn the measure at the ballot in 2012, so this is really just a skirmish in the war for marriage equality.

POLL: Majority of Maryland Voters Support Marriage Equality

The Washington Post reports on a new poll which increases the likelihood that Maryland will become the next state to enact marriage equality:

In the poll, 51 percent of voters say they would favor a law in Maryland allowing same-sex couples to marry, while 44 percent opposed such a law and 5 percent gave no response.

If the legislature passes a same-sex marriage bill, it is likely to be petitioned to the ballot for a statewide vote in 2012. 

[...] 

The Gonzales poll of 802 registered voters who vote regularly was conducted Jan. 13 to Jan. 19. It is said to have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

 What will be very important in determining whether Maryland has marriage equality in 2013 is whether the bill that enacts marriage equality goes into effect well before the November 2012 election. One of the main reasons Proposition 8 passed in November 2008 was that marriage equality had only been in effect for 173 days and most Californians had not had enough time to realize that one couple's (gay) marriage has no impact on anyone else's life, let alone their marriage.

I would also caution observers to notice that 51 percent does not mean that an actual majority of Maryland voters supports marriage equality, the margin of error could put the real number as low as 47.5%. However, it does indicate that the trend is moving in the right direction. I'm sure there will be many more polls before the proposed marriage bill goes into effect.