As the Star Tribune reports, Klobuchar was not one of the original 22 cosponsors of the anti-bullying bill but eventually added her name after pressure from the Family Equality Council, a national group that is backing the legislation.

“We’re hopeful Sen. Klobuchar signs onto [the bill] on behalf of the 3,000 kids being raised by same-sex couples in Minnesota and the nation’s one million LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] families raising about two million children,” said FEC spokesman Kevin Nix on Thursday.

Klobuchar added her name later that day.

The bill passed the U.S. House two weeks ago. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken were among the 68 Senators voting for the bill on Thursday. Twenty-nine Senators voted against the bill.

If Obama signs the bill, it will mark the end of 10 years of pressure from LGBT and human rights groups to pass the legislation.

Immediately following passage, LGBT groups hailed the vote.

Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director, Family Equality Council:

“Safety at home, at work, and in our communities is a cornerstone of happy, healthy families. LGBT families live in 99% of counties nationwide. We are neighbors, friends, loved ones, family members, workers and community members. Many of us are also parents who want more than anything to keep our children safe and to raise them in a world that finds strength in difference and celebrates diversity. Bias-motivated violence against any individual hurts our entire community. The protections and resources moved forward by Congress will ensure greater safety not just for LGBT people as individuals, but as parents and caregivers.”

Rea Carey, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force:

“Today’s vote marks a milestone for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. The hate crimes bill now shifts to the president. With his signature, President Obama will usher in a new era — one in which hate-motivated violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people will no longer be tolerated. Our country will finally take an unequivocal stand against the bigotry that too often leads to violence against LGBT people, simply for being who they are.”

Joe Solmonese, Executive Director, Human Rights Campaign:

“We applaud the leadership of our Senate allies, particularly Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Senators Patrick Leahy, Carl Levin, and Susan Collins for ensuring that the hate crimes provision remained part of this authorization bill. We also recognize the tireless efforts of Senator Ted Kennedy on this issue; a hero for our entire community.”

When Maplewood city council candidate Jim Llanas told the Minnesota Independent this summer, “Brace yourself. It’s just going to get ugly,” he wasn’t far off the mark. An anonymous flier being distributed about Llanas, who would be both the first openly gay and the first Hispanic city council member in the city’s history, is being described as racist and homophobic by a progressive group and a city council member.

“Llanas, a non-native of Maplewood, apparently spends much of his time in Minneapolis supporting gay politicians,” the flier reads. “How does this qualify him to run for Maplewood city council?”

It then says that Llanas has gone by several names, including his middle name “Moreno,” and that he has been involved in the LGBT community.

The fliers have been distributed in Maplewood neighborhoods, and in numerous instances they’ve been taped on doors along with an attached campaign brochure — in many cases affixed with the same blue tape — promoting conservative council candidate Dave Hafner and write-in candidates DelRay Rokke (council) and Ken Smart (mayor).

Current city council member John Nephew first spotted the fliers and posted them on his blog. “For whatever it’s worth, I don’t think those three were born in Maplewood either, but you know that’s not really what the flyer is getting at with the term ‘non-native.’”

There’s no proof that any of those candidates were responsible for the flier, and Llanas points to comments on a blog where Smart said he doesn’t have any knowledge of the flier.

The flier also attacks Llanas’ work in human rights. “Llanas wants to establish a Human Rights commission on the city council. The question is which humans? When was the last time a human rights commission did anything for you???”

Llanas condemned the flier on his campaign website:

Using a strategy right from the Karl Rove playbook, supporters of my opponents are using fear and hate to get votes. They blanket neighborhoods in the dark of night, afraid to show their faces. These slimey tactics make incorrect assumptions about Maplewood residents. They assume Maplewood residents are uninformed, comfortable with people who divide our community and tolerant of bigots. The fact is residents are deeply engaged with the affairs of our city and are fed up with this type of political nonsense!

Progressive Majority, a “political action committee committed to progressive candidates and issues,” also condemned the fliers and rushed to support Llanas in an email on Wednesday.

Jim has been called “a non-native of Maplewood” and been attacked for “supporting gay politicians.” The residents of Maplewood are facing a new low in the politics of bigotry and hatred …

The attacks, meant only to stoke racism and homophobia among voters, remind us of the Jim Crow days in the American South. While we are confident that the residents of Maplewood will reject the politics of bigotry, we also know that Jim needs help to get his message out.

Click here for a PDF version of the flier.

Grace Lutheran Church in Ely, Minn. Photo: Matti Mattila

After years of study and debate, thousands of leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will gather in Minneapolis this August for a vote on whether to become more welcoming to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Lutherans. LGBT Lutherans are anxiously awaiting the outcome, which could pave the way for gay and lesbian pastors, bring same-sex commitment ceremonies to local congregations and impact policy in a state with a large number of Lutheran elected officials.

Minnesota’s Lutherans have already weighed in on the issue by way of “synod assemblies,” regional meetings around the state. The synods have come to different conclusions, reflecting the intense debate the issue raises. But LGBT advocates are hopeful that a mostly positive response from Minnesota’s synods will translate to success at the church-wide assembly in Minneapolis.

Two important issues will be taken up at the Minneapolis assembly. One is a debate over a document called the Social Statement on Human Sexuality.

“Social statements are terrifyingly important documents within the church,” said Phil Soucy of Lutherans Concerned, which works toward full inclusion of LGBT people within the church. “They describe the church as it is within the current society and forms the basis of policy and action.”

The social statement was years in the making, dating back to 2001, when members directed the ELCA to study the issue of sexuality within the church. Released by the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality in February, the report found that there’s no consensus among Lutheran theologians and laypersons about how to treat homosexuality in the churches, and recommended a social statement allowing congregations to decide to bless same-sex relationships. The statement needs a two-thirds majority vote to pass.

Also on the docket for the August meeting in Minneapolis is a change in ministry policy that could end the ban on non-celibate gay and lesbian clergy. Current church law forbids gay and lesbian pastors from being in committed relationships, but in 2007 the church-wide assembly directed the ELCA to refrain from punishing them for such relationships.

Minneapolis provides a perfect backdrop to move the church forward on the issue of gay and lesbian clergy. It was here in 1970 that the church agreed to allow women to become clergy, an issue that other denominations struggle with today.

Changes in church policy could have broad implications for Minnesota policy as legislators weigh the issue of LGBT equality each year: 36 percent of Minnesota’s Protestant legislators identify themselves as Lutheran. According to U.S. Census data, 24 percent of Minnesota residents say they’re Lutheran. Catholics outnumber Lutherans but only by one percent.

August’s vote won’t be the first time Minnesota’s synods weigh in on these controversial issues. At a May meeting in Moorhead, the Northwestern Minnesota Synod Assembly stopped short of supporting the social statement on human sexuality. By a vote of 256 to 202 the synod “declined to reject” the social statement, but the assembly rejected the ministry policy allowing gay and lesbian clergy by a slim margin: 225 votes to 223 with 13 abstentions.

“That’s about as razor’s edge as you can get,” synod Bishop Larry Wohlrabe told In-Forum. “I’m not surprised that it was close. I’m a little amazed that it was that close.”

The Southwestern Minnesota Synod Assembly met at Gustavus Adolphus in St.Peter in mid-June. Like their Northwestern Minnesota Synod neighbors they declined to reject the social statement by a vote of 338 to 275, but they did vote to reject gay and lesbian clergy by a vote of 303 to 279.

The Southeastern Minnesota Synod Assembly held at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester in early May. The synod voted to become a “Reconciling in Christ” synod, a welcoming community for LGBT people, and defeated motions to express disapproval of the social statement and gay and lesbian clergy.

But, a motion to approve the social statement and gay and lesbian clergy was tabled and no vote was taken.

“I want to say we have turned the corner, but it’s probably more accurate to say we are turning the corner,” the Rev. Bruce Benson of the St. Olaf Student Congregation in Northfield, Minn., said of the reconciling motion. “Frankly, I think that as a church we are going to have to provide for rituals, rites, ceremonies that acknowledge the commitment of two same-gender people,” he told the Rochester Post-Bulletin.

Northeastern Minnesota Synod Assembly met in Brainerd in April and passed both the social statement and the resolution supporting gay and lesbian clergy.

Bishop Thomas Aitken told Northeastern Minnesota congregations that he hopes the meeting in Minneapolis will have the same outcome. “My hope and prayer is that the same kind of gentleness, clarity, respect and love for the whole body that I witnessed during our Synod Assembly, will prevail in the Churchwide Assembly,” he said. “We can understand and live in diversity and unity, all wrapped up in the same beautiful ‘saint and sinner’ church. We’ve been doing it for years!”

The St. Paul Area Synod met in April and used a communal process to achieve consensus. They not only approved the social statement but also passed resolutions allowing for same-sex commitment ceremonies and agreed to retroactively reinstate gay or lesbian pastors who were removed from the rosters.

The Minneapolis Area Synod met in May and passed the social statement and resolution on gay and lesbian clergy. They also passed resolutions calling for “sexuality education” throughout the church and for the ELCA members to speak out against laws that discriminate against LGBT people.

In all, only two synods in Minnesota fully rejected either of the two measures to be put up for a vote in August.

“The environment has changed since 2007″ the last time the full church met, Soucy said. “These are issues that people feel very strongly about on both sides. It’s important that people read the social statement carefully and that they participate with a full knowledge of what it says. Uninformed dialogue is not very useful.”

While the proposed changes to the church have support, there are some conservative Lutherans who vehemently oppose them.

“The proposals are in fact no compromise,” according to Lutheran CORE, a conservative group that was founded to battle the LGBT-friendly resolutions. “They clearly imply that same-sex blessings and the ordination and rostering of homosexual persons in committed relationships are acceptable within the ELCA. The teaching of the church will be changed. We should not make such an important decision without clear biblical and theological support. The Task Force did not provide such support, nor has it been provided in statements from some of our colleagues in ELCA institutions,” reads an open letter on the group’s website.

And while there is vocal dissent over the issue, the head of the ELCA, Bishop Mark Hanson, said the church will get through the debate.

“Sometimes, when I hear concerns about division in the ELCA, I worry that they express a fear that unity depends on the actions of church leaders or assemblies,” he said in a statement on Friday. “Our unity, however, comes to us because God gives it freely and undeservedly in Jesus Christ.”

Warren answers the question, “Are you a homophobe?”

Contrary to early reports, AmericaBlog reports that Obama himself made the decision to include Warren, not the inauguration committee. “A powerful Democratic friend contacted me this morning to let me know that they talked to the key players yesterday, and Diane Feinstein, chair of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, had nothing to do with the pick of Rick Warren as Obama’s invocation speaker at the inaugural. The decision was made by Obama himself, I’m told, and Feinstein just assumed that he had vetted it with his staff.”

The Obama camp also passed out talking points ont he controversy:

Pastor Rick Warren has a long history of activism on behalf of the disadvantaged and the downtrodden. He’s devoted his life to performing good works for the poor and leads the evangelical movement in addressing the global HIV/AIDS crisis. In fact, the President-elect recently addressed Rick Warren’s Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health to salute Warren’s leadership in the struggle against HIV/AIDS and pledge his support to the effort in the years ahead.

The President-elect disagrees with Pastor Warren on issues that affect the LGBT community. They disagree on other issues as well. But what’s important is that they agree on many issues vital to the pursuit of social justice, including poverty relief and moving toward a sustainable planet; and they share a commitment to renewing America’s promise by expanding opportunity at home and restoring our moral leadership abroad.

As he’s said again and again, the President-elect is committed to bringing together all sides of the faith discussion in search of common ground. That’s the only way we’ll be able to unite this country with the resolve and common purpose necessary to solve the challenges we face.

The Inauguration will also involve Reverend Joseph Lowery, who will be delivering the official benediction at the Inauguration. Reverend Lowery is a giant of the civil rights movement who boasts a proudly progressive record on LGBT issues. He has been a leader in the struggle for civil rights for all Americans, gay or straight.

And for the very first time, there will be a group representing the interests of LGBT Americans participating in the Inaugural Parade.

Obama also hit the airwaves to explain his side of the story.

Pundits and columnists are making their displeasure over Warren known. The Nation writes:

Warren represents the absolute worst of the Democrats’ religious outreach, a right-winger masquerading as a do-gooder anointed as the arbiter of what it means to be faithful. Obama’s religious outreach was intended, supposedly, to make religious voters more comfortable with him and feel included in the Democratic Party. But that outreach now has come at the expense of other people’s comfort and inclusion, at an event meant to mark a turning point away from divisive politics.

And three different Democratic pundits share three different views on CNN:

Sarah Palin on the stump with John McCain, with Kenyan minister John Muthee and as speaker at the Master's Commission graduation ceremony. Photos: WDCpix.com, YouTube, Wasilla Assembly of God Church

The religious right had a bad day on Tuesday. The election of Barack Obama and Democratic gains in the U.S. Senate and House put support for religious right policies further out of reach, and there’s plenty of blame to go around. Some say Republican John McCain coddled Obama on the issues, and others point to President Bush’s noncommittal attitude for issues the religious right cares about the most: gay marriage and abortion. The one bit of post-election hope seems to be the ascension of Sarah Palin as a religious right figurehead.

Here’s which way the fingers are pointing:

It was McCain’s fault.

“McCain gave Obama the free pass of the century by NOT talking about the Illinois Senator’s radical anti-DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) plan, his campaign promise to open up the military to homosexuality, and Obama’s pro-abortion extremism,” said Peter Labarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality. “Most Americans have no idea how extreme Obama is on abortion and homosexuality, due to Obama’s clever obfuscations and McCain’s refusal to educate Americans on the Democratic candidate’s social record.”

LaBarbera offers this solution: “The GOP must return to its pro-family roots if it wants to start winning again.”

It was Bush’s fault.
“The conservative movement knows how to rise from the ashes, and we need to pick up the pieces of the movement, which was so badly dismantled and put in disarray by the George W. Bush administration. But we can do it. And we’ve got to get started immediately,” said Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum. “The disarray of the conservative movement is the fault of George W. Bush and his advisor Karl Rove. I guess it turned out that he was not a conservative after all. He was a big government, big spending, globalist, ‘New World Order’-type of Republican.”

Schlafly offers this solution: “Sarah Palin is certainly a rising star – she was a breath of fresh air, and a lot of excitement to the conservative movement. I think she is a genuine conservative.”

The Southern Baptist Convention’s Richard Land agrees that Palin could take the mantle as the face of the religious right. “I think there are several contestants for it,” Land told One News Now, a Christian news outlet affiliated with the American Family Association. “Sarah Palin is certainly going to be a prominent one. Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell — who just won re-election [in Kentucky] — [and] Bobby Jindal from Louisiana.”

Land echoed LaBarbera’s call to make the GOP more socially conservative. “I think that we need to stay consistent with our message of family values and the sanctity of human life — and we need to find attractive and articulate candidates who will go out and make those cases.”

Some in the movement are frightened that they are not in the driver’s seat any longer. “We are going to see, I think, unprecedented attacks against our faith through measures like the hate crimes [legislation] to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act,” said Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. “We’re going to see attacks on innocent human life through the Freedom of Choice Act, trying to erase all the gains that have been made in the pro-life movement. And I think even our freedoms are going to come under attack.”

Perkin’s is to join other members of the religious right, fiscal conservatives and GOP insiders Thursday for an emergency strategy meeting, Politico reports. Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform and Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society are also expected to attend.

Religious right watchers say that while the chips may be down for the religious right at the federal level, voters are sure to see their candidates crop up at the state and local level.

“The Religious Right is not dead,” said the Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, “but I’m happy that most Americans seem very wary of the movement’s reckless merger of religion and politics. Those of us who value church-state separation must remain on the alert to counter the Religious Right’s next gambit.”

He said they are down but not out. “James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Richard Land and Company did everything but declare Obama the Antichrist,” said Lynn. “In the end, they kept their own flock in line, but the majority of Americans were unmoved. On Jan. 20, the Religious Right’s eight-year run of the White House will come to a screeching halt.”