(The headline above is Savage's joke. But seriously: if any designers--gay or straight--want to redesign this poster and send it to us, we'll put it up on Slog. If more than one designer takes this project on, great. We'll have a vote and send the best one to protest organizers to use in the future. These protests are going to keep happening, and for God's sake the posters should look good.)

My first runner up:

An interview with the editor of Gay Times and rest of the ads are here.

UPDATE: Is the first ad, above, sexist? I don't think so. It plays off of typical straight male bitching about women. (Straight women gripe in extremely unflattering-to-males ways about straight men too, just as gay men bitch about gay men, lesbians bitch about lesbians, etc.) But whatever gripes straight men have about women, it would be ridiculous to suggest that straight men could solve all their problems by simply "choosing" to be gay. Straight men can't "choose" homosexuality because sexual orientation—despite what the folks who throw around accusations of "recruitment" would have us believe—is not a choice.

And what would happen if sexual orientation were a choice? Isn't it obvious? Based on the griping that goes on, it's safe to say that straight men would choose to be gay, straight women would choose to be lesbians, gay men would choose to be straight, and gay women would chose to be straight. (I'm not sure what bisexuals would choose—zoophilia?) And everyone would be happy for, oh, about a month.

And then everyone would choose to go back.

Equality Utah has called his bluff:

I take LDS Church leaders at their word that they are not anti-gay and that they sincerely understand that gay and transgender individuals and their families are in need of certain legal protections and basic benefits. I appreciate their statements that they do not oppose legal protections for gay people like those already enacted in California law that do not conflict with their genuinely held beliefs about marriage. This is our chance to come together and work to enact basic legal protections for gay Utahns. I am hopeful that the LDS Church will accept our invitation to heal our communities by bringing its considerable social and political influence to bear in support of laws that prevent discrimination and provide for the legitimate needs of all Utahns and their families.

More here.

The look-how-far-we’ve-come aspect of Obama’s triumph was mitigated by citizens in California, Florida and Arizona voting to bar gay marriage. An awful intrusion of government into the private sphere, one we would never tolerate if it didn’t touch upon the American obsession with sex. I mean, we’d never ban gays from holding fishing licenses, arguing that they somehow spoil the fishing experience for the rest of us.

But religious conservatives have cooked up this palpable lie about gays and marriage, based on nothing at all, and the public has accepted it because it tickles the unexamined biases they already have.

Just like civil rights, this is a generational war that will be won, I have absolutely no doubt, in the fullness of time. But not yet.

Strong opposition to the candidacy of Barack Obama in Arkansas may have helped conservatives pass a measure blocking the adoption of children by unmarried couples.

The measure, which voters overwhelmingly approved Tuesday and which prevents unmarried cohabitating couples from adopting or fostering children, won strong support from conservatives, exit polls found. The ban affects all unmarried couples but was written with the intent of preventing gay couples from raising children in Arkansas.

Unlike most states, Arkansas shifted to the right politically in this election. Senator John McCain won the state by 20 points compared with President Bush’s nine-point victory in 2004.

“I think white Arkansas Democrats felt cross-pressured in this race,” said Jay Barth, a political science professor at Hendrix College, in Conway, Ark. “They didn’t want to vote for what they viewed as Bush’s third term, but they also couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Barack Obama.

“One response was just to bow out of voting, and their absence probably helped this proposal succeed.”

Before the election polls showed Arkansas anti-gay adoption law failing—by nearly 12 points. Bill Clinton urged a "no" vote, as did the state's current governor, as did the state's major newspapers, and its adoption agencies. But evangelicals fired up the bigots in the pews and bigoted Democratic voters stayed home and the ban passed. Good work, bigots. Arkansas has about four thousand children in state care right now, kids who need foster parents and adoptive parents yesterday.

* I don't say this to place blame! African American and Latino voters only helped to pass Prop 8! But it's ultimately the gays who are to blame for Prop 8! It was something we did! Or didn't do! Either way, we're to blame for Prop 8! Totes our fault! And no one is talking about this except for that awful Dan Savage! Thank you for playing Slog!

Young gay men in designer jeans and preppy college women—a strikingly different crowd from the rag-tag regulars at most Seattle protests—were chanting and waving signs at the luxury sedans pulling into the driveway. They decried the Mormon Church for supporting California's Proposition 8, which stripped about 20,000 same-sex couples of their marriage recognition. The Church of Latter-Day Saints had strongly supported the measure. And church members, including several from the Seattle area, contributed an estimated $22 million dollars to the campaign. Protesters chanted, "Tax the church," a call for the IRS to repeal the church’s tax-exempt status.

Corianton Hale under the spire of the North Seattle Stake Center.

Realistically, though, ambiguous IRS rules make repealing the Mormon Church's tax exemption a long shot (.pdf), and activities in Seattle may not have a big impact on California. But the early-morning enthusiasm could indicate a renewed push, and foreshadow more confrontation, for the gay-rights movement in Washington.

Valerie Tariko held a sign that read, “Shame on You," which faced the driveway. A woman in a peach-colored suit drove past, slowing down to take both hands from the wheel and give Tariko the shame fingers.

“I can’t sit by when my rights are being taken away,” says Matthew Wilson, 26, who announced the protest yesterday and immediately received support, including from several people who had never attended a protest before.

George Durham, a member of the church, came out to address the crowd.

“Being quiet is not an option anymore,” says Phyllis Penland, who attended with her 46-year-old gay son, Todd. “What we’ve been doing so far hasn’t had much of an impact,” she says, wearing an Obama button, two rainbow pins and a string of pride beads. “They have overstepped their bounds this time and hopefully this will be the beginning of stopping them.” Penland then began by stopping a member of the congregation, explaining that gays Americans deserve equal rights.

That churchgoer, 31-year-old Heather Carman, who looked more like she was headed to Phish concert than a service in her flowing brown dress, says, “Hate,” a common term on the signs, “is the wrong word. There is no malice.” She encouraged people to review the CLDS’s written statements as evidence.

But can a protest impact any meaningful change in Washington's legislature?

“You can look at protests as a thermometer of interest in a cause,” says Josh Friedes, a spokesman for Equal Rights Washington, a statewide advocacy and lobbying organization for marriage equality that has expanded rapidly in the last few years.

No dirty hippies at this protest.

“This protest puts electeds on notice that [defending a ban on gay marriage] is untenable,” Friedes says. Anti-gay incumbents came close to losing seats in Tuesday’s election, and the advent of a growing gay-rights movement warns them to support marriage equality or risk being voted out of office, he says.

Friedes plans to contact the leaders and participants of today’s protest to collaborate with them.

“Washington must recognize that it is truly one of the leaders of the marriage quality movement,” says Friedes. Washington’s constitution cannot be modified by initiative—it requires a two-thirds majority in the state House and Senate. “This is one of the most likely states to approve and hold marriage equality.”

"Most churchgoers waved while driving or walking by," writes Chris, who attended this morning's protest with his wife and daughter. "I hoped for more dialog with churchgoers, but most of them just walked by and said hello. We tried not to get in the way of normal church operations, staying on the sidewalk and not blocking church traffic. We chanted protest slogans ('2-4-6-8, Churches shouldn't legislate!' 'All families matter!'), and many people driving by were supportive and honked their horns.

"One female churchgoer thanked us profusely for what we were doing before walking in. The other I talked to was a young male concerned that we were making such a strong show of 'hate' against the church. He said that he was strongly against prop 8. I asked him what kind of internal dialogs were going on in the church about gay rights. He said that church officials preach that homosexuality is wrong. When pressed, he wouldn't comment about the contradiction between his beliefs and those of church officials."

Four out of every five dollars raised for the "Yes on Prop 8" campaign in California was raised by the Mormon church. The Mormon church is, as I said before on Slog, the villain in this piece.

Utah is the new Coors.

Once again: the people harmed the most by African American homophobia are African American gays and lesbians. Bigotry must be addressed, not adopted.

Utah's growing tourism industry and the star-studded Sundance Film Festival are being targeted for a boycott by bloggers, gay rights activists and others seeking to punish the Mormon church for its aggressive promotion of California's ban on gay marriage.

It could be a heavy price to pay. Tourism brings in $6 billion a year to Utah, with world-class skiing, the spectacular red rock country and the film festival founded by Robert Redford among the state's popular tourist draws.

"At a fundamental level, the Utah Mormons crossed the line on this one," said gay rights activist John Aravosis, an influential Washington, D.C-based blogger. "They just took marriage away from 20,000 couples and made their children bastards. You don't do that and get away with it."

Salt Lake City is the world headquarters for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints....

[Aravosis is] calling for skiers to choose any state but Utah and for Hollywood actors and directors to pull out of the Sundance Film Festival. Other bloggers and readers have responded to his call.

"There's a movement afoot and large donors are involved who are very interested in organizing a campaign, because I do not believe in frivolous boycotts," said Aravosis, who has helped organize boycotts against Dr. Laura's television show, Microsoft and Ford over gay rights issues. "The main focus is going to be going after the Utah brand. At this point, honestly, we're going to destroy the Utah brand. It is a hate state."

The Mormon church put up four out of every five dollars spent to ban same-sex marriage in California. More than 18,000 legally married couples in California were forcibly divorced on Tuesday thanks to the members of a church founded by a polygamist and a pedophile with more than a dozen wives. Since all Mormons-in-good-standing must tithe 10% of their earnings to their church, some part of any dollar you spend in a Mormon-owned business—and they're almost all Mormon-owned businesses in Utah—flows toward an anti-gay church that wages anti-gay political campaigns. Ski Colorado, Washington state, and British Columbia. Don't ski Utah.

Honest to God: My boyfriend and I were talking about taking a trip to Utah this winter to go snowboarding. We've heard great things about the resorts there, and our kid wants to go, and we've never been. But you know what? We've never been to Whistler either. Or Bear Mountain in California. Or to any of the resorts in Colorado. So fuck you, Utah—we're going to big, blue Colorado.

Oh, and the leaders of the Mormon church—which financed all the bigoted distortions of the "Yes on 8" campaign (gay people recruit children! they're going to teach gay sex in schools!)—are out there calling on people to treat each the with "civility, with respect and with love." Uh-huh.

Sorry, douchebags, but you can't throw a punch like that and scream "play nice!" or "you can't be mean to us—we're a church!" You wanna play politics with peoples' lives? Fine. But they game's on now and remember: you started it.

Utah is the new Coors. Pass it on.

I no longer give a shit about defending African Americans against the notion that they're more homophobic than whites, for the same reason I no longer give a shit about defending a Black politician like Harold Ford against the racist attack ads the Republicans are running against him. Because Harold Ford is no different than the racist Republican candidate running in Virginia, and the students at Central State University are no different than the Klan or a gang of marauding skinheads. I don't defend anyone who would turn around and leave me and mine twisting in the wind. I no longer care....

They don't care what happens to couples like Alicia and Saundra or what happens to people like Michael Sandy or Tyrone Garner as much as they care about a two thousand year old book that damns them as surely as they believe it damns us; even as it leads them to lie down with politicians who will send their brothers and cousins and sisters off to die in a needless war, and leads them to stand beside politicians and a party who don't flinch at appealing to racism in voters or fielding racist candidates, who will turn around and attempt to bring back the poll tax, and who'll promise big things but leave you holding the bag.

But more than anything else, they don't care about the hell they create for their brothers, sisters, etc., in the name of a heaven that sounds about as plausible as the big rock candy mountain.

Go read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Excuse me, Utah is the new Coors. More info soon.

OH, BUT SORRY, GAY PEOPLE. You are not people too.

**For the record, I am totally in favor of animals being able to stand up, turn around, and fully extend their limbs during the brief span of time before we eat them.

Update: Perhaps I am not being clear. The idea that someone could go into a voting booth, consider a chicken, feel compassion and empathy for the chicken, and vote in favor of basic chicken rights; and THEN, immediately afterward, consider a person, feel no compassion or empathy, and vote to strip that person of a basic human right, is ABSURD AND CRIMINAL. That is what I am saying. Priorities, people.

Now let's meet some of Washington state's "Yes on 8" donors.

Deborah Bell of Bingen, Washington, does engineering and land surveying for Bell Design Company. She donated $2,500 to "Yes on 8."

Craig Morley of Saint George donated $5,000 to "Yes on 8" campaign. Mr. Morley is an appraiser for Morley & McConkie, LLC. Here's hoping Mr. Morley doesn't miss the 5K, what with the real estate-bubble bursting and all.

Bryant L. Adams of Tumwater donated $5,000 to the "Yes on 8." A Bryant L. Adams is listed as the president of HEAL, "a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity research corporation funded totally by public donations" that is looking into "cancer prevention and cure by using new methods involving natural products." Gays and lesbians and supporters of fairness who want to help fund the fight against cancer might want to direct their donations to other charities.

Lin Whatcott of Maple Valley is an accountant for DaVita, which "provides dialysis services for those diagnosed with chronic kidney failure." Ms. Whatcott made two donations to "Yes on 8." A $10,005 donation on October 18, and a $9,995 donation on September 16. Ms. Whatcott was also made the maximum possible personal donation to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.

Donald Pugh of Bellevue donated $50,000 to the "Yes on 8" campaign. According to the records submitted to the Califorinia Secretary of State's office by the "Yes on 8" campaign, Mr. Pugh is a consultant with Thermo King Northwest. Gays and lesbians and supporters of fairness might want to get their thermo consulting done elsewhere.

The biggest local donor to "Yes on 8" was Mike Murray of Redmond. Mr. Murray is a former Microsoft exec who retired in his early 40s so that he might "commit his time to humanitarian causes." Mr. Murray lists his employer as the "Crystal Springs Foundation," a charity that he founded (their website appears to be defunct). Mr. Murray donated a whopping $100,000 to "Yes on 8."

The SF Chronicle's search widget is here. I only looked up donors who gave $2,500 or more. Feel free to do a little poking around yourselves, Sloggers.

I'm not sure what to do with this. I'm thrilled that we've just elected our first African-American president. I wept last night. I wept reading the papers this morning. But I can't help but feeling hurt that the love and support aren't mutual.

I do know this, though: I'm done pretending that the handful of racist gay white men out there—and they're out there, and I think they're scum—are a bigger problem for African Americans, gay and straight, than the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans are for gay Americans, whatever their color.

This will get my name scratched of the invite list of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which is famous for its anti-racist-training seminars, but whatever.

Finally, I'm searching for some exit poll data from California. I'll eat my shorts if gay and lesbian voters went for McCain at anything approaching the rate that black voters went for Prop 8.

UPDATE: Early the morning after this post went up Stephanie wrote in comments...

Mr. Savage, do you endorse the hostile, racist things some people are saying here? Since I know you have read some of these comments, please clarify that the angriest posters are misreading your position or taking things too far. You are a community leader, and I think some of your readers need some guidance from you.

Of course I don't endorse any of the hostile, racist comments posted here. I stopped reading this thread, though, early yesterday afternoon; I couldn't keep up. I will be posting something else to Slog about this today, after I file my weekly "Savage Love" column. And please note: My original post described black homophobia as a big problem for all gays and lesbians, whatever their color. This isn't about African Americans beating up on gay white men and women; African American gays and lesbians are the ones who suffer the most from African American homophobia.

And I was asked why I didn't go after, say, the Mormon Church, which bankrolled this thing: I have written numerous posts slamming the Mormon Church and the Catholic Church, as any regular reader of Slog would be aware.

More later.