Washington state Rep. Jim Moeller (D-Vancouver), who is openly gay, announced the upcoming legislation Thursday, reports The Columbian

From the Columbian:

Washington has one of the most sweeping domestic partnership laws in the nation. But gay marriage legislation has failed to pass repeatedly, most recently in the 2011 session, when a bill Moeller co-sponsored with state Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, failed to come to a vote. Moeller and Murray are among the Legislature’s openly gay members.

Moeller said he’s optimistic that the 2012 bill will make it into law.

“Our objective is to strengthen the social and legal protections for average, mainstream Washington families — the men, women and their children who make their homes in our communities and neighborhoods,” he said.

He emphasized that the legislation will protect the rights of clergy and religious institutions to determine for whom to perform marriage ceremonies and which marriages to recognize.

Washington’s 1998 Defense of Marriage Act defines marriage as between a man and a woman. It survived a legal challenge when the Washington Supreme Court upheld it in 2006.

But times have changed, and support for gay marriage is growing nationwide, Moeller said. “Four years ago, there were only a couple of states that actually offered marriage equality. Now there are six.”

Thursday marked another noteworthy day for same-sex marriage supporters, as the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which would allow all legally-married couples to access federal benefits.

CNN Money reports:

Now, under proposals being considered by the bank, Bank of America would offer customers new ways to avoid having to pay the fee.

Currently, only customers with certain premium accounts would be exempt from the fee.

Under the new plan, customers would be able to exempt themselves by having their paychecks deposited directly with Bank of America, maintaining minimum balances or by using Bank of America credit cards.

Bank of America’s retrenchment comes the same day that JPMorgan Chase decided not to impose similar fees. Chase’s decision follows a test of the fee it began in two states in February.

Wells Fargo also announced late Friday that it is canceling the debit card fee tests it was planning to introduce in five states. Customers in Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, Washington and Oregon will no longer see a $3 debit card fee that was scheduled for statements beginning on Nov. 15.

The subject of new debit card fees is just one of the issues that has protesters from the Occupy Wall Street movement rallying all over the country — including in Florida.

GOPers in Florida have said that the new regulations from Dodd-Frank are solely to blame for the banks levying these new fees. Senate candidate Adam Hasner and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have both taken up the new conservative meme claiming that banks were “forced to charge customers new fees due to the negative and costly requirements associated with the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law, in particular the ‘Durbin Tax.’” Dodd-Frank legislation was a response to the country’s financial crisis that many economists say was partially caused by the lax regulation of financial institutions.

State Rep. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, recently filed legislation that that would ban banks from charging fees on debit cards.

Clemens told The Florida Independent he considered the legislation since Bank of America first announced it would be charging fees on debit cards. He said that even though the legislation was not a direct result of the protests, he says his “outrage is similar to the Occupy Wall Street folks.”

“Now that we’ve bought into their promise of free, easy access to our own money,”  he said, “they want to charge us for it.”

Clemes also called claims that financial regulations are to blame for the fees “ridiculous.”

During the 2004 general election, Oregon was among 11 states that passed ballot measures banning gay marriage — 57 percent of Beaver State voters approved the ban. But in 2012, Oregonians might be given the opportunity to vote to lift the ban, if the state’s largest LGBT-rights group, Basic Rights Oregon (BRO), decides to it has enough support to start a full-fledged ballot-initiative campaign.

As The Register-Guard reports, volunteers have recently been working the phone bank at the BRO’s Eugene headquarters, trying to gauge support for marriage equality in the state.

Last month, Basic Rights Oregon announced it was exploring a Marriage 2012 campaign and, simultaneously, organized an advisory group made up of community leaders and campaign professionals to help finalize that decision in late October or early November.

“Deciding whether to go to the ballot is not something we take lightly nor a decision we will make alone,” said BRO Executive Director Jeana Frazzini in a statement on group’s website. “We want to hear from the experts and leaders on the Advisory Group as well as from the larger LGBT and allied community, because we cannot move forward unless we have a viable ballot measure as well as a supportive and engaged base of support.”

According to the Register-Guard, in 2004, gay-marriage-ban campaigners spent $2.5 million to push the amendment, while marriage-equality supporters spent almost $3 million.

The state’s leading marriage-equality foe, the Oregon Family Council, has promised to give BRO “the fight of their lives to protect marriage” if they start a ballot measure campaign.

If next year Oregon joins Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and the District of Columbia in becoming the seventh state to offer marriage to both straight and gay couples, it will be the first state to legalize same-sex marriage via popular vote and the first to overturn a constitutional gay-marriage ban.

Meanwhile, campaigns to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage wage on in Minnesota and North Carolina, and GOP presidential candidates face pressure from social conservative groups to support a federal constitutional gay-marriage ban. However, contender Herman Cain made news on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” by saying he thinks banning or legalizing gay marriage should be a state’s decision.

“I wouldn’t seek a constitutional ban for same-sex marriage, but I am pro-traditional marriage,” Cain told “Meet the Press” host David Gregory.

Cain, along with Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), are the only four GOP candidates in the leading pack of eight that did not sign the National Organization for Marriage’s controversial “Marriage Pledge,” which among other provisions binds the signer to supporting a federal constitutional amendment “defining marriage as only the union of one man and one woman.”

Watch Cain on “Meet the Press”:

The Department’s spokesperson said that although Vargas retains the license card, if he is pulled over while driving, authorities will be able to verify that he has an invalid license.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that in fiscal year 2010, a record 393,000 people were deported from the United States, a number made possible by the “huge increases in deportations of people after they were arrested for breaking traffic or immigration laws or driving drunk.” AP found that 13,028 people were deported for traffic violations unrelated to inebriation:

Marshall Fitz, immigration policy director at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, said some of the people being counted as criminals have committed traffic violations that would usually draw a traffic ticket. But when the driver can’t produce a valid license, the officer pursues questions about immigration status.

Illegal immigrants caught in traffic stops often are pressured into signing an agreement to leave the United States and to pay a fine or somehow acknowledge responsibility for the traffic offense and thereby end up in the statistics as criminals even though they never went to court, Fitz said.

ICE removal numbers (PDF) released to the public suggest that last year’s high rate of deportation will continue in 2011. And although ICE has suggested that they will not be deliberately pursuing Vargas’ deportation, he now runs an increased risk of being detained if he should have an encounter with law enforcement.

The report, first released on Monday by the Fair Housing Council of Oregon (FHCO), shows that in 50 undercover evaluations of how landlords and leasing agents responded to minority and Caucasian housing inquiries, there were 32 instances of discriminatory behavior.

A strongly-worded letter with the signatures of the Republican Senate Caucus, currently in the minority, made public Thursday read (PDF), “We, the Senate Republican Caucus, are asking that you prioritize enforcement of these statutes, citing, and where appropriate, prosecuting individuals who violate the civil rights of another.”

The senators also wrote in the letter, “It is a sobering reminder that the scourge of racism was not defeated in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. We must continue to be alert to its presence and meet its ugly symptoms with intention and ferocity.”

City Commissioner Nick Fish, who oversees Portland’s housing bureau, has responded to lawmaker outrage by announcing his office will pursue legal action but did not give a time frame.

Some of the discriminatory actions include:

Source: The Fair Housing Council of Oregon (FHCO)

The Fair Housing Council of Oregon (FHCO) was paid $19,000 by the city to conduct the investigation as part of a once-every-five years requirement to monitor Portland’s progress with housing discrimination; non-compliance risks losing the city $9 million to $11 million in federal funding.

The Oregonian, first to report on the results of the audit, received conflicting statements from the city commissioner on whether legal action will be taken against the offenders, which include leasing agents and landlords. From the paper:

City Commissioner Nick Fish, who oversees the Portland Housing Bureau, said he was “outraged by the results.” But he emphasized that stopping discrimination must include education and cooperation with landlords, not just enforcement.

Asked last week whether the city will go after the landlords found in violation, he said: “That’s not the right question. The intent is to do a balanced approach. I have concluded that the best approach is to look at changes to the system and not just individual remedies.”

Monday night, responding to inquiries for clarification, he said in a memo: “We have always intended to pursue enforcement actions against select landlords tested in the audit process.” He provided no details or timeline, though the city’s time to build cases is running low.

Though housing discrimination is illegal federally, prosecutors have difficulty proving offenders willfully misled or withheld from applicants accurate information regarding rent, pricing and availability.

Through its Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the federal body that oversees fair housing laws and initiatives, sends out investigators posing as white and minority housing seekers to test for discriminatory practices from landlords and leasing companies.

According to a 2010 HUD report, the most common complaint filed with the department had to do with disability, which accounted for 44 percent of all complaints placed through the Fair Housing Act. That same report indicated that in 2009, the department collected $10 million in fines for fair housing violations.

The Associated Press reports:

Suicide attempts by gay teens – and even straight kids – are more common in politically conservative areas where schools don’t have programs supporting gay rights, a study involving nearly 32,000 high school students found.

Those factors raised the odds and were a substantial influence on suicide attempts even when known risk contributors like depression and being bullied were considered…

[Hatzenbuehler's] study found a higher rate of suicide attempts even among kids who weren’t bullied or depressed when they lived in counties less supportive of gays and with relatively few Democrats. A high proportion of Democrats was a measure used as a proxy for a more liberal environment.

Hatzenbuehler based his research on surveys taken of 32,000 11th-graders in Oregon. He found that in the most conservative counties, gay, lesbian, and bisexual teens were 20 percent more likely to have attempted suicide than in more progressive counties.

Roughly 25 percent of gay teens in the conservative counties had attempted suicide, compared to 20 percent in the more liberal counties.

Stats on straight teens were similarly lopsided. Roughly 4 percent of straight kids attempt suicide but straight kids were 9 percent more likely to attempt suicide in more conservative counties.

Analysts of the research, including Hatzenbuehler, say that school rules and programs designed to support lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual youth boost the psychological health of all students.

Last month during debate over Colorado anti-bullying and same-sex civil unions bills, gay students and youth workers gave testimony that laws that discriminate against gay adults– like those that provide key domestic partnership rights for straight people and not for gay people– foster an environment echoed in school offices, classrooms, hallways and playgrounds.

Brad Clark, director of gay rights group One Colorado this week wrote an op-ed for the Denver Post on Friday’s Day of Silence. Clark pressed Focus on the Family to rethink its Day of Dialogue in light of the well-documented grave problem presented to gay students by anti-gay school harassment.

In the days following the Day of Silence, I understand that you’re promoting an event, the Day of Dialogue. According to your website, it’s a day where young people are encouraged to start conversations with classmates about God’s plan for sexuality.

But I fear that the Day of Dialogue is really about one thing: giving students language and materials to tell their LGBT classmates that they are wrong in God’s eyes and should pursue help to change who they are.

I hope that I’m wrong.

Last week, Focus on the Family posted this video introducing its Day of Dialogue.

This legislative session in Colorado, Reps Sue Schafer, D-Wheat Ridge, and Kevin Priola, R-Henderson, introduced House Bill 1254 (pdf). The bill would rework anti-bullying guidelines and establish a board within the state Department of Education to revise rules of conduct and reporting and to raise money to pay for anti-bullying research and programs. The bill sponsors told the press they were looking to act preemptively to head off a “sensational suicide” in Colorado.

As the Colorado Independent reported in December, according to a 2009 Healthy Kids Colorado survey (pdf), roughly 19 percent of all Colorado high school kids report being bullied. Roughly 30 percent say they have gotten into fights. Roughly 7 percent have been threatened with weapons.

Last year more than 5 percent of all Colorado high schoolers stayed home from school for fear of bullying. That’s 12,000 teen students, and among certain demographic groups, the percentages soar. Linda Kanan, director of the Department of Public Safety’s School Safety Resource Center, told the Independent that roughly 37 percent of gay and transgender kids avoid school for fear of bullying.

–
Hat tip to Margaret Hartmann at Jezebel.

Got a tip? Story pitch? Send us an e-mail. Follow The Colorado Independent on Twitter.

Friday’s FEC filings, however, finally reveal that the Concerned Taxpayers of America consists of exactly two concerned taxpayers:

Daniel G. Schuster Inc., an Owings Mills, Md., concrete firm, gave two donations to the group totaling $300,000, new disclosure records show. New York hedge fund executive Robert Mercer gave the group $200,000.

And that’s the extent of the financial support reported by Concerned Taxpayers, which says it was formed in September “to engage citizens from every walk of life and political affiliation” in the fight against “runaway spending.”

The group has since expanded its advertising attacks to include Rep. Frank Kratovil, Jr. (D-Md.), but its motives remain as opaque as ever. With as many donors as political targets, however, the group serves as an excellent example of how wealthy donors and corporations can now single-handedly fund a political group with an anodyne name that can attack a candidate under the guise of a broad public — rather than private — interest.

Senate candidate Trey Grayson, Kentucky’s Republican secretary of state, received the early backing of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and soon became regarded as the favored GOP candidate to succeed Sen. Jim Bunning (R). The NRSC created a joint fundraising committee with Grayson, Dick Cheney and other GOP figures offered their endorsements, and other lawmakers quickly signed on to support Grayson’s campaign.

But then Grayson began to sink in the polls and GOP anti-Washington candidate Rand Paul, eye doctor and son of Ron Paul, began gaining traction. Sarah Palin, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Bunning all came out with endorsements for Paul, and Focus on the Family chairman James Dobson switched his support from Grayson to Paul.

As we head into tonight’s race, Public Policy Polling has Paul leading Grayson by 18 percentage points.

Back in Pennsylvania, Specter has seen his status go from “major coup” for the Democratic party to candidate for whom the party isn’t willing to trot out the top brass. Vice President Joe Biden was actually in Pennsylvania yesterday, but chose not to make a stop for Specter. Barack Obama last appeared with Specter at a rally in September.

Voters in Pennsylvania did see Obama’s image in a campaign commercial this cycle, but the ad used old footage and was financed by Specter’s campaign. When asked about the White House’s involvement in the race, Specter told The Associated Press: “They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do.”

Specter tonight faces Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak; polls show the race is a toss-up.

In Arkansas, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D) is being challenged from the left by Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, and the two appear likely to be forced into a runoff (a candidate must win a majority tonight to avoid a runoff, and there are more than two candidates present in this competitive race.) Though the president did not personally step in to help Lincoln, he did record a robo-call for the senator. Additionally, Lincoln’s party is attempting to protect her legislatively by delaying a vote on her derivatives language.

Polls show Lincoln’s chances of coming out ahead tonight are better than Specter’s and certainly better than Grayson’s, although an outright majority may be out of reach.

Either way, considering the anti-incumbent/anti-Washington mood in the country these days, behind-the-scenes help instead of visible support from Washington may be just what candidates are looking for this cycle.

In other races around the country tonight:

• Pennsylvania 12: The special election to choose a successor to John Murtha will coincide tonight with the state’s regularly scheduled primary. Democrat Mark Critz, a former aide to Murtha, is competing against Republican businessman Tim Burns for the chance both to serve out the remainder of Murtha’s current term and to appear on the November general election ballot to serve out the next full term beginning in January.

• Kentucky Senate (D): State Attorney General Jack Conway and Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo are locked in their own competitive primary for the Democratic nomination. Additional Democrats are running. A competitive general election race is expected for this open seat in November.

• Oregon Governor: Voters are choosing candidates for the open gubernatorial race tonight. On the Democratic side, former Gov. John Kitzhaber is the likely leader over former Oregon secretary of state Bill Bradbury. Chris Dudley, a former professional basketball player, is regarded as the top Republican heading into tonight’s race.

• Arkansas Senate (R): Former Rep. John Boozman is expected to place first in tonight’s GOP primary, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be able to avoid a runoff. Former state Sen. Jim Holt appears likely to come in second in the GOP race.

The grants for the first round of funding were awarded in this fashion:

• California received $699.6 million
• Florida received $418 million
• Michigan got $154.5 million
• Arizona got $125.1 million
• Nevada got $102.8 million

In the new round, the awards are generally smaller, though the administration says they are “equivalent on a per person basis to the $1.5 billion awarded in the first HFA Hardest Hit Fund.”

• Ohio gets $172 million
• North Carolina gets $159
• South Carolina gets $138 million
• Oregon gets $88 million
• Rhode Island gets $43 million

As with the previous program, states have to submit their plans for review to the Treasury Department, which encourages them to focus on unemployment and distressed homeowner programs but doesn’t limit its assistance to just those ideas.