Gay rights advocates get good news from unusual sources: Salt Lake City and the AMA

 
Gay rights advocates were disappointed last week when Maine voters voted to repeal a state law allowing same-sex marriage. But they got a boost on Tuesday from two unlikely sources: the American Medical Assn. and the Salt Lake City Council. 

At its semiannual meeting in Houston, the nation's largest doctors' group voted to oppose the military's "don't ask, don't tell' policy because it sometimes restricts the "honesty and openness . . . that is the basis of the patient-physician relationship."

The AMA also reported that same-sex couples excluded from civil marriage often do not have access to the same healthcare benefits that married couples do.  

Same-sex households are less likely to have health insurance than their married counterparts and are therefore at a higher risk of "living sicker and dying younger," said Dr. Peter Carmel, an AMA board member. The AMA said the disparity is also linked to a basic fact: Same-sex families aren't eligible to receive other benefits afforded to married couples, including tax breaks and Social Security survivor benefits.

The group resolved to "work to reduce the health disparities suffered because of unequal treatment . . . by supporting equality in laws affecting healthcare of members in same-sex partner households and their dependent children."

In Utah, the Salt Lake City Council passed two ordinances making it illegal to discriminate against gays in housing and employment. As the Ticket reported last week, voters in Kalamazoo approved a similar ordinance that grants anti-discrimination protections to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals.

Significantly, the ordinances in Salt Lake City were endorsed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is the same Mormon Church that strongly urged members to contribute money to the campaign in support of Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California.

Mormons were credited with playing a strong role in the measure's victory in Salt Lake City.

Have the Mormon's had a change of heart?

No, said Michael Otterson, a church spokesman. He told the City Council that the church "remains unequivocally committed" to opposing gay marriage.

-- Kate Linthicum

Follow us on Twitter @latimestot.

Photo: A car flies the gay pride flag in protest past the Mormon Conference Center during the 179th Semi-Annual General Conference of the Mormon Church on Oct. 3 in Salt Lake City. Credit: Getty Images

Secret Democratic ploy to end two-party system -- Hatch says healthcare will make voters trust Dems

Utah Republican Orrin Hatch has a reputation as a classy conservative.

A trusted voice for right-wing causes, he is a stalwart foe of abortion who voted against Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. But Hatch, a Mormon, is also part of what might be called the Civil Caucus in Congress, often pairing up on legislation with liberal Ted Kennedy, supporting stem cell research, immigration reform and a DREAM Act that would allow children of illegal immigrants to attend college.

So it came as something of a surprise to hear Hatch, in an interview Monday night with Cybercast News Service, attribute the Obama White House passion for healthcare to a ploy by the Democratic Party to take over the political system. He seemed to suggest that healthcare reform will be so popular that Americans will come to rely on Democrats to keep it coming.

Take a listen and let us know what you think.

The 75-year-old Hatch also said he thought the Democrats' healthcare reform was unconstitutional, arguing that if the federal government can force Americans to buy health insurance “then there is literally nothing the federal government can’t force us to do.”

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Hatch and Kennedy confer during a 1987 hearing on the minimum wage. Credit: Terry Ash /T ime & Life Pictures / Getty Images

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Cheers and jeers for Nevada's Harry Reid

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is no doubt divisive: Polls show that about half of Nevada voters don't like him. But it’s still surprising to see who's cheering and jeering him these days. (Though with the election a year away, there’s also plenty of time to change minds.)
 
CHEERING: Progressives who are thrilled with Reid’s announcement today that he’s backing the inclusion of a public option in the Senate’s healthcare legislation (see news video here),....

...although states would be able to opt out of it and it's unclear whether he has the votes to ward off a filibuster.
 
JEERING: Moderates who support a “trigger” plan — in which public health coverage would kick in only if private insurers failed to meet certain benchmarks — and think, like President Obama reportedly does, that it’s more likely to win over conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans.

OUR THOUGHTS: There's along way to go, but if Reid gets the public option into a final bill, it might help him woo progressives who’ve told pollsters they find him weak and ineffective. Those voters wouldn’t have cast ballots for the Republican TBD anyway. But they sure might stay home — there are plenty of other things to do in Las Vegas. 
 
*
 
CHEERING: The parents of embattled Nevada Sen. John Ensign, a Republican, who donated $4,800 to Reid. Some people think that smells funky, since Ensign’s been in political purgatory and Reid has declined to criticize him.  But father Mike Ensign is a former casino executive and Reid has long been a Friend of Gaming.

CHEERING: Casino magnate Steve Wynn, who recently ripped into the Obama administration’s economic policies but supports Reid’s reelection. “My friend of 40 years will protect Americans from this kind of foolishness,” Wynn said of the chief torchbearer for Obama's policies. (Did we mention Reid’s a Friend of Gaming?)

JEERING: Sue Lowden and her casino-owning husband, Paul, who once donated thousands to Reid. Lowden is considered the front-runner among a gaggle of Republicans who’d like to elbow out the majority leader, as the GOP did in 2004 to Tom Daschle, the previous Democratic majority leader.

OUR THOUGHTS: When you’re polling as low as Reid, being a Friend of Gaming might not be enough.
 
*

CHEERING: Rock god/humanitarian Bono, who gave a shout-out to Reid last week during U2’s Las Vegas concert.

JEERING: No one. Bono’s awesome.

OUR THOUGHTS: Bono got 40,000 people to sing "Viva Las Vegas." You think he could push through a public option?

— Ashley Powers

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Photo: Associated Press

Utah's political fallout from GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman's departure

President Obama seems to have scored the rare political ten-strike (and, no, we haven't forgotten his unfortunate Pennsylvania bowling episode). We're talking about his selection of Utah's GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. as U.S. ambassador to China, as anticipated here by The Ticket and officially recorded here the next day.

The 49-year-old Huntsman is winning kudos from Democrats and many fellow Republicans as a highly qualified and even inspired selection. He's fluent in Mandarin and has lived, worked and traveled extensively throughout East Asia and the Pacific.

Conservatives are also pleased; they're saying good riddance because of Huntsman's relatively moderate stance on the environment and certain social issues including, most notably, his support for civil unions for gays and lesbians, while also supporting the state's successful marriage amendment of 2004. (Not exactly what some might expect from the Mormon governor of Utah.) 

Obama supporters are pleased for their own reasons. Many -- including 2008 ...

Obama on Jon Huntsman and vice versa about 出任美国驻中国大使

With his wife Michelle way, way out in California, giving an eagerly-awaited commencement address in Merced, which The Ticket already wrote about here, President Obama made a meaningful Saturday parental excursion outside the White House today to watch daughter Sasha play soccer.

But before that he made some major international and domestic political news.

As initially reported by The Ticket here late Friday evening (see what you'd already know if you checked back here more often!), President Obama appointed Utah's popular Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. as U.S. ambassador to China. (Not much worry over Senate confirmation either with fellow Mormon Harry Reid of Nevada at the helm of the Democratic majority there.)

We fully examined the political import of this very savvy move a few hours ago here; be sure to check it out. Appointing the national co-chair of Sen John McCain's losing Republican presidential campaign against Obama is not only bipartisan, it is very useful; it gets the potential GOP candidate out of the country and on the Democrat's team with only 42 months until the next presidential election. Beijing's a long ways from those Lincoln Day dinners in Ames and Clear Lake.

Right now, we have the full remarks of both the president and his new bipartisan, bilingual team member -- and one who's not from New Hampshire. (As previously reported here, Vice President Joe Biden had today off in Delaware. Also tomorrow.)

Or as Gov. Huntsman might put it:** 

你好，我叫洪博培，我从犹他州来的

-- Andrew Malcolm

Remarks by President Obama nominating Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah as Ambassador to the People's Republic of China

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. I am here to announce today the distinguished public servant I'm appointing as our nation's new ambassador to the People's Republic of China. I'm making this appointment mindful of its extraordinary significance. 

Given the breadth of issues at stake in our relationship with China, this ambassadorship is as important as any in the world –- because the United States will best be able to deal effectively with....

Obama set to pick Utah GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman as China ambassador (Updated))

(UPDATE: He did it and, as usual, The Ticket has all the details, color and full transcript right over here.)

Unofficial reports late tonight indicate President Obama is about to name Utah's Republican Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. as U.S. ambassador to China. Possibly as early as Saturday.

The 49-year-old Huntsman, who was national co-chair of John McCain's losing White House bid last year, is the latest in a fast-disappearing breed of moderate Republican state chief executives who, as late as 2000, virtually ruled the Rocky Mountain corridor of states for the GOP.

George W. Bush drew heavily on them, making Montana's Marc Racicot chairman of the Republican National Committee and chair of his re-election campaign, Utah's Mike Leavitt as secretary of Health and Human Services and Idaho's Dirk Kempthorne as secretary of the Interior.

Huntsman himself was an intern in the Reagan administration and served Bush I as ambassador to Singapore. He was also deputy U.S. trade representative during much of the first term of Bush II. He is an expert on China, speaking fluent Mandarin, not the most common language heard in Utah. Huntsman learned the language during his two-year LDS mission in -- can we say it here? -- the other China, Taiwan.

He is a native-born Californian (Palo Alto), the son of billionaire businessman Jon Huntsman and, like Senate Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Mormon. A Huntsman appointment would require Senate approval.

Huntsman and his wife, Mary Kaye, have five biological children of their own and two adopted -- one from China and one from India. (See photo below.)

After his initial gubernatorial election with 57% of the vote in 2004, Huntsman was elected to a second term last November with a whopping 77% of the vote. Huntsman has sought to nudge...

Reid's blocking of Burris not about race, Reid declares

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says it is totally ridiculous for "a lot of people" to suggest that his leadership of the barring of African American Roland Burris from the U.S. Senate and his reported pre-arrest recommendation to Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich to avoid nominating any of three other African Americans to the Barack Obama vacancy is racially driven in any way.

Hear Harry's words for yourself in the video below.

On the jump (click on the "Read more" line) we have a detailed video on yesterday's Capitol Hill Burris circus that sucked much attention away from the happy congressional opening that Reid had sought.

Reid made today's statement as part of a smooth 178- or 179-degree turnaround from his original vow to bar any appointee of fellow Democrat Blagojevich. Remember the letter signed by 50 Democratic  senators rejecting any Blagojevich appointee?

Anyway, today the Nevada senator had gracious words for an earnest Burris, whom he quoted as agreeing on the non-racialness of the controversy. He said Burris would meet Thursday with Illinois legislators, presumably to get his Senate nomination certified by someone other than the cloud-covered governor.

After tomorrow, Reid said, the Senate would be "in a different position to see what we are going to do." He added that he wanted "to do what we can do."

Reid and Illinois' other Democratic senator, Dick Durbin, are clearly attempting to find an escape tunnel out of their own PR mess. Apparently, they've settled on Burris talking to home state legislators and getting the really important signature of state Secretary Jesse White, another Democrat.

Unfortunately, White was on WGN radio in Chicago today, saying his signature wasn't required at all; it's just a ceremonial formality. And the Congressional Black Caucus, which contains no black senators because there aren't any until Burris gets in, unanimously urged accepting the newcomer.

The ever-wise Sam Stein over at Huffington Post reports that Obama aides are also pressing Reid to seat Burris and end this sideshow distraction. While Reid declares that he will not become a mere rubber stamp just for some popular Democratic president, that he doesn't work for the president, he works with him.

Last month it was Senate Leader Reid prohibiting any Illinois seating. Today, according to Reid, it's really going to come down to maybe the Rules Committee but ultimately the Senate itself to decide on seating the 71-year-old Illinois nominee and former comptroller and state attorney general. Ex-Sen. and President-elect Obama today said it was entirely a Senate matter.

Asked today if he'd been outmaneuvered politically, Reid replied, "It's simply not true."

Yesterday, California's influential Sen. Dianne Feinstein broke with Reid's Senate leadership and said Burris should be seated.

So, in other words, Roland Burris will soon be seated.

Non-racial score: Blagojevich 1 Reid 0

-- Andrew Malcolm

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In Gods they trust, new study finds of House and Senate members

When the 111th Congress convenes on Jan. 6, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus will be underrepresented in its membership.

No shocker there perhaps. But a new analysis of incoming members' religious affiliations by the Pew Forum indicates there's no small measure of change in Congress' religious ties: It's much more diverse than just half a century ago.

Yeh, sure, those Protestants still form a majority of these high-paid talkers (54.7%), slightly more than their 51% of the population. (But way down from the 74.1% of 1961.)

Pew finds that other religious followers -- Catholics, Jews and Mormons -- are actually overrepresented in Congress. (Quick, who's the highest-ranking Mormon there? Answer below.)

Catholics make up 30% of Congress, better than their population percentage of just under 25%. Baptists are next largest at 12.4% of members when they make up 17.2% of the adult population.

Now, watch out for the Methodists, who are apparently on a methodical march, constituting 10.7% of the members when they're only 6.2% of the population. (By the way, 100% of the outgoing first family are Methodists. The incoming first family lists its religious affiliation as "Christian," as will be represented in the two pastors participating in the Jan. 20 inauguration.)

Jews make up only 1.7% of the U.S. adult population but 8.4% of congressional members, including 13% of senators, which, come to think of it, means 13 senators. Mormons are 1.7% of the population and 2.6% of members. Episcopalians, 1.5% population and 7.1% members. Presbyterians, 2.7% population, 8.1% members, according to the new Pew analysis.

As this fall's congressional economic bailout bill revealed, members of all religions really like pork.

No Hindus have served in Congress yet, and California's own Democratic Rep. Pete Stark is the first and only member of Congress to publicly declare no faith in a supreme being.

There are two Muslims in Congress now and two Buddhists, plus one Quaker.

For the purposes of the Pew study, "Washington Redskins" was classified a "faith," not an official religion.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Congress gathers for the State of the Union in 2003. Credit: House of Representatives

Answer: The highest-ranking Mormon in Congress is Happy Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader from Nevada.

Gay marriage foes pray for money and pass the collection plate

Backers of California’s Proposition 8 invoked a higher authority, as they ramped up their television advertising by an additional $1 million, and asked for more money.

In an e-mail appeal for more cash, campaign strategist Frank Schubert says foes of the initiative on the Nov. 4 ballot to ban same-sex marriage continue to outspend them.

Schubert had warned earlier this week that the "Yes" side would lose unless it could raise millions more in the campaign’s closing days. The missive apparently is having its intended effect, given the new ad buys.

Still, high-dollar donations to both campaigns reflect the money disparity.

In a 72-hour period ending Friday, Proposition 8 foes disclosed raising $3.6 million in donations of $1,000 or more. Backers, primarily Mormons, conservative Christians and Catholics, raised $661,000.

Proposition 8 would ban same-sex unions by creating a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as being....

Barack Obama locks up supporters of same-sex marriage. Mitt Romney not so much.

In her losing presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton received lots of money from people who support same-sex marriage.

Same-sex marriage supporters have given Barack Obama tons of money, too.

John McCain has received a little from people who support same-sex marriage.

However, Republican also-ran Mitt Romney, perhaps the nation’s best-known Mormon after Harry Reid, got zero. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has led the drive to block same-sex marriage nationally and in California.

The Ticket comes to this conclusion after counting campaign donations from people who gave to the 2008 presidential candidates and comparing the list against contributors for and against California’s Proposition 8.

That’s the high-profile initiative on the Nov. 4 ballot that....