214.2 - Footnote: The struggle for LGBTQ acceptance goes on

Footnote: The struggle for LGBTQ acceptance goes on

There are two Footnotes to that post, the first being that when I said this decision was not the end of the road, I surely meant it.

In response to the BSA decision, Rick "Oops" Perry repeated his previous statement that “openly active gays” would be a “problem” for the BSA because they would “distract from the mission of Scouting” with “sex education," adding that "Scouting would be better off if they didn’t have openly gay Scoutmasters."

ScottWalkAllOverYou

That was foul enough, with enough plain old dumb ("Sex education?") mixed in to identify it as typical Rick Perry. But if you want to go to real slime, we have to turn to Wisconsin Gov. Scott WalkAllOverYou.

He said on July 28 that the Boy Scouts of America should have kept its blanket ban on openly gay leaders because that policy "protected children and advanced Scout values." This is truly vile. Because no matter how hard his campaign, hours later, tried to slice and dice it, no matter how they tried to massage it and spin it, the flat, plain, clear, meaning of it remains: He believes that gay men are a threat to children. There is no other rational interpretation of his statement.

The Human Rights Campaign responded to WalkAllOverYou with a statement calling his revealing comment "offensive, outrageous, and absolutely unacceptable." They were way too kind. He is a true bigoted scumbag.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/21/gop-s-open-season-on-gay-kids.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/07/14/scott-walker-boy-scouts-ban-on-gay-leaders-protected-children/

214.1 - Good News: Boy Scouts officially life blanket ban on gay scout leaders

Good News: Boy Scouts officially lift blanket ban on gay scout leaders

We start this week with some Good News, this one coming in the form of an update.

A couple of weeks ago, I reported that the executive committee of the Boy Scouts of America had voted to lift the group's long-standing blanket ban on gay scout leaders and employees, saying that individual scout troops could make their own policies on the matter. I said then that the policy would become final if it was approved by the organization's national executive board at its meeting on July 27.

Well, come July 27, the national board did just that, with seventy-nine percent of those present and voting approving the executive committee's decision to life the blanket ban. The new policy takes effect immediately.

As I said in the wake of the executive committee vote, the move is far from perfect because by its nature it allows individual scout units to continue to ban gay scout leaders, that is, to continue to be bigots. But it was undoubtedly done to ease the hurt feelings of such as the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention, which sponsor large numbers of Scout units.

However, it appears it may not be enough to mollify the Mormon Church, which sponsors more Scout units than any other organization. The Church issued a statement saying it is "deeply troubled" by the decision, which they claimed is "inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church," which is pretty odd since the Mormon Church's own policy allows for men who experience what the group calls "same-gender attraction" (because it won't say "gay men") to be priests and serve in leadership roles provided they remain celibate.

On the other hand, other folks were not so forgiving of the "leave it up to the units" compromise. The Human Rights Campaign said the Boy Scouts should not allow any unit to continue excluding gays, saying in a statement "Discrimination should have no place in the Boy Scouts, period."

For my part, while I agree with the HRC, I'm prepared to cut the BSA a little slack - for now. I'm sure the national board felt itself between a rock and a hard place, the rock being the reality of a changing world which they could not (and, in fairness, perhaps did not want) to ignore; the hard place being the fact that 70% of local scout units are church-supported - and in the face of the fact that participation in scouting is and has declining for some years now, the potential loss of the church support was no doubt a daunting prospect.

Bottom line here is that this is progress - more accurately, it reflects progress in our society on the issue of LGBTQ rights. It's not the end, but it is a clear if single step on the way. And that, no matter how you look at it, is good news.

Sources cited in links:
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2015/07/2123-good-news-boy-scouts-end-blanket.html
http://scoutingnewsroom.org/blog/boy-scouts-of-america-amends-adult-leadership-policy/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/28/boy-scouts-break-up-with-mormon-church.html
http://www.hrc.org
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mormons-hint-they-may-bolt-boy-scouts/
http://www.bsa-discrimination.org/html/bsa_membership.html

161.1 - Good News: hope for LGBT rights

Good News: hope for LGBT rights

Updated Starting, as I try to do whenever I can, with some good news, I have this week some bits of news that, rather than "good," I would prefer to call "hopeful."

The first bit is filed under the heading "Even in Texas."

On May 28, the city council of Houston, the nation's fourth largest city, passed its own Equal Rights Ordinance, which creates nondiscrimination protections for many classes, including sexual orientation and gender identity. The protections cover employment, housing, and public accommodations.

Houston is the fifth city in Texas to adopt such an ordinance, following Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio.

Now, the state as a whole continues to be an ethical backwater, exemplified by Big Earl’s Bait House and Country Store - and yes, that is the real name - in Pittsburg, Texas, which recently banned a same-sex couple from ever returning to the restaurant, citing a policy of only serving men who “act like men.”

When the place got flak about it, management defended a server who was accused of telling the couple "we don’t serve fags here" by tut-tutting that what she actually said was "We do not like fags," which was apparently supposed to be much, much better.

Despite that, it remains true that Houston, one of the last large cities in the country to lack a municipal nondiscrimination policy, now has one and its one that includes recognition of how reality and society are changing. And that's good news.

On another front, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walkalloveryou, who has long backed the state's ban on same-sex marriage, is suddenly getting all squishy about the issue.

This likely has something to do with the fact that he's facing a challenge to that ban in federal court, a challenge the state is already preparing to lose. So despite his long support for the ban, now he's saying well golly gee whiz he doesn't know if it violates the US Constitution, or if the ban would be approved by voters if it was up for a vote today, or even if it would amount to a big change for the state if it was overturned, and he is certainly not going to tell a federal judge what to do about it! Which is really weird because his administration is in court defending the ban, which means they are trying to tell a federal judge what to do about it.

The bottom line here? Openly endorsing the ban in an election year is a political liability, one Walkalloveryou wants no part of.

The last bit here bit is more philosophical but maybe for just that reason even more meaningful.

Around the end of March, I noted the death of Fred Phelps, who I described as

[a] notorious and gross bigot, founder of the notoriously and grossly bigoted Westboro Baptist Church, which isn't part of any Baptist convention and isn't really a church but more like a family cult.

At that time, I noted that news had leaked out that last summer, Phelps had been excommunicated from his own church for reasons unknown but which supposedly had to to with him urging "kinder treatment of fellow church members" in the wake of an internal power struggle.

Now there is a new wrinkle: Several weeks ago, Zacharias Phelps-Roper, Phelps' grandson, bolted from the group. Something over a week ago, he said that on the day that Phelps was excommunicated, he stood outside of the front door of the church and said, not loud enough for anyone but a few nearby church members to hear, "You are good people."

Why is that important? Because the sentiment was not directed at members of his former church, but across the street at The Equality House, the rainbow-painted house directly opposite the compound of the WBC. It's run by a group called Planting Peace, which among other things advocates for LGBT rights, the very thing the members of the Westboro Baptist Church most hate.

It remains true that Fred Phelps lived his life as a notorious and gross bigot. But as one person said, if even he could be moved, there isn't a heart out there that can't be.

Martin Luther King, Jr., has often been credited with the saying "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Although he did say that, the saying seems to have originated with Theodore Parker, a 19th-century Unitarian minister and anti-slavery activist who published a book of Ten Sermons on Religion in 1857. In one of those, he said

I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.

Our eyes still see but a little ways, but in the case of LGBT rights, we surely can see the bending of that arc.

Updated with the news that on June 6, as expected, US District Judge Barbara Crabb struck down Wisconsin's ban on same-sex marriage as an unconstitutional violation of the right of equal protection. More next week.

Sources cited in links:
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/05/28/3442505/houston-approves-nondiscrimination-ordinance/
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/09/05/2579071/san-antonio-passes-lgbt-nondiscrimination-public-outcry/
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/scott-walker-addresses-presidency-talk-gay-marriage-m697004-198820411.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/27/1302369/-Scott-Walker-is-suddenly-unsure-what-he-thinks-about-this-whole-marriage-equality-thing
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/van-hollen-braces-for-judge-to-toss-gay-marriage-ban-b99276581z1-260421611.html
http://bringmethenews.com/2014/05/30/wisconsin-prepares-for-same-sex-marriage-ruling/
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/03/1523-rip-fred-phelps.html
http://cjonline.com/news/2014-05-05/fourth-phelps-roper-sibling-leaves-westboro-baptist-church
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/23/1301451/-Prior-to-death-Fred-Phelps-had-change-of-heart-according-to-grandson?detail=email
http://www.towleroad.com/2014/05/grandson-of-anti-gay-wbc-pastor-fred-phelps-says-he-had-change-of-heart-before-he-was-voted-out.html
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/15/arc-of-universe/

Source cited in Update:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/federal-judge-overturns-wisconsins-gay-marriage-ban-b99286138z1-262161851.html

Left Side of the Aisle #161

Left Side of the Aisle
for the week of June 5-11, 2014

This Week:

Good News: hope for LGBT rights
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/05/28/3442505/houston-approves-nondiscrimination-ordinance/
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/09/05/2579071/san-antonio-passes-lgbt-nondiscrimination-public-outcry/
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/15/arc-of-universe/
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/scott-walker-addresses-presidency-talk-gay-marriage-m697004-198820411.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/27/1302369/-Scott-Walker-is-suddenly-unsure-what-he-thinks-about-this-whole-marriage-equality-thing
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/van-hollen-braces-for-judge-to-toss-gay-marriage-ban-b99276581z1-260421611.html
http://bringmethenews.com/2014/05/30/wisconsin-prepares-for-same-sex-marriage-ruling/
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/03/1523-rip-fred-phelps.html
http://cjonline.com/news/2014-05-05/fourth-phelps-roper-sibling-leaves-westboro-baptist-church
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/23/1301451/-Prior-to-death-Fred-Phelps-had-change-of-heart-according-to-grandson?detail=email
http://www.towleroad.com/2014/05/grandson-of-anti-gay-wbc-pastor-fred-phelps-says-he-had-change-of-heart-before-he-was-voted-out.html

Clown Award: American Family Association
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/american-family-association
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/american-family-association
http://www.publiceye.org/ifas/fw/8906/wildmon.html
http://www.biography.com/people/harvey-milk-9408170
http://afa.net/Detail.aspx?id=2147546163
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/29/1302855/-AFA-asks-members-to-refuse-mail-that-comes-with-a-Harvey-Milk-stamp

Outrage of the Week: SCOTUS and press freedom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Aurora_shooting
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP0c8a59ed2fe74ae6b986c3aec158024f.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2014/0602/Supreme-Court-declines-case-of-reporter-seeking-to-protect-confidential-source-video
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-refuses-to-take-reporters-case-on-revealing-%20%20confidential-source/2014/06/02/d704de58-ea54-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branzburg_v._Hayes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griswold_v._Connecticut
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/penumbra
http://www.ifstone.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield_laws_in_the_United_States
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/rieder/2014/05/28/federal-shield-law-for-journalists/9670865/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/rieder/2014/06/02/supreme-court-ducks-opportunity-on-reporters-privilege/9864627/

159.2 - Footnote: evidence that marriage justice is gaining goes beyond court decisions

Footnote: evidence that marriage justice is gaining goes beyond court decisions

As something of a footnote to the above, the evidence that marriage justice and the whole idea of LGBT rights is gaining ground is found in more that just court decisions.

One way to tell is by noting how ridiculous and desperate the arguments of antis are becoming. It's not just, as for example happened in the case of Idaho, that the antis are using arguments that have repeatedly failed, it's that the other arguments they try are getting just silly.

Here's an example: In February, a federal court ruled that Kentucky officials must recognize legally valid same-sex marriages performed in one of the states that allow them. That is, if a same-sex couple got married in say New York and then moved to Kentucky, they're not suddenly unmarried.

Last week, the state filed its appeal of that decision in which it argued that the ban on recognizing such marriages should be upheld because, quoting the appeal, the "laws are rationally related to the state's interest of preserving the traditional man-woman marriage model," because "man-man and woman-woman couples cannot procreate" and Kentucky has an interest in encouraging procreation in the name of promoting "long-term economic stability through stable birth rates."

In other words, same-sex marriages are bad for the state's business climate.

There's an obvious flaw in the argument, which is that this requirement for fertility is enforced in no other way. You don't have to prove both parties are fertile in order to get married; being past child-bearing years is no bar to marriage; if you decide you don't want children, your marriage is not annulled; there is no requirement of any sort anywhere in the state's laws. Which means, in strictly legal terms, the state has not demonstrated any such "interest" in "stable birth rates."

The other thing, and this is where the silly comes in, what is it that the government of the state of Kentucky imagines will happen if the ban on recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages is maintained?

Do they think that all those gays and lesbians who suddenly find themselves not married to the person they love will go out and find someone of the opposite sex, get married, settle down, and start pumping out the demographically-appropriate number of babies? What is going through their minds? It's just silly.

Another way you can tell that things are changing for the better comes from the results of a survey from the Pew Research Center For The People & The Press which was published on May 19: The organization said it showed "immense changes in American attitudes towards the sexual orientation of their political leaders."

The question was about a candidate for president, assuming they were otherwise qualified. Those who said they would be less likely to support a candidate if they were gay or lesbian accounted for 27% of the total, while 5% said it would make them more likely to support that person - and most, a whopping 66%, said it wouldn’t matter one way or the other. As recently as 2007, nearly half, 46% said they would be less likely to vote for a gay or lesbian candidate, a 19 percentage point shift in seven years.

Even if that 66% is inflated, even if it includes people who are saying that only because they feel it's socially unacceptable to express prejudice toward gays and lesbians, that still means that it's becoming socially unacceptable to express prejudice toward gays and lesbians, which itself is evidence of progress.

Things are changing, justice is coming. There is no denying it. We may be losing in a lot of ways, but on this one, justice is winning.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/another-gay-marriage-ban-bites-the-dust
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/kentucky-interracial-marriage-same-sex-birth-rate-ban
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/13/1299063/-Kentucky-appeal-argues-same-sex-marriage-is-bad-because-the-profit-margins-aren-t-good-enough?detail=email
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/19/american-gay-president_n_5353206.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices

159.1 - Good News: marriage justice comes to Idaho, Oregon, and Pennsylvania

Good News: marriage justice comes to Idaho, Oregon, and Pennsylvania

Updated We are starting, as I always try to do, with some good news - and there's a bunch of good news on this topic this week.

Last week, May 13, federal Magistrate Judge Candy Dale ruled that Idaho's ban on same-sex marriage violates the US Constitution.

In trying to defend the ban, Idaho state officials used the same sorts of arguments that have failed elsewhere: For example, they claimed the ban was necessary to protect children - but as always, they were not able to say from exactly what. When Michigan actively tried to go down that road at trial over its ban, the state got shot down in flames.

Idaho also said that overturning the ban would violate voters' rights. But that ran into the long-standing legal principle that Constitutional rights trump voters' rights. Majorities, even heavy majorities, do not override basic rights. Indeed, Judge Dale said precisely that in her ruling:

[A] state's broad authority to regulate matters of state concern does not include the power to violate an individual’s protected Constitutional rights.

She described the ban as relegating gay and lesbian families "to a stigmatized, second-class status" and found the ban "does not withstand any applicable level of constitutional scrutiny."

Idaho governor Butch Otter filed a preemptive motion to have Judge Dale stay her ruling, a motion which was granted by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Remember, this does not overturn the ruling, it merely says it can't go into effect during appeals. This is a pretty common part of the judicial process and Appeals Courts rarely decline to stay a lower court's order unless it feels that the appealing party - in this case, the state of Idaho - has essentially no chance to prevail on appeal.

Dale's ruling marked the 16th consecutive favorable marriage equality ruling in state and federal courts since the US Supreme Court ruled last June in Windsor v. United States that central portions of the Defense of Marriage Act were unconstitutional.

Idaho is not only source of good news on this front. On Monday, May 19, US District Judge Michael McShane threw out Oregon's same-sex marriage ban.

The interesting thing here is that Oregon state officials earlier refused to defend the ban in court and said they wouldn't appeal the decision. An attempt by the anti-equality National Organization for Marriage to intervene in the case was denied by at both the district and appeals levels.

What that means is that this is likely is end of the line for this case - and Oregon has become the 18th state with marriage justice.

On that same day, May 19, a federal judge in Utah ordered state officials to recognize some same-sex marriages that recently took place in Utah. Earlier, a federal judge who ruled Utah's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional refused to stay the effect of his order and it was about two weeks before the Supreme Court issued the stay, blocking any further same-sex marriages in the state during appeals.  In that time, more than 1,000 same-sex couples had gotten married in Utah and the issue here was the legal status of those marriages. The court ruled that Utah must recognize those marriages.

Rounding out a good week for marriage justice, on Tuesday, May 20, US federal District Judge John Jones ruled that Pennsylvania's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. Which, including the Utah case, makes 19 straight court victories for marriage equality.

By the way, it was a tough week for Pennsylvania Governor Tom "Space Cadet" Corbett: Last week, I told you about his voter ID law getting shot down, now this. So last week he couldn't hinder the ability of the poor and minorities to vote and this week he can't keep gays and lesbians from marrying those they love. What a shame.

Oh, and as a quick sidebar, some poetic justice:

On May 20, the city council of Topeka, Kansas, the hometown of the fascistically anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, passed two ordinances in favor of LGBT equality. One will create a domestic partnership registry in the city; the other will add gender identity as a protected class for city employment.

Updated with the news that after the show was recorded, Tom "Space Cadet" Corbett, admitting that the ruling about same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania would be “extremely unlikely” to be overturned on appeal, announced that his administration would let the decision stand. Which makes Pennsylvania the 19th state to recognize the right of same-sex marriage.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2014/05/13/breaking-idaho-judge-rules-marriage-ban-unconstitutional
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/03/1521-good-news-michigan-is-latest-to.html
http://jurist.org/paperchase/2014/05/idaho-same-sex-marriage-ban-struck-down.php
http://jurist.org/paperchase/2014/05/federal-appeals-court-blocks-idaho-same-sex-marriage-ruling.phphttp://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ruling-expected-monday-oregon-gay-marriage-ban-23773256
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/20/pennsylvania-gay-marriage_n_5358491.html
http://johncelock.com/topeka-lgbt-equality
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2014/05/21/Corbett-won-t-appeal-ruling-to-allow-same-sex-marriage/stories/201405210178

Left Side of the Aisle #159

Left Side of the Aisle
for the week of May 22-28, 2014

This week:

http://www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2014/05/13/breaking-idaho-judge-rules-marriage-ban-unconstitutional
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/03/1521-good-news-michigan-is-latest-to.html
http://jurist.org/paperchase/2014/05/idaho-same-sex-marriage-ban-struck-down.php
http://jurist.org/paperchase/2014/05/federal-appeals-court-blocks-idaho-same-sex-marriage-ruling.phphttp://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ruling-expected-monday-oregon-gay-marriage-ban-23773256
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/20/pennsylvania-gay-marriage_n_5358491.html
http://johncelock.com/topeka-lgbt-equality
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2014/05/21/Corbett-won-t-appeal-ruling-to-allow-same-sex-marriage/stories/201405210178
Footnote: evidence that marriage justice is gaining goes beyond court decisions
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/another-gay-marriage-ban-bites-the-dust
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/kentucky-interracial-marriage-same-sex-birth-rate-ban
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/13/1299063/-Kentucky-appeal-argues-same-sex-marriage-is-bad-because-the-profit-margins-aren-t-good-enough
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/19/american-gay-president_n_5353206.html

Not Good News: no freedom from religion
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/19/presidential-poll-atheists_n_5353524.html
http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2006/UR_RELEASE_MIG_2816.html
http://ap-gfkpoll.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/AP-GfK-March-2014-Poll-Topline-Final_SCIENCE.pdf

Clown Award: Pat Sajak
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/19/common-core-gay_n_5353629.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/20/pat-sajak-climate-change_n_5358656.html
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1806709/original.jpg
http://www.noaa.gov/
http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/april-2014-global-temperature-ties-warmest-record-noaa-20140520
http://mashable.com/2014/05/20/antarctia-collapse-ice-sheet-how-worried/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/12/us-climatechange-antarctica-idUSKBN0DS1IH20140512
https://ipcc.ch/
http://www.aol.com/article/2014/05/12/nasa-spots-worrisome-antarctic-ice-sheet-melt/20884431/
http://www.ucsusa.org/
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/impacts/national-landmarks-at-risk-from-climate-change.html
http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/global_warming/National-Landmarks-at-Risk-Full-Report.pdf
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/02/feds_wildfire_season_is_expected_to_go_way_over_budget_and_climate_change_is_to_blame/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/14/1299239/-Center-for-Naval-Analyses-Military-Advisory-Board-Climate-change-is-severe-national-security-risk
http://mashable.com/2014/05/20/pat-sajak-climate-change/

Outrage of the Week: author of "kill US citizens with drones" memo nominated to US Appeals Court
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2010/04/its-just-question.html
https://www.aclu.org/
https://www.aclu.org/national-security/us-release-targeted-killing-memo-sought-aclu-foia-lawsuit
http://time.com/97613/obama-drone-memo-david-barron/
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/white-house-compromise-targeted-kill-memo-david-barron
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-to-reveal-justification-for-drone-strikes-against-american-citizens/2014/05/20/f607bb60-e066-11e3-8dcc-d6b7fede081a_story.html
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/05/20/justice-dept-drone-memo/9347697/
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/05/21/reid-predicts-senate-will-approve-obama-judge-nominee-who-helped-craft-drone/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/22/david-barron-drone-memo_n_5373015.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_2hlKqRTPg

158.3 - Footnote: Gohmert and Godwin

Footnote: Gohmert and Godwin

As a footnote to the preceding, it's worth noting that Rep. Louie Gohmert - the man who put the Gomer in Gohmert - ran headlong into Godwin's Law on the House floor on May 9, saying that those who call the anti-same-sex-marriage far right wackos who waive the banner of Christianity as an excuse for their bigotry, that anyone who calls such people "haters" are subjecting those people to persecution just like the Nazis treated Jews during the Holocaust:

It is amazing that in the name of liberality, in the name of being tolerant, this fascist intolerance has arisen.

[It] is exactly what we've seen throughout our history as going back to the days of the Nazi takeover in Europe.

They would call people haters, evil, and build up disdain for those people.

Then next came, let's bring every book that they've written, or that has to do with them, and start burning the books.

What's more, he said, people like him are just upholding Judeo-Christian values and they don't hate anybody.

Sure, you don't hate those of the LGBT community, you just think they're filthy, perverted scum who don't deserve the same rights as "normal" people and who are condemned to unending torment in the everlasting fires of hell. But you don't hate them.

Bottom line is, according to Rep. Gomer, if you refer to bigots as bigots or haters as haters, you're a fascist and a Nazi just two short steps from burning books and, I suppose, building gas chambers.

Did you ever know any group of people who more readily, eagerly, and persistently played the "victim" card than American right wingers?

Sources cited in links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/09/louie-gohmert-gay-marriage_n_5296981.html

158.2 - Good News: same-sex marriage comes to Arkansas

Good News: same-sex marriage comes to Arkansas

Here's some more good news from a different part of the country: The right of same-sex marriage has moved south.

On Friday, May 9, Pulaski County - that's in Arkansas - Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled that a 2004 state amendment banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and violates the rights of same-sex couples.

He called it "an unconstitutional attempt to narrow the definition of equality" and a "dangerous precedent" that excludes a minority "for no rational reason."

In his decision, Piazza cited the US Supreme Court's 1967 decision in Loving v. Virginia, which invalidated laws on interracial marriage.

It has been over 40 years since Mildred Loving was given the right to marry the person of her choice. The hatred and fears have long since vanished and she and her husband lived full lives together; so it will be for the same-sex couples. It is time to let that beacon of freedom shine brighter on all our brothers and sisters. We will be stronger for it

He didn't put his ruling on hold pending appeal, although state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has said he intends to file such an appeal to the state Supreme Court. McDaniel has actually said that he supports same-sex marriage rights, but feels constrained by the duties of his office to defend to state's position in court.

Piazza's decision came on a Friday afternoon. Normally, county clerks' offices in Arkansas are not open on weekends, but the state is in its early-voting period for a May 20 primary, so several clerks' offices were open the next day, Saturday. And despite the short notice, one of those offices, that of Carroll County, issued the state's first same-sex marriage license. The couple wed immediately after on the sidewalk near the courthouse.

Fourteen other Carroll County same-sex couples received marriage licenses the same day.

Remember, the case is on appeal and so this is not etched in stone - but it is another blow against the empire of bigotry.

And as a quick sidebar, the morning of the day to tape the show, I learned that a federal judge had the day before, Tuesday, struck down Idaho's ban on same-sex marriage. I'm sure I'll have more next week.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/09/arkansas-gay-marriage-ban_n_5298379.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_and_Richard_Loving
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20140510/us--gay-marriage-arkansas/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQVoYRzZwhc

Left Side of the Aisle #158

Left Side of the Aisle
for the week of May 15-21, 2014

This week:

Good News: PA gives up on voter ID
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/01/1431-good-news-pennsylvania-voter-photo.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Corbett%2C_Space_Cadet
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20140508_ap_a736eeef2e02499b8a5d0dfcdaa74394.html?c=r

Good News: same-sex marriage comes to Arkansas
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/09/arkansas-gay-marriage-ban_n_5298379.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_and_Richard_Loving
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20140510/us--gay-marriage-arkansas/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQVoYRzZwhc

Footnote: Gohmert and Godwin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/09/louie-gohmert-gay-marriage_n_5296981.html

Outrage of the Week: atheists don't count - again
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/09/massachusetts-pledge-of-allegiance_n_5296690.html
http://www.wggb.com/2014/05/09/massachusetts-pledge-of-allegiance-not-religious/
http://oldtimeislands.org/pledge/pledge.htm
http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/usconstitution/a/pledgehist.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance
http://www.religioustolerance.org/nat_pled1.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nontheistic_religions

Footnote: freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/09/massachusetts-pledge-of-allegiance_n_5296690.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia_State_Board_of_Education_v._Barnette

Clown Award: Grover Norquist
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/05/monica-lewinsky-conspiracy-theories-resurface-from-the-right-this-time/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Chamber

The little Thing: the media’s utter lack of self-awareness
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/02/seattle-may-day_n_5253707.html
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023508848_maydayxml.html
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/02/creationists_neil_degrasse_tyson_hysteria_reaches_fever_pitch_partner/
http://ap-gfkpoll.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/AP-GfK-March-2014-Poll-Topline-Final_SCIENCE.pdf
http://www.gallup.com/poll/168620/one-four-solidly-skeptical-global-warming.aspx

Global warming: getting hot under the collar
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/05/06/fact-sheet-what-climate-change-means-regions-across-america-and-major-se
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-climate-report-says-global-warming-impact-already-severe/2014/05/06/0e82cd3c-d49c-11e3-aae8-c2d44bd79778_story.html?hpid=z1
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/national-climate-assessment-report/1016/
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2014-05-06/fed-report-warming-disrupting-americans-lives

157.3 - Good News: United Church of Christ sues North Carolina to overturn ban on same-sex marriage

Good News: United Church of Christ sues North Carolina to overturn ban on same-sex marriage

Finally for this week, I'm filing this under Good News but it really should get an award for cleverness in making the heads of rightwingers explode.

The United Church of Christ along with a coalition of clergy members has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of North Carolina, arguing the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage is a violation of their religious freedom.

The clergy members said that they'd like to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies in their congregations, but that they can't because of the "unjust law."

The Rev. J. Bennett Guess, executive minister with the Cleveland-based United Church of Christ, which has over a million parishoners, said that "North Carolina's marriage laws are a direct affront to freedom of religion" because, he went on,

it is important that any person that comes into community life of a United Church of Christ congregation be afforded equal pastoral care and equal opportunity to religious services that clergy provide.

You tell 'em, Rev.

Besides the UCC, a dozen clergy members and same sex-couples who want to marry were listed as plaintiffs.

Seventeen states allow gay marriage, and federal judges have struck down bans in Michigan, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, and Virginia, with all those cases currently on appeal.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.aol.com/article/2014/04/28/lawsuit-unusual-approach-against-gay-marriage-ban/20877178/

Left Side of the Aisle #157

Left Side of the Aisle
for the week of May 1-7, 2014

This week:

Good News: SCOTUS upholds power of EPA to regulate cross-border pollution
http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-scotus-epa-20140430,0,2869822.story

Good News: federal court strikes down Wisconsin voter ID law
http://www.postcrescent.com/viewart/20140429/APC010401/304290492/Federal-ruling-blocks-Wisconsin-voter-identification-law-Brokaw-woman-wants-ID-fight-continue
http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20111204/WDH06/112040373/Voter-ID-becomes-law-unintended-consequences?nclick_check=1

Good News: United Church of Christ sues North Carolina to overturn ban on same-sex marriage
http://www.aol.com/article/2014/04/28/lawsuit-unusual-approach-against-gay-marriage-ban/20877178/?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl38%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D469706

Hero Award: Hector Montoya
http://www.aol.com/article/2014/04/23/texas-boy-bought-every-house-in-neighborhood-a-gift-after-traged/20874304/
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/04/texas_boy_gives_up_ps4_money_to_buy_smoke_detectors.html

Third anniversary: re-introducing myself
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_view
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Free_Concert
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_power
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/weatherunderground/film.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat_es.htm
https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R40682.pdf
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com/vietnam/vwatl.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Vietnam
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/iz.html
http://icasualties.org/Iraq/Index.aspx
http://www.icasualties.org/oef/
http://www.statisticbrain.com/vietnam-war-statistics/
http://icasualties.org/Iraq/USCasualtiesByState.aspx
http://www.icasualties.org/OEF/USCasualtiesByState.aspx

Third anniversary: thank-yous

156.1 - Good News: small South Carolina town supports lesbian police chief

Good News: small South Carolina town supports lesbian police chief

So let's start off with a bit of good news, just something to cheer you up a bit. You'll need it later.

Crystal Moore is, or rather was, a police chief. In her 20 years on the job, she had never received a reprimand. Suddenly, she got a string of seven and then, on April 14, she was fired by the mayor. But most people believed he fired her because she is a lesbian and the reprimands were created as a cover.

Adding credence to that suspicion was the fact that the mayor, whose name is Earl Bullard and who has only been in office since December, was recorded saying that he would rather leave his children in the care of a drunk alcoholic than someone "whose lifestyle is questionable."

The day after the firing, on April 15, dozens of residents were picketing outside of town hall calling for Moore to be reinstated. Others held a prayer vigil. Two days after that, on April 17, the city council voted to strip some of the mayor's powers and shift them to the council.

So she was fired for being a lesbian and the town is standing up for her. And that's great. But this is the real good news part: Where is this happening, where are people standing up for a lesbian, demanding she get her job back? Where is this place where the mayor who fired her wound up losing some of his authority as a result?

It was the town of Latta, South Carolina, population 1400.

Justice is coming.

By the way, a quick footnote: According to a survey of 40 nations by the Pew Research Center Global Attitudes Project, the country in the world which is most accepting of homosexuality is Spain, were a mere 6% said it is "morally unacceptable" as compared to 55% who say it is and 38% who say it's not a moral issue.

The US breakdown was 37%-23%-35%, respectively. Ranked by the percentage who say homosexuality is morally unacceptable, Spain is the best of the 40, Ghana is the worst, and the US is 12th.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/18/south-carolina-lesbian-police-chief-crystal-moore_n_5170175.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/18/pew-gay-acceptance-poll-_n_5175296.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/04/15/global-morality/table/homosexuality/

Left Side of the Aisle #156

Left Side of the Aisle
for the week of April 24-30, 2014

This week:

Good News: small South Carolina town supports lesbian police chief
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/18/south-carolina-lesbian-police-chief-crystal-moore_n_5170175.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/18/pew-gay-acceptance-poll-_n_5175296.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/04/15/global-morality/table/homosexuality/

Update: charges dropped for boy who taped being bullied
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/04/1556-clown-award-south-fayette-high.html
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/west/2014/04/16/Charge-against-student-who-recorded-alleged-bullying-will-be-dropped/stories/201404160165

Clown Award: state of Louisiana
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/04/01/louisiana-house-passes-omnibus-abortion-bill/
http://www.salon.com/2014/04/01/louisiana_house_passes_sweeping_abortion_restrictions_in_the_name_of_womens_safety/
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/11/louisiana-lawmakers-advance-bill-that-would-make-the-bible-the-states-official-book/
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/04/louisiana_bible_state_book.html
http://www.buzzfeed.com/tonymerevick/the-67-louisiana-lawmakers-who-voted-that-gay-sex-should-be

RIP: Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/20/us/rubin-hurricane-carter-obit/

Outrage of the Week: SCOTUS ignores racism, undercuts affirmative action while pretending it didn't
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/supreme-court-upholds-michigan-affirmative-action-ban-n86626
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/supreme-court-upholds-michigans
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/affirmative1.html
http://www.civilrights.org/resources/civilrights101/affirmaction.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emily-timbol/white-christians_b_4855846.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/loud-music-shooting-michael-dunn-guilty-of-attempted-murder-1.2539034
http://www.nymbp.org/reference/WhitePrivilege.pdf
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-241.ZS.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/us/supreme-court-michigan-affirmative-action-ban.html?_r=0
http://www.freep.com/article/20140422/NEWS06/304220075/Supreme-Court-upholds-Michigan-s-ban-on-affirmative-action-in-college-admissions
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-23/affirmative-action-ruling-challenges-colleges-seeking-diversity.html
http://www.lawnix.com/cases/plessy-ferguson.html
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304049904579517521606356770

One final thought
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/supreme-court-upholds-michigans

155.2 - Good News: win for marriage justice in Indiana

Good News: win for marriage justice in Indiana

Another bit of good news about marriage justice comes from next door to Ohio, in Indiana, where on April 10 federal District Court Judge Richard Young granted an emergency request to force Indiana to immediately recognize the marriage of a lesbian couple who wed in Massachusetts.

The judge issued a temporary restraining order, which will last for 28 days, allowing time to schedule a hearing on a preliminary injunction. For the moment, it means for those 28 days, Amy Sandler and Niki Quasney are married. That ruling could be overturned, but Young found that the couple had met the requirements for emergency relief and there is a reasonable likelihood that they will win their overall case.

The reason for the emergency order was that this is good-news-bad-news: Quasney has ovarian cancer and is terminally ill. The concern here is accessing federal and state safety nets for surviving spouses and their children.

The state argued that Indiana's marriage statute does not allow for hardship exceptions, and - get this - that if the law changes after Quasney dies, thus validating the couple's marriage, Indiana could amend her death certificate.

So Indiana, the state arguing against recognition of one marriage here, the state that bans same-sex marriage only by statute and despite what is happening in the rest of the nation - and a good part of the world, in fact - is moving ahead with a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, is now grandly allowing as how if at some point in an unknowable future which the state hopes will never come, same-sex marriage becomes legal in Indiana, they will deal with this issue then - long after, they must by the meaning of their own arguments hope, everyone involved has died and so the whole thing is moot.

Indiana, the state that would make Birch Bayh roll over in his grave - were it not for the fact that he's not dead.

This case is part of one of five suits against Indiana's ban on same-sex marriages, all of which have been consolidated under Judge Young. Proponents of marriage justice took heart from the ruling because it could indicate the judge's thinking on the broader questions involved.

Ultimately, all this is going to wind up in the lap of the Supreme Court because it's unlikely that all the Courts of Appeal that are now involved in appeals from District Court rulings in five different states will rule the same way, which will leave it to Johnny Roberts and the Supremes to resolve things.

Which leaves me with just two things to say for now, both of which I have said before: One, Antonin Scalia has seen his dissent from the decision tossing out central parts of the grossly-misnamed Defense of Marriage Act quoted at least twice in recent decisions upholding marriage equality and throwing out state bans on same-sex marriage. It will be fun to see him try to deny the meaning of this own words.

And two, no matter the outcome of these cases at any level of the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, this remains true: Justice is coming.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/10/indiana-gay-marriage/7565909/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_of_same-sex_unions_in_Indiana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birch_Bayh

155.1 - Good News: win for marriage justice in Ohio

Good News: win for marriage justice in Ohio

Starting off, as I always like to do when I can with some good news, we have the fact that on April 14, federal district court Judge Timothy Black ordered the state of Ohio to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples who were legally married in other states. Ohio thus joins Oregon, Kentucky, and Tennessee as states that have been ordered by federal courts to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

Judge Black said the Ohio ban on recognizing such marriages is unconstitutional and unenforceable.

This does not mean that same-sex couples can get married in Ohio; that was not an issue before the court. It does mean that such couples who were married before they came to Ohio still are married after they get there and they will have the same privileges and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples in the state.

The context of this case is a bit different from other cases. It involved four same-sex couples, three female and two male, all legally married. The female couples had each conceived a child through artificial insemination while the male couple had adopted a child from Ohio. Each couple wanted to have both names listed as parents on their child's birth certificates, which Ohio refused to do because it won't recognize them as married. (I should mention parenthetically, to be clear, that Ohio does allow opposite-sex couples who adopt children to be listed as parents on the birth certificate.) Under Black's order, the parents will get their wishes.

Black held off deciding whether to stay his order to give the two sides a chance to argue if he should. However, his did say he was inclined to allow his ruling to take effect for the particular four who filed the initial lawsuit, even if he held off enforcing it on the behalf of others.

Black was blistering in his ruling, saying that the ban had been enacted “with discriminatory animus and without a single legitimate justification.” He also wrote that the ban "embodies an unequivocal, purposeful, and explicitly discriminatory classification, singling out same-sex couples alone, for disrespect of their out-of-state marriages and denial of their fundamental liberties” and labeled the by-now moldy argument that the court should "respect the voters' wishes" even where fundamental rights are concerned, "specious" and the supposed "state interests" involved as "vague, speculative, and/or unsubstantiated."

In my favorite passage, Black wrote that

The record before this court ... is staggeringly devoid of any legitimate justification for the State’s ongoing arbitrary discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

"Staggeringly devoid of justification" describes all the opposition to marriage equality. It was good to see it said so directly.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/14/ohio-gay-marriage_n_5146873.html
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/27/kentucky-same-sex-marriage/5864639/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/14/gay-marriage-tennessee-lawsuit/6432547/
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2014/0414/Why-federal-judge-ruled-Ohio-must-recognize-gay-marriages
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/04/federal-judge-considers-staying-ohio-same-sex-marriage-ruling/

153.1 - Good News: new poll says Virginia voters approve same-sex marriage

Good News:  new poll says Virginia voters approve same-sex marriage

Virginia is one of the states where a federal district court has struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage, a ruling that, as in other recent cases, is on hold until the Court of Appeals, in this case the one for the Fourth Circuit, rules on the matter. Oral arguments before that court are scheduled for May.

So here's hoping that those judges are made aware of the findings of a new poll by Quinnipiac University, which finds that a right to marriage equality is now supported by 50% of Virginia voters, with only 42% opposed.

Women support it by a margin of 54-38, while men split with 46 percent in favor and 48 against, a gap within the poll's margin of error. But what's particularly striking is that those aged 18 to 29 endorse same-sex marriage by a margin of 69-25.

Justice is coming.

Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/virginia-voters-back-gay-marriage-court-hearing-nears-171354050.html

147.6 - Footnote: Kansas tries to legalize discrimination

Footnote: Kansas tries to legalize discrimination

As a footnote to that, let's be clear here: The battle against bigotry is by no means won. On this front, we are winning, but progressive tense has not yet become past tense.

As one example, the Kansas state House of Representatives recently passed a bill that declared that both public and private employees - any employee - can refuse "any service," quote unquote, to same-sex couples, so long as they claim it is because they have a religious reason to oppose marriage equality, civil unions, or "similar arrangements." The evidence required to prove such claim of a religious exemption is all but nonexistent, and individuals who try to file suit against private businesses for discrimination will be required to pay the business's legal fees if that business is found to be within these impossibly broad new "rights."

State Rep. Charles Macheers argued that the provision was designed to prevent discrimination against religious individuals, who suffer from such oppression. Quoting him:

Discrimination is horrible. It’s hurtful. It has no place in civilized society, and that’s precisely why we’re moving this bill.

Right, because discrimination is so horrible, we are going to write into the law the right for religious bigots to discriminate the way they want to.

Under the law, government agencies would still be mandated to render services to Kansans, but individual employees - again, any individual employee - would be empowered to refuse assistance to individuals that violated their religious beliefs on marriage. Under the law, that would even allow for, say, a cop to answer a call about a domestic dispute - or even a burglary - arrive at the house to find it's same-sex couple, say "Forget it, I won't help you" and leave. And there would be no recourse.

This has become part of the latest reactionary attempt to hold back the tide of history: Bills have been introduced in several states with this same argument, that it is a violation of First Amendment rights of freedom of religion to expect people to just do their jobs when they are dealing with LGBT people.

Still, it's silver lining time. After the bill passed the House and headed for the state Senate, all hell broke loose in Topeka. The capitol was inundated with state and national media and faced a major voter backlash. Students doing voter registration at one campus in the state said that even the most conservative among those who approached their table said this bill went too far.

The upshot? The day after the bill passed the House, Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle said the bill will not pass in her chamber as it is currently written. She said that she had been favor of the bill, Gov. Sam Brownback had been favor of the bill, and the House speaker had been favor of the bill "until the ramifications became more clear."

Yep. They were all for it - until "the ramifications became clear." Those ramifications being that they discovered, doubtless to their surprise, that even in the prairie heartland, there is a point beyond which you cannot go.

Sources:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/13/1277364/-Kansas-House-passes-sweeping-bill-allowing-anti-gay-discrimination-in-government-businesses
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/12/kansas-same-sex-marriage-religion_n_4773772.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/14/1277718/-Kansas-State-Senators-face-Backlash-and-plot-retreat-A-Report-from-the-Capital

147.5 - Clown Award: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder

Clown Award: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder

The statement that the Supreme Court is likely to find it difficult to defend bans on same-sex marriage is particularly true when you consider just how desperate the anti-justice forces are getting and how lame their arguments are becoming.

Which bring us to one of our regular weekly features, the Clown Award, giving weekly for meritorious stupidity.

This week, the big red nose goes to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, for coming up with the most clownish excuse for bigotry yet.

In 2011, Michigan passed a law banning benefits from being provided to same-sex partners of employees of state or local governments.

In June 2013, federal Judge David Lawson issued a preliminary injunction keeping the state from enforcing the ban, saying that the plaintiffs had a good chance of winning in federal court, again referring, as other judges in similar cases have, to the equal protection guarantee of the US Constitution.

The administration of Gov. SnidelyWhiplash has now filed its response, asking the judge to vacate the injunction and issue declaratory judgment in favor of the state. Why should the judge uphold the ban? Because, the Gocernor's office says, the ban will save the state money.

Seriously. That's the justification. The ban, it argued, "is a logical and cohesive part of the effort to reduce costs and to address the fiscal insecurity of local governments" by "eliminat[ing] local government programs that are irrational and unfair."

Wait, though, doesn't that mean that you're calling providing benefits to same-sex couples "irrational and unfair?" Doesn't that show exactly the sort of unconstitutional bias the plaintiffs are claiming?

Oh, no no no, the state says, the law "does not target same-sex couples." Heaven forbid!

This despite the fact that, one, the law is titled the “public employee domestic partner benefit restriction act” and requires that to be elibible to be covered under the employee's benefits the person must be living in the same house and either married to or a dependent of the employee, despite the fact that, two, in issuing the injunction, the judge wrote that "[t]he plaintiffs fortify their position with statements from the sponsors of the legislation suggesting that Public Act 297 targets same-sex partners and was motivated by animus," and despite the fact that, three, the state's own motion here says that the purpose of the law is to "[e]liminat[e] policies that disfavor familial relationships."

Plus the fact that unmarried opposite-sex couples have a way around the restrictions if they choose to take it: They could just get married, an option which is not available to same-sex couples in Michigan.

But oh no, it has nothing to do with same-sex couples! Nothing! Nothing at all! It's all about fiscal responsibility! Yeah, that's the ticket!
Of course, the state could save a lot more money by simply eliminating all partner and family benefits - in fact, it could save even more than that by just eliminating benefits altogether. But don't be absurd! They don't want to do that! They couldn't do that!

And the fact that they only people truly impacted by this law are same-sex couples? Just coincidence. And like the man said, "Thank god for coincidence."

Governor John SnidelyWhiplash: a true clown.

Sources:
http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2014/02/gov_rick_snyder_asks_federal_j.html
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/snyder-gay-couples-benefits
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snidely_Whiplash
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2011-2012/publicact/htm/2011-PA-0297.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Flanagan,_The_Pathological_Liar#Tommy_Flanagan.2C_the_Pathological_Liar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_2hlKqRTPg

147.4 - Good news: Same-sex marriage rights advance in KY, VA

Good news: Same-sex marriage rights advance in KY, VA

This is some good news that I mentioned last week, but couldn't discuss properly because the court decision involved had come down just a couple of hours before I recorded the show.

On February 12, US District Judge John Heyburn ruled that the state of Kentucky must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states and countries where such marriages are legal, finding that the state's ban on doing so treats "gay and lesbian persons differently in a way that demeans them." That is, if you are a same-sex couple that got married in, say, New York and you move to Kentucky, you are still married in Kentucky.

Heyburn said that government may define marriage and may attach benefits to it, but it can't "impose a traditional or faith-based limitation" without a sufficient justification for it. Quoting the ruling:

Assigning a religious or traditional rationale for a law does not make it constitutional when that law discriminates against a class of people without other reasons.

The decision is relatively narrow, as it applies only to recognizing same-sex marriages performed in places where they are recognized, but that was the issue before the court. So it doesn't mean that same-sex couples can get married in Kentucky.

But in plain language, Heyburn’s ruling made it clear that if such a case comes before him, he’ll rule the same way: He will rule in favor of marriage justice and against discrimination.

Heyburn’s ruling is the 10th straight decision in favor of same-sex marriage by a state or a federal judge since the Supreme Court issued its landmark Windsor ruling, which struck down parts of the Defense of Marriage Act and said that there could be no valid basis for Congress to prevent states from recognizing same-sex marriages.

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, whose office mounted a tepid defense of the law Heyburn shot down, hasn't said whether or not he will appeal. If he doesn't, he will join the AGs in Virginia, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Nevada, and most recently Oregon in declining to defend such a ban in their states.

Speaking of Virginia, it was just a day after Heyburn's ruling, February 13, when US District Judge Arenda Wright Allen ruled Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional because it violates Constitutional rights to due process and equal protection guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment.

The constitutional right to equality should apply to all, she said in her ruling, including same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses.

This came not long after state Attorney General Mark Herring announced that he had determined in his professional judgment that the ban was unconstitutional and he would not defend it in court.


Allen's decision is in line with similar rulings in recent weeks from federal judges in Oklahoma and Utah. The effects of all three of these cases are on hold pending appeal, so the decisions are not final. But it's also true that the AGs in those states could decide not to throw good public money after bad and drop the matter. We'll have to see.

In any event, one of these cases, if not one of these then one of those coming up in Texas or Arkansas or elsewhere, will wind up going to the Supreme Court. But the truth is, it's getting hard to see how even this Court, in the face of this string of cases all based on the Court's own logic in Windsor, could find a way to defend bans on same-sex marriage.

Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/12/kentucky-gay-marriage-ban_n_4775002.html
http://www.scribd.com/doc/206720265/Kentucky-Gay-Marriage-Decision
http://nation.time.com/2014/02/13/kentucky-judge-turns-gay-marriage-tide-in-the-south/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/02/14/attorneys-general-gay-marriage/5492785/
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/oregon-defend-gay-marriage-ban-lawsuit-22603097
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/13/virginia-gay-marriage_n_4785530.html
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1018081-vassmruling.html
http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2014/02/federal-judge-strikes-down-virginia-samesex-marriage-183331.html