Tag: Gay Marriage

Closing Thought–24Sep20

This headline caught my attention….

Democrat Opposed To Same-Sex Marriage Beaten By Drag Queen

I was intrigued by the title of the article…..I just had to read the whole thing….for it seemed unlikely…..

Same-sex marriage is legal in America and these days 63% of all Americans support the idea. Ten years ago, it was still a controversial issue among Democrats, but in 2019, 79% say they support same-sex marriage.

The issue played a big role in the Democratic primary for the Delaware’s House of Representatives 27th district race. On September 15, Eric Morrison defeated incumbent Earl Jacques in a landslide and gay rights was a central issue.

In 2013, Jaques voted against same-sex marriage and refused to vote yes or no on banning gay conversion therapy in the state. On the other hand, Morrison is a gay drag queen who performs under the name Anita Mann and is very progressive on LGBTQ issues.

https://www.upworthy.com/democrat-who-opposed-same-sex-marriage-defeated-by-gay-drag-queen-in-a-landslide-primary-victory

Okay I admit it!  I was looking for something more spicy than an election return.

All in all a great headline to get readers to jump on the article.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

I Now Pronounce You……..

For decades there has been a battle raging over the simple act of getting married…….we have heard from the Leftist…..then the religious d/bags that equate same sex marriage with everything from incest to bestiality….and then there were those like myself that felt that it was a personal and private decision made by two people and because it was thusly it was none of my business or anyone else for that matter……..

Like I said we have heard from everybody and now we have heard from the the last player………. SCOTUS………

Perhaps the most anticipated Supreme Court case has been decided, and it’s a yes for same-sex marriage throughout the land. In a ruling authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court voted 5-4 today that states cannot ban same-sex marriage, the AP reports.
Kennedy wrote that gays and lesbians “may not be deprived of liberty” or of that “fundamental right” to marry, per CNN. Gay couples could already marry in 36 states and DC, but now the other 14 states will no longer be able to ban same-sex couples from doing so. The decision reveals the court’s resounding “yes” to one of the most important constitutional questions posed in recent times, as worded by the Wall Street Journal in January: “Does the 14th Amendment, which guarantees ‘equal protection’ and ‘due process’ of law, forbid states from treating gay couples differently than heterosexual ones?”

The opinion seems to purposely not state a “standard of scrutiny,” SCOTUSblog notes. Instead, it asserts “it is now clear that the challenged laws burden the liberty of same-sex couples, and it must be further acknowledged that they abridge central precepts of equality. … This denial to same-sex couples of the right to marry works a grave and continuing harm.” President Obama sent out a tweet right after the ruling was announced, writing, “Today is a big step in our march toward equality. Gay and lesbian couples now have the right to marry, just like anyone else

Of course the battles are not over…….the state’s rights jerks will be looking for ways to circumvent the ruling as they have with abortion….

For now it is a win for equality…..and after all is that not what the Founders intended?

You may begin the rejoicing!

DOMA Drama

Hip hip hoorah!  We have a win!  SCOTUS over turned DOMA by a 5-4 ruling…..

For gay rights advocates, the decision opening the door to resume same-sex marriages in California bolstered determination to expand the right to wed for gay men and lesbians. The Human Rights Campaign set a goal to achieve that in all 50 states within the next five years.

And for opponents of gay marriage, the battle turned to state capitals, where 36 states bar gay marriage by statute or constitutional amendment. “We didn’t lose,” Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage said, noting the high court had declined to recognize a constitutional right to marry. “They punted.”

All the celebration while it is a great ruling it does not pave the way to a total ban of DOMA…..the battles will be in the states where 36 states (i believe) have some sort of law against gay marriage….the Right will stick to the old battle chant…”I have not yet begun to fight”……it will get uglier before it gets better……there will be many long drawn out battles to come…..

As they say….”It ain’t over ’til it’s over”………

(Newser) – The Supreme Court’s gay marriage rulings have pretty much everyone talking and typing. Many liberals are overjoyed, but others urge caution, while conservatives look for silver linings. Here’s what people are saying:

  • “This may be remembered as the day when the nation stopped regarding gay people as second class citizens,” writes Eugene Robinson at the Washington Post, but there’s still much more to be done. The Prop 8 ruling “leaves things basically the way they stood before—not after—the landmark 1967 Loving v. Virginia ruling that struck down laws against interracial marriage.”
  • Adam Winkler at the Daily Beast complains that “to hear the reasoning of the court, it sounds like procedure is more important than people.” Even the comparatively bold DOMA decision leans on process and states’ “traditional authority,” which “may have sent a signal to lower courts that limiting marriage to one man and one woman remains constitutionally permissible.”
  • Winkler also points out that the court rejected the Obama administration’s arguments that laws discriminating against LGBTQ people should be subject to more rigorous judicial review, on par with race or gender. “The court’s refusal may be read by lower courts to mean that LGBT discrimination may still be constitutional, especially when it’s consistent with tradition rather than contrary to it.”
  • “This happened the right way—from the ground up, with argument, with lawsuits, with cultural change, with individual courage,” writes Andrew Sullivan at The Dish. “So to those who are often tempted to write off America’s ability to perfect its union still further … let me just say: I believe.”
  • June Thomas at Slate feels like she just won an Oscar. “As the decision was announced, I finally allowed myself to experience a feeling a belonging,” she writes. “Perhaps the world really is changing.”
  • Meanwhile over at the conservative blog RedState, Dana Loesch looks on the bright side, arguing that this is “a loss for big government, not for marriage.” After all, power was just removed from the federal government and returned to the states. “If big government is needed to define marriage then the people who make up the church” have failed to “live and evangelize their faith.” For more conservative reactions, click here.

Personally, I think that the bigger story was the VRA smack down….but this will be a drama that will be coming and coming…possibly until the 2016 elections……

How Gay Is The GOP?

Please do not let the title confuse you….I will explain it shortly.

First of all, let me state that I support gay rights…..I support anything that keeps the government out of  someone’s bedroom and out of the decisions that people have to make…it is none of the government’s business….I do not want some fat cat in Washington telling me what I can and cannot do in my bedroom, as long as we are consenting adults….it is none of their damn business!

There has been a wealth of airtime on the media outlets in the last week or 10 days about gay marriage…..staunch defenders and staunch opponents…..lots of speculation and lots of pure crap….and now we have it as a major campaign deal….18 million people or out of work and about 30 million are approaching poverty and who marries what or who is the big issue?

Evangelicals and social conservatives are urging Republicans to make the fight against same-sex marriage an election-year priority and go after President Obama over his new-found support for the cause. So far, the GOP establishment is resisting.

But the Republican establishment is singing a different tune, showing little interest in focusing on the issue, and instead fielding questions about it by pivoting to the economy. The result is a strategic divide over how to handle the issue of same sex marriage on the right, pitting politicians against the evangelical community as they negotiate their response to the president’s gay marriage position.

With all this back and forth in 2012…..what about the future?  Is a new day on the horizon?

That question has been answered for the GOP…….by a Bush pollster…..Jan van Lohuizen has issued a memo to the GOP…..

Lohuizen’s full May 11 memo below:

Background: In view of this week’s news on the same sex marriage issue, here is a summary of recent survey findings on same sex marriage:

1. Support for same sex marriage has been growing and in the last few years support has grown at an accelerated rate with no sign of slowing down. A review of public polling shows that up to 2009 support for gay marriage increased at a rate of 1% a year. Starting in 2010 the change in the level of support accelerated to 5% a year. The most recent public polling shows supporters of gay marriage outnumber opponents by a margin of roughly 10% (for instance: NBC / WSJ poll in February / March: support 49%, oppose 40%).

2. The increase in support is taking place among all partisan groups. While more Democrats support gay marriage than Republicans, support levels among Republicans are increasing over time. The same is true of age: younger people support same sex marriage more often than older people, but the trends show that all age groups are rethinking their position.

3. Polling conducted among Republicans show that majorities of Republicans and Republican leaning voters support extending basic legal protections to gays and lesbians. These include majority Republican support for:

a. Protecting gays and lesbians against being fired for reasons of sexual orientation
b. Protections against bullying and harassment
c. Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
d. Right to visit partners in hospitals
e. Protecting partners against loss of home in case of severe medical emergencies or death
f. Legal protection in some form for gay couples whether it be same sex marriage or domestic partnership (only 29% of Republicans oppose legal recognition in any form).

Recommendation: A statement reflecting recent developments on this issue along the following lines:

“People who believe in equality under the law as a fundamental principle, as I do, will agree that this principle extends to gay and lesbian couples; gay and lesbian couples should not face discrimination and their relationship should be protected under the law. People who disagree on the fundamental nature of marriage can agree, at the same time, that gays and lesbians should receive essential rights and protections such as hospital visitation, adoption rights, and health and death benefits.”

It seems that the poll shows that the membership, not necessarily the base, of the GOP is moving left on this issue and that it the GOP is to remain a solvent party it needs to accommodate this growing belief….

My question now is….will the GOP listen?  If they lose badly in November will they attempt to repair any damage done by the partisanship and negativity?  Or will they just keep going along the path that was set for them by special interests and those that are only concerned with single issues?  Will the membership have a say on the path they are to travel or will the special interests keep control of the party?  My guess is the later.

Could “Family Values” Help Gay Marriage?

This subject has nothing but dynamite attached to it…..but the party of “family values” is losing its hold on the term.  Repub after Repub is caught in the act of marital infidelity, so how can they keep spouting the crap they spout?

Attorney Evan Wolfson has made some very compelling observations:

Wolfson doesn’t believe the central issue is Sanford’s infidelity. “It’s his abuse of power, his hypocrisy and his dereliction of public duty.” He paints all the “family values” politicians who commit marital infidelities with the same brush.

“They are all self-proclaimed moral crusaders who demonize and discriminate against some of their constituents because they’re gay and then turn around and flout the so-called morality that they invoked against gay people,” he said. “To me, the really unpardonable part is not their personal failings; it’s their political and policy choices that turn out to be so hypocritical and destructive.”

So, then, why do social conservatives insist on linking marriage and religion when same-sex marriage advocates are not asking that religious institutions must marry lesbians and gays, Wolfson says there are really two different groups at play:

He believes that there are some among the opposition who are truly “theocratic” and would like to impose on others their biblically derived laws in defiance of the U.S. Constitution. But others use religion as an excuse because they are still uncomfortable with gay people and conflicted about the freedom to marry.

How, then can marriage equality advocates use the “family values” politicians committing marital indiscretions to their advantage? “I think that their hypocrisy speaks for itself and helps move the case for legalization forward,” Wolson said. “Because many of them have been the bomb-throwing leaders of the anti-gay campaign, every time one of them is taken out it allows for the fair-minded to think anew and move in the right direction.”

Advocates aren’t just sitting by watching the conservative hypocrites self-destruct. They are reaching out to those who are religious and remain on the fence about supporting same-sex marriage.

I really hate to be a buzz kill….but the religious right will not get off the marriage thing…no matter how many of their “flock” stray.