The Gay Fray

Have we seen the last will and testament of DOMA written today? My guess is yes. We know the four liberals will strike it down. Kennedy and especially Roberts seemed skeptical of its legality. If so, then this July, I'm off to DC to get married.

Don't worry, Ohio is voting AGAIN on gay marriage this November.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/27/supreme-court-doma_n_2952611.html

--Dan

 

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God I hope so. After how tepid their response to Prop 8 was yesterday I was beginning to think they weren't taking this seriously as a constitutional issue. But then the media always wants immediate answers. The justices have around 2 months to consider all the issues and think this thru. They may totally surprise us again. Congrats on your future prospects!

 

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This Could Still Go Badly

It's possible. But my expectations are shot after yesterday's session. That is, I had told people that I expected a firm decision because if the Court intended to punt, they wouldn't have taken the cases.

Yesterday, though, in the Hollingsworth arguments, it sounded like the justices were looking for a reason to punt.

Today, while I haven't yet reviewed the argumentative specifics, the analyses whirling through the press suggest that the Windsor outcome will fall on the side of marriage equality.

But this all leaves a gaping hole in the DoMA question. That is to say, the Court might have a series of narrow routes available to them:

• If the Court decides the plaintiffs in Hollingsworth have no standing, the federal court decision striking Prop. 8 will stand, though the Court might be able to reserve that to California alone.

• If the Court grants plaintiffs standing in Hollingsworth, and upholds the lower court decision to strike Prop. 8, the justices can still seek a way to restrict their decision to the California question.

• If the Court rejects BLAG's standing in Windsor—which is entirely possible—the lower court ruling on the widow's behalf will stand, but the Court can restrict that question to federal benefits.

• If the Court grants BLAG's standing and finds for Ms. Windsor, it can still find ways to restrict that question to federal issues.​

Seemingly absent in this discussion is the Full Faith and Credit Clause. Thus, we might see an outcome where Prop. 8 loses, Windsor triumphs over DoMA, and Section 2 of the law remains in effect. This would grant the states their current exception to the U.S. Constitution's Full Faith and Credit Clause (IV.1), leaving the fight over whether a Washington state marriage is valid in Alabama for another day.

In that case, I would like to see a state legislature pass a law specifically rejecting marriages from other states. The resulting legal fray, or, at least public discussion even if the bill fails, would finally force IV.1 into the spotlight.

In the end, marriage equality can still lose for winning, and that's my present concern. I did not expect the justices to look so hard for an excuse to punt, as it seemed fairly obvious that if they needed to do so, they could have by simply not hearing the cases.

I expect a constrained win for marriage equality in Windsor at the very least. And I can certainly expect a constrained win, at the very least, in Hollingsworth. But after yesterday's arguments in the Prop. 8 case, I'm not sure that marriage equality wins when the decisions come down will end the Supreme Court's involvement in the issue and settle such questions once and for all.

The Obama administration lost its defense of DoMA in federal court on Amendment X grounds. Hollingsworth and Windsor come before the Supreme Court on Equal Protection (Amendments V and XIV) grounds. I'm not sure where Full Faith and Credit comes into the discussion, yet; indeed, I'm having a hard time finding it on the map.

And it may well be that in order to secure majorities, the Court will have to constrain its decisions in such a fashion as to strike Section 3, but leave Section 2 intact. Which, of course, means we get to do this all over again next year, or maybe the year after that.

I can only hope I'm wrong, and the Court will destroy DoMA in its entirety.

 

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A Welcome Announcement

A Welcome Announcement
The Devil, of course, is in the detail, but it still sounds like good news

Keep an ear open for the domestic controversy, as I just read one of the most welcome sentences I've seen in the gay fray:

The U.S. Agency for International Development, the federal government’s main foreign aid arm, announced at a Monday event in Washington a major new initiative to promote LGBT rights in developing countries.

(Lochhead)​

The pilot initiative projects an eleven million dollar outlay over four years; a drop in the bucket compared to the challenge at hand, but it is still a start.

The initiative will work with local LGBT groups to provide leadership training, research and other help, lending the imprimatur of the U.S. government to people who in many countries are outcast and vulnerable. The first work will take place in Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala and Colombia. Officials said there has been a spike in violence against transgendered persons in Honduras since a 2009 coup in the country.​

Meanwhile, a USAID official returning from LGBT awareness sessions in Zimbabwe, during which he "came out" to the locals: “All were at various stages of acceptance, to put it mildly,” Cotton said.

The challenges are immense, of course: Eighty-five countries criminalizing LGBT, including seven with a death penalty—and if the Ugandan government, backed by American evangelicals, gets its way, that number will be eight. And in South Africa, some lesbians are even subject to one of the most repugnant ideas I can imagine, "corrective rape".

USAID might well burn through that eleven million figuring out the scale of the problem at hand.

Still, though, this is a start, and a most welcome one.
____________________

Notes:

Lochhead, Carolyn. "U.S. to begin aiding foreign LGBT groups". Below the Beltway. April 8, 2013. Blog.SFGate.com. April 9, 2013. http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2013/04/08/u-s-to-begin-aiding-foreign-lgbt-groups/

 

Good Ol' Fashioned Traditional American Values

"This is what DOMA does ...."
Missouri arrest highlights homophobic cruelty

"This is what DOMA does, this is what state bans on same-sex marriage does. It's not about flowers and florists. It's about having your partner recognized as your next of kin during a medical emergency. Receptions and banquet halls are nice, and the fair enforcement of non-discrimination laws that protect everybody (not just gay people) is important. But the truly important rights of marriage kick in during emergencies and at what are often the worst moments of our lives."

—Dan Savage​

Good, decent Heartland folk in Middle America remind us of traditional family values:

A gay man was arrested at a hospital in Missouri this week when he refused to leave the bedside of his partner, and now a restraining order is preventing him from any type of visitation.

Roger Gorley told WDAF that even though he has power of attorney to handle his partner’s affairs, a family member asked him to leave when he visited Research Medical Center in Kansas City on Tuesday.

Gorley said he refused to leave his partner Allen’s bedside, and that’s when security put him in handcuffs and escorted him from the building.

“I was not recognized as being the husband, I wasn’t recognized as being the partner,” Gorley explained.

He said the nurse refused to confirm that the couple shared power of attorney and made medical decision for each other.

“She didn’t even bother to look it up, to check in to it,” the Lee’s Summit resident recalled.

(Edwards)​

Family values, in motion.

Yeah. Good and decent people.

Right.
____________________

Notes:

Savage, Dan. "Hospital In Missouri Facing the Mother of All Lawsuits". Slog. April 11, 2013. Slog.TheStranger.com. April 11, 2013. http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/ar...in-missouri-facing-the-mother-of-all-lawsuits

Edwards, David. "Missouri man arrested at hospital for refusing to leave gay partner". The Raw Story. April 11, 2013. RawStory.com. April 11, 2013. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/...t-hospital-for-refusing-to-leave-gay-partner/

 

Rhode Island!

Rhode Island!
Ten

On Thursday, Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee signed into law a legislative bill acknowledging marriage equality.

Overcoming years of resistance, Rhode Island on Thursday became the 10th state in the country and the last in New England to approve same-sex marriage.

The measure passed a final vote in the legislature in the afternoon. Just before 7 p.m., Gov. Lincoln Chafee, an independent who had long advocated for its passage, signed it into law in a jubilant ceremony on the steps of the Statehouse in Providence, where hundreds of people, including many state and local officials, joined the celebration.

“I know that you have been waiting for this day to come,” Mr. Chafee said at the celebration. “I know that you have loved ones who dreamed this would happen and did not live to see it. But I am proud to say that now, at long last, you are free to marry the person you love.”

Same-sex unions will be legal in the state starting Aug. 1.

“It is an incredibly historic day for Rhode Island and the country,” said Julia Harvey, a Brown University student who is gay.

Approval in Rhode Island followed a 16-year struggle in the heavily Roman Catholic state, with intense opposition from clerics and many Republicans. But in a sign of the changing times, all five Republicans in the 38-member State Senate supported the measure — the only time in any state where the entire caucus of either party has approved such a measure unanimously — making Rhode Island the latest indication of growing acceptance of same-sex marriage across the country.

Delaware is likely to be next, perhaps as soon as next week. Illinois and Minnesota are also on track for passage.

(Seelye)​

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​

Steve Benen notes:

And then there were 10 ....

.... Once the law goes into effect in August, all seven Northeastern states—New York and all of New England—will permit same-sex couples to legally marry. Along with Iowa, Maryland, and the state of Washington, we've reached the point at which one fifth of the states are now on board with marriage equality.​

Our Gay Fray thread is fast approaching its ninth birthday, and the fight itself is, by my earlier estimations, a little behind schedule. To the other, it's well ahead of more realistic projections made in 2004.

Complacency is actually a danger here; I would actually be surprised if all ten states are accounted for in this thread, and I know that many international developments have slipped under the radar. Indeed, as it seems the American fray is now on its final leg toward the finish line, fatigue can make it easy to assume that inertia will finish the job, but it's not a downhill run.

Ten.

One fifth of the states.

Congratulations, Rhode Island.
____________________

Notes:

Seelye, Katharine Q. "Rhode Island Joins States That Allow Gay Marriage". The New York Times. May 2, 2013. NYTimes.com. May 3, 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/us/rhode-island-joins-states-that-allow-gay-marriage.html

Benen, Steve. "Rhode Island bends the arc towards justice". The Maddow Blog. May 3, 2013. MaddowBlog.MSNBC.com. May 3, 2013. http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/05/03/18035813-rhode-island-bends-the-arc-towards-justice

 

Delaware Poised to Make Eleven

Delaware Poised to Make Eleven
Democratic-controlled State Senate to vote on Marriage Equality bill

Reuters reports:

Delaware lawmakers will take up a gay marriage bill on Tuesday in a bid to make the state the 11th to allow same-sex couples to wed.

The scheduled vote in the state's Democrat-controlled Senate follows the General Assembly's passage of the bill several weeks ago. Governor Jack Markell, an outspoken supporter of gay marriage, has vowed to sign the bill into law if it clears the Senate.​

Lez Get Real estimates the vote projection at nine in favor, seven opposed, and five undecided, and notes that supporters believe the bill will pass.
____________________

Notes:

Honan, Edith. "Delaware to vote on becoming 11th state to allow gay marriage". Reuters. May 7, 2013. Reuters.com. May 7, 2013. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/07/us-usa-gaymarriage-delaware-idUSBRE94604K20130507

LaVictoire, Bridgette P. "Seven Delaware Senators To Vote Against Marriage Equality". Lez Get Real. May 5, 2013. LezGetReal.com. May 7, 2013. http://lezgetreal.com/2013/05/seven-delaware-senators-to-vote-against-marriage-equality/

 

Minnesota Queues for Marriage Equalty

Minnesota Queues for Marriage Equalty
No, really. Coming Thursday, to a State House Near St. Paul

Patrick Condon of Associated Press brings the least-expected lede of the day:

Democratic leaders in the state House have scheduled a vote they expect will lead to Minnesota joining a growing list of states to authorize marriage between same-sex couples.​

The tide is turning in Minnesota, where the November election saw state voters refuse an attempt to put gay marriage on double super-secret probation ban.

Not that the vote did anything to lift the already-existing ban on gay marriage in the North Star State. That's in the legislature's hands, and the state House is eyeing Thursday:

House Speaker Paul Thissen said the 73-member Democratic majority had at least the 68 votes needed to send the bill on to the Senate and that a debate and vote on the bill in the 134-member House would take place Thursday.

"We feel comfortable that we have the votes," Thissen said Tuesday morning

"I think it's in line with the tradition we've had in Minnesota about respecting people, making sure everybody is included in our community and the fullness of participation in that," he said.

If the House passes the bill, it will progress to the state Senate, where passage has been seen as more secure than in the House. Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton has promised to sign the legislation that would allow gay marriage in Minnesota starting Aug. 1.

Thissen said House Democrats have enough votes to pass the bill, but that he hopes some Republican lawmakers will also back the legislation.​

No Republicans have stepped up to support the bill, but some have announced their opposition. House Democrats have turned to their rural representatives like Shannon Savick of Albert Lea:

"My brother is gay," said Rep. Shannon Savick, DFL-Albert Lea, who said she'd vote for the bill. "I watched my brother being discriminated against when we were younger. I just don't see why he shouldn't be able to marry the person he loves. I did."

Savick predicted her decision could cost her votes come 2014, when all House members are back on the ballot. A handful of House Democrats are still publicly undecided, and the House leaders wouldn't say exactly how many votes they had.

"It could cost me the election. I represent a very conservative area," Savick said. "I hope I do enough good in other areas that they'll overlook that."​

But with marriage equality looming in Minnesota, it would seem the tide is finally rising for the gay community.
____________________

Notes:

Condon, Patrick. "Minn. House schedules Thursday gay marriage vote". Associated Press. May 7, 2013. SFGate.com. May 7, 2013. http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Minn-House-schedules-Thursday-gay-marriage-vote-4494104.php

 

Update: Delaware

Update: Delaware
And the Senate says, "Yea"

Reuters reports:

The Delaware senate approved a bill legalizing gay marriage on Tuesday, paving the way for it to become the 11th U.S. state to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.

The state's lower house has already approved the measure. The governor has said he will sign it into law.

Delaware's vote follows a successful effort to legalize same-sex marriage in Rhode Island last Friday. Gay marriage bills are also under consideration in Minnesota and Illinois.

The Democratic-controlled Minnesota House is scheduled to vote Thursday on a proposal to make same-sex marriage legal in the state.​

We really ought to hold off on the celebration until Governor Markell makes it official, but I won't blame you for raising a glass.
____________________

Notes:

Honan, Edith and David Bailey. "Delaware set to be 11th state to allow gay marriage". Reuters. May 7, 2013. Reuters.com. May 7, 2013.http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/07/us-usa-gaymarriage-delaware-idUSBRE94604K20130507

 

But . . . but . . . but Frothorum stated just a few years ago that, "The USA will never have gay marriage. Good citizens will rise up against this."

Um. What hapeen?

~Dan

 

Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee; or, In, Out, Like a Duck Mating

An Exercise in the Human Endeavor

Humanity happened.

In America, of all places.

Go, go, human species! It's not like we never get one right.

I mean, sure, there is road yet to travel, but at least we Americans are doing better than, say, Zambia:

Two Zambian men have pleaded not guilty during a court appearance in the small central town of Kapiri Mposhi to a charge of engaging in homosexual acts.

James Mwape and Philip Mubiana, both aged 22, have been charged with four counts of committing "unnatural" sexual acts in socially conservative Zambia.

Homosexual acts carry a jail sentence of up to 14 years under Zambian law.

The government has resisted pressure from campaign groups and Western governments to scrap the law.

Last month, Zambian human rights activist Paul Kasonkomona was arrested soon after appearing on a live television programme in the capital, Lusaka, calling for homosexuality to be decriminalised.

He was charged with being idle and disorderly in a public place. He denied the charge, and was freed on bail.

Mr Mwape and Mr Mubiana have been arrested twice in the last few days following allegations that they have engaged in homosexual acts, reports the BBC's Mutuna Chanda from Lusaka.

Police first arrested them over the weekend, apparently after a tip-off, he says.

They were released on bail on Monday after undergoing medical examinations to check if they had engaged in homosexual acts, our reporter says.

Mr Mwape and Mr Mubiana were re-arrested the next day after a relative reported them to police, accusing them of having sex on the night of their release, he says.

The courtroom in Kapiri Mposhi was packed with onlookers as such cases are almost unheard of, our correspondent adds.

(BBC)​

I mean, what part of that doesn't sound like a farce? You know, it would be hilarious except it's not funny. I say that too much these days.

The Minnesota process, when it's done, will deserve some extra-special celebration, though. It's been a weird transition over the last couple years, and I can't help enjoying the one-two punch of the November loss trying to bump up their gay marriage ban from statute to state constitution, and then this is going to happen. As the gay fray pushes toward its inevitable outcome, it's possible to become blasé and complacent. If this was a boxing match, we would be witnessing one of the greatest knockout combinations in history should the Minnesota vote go as expected. The crowd would be roaring on their feet.
____________________

Notes:

British Broadcasting Corporation. "Zambian men charged over gay sex". BBC News. May 8, 2013. BBC.co.uk. May 8, 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22451632

 

Showdown in the Northland

Showdown in the Northland
Minnesota House says, "Aye"

"There's no need to tell you what I think has gone wrong. There's grey clouds of dissension; let it show, let it show a silver lining. Sweet blood on the razor: Is it poetry or politics? Forget about the nightmare; I'll make it a dream that changes everything.

"I'm searching for a light to kill my sense of fear; to break through darkened nights and take me through the years."

—Jimmy Barnes​

Minnesota legislators today voted 75-59 in the state House of Representatives to establish marriage equality in the Land of a Thousand Lakes. The state Senate is expected to vote on Monday, and Gov. Mark Dayton (D) is encouraging lawmakers to pass the bill to his desk that he may sign it.

The view from afar as explained by The Baltimore Sun:

Six months after Maryland, Maine and Washington voters endorsed same-sex marriage at the ballot box, two more states have adopted laws allowing gay couples to marry, and a third is poised to join them. On Tuesday, lawmakers in Delaware adopted a same-sex marriage law, and Minnesota's House of Representatives passed a marriage equality measure there today, setting up a final vote in the Senate on Monday. Last week the Rhode Island legislature adopted a similar measure. That three states have moved to legalize gay marriage over the span of less than a month shows how quickly public attitudes toward same-sex unions are changing. Still, more progress may be difficult until more Republicans start to see the issue as one of civil rights, equal protection under the law and individual liberty ....

.... At some point, the GOP is either going to have to recognize that its reflexive opposition to extending marriage rights is counterproductive in terms of winning back the White House and Senate, or see itself reduced to a permanent opposition party whose ambitions to govern are constrained by the views of its most conservative voters. That may be just fine with the lawmakers who succeed in getting elected with their support, but it's bad for the party as a whole and bad for the country as well.​

Heterosupremacists had a terrible week, last week. And now they're looking at an even worse period as Delaware has fallen away from Jesus' name and now Minnesota, recently viewed as the bulwark against the creeping death of homosexuals experiencing marital bliss to the point that conservatives hoped to stem the tide by stacking two victories only to find that they were only allowed to have one of them follows, so now the bigots get none. Nothing. Nada. Nil. Zero. Zip. Zed.

The upside is that it is Minnesota, the Land of a Thousand Lakes. So if the bigots don't like it, well, it should be easy enough for them to go jump. Maybe a cold soak will get them to stop obsessing about other people having sex.
____________________

Notes:

Bailey, David and Edith Honan. "Minnesota House votes to advance same-sex marriage bill". Reuters. May 9, 2013. Reuters.com. May 9, 2013. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/09/us-usa-gaymarriage-minnesota-idUSBRE94812Q20130509

Editorial Board. "Will Minnesota make a marriage equality trifecta?". The Baltimore Sun. May 12, 2013. BaltimoreSun.com. May 9, 2013. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-gay-marriage-20130512,0,126562.story

 

I love this.

I'm gloating. I'm being a showboating, priggish fucking schadenfreude-filled dick. And I won't stop. I'm rubbing it in the goddamned faces of every hate-filled bigot.

"Oh, we don't hate. We just think you're worth slightly less than the rest of us." Fuck you. Fuck you long and fuck you hard. Rick and I have been together going on 7 years. The Kardashians and Brittney can get married for less time than it takes me to order an everything bagel and a smear of cream cheese from Bruegger's, but I cannot marry this guy that has been in my life for longer than, technically, most straight marriages last these days. We're protecting the institution of marriage from ME, but not from a man like Gingrich.

So with every bit of hubris and cocky pride, I say this: YOU'VE LOST. I say it everywhere I go. I want my pores to positively ooze with my stinky pride and I will wipe every bit of it in your face to make a gay-pride-marriage-equality "Dirty Sanchez" under your nose. And if you think for a second that I think this fight is over, even if it takes the next 8 years; know now that you've lost the war of words, you'e lost my generation and you'll lose and I will be there the moment the last state falls to "our wicked ways" and I will cackle in your face and rub your noses in it. I promise. I'm just that much of a vindictive asshole.

We just need to wait for the grumpy old bigots that run the hate-wing of the USA to die.

--Dan

 

And in the meantime, those of us who really couldn't give a shit how you live your life have to endure the seemingly endless arguing, and pompous posturing.
It took a great effort to write that much, you know.

Well, no, it didn't.

 

And it feels even BETTER when people like you dance like puppets to my tune and reply!

--Dan

 

Reckon I replied to you, or because I already wanted to say it?

 

Garterbelt, You Keep Slappin' My Butt Around

Well, you know. There is a lot of hatred and hurt ... er ... ah ... coming to a head these days. And it's kind of like a championship in sports or something insofar as we can see and feel the victory, and it's simply a matter of pushing through to the end. The players are starting to high five one another, the fans are restless, out of beer, and want to get on to the pub to celebrate.

It's kind of the reason I'm enjoying the North Star turnaround, because what happened in 2011 and '12 is emblematic of traditionalist vice. Gay marriage was already illegal by statute in Minnesota; bumping that prohibition up to the state constitution won't protect this discrimination against the authority of the U.S. Constitution. Double super-secret illegal. It was nothing more than a feelgood measure that ended up being part of an incredible day, but in a way that traditionalists did not envision. And from the November rejection through this looming outright defeat, well, it hasn't been that long.

The traditionalists have lost. It's a matter of playing out the clock, now. But this is where legends and championships alike are won and lost, so I'm resisting the temptation to wander around and tell every person with a "pro-family" bumper sticker or whatever to go fuck themselves right in the backdoor north star.

And, in the end, the stigma of losing this fight will trouble them for years. The real hounding, the real "vendetta", as such, will come from future years in which we have occasion to look back on the incredible blunder of religious hatred and stupidity that heterosupremacism is. For instance, when my daughter is grown, and her generation faces its own political issues, they will look back on this time when the queers proved they're not just a bunch of girlyboy pushovers and unkempt man-haters by standing up to injustice that will leave Rick Santorum, sometime during his reasonably expected lifetime, the next generation's equivalent of that garden gnome-looking KKK Grand Dragon that used to do Springer's show every now and then—just a beady-eyed, ranting moron caught up in the throes of some retarded delusion.

And that's the part that will sustain my priggish schadenfreude. Yesterday's "heroes", after their inevitable defeat, will be remembered for their ignorance, hatred, and evil.

 

I would like the case that this website in particular has a high concentration of asexual people.

 

Heartland Heartless

North Star Notes
Predictably, Minnesota conservatives aren't taking this well

Baird Helgeson of The Star-Tribune notes some of the reaction to the Minnesota House vote in favor of marriage equality. Of particular note are the conservative responses:

“My heart breaks for Minnesota,” said a Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover.

“It’s a divisive issue that divides our state,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes as she stood on the House floor after the vote. “It’s not what we needed to be doing at this time. We want to come together for the state of Minnesota, we don’t want to divide it.”​

Her heart breaks? Over a divisive issue that divides the state and is not what they should be doing right now? Did she feel that way about divisive issues when Minnesota conservatives decided to waste time and energy elevating a marriage equality prohibition from statute to state constitution?

Uh-huh.

There are no civilized words to describe Rep. Scott's stupidity.

Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, said he fears that schools will eventually be forced to teach students about homosexuality in sex education classes, normalizing what he considers deviant behavior.

“Thinks about what’s best for the children,” Gruenhagen said. “Please vote for the children.”​

There's an overused trope. Let's try this from the prohibitionist angle according to the last twenty years: Does Rep. Gruenhagen believe teaching and enforcing bigotry is good for the children?

Rep. Kelby Woodard, R-Belle Plaine, said the measure sends a terrible message to Minnesotans who oppose same-sex marriage.

“We are classifying half of Minnesotans as bigots in this bill — and they are not,” Woodard said.​

I suppose there is a point to be accepted in Rep. Woodard's words. After all, some opponents of marriage equality aren't motivated by animus toward their gay neighbors, but by fears of their own inadequacy.

Because, well, inventing stupid excuses to deny your neighbors' civil rights is the sort of behavior that might come from a number of directions, though the winding roads all lead back to neurotic conflict.

Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, said he was raised by a mother and a father and continues to believe that is best for children, but “I am not a homophobe or a Neanderthal or a hater.”​

We might point out to Rep. Cornish that when he insists on believing something despite the scientific evidence, with the intent of suppressing his neighbors for aesthetic reasons, yes, he is a homophobe and a hater. Neanderthal? Well, are we talking literally or figuratively? I would not insult the Neanderthal by comparing it to Rep. Cornish.

Over twenty years have passed since conservative Christians invited us all to have this discussion, and despite the scientific evidence, despite the observable reality, and despite the wolfish hatred dressed in sheepish clothing so that they might try to tell us it's Christian love, their talking points haven't changed.

It's the sort of thing that gives me sympathy for redemptionists. After all, it would be kind of interesting to see the looks on these people's faces when God casts them into fiery judgment for hating their neighbor and usurping His authority.

The Gay Fray of the last twenty-three years has looked an awful lot like a bulletin board discussion in slow motion. Participants in the discussion hash through various talking points, one side gets cornered, and then a new round of participants enter, expecting the discussion to start all over from the beginning.

I mean, think about it. In over twenty years, the heterosupremacist movement has yet to figure out what's wrong with ignoring the idea of consent in sexual relations. No, really. Think about it. Twenty years ago, they were comparing homosexuality to the rape of children, animals, and corpses—none of which can properly give consent. And yet the point comes up every couple years, still.

What's best for the children? How is it "best" for the children to lie to them in order to cultivate bigotry?

And these sick people who complain that civil rights is a divisive issue that we shouldn't be wasting time on since it makes people feel badly? Well, maybe they should have thought of that at some point during the years they wasted trying to hurt their neighbors.

Rep. Scott, of course, is lying. Her heart doesn't break for Minnesota; she can't break what she doesn't have.
____________________

Notes:

Helgeson, Baird. "In historic vote, Minnesota House approves gay marriage bill". The Star Tribune. May 9, 2013. StarTribune.com. May 10, 2013. http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/206839161.html

 

Hong Kong?!

Hong Kong?!
Today's least expected progress

Let us simply throw over to the Beeb for this one:

A Hong Kong transsexual has won the right to marry her boyfriend, following an appeal to Hong Kong's top court.

The Court of Final Appeal ruled that Hong Kong's current law, which barred the transsexual woman from marrying her male partner, is unconstitutional.

The woman, identified only as W, underwent gender change surgery at a public hospital a few years ago.

Hong Kong's marriage registry had refused her request because her birth certificate still classes her as male.

"The right to marry guaranteed by our constitution extends to the right of a post-operative transsexual to marry in the reassigned capacity," the majority ruling, co-written by Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma and Permanent Judge Robert Ribeiro, said.

"In present-day multi-cultural Hong Kong where people profess many different religious faiths or none at all... procreation is no longer (if it ever was) regarded as essential to marriage," it added.

The ruling said that references to "woman" and "female" in Hong Kong's marriage law should include post-operative male to female transsexuals.

Four of the court's five presiding judges supported the ruling, with the fifth voting against it.

However, the court said it would not implement the judgement for the next 12 months, to allow the government time to consider amending the law.​

No, really, this one was nowhere on my radar. I guess I need to recalibrate.
____________________

Notes:

British Broadcasting Corporation. "Hong Kong court supports transsexual right to wed". BBC News. May 13, 2013. BBC.co.uk. May 13, 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-22506472