June 27, 2015

Opponents divided on how — or whether — to resist justices’ ruling

When Friday began, there were 14 states where same-sex couples still could not legally marry. By the afternoon — after a confusing day of orders and counter-orders by governors, attorneys general and county clerks — couples had married in all of them but one.

The holdout was Louisiana. There, Attorney General James D. “Buddy” Caldwell (R) condemned the Supreme Court’s ruling, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, as “federal government intrusion into what should be a state issue.”

What’s more, Caldwell said, he had read the text of the decision. And he’d found no specific line saying that Louisiana had to obey it.

“Therefore, there is not yet a legal requirement for officials to issue marriage licenses or perform marriages for same-sex couples in Louisiana,” he said in a statement. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), who announced Wednesday that he is running for president, criticized the justices’ decision but said his state will comply with it once an appeals court officially gives the order.

more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/opponents-divided-how-or-whether-to-resist-supreme-court-ruling/2015/06/26/3219f626-1c12-11e5-ab92-c75ae6ab94b5_story.html

June 27, 2015

Justice Scalia Is a Homophobe - By Barney Frank

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people won two victories in the Supreme Court today. We expected the big one: the fourth in a series of opinions by Justice Anthony Kennedy—one of the last sitting Reagan appointees—vindicating our right to legal equality. The unexpected one was smaller in public impact but also significant: Justice Antonin Scalia’s disclaimer that he is not personally troubled by the fact that we can marry each other. After a series of opinions, speeches and public comments expressing his strong disapproval of us, vigorously defending society’s right to express this attitude in discriminatory public policies, Scalia begins his characteristically vitriolic dissent by protesting that “the substance of today’s decree is not of immense personal importance to me.”

Yeah, right. This strikes me as the least sincere disavowal of homophobia I have encountered since former Majority Leader Dick Armey tried to argue that his reference to me as “Barney Fag” was just a mispronunciation of my last name. What we have here instead marks a tactical shift.

Apparently, Justice Scalia has come to realize that since public opinion in America has moved away from anti-LGBT prejudice, heavily salting his writings with a personal distaste for the idea that we should enjoy the same rights as our heterosexual brothers and sisters weakens the appeal of his legal reasoning. (Compare his angry screed in the sodomy case, essentially justifying the criminalization of private sexual conduct between consenting adults, with Justice Clarence Thomas’s terse statement that while he would have voted against the “silly” Texas statute in question, he believed it was a deeply flawed judgment that the Legislature was constitutionally permitted to make.) So in an unexplained abandonment of his vigorously anti-LGBT prior stance, Justice Scalia asks that his pronouncement that the Court’s opinion calls our democracy into question be judged not on the substantive issue, but as an expression of his view that “allow[ing] the policy question of same-sex marriage to be considered and resolved by a select, patrician, highly unrepresentative panel of nine is to violate a principle even more fundamental than no taxation without representation: no social transformation without representation.”

The inconsistency between this dissent and several of Scalia’s prior opinions deepens my skepticism about his newfound tolerant stance. Even before reaching this, there is the question of how many people Scalia thinks were on the Court when it ordered a much further-reaching social transformation in its decisions on race—including, of course, on who could marry whom.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/06/justice-scalia-gay-marriage-ruling-119480.html#ixzz3eIyjfBlG

June 27, 2015

Momentous times for U.S. and Obama should make Israelis burn with envy

An America that marches forward, that welcomes change, that grows more tolerant, that can take pride in itself and its leader.

By Chemi Shalev | Jun. 27, 2015 | 8:29 PM |

To paraphrase John Reed’s famous book on the Bolshevik Revolution, these were Ten Days That Shook America. Ten days of social progress. Ten days of moral advance. Ten days of national awakening. Ten days of presidential leadership. Ten days that should leave many Israelis, of the liberal persuasion at least, raging with jealousy.

Jealousy of an America that marches forwards, that welcomes change, that grows more tolerant, that accepts diversity, that seeks to extend equality to all. Ask yourself, in all honesty, if these are the defining trends of Israel in 2015 or, in fact, quite the opposite.

Jealousy of an America in which the machinery of democracy grinds steadily, methodically, reliably, even in an age of unprecedented political polarization. In which the separation of powers is immutable and checks and balances are more than an empty slogan. In which a 230 year old document is resilient enough to safeguard individual liberties and robust enough to accommodate change. In which a solidly conservative Supreme Court is bold enough to defy expectations, free of incessant threats to curtail its powers.

Jealousy of an America in which religion is a private option rather than a dictator of public policy. In which the government – the current government at least - is inclusive, not exclusive. In which freedoms are extolled, not derided. In which elections are won by those who embrace Americans of all stripes and colors rather than those who divide and rule, where voters are swayed by a message of hope and change rather than adherence to the status quo and “Arabs are coming in droves” incitement. In which the younger generation is less prejudiced and more broadminded than its elders, less insular and more charitable, blinder to differences of race, color or creed.

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http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/west-of-eden/.premium-1.663290?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook

June 27, 2015

Texas Pastor Now Says He Didn't Mean He'd Really Set Himself Aflame

Source: The Advocate

He threatened to become a human torch if the Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality. Now Pastor Rick Scarborough is clarifying his remarks.

BY DAWN ENNIS JUNE 27 2015 10:14 AM ET UPDATED: JUNE 27 2015 10:27 AM ET

Put away the marshmallows.

Texas Pastor Rick Scarborough issued a statement clarifying his statement that he would be willing to set himself on fire in his fight against gay rights, now declaring, "We do not support any violence or physical harm.” .

The antigay clergyman from Pearland, Tx., made the remark to right-wing preacher E.W. Jackson in a recorded conference call with supporters on June 16:

“We are not going to bow, we are not going to bend, and if necessary we will burn.”

Although it was not clear at the time whether Scarborough meant those words to be taken literally or figuratively, the fiery pastor issued a statement to KFYO News several hours after the high court issued its ruling Friday morning, walking back his remarks to clarify he was not planning a self-immolation.

-snip-




Read more: http://www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2015/06/27/texas-pastor-now-says-he-didnt-mean-hed-really-set-himself-afl

June 27, 2015

A Manifesto for Marriage Equality

Jay Michaelson

Justice Kennedy swings for the fences in a maximalist opinion that confirms gay marriage is here, and there's no going back

Justice Anthony Kennedy today ensured his legacy as the man who, more than any other individual, secured the legal equality of gays and lesbians.

On the 12-year anniversary of his opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, finding state sodomy laws unconstitutional—and the two-year anniversary of his opinion in Windsor v. United States, finding the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional—Justice Kennedy today wrote the opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, finding state bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, and securing full marriage equality for gays and lesbians across America.

What’s more, he swung for the fences, rejecting Chief Justice Roberts’s judicial minimalism to write a sweeping 5-4 opinion that reads like a manifesto in favor of same-sex marriage—ironically using many conservative arguments for marriage to do so.

The majority opinion in Obergefell is 28 pages long. Ten pages tell the stories of the case’s plaintiffs, and the history of the debate about marriage equality—already an unusual proportion of humanity to legalese. The next eight pages are about why marriage is a fundamental right, regardless of the genders of those getting married. As Justice Scalia, in particular, complained, they are filled with sweeping statements about the importance and meaning of marriage.

In other words, 18 out of the opinion’s 28 pages are a kind of doctoral thesis on the nature and importance of marriage. Only the last 10 engage in the typical, legalistic way with Supreme Court precedence and 14th Amendment jurisprudence.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/26/supreme-court-on-gay-marriage-it-s-here-and-there-s-no-going-back.html

June 27, 2015

Son of reviled Westboro Baptist founder mocks family’s church in awesome pro-gay Facebook post

The son of the founder of the reviled Westboro Baptist Church known for their “God Hates Fags” signs at funerals, took a sarcastic slap at his own family on Facebook, telling them their hateful anti-gay actions pushed, “decent people away from hatred and into the arms of justice and equality.”

Nate Phelps, one of thirteen children fathered by Westboro founder Fred Phelps, left his father’s church in 1980 and has since became a virulent critic of their theology, actions, and rhetoric. Since he was publicly censured by the church he has become an advocate for LGBT causes while residing in Canada where gay marriage has been legal since 2005.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling affirming same sex marriage on Friday, Nate Phelps took to his Facebook page to mock both his family and their church, congratulating them for helping to push public opinion towards marriage equality.

“A special thank you to my family of birth for relentlessly and colourfully demonstrating the cruelty of anti-gay sentiment, thus driving decent people away from hatred and into the arms of justice and equality.”

-snip-



http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/son-of-reviled-westboro-baptist-founder-mocks-familys-church-in-awesome-pro-gay-facebook-post/

June 26, 2015

We Say ‘I Dough, I Dough’ at Ben & Jerry’s!

June 26th, 2015

We Say ‘I Dough, I Dough’ at Ben & Jerry’s!

Across the country and around the globe, the movement for marriage equality is on an unstoppable roll, generating history-making victories, game-changing wins and growing waves of public support for legalizing same-sex marriage everywhere.

With this ruling, the SCOTUS recognizes the bond of love and commitment between two people, and protects the fundamental rights and freedoms that come with it.



To celebrate the occasion, and the countless citizens who’ve worked so hard to make it happen, we’re honorarily renaming our Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream I Dough, I Dough for the summer, at participating Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops nationwide.

http://www.benjerry.com/values/issues-we-care-about/marriage-equality/i-dough-i-dough

June 26, 2015

Texas GOP Chair: We're Going To Continue 'The Fight For Religious Liberty'

The chairman of the Republican Party of Texas said Friday in a statement that “the fight for religious liberty continues” after the Supreme Court’s decision that legalized gay marriage across all 50 states. Chairman Tom Mechler said he was “disappointed” by the Court’s decision.

“I’m disappointed that the rule of law and respect for the moral fabric of America has been cast aside by U.S. Supreme Court today," Mechler said. "It’s a harrowing day in America when unelected judges have the power to upend an institution that has been widely recognized as a virtuous force in society. This decision is just another example of Washington DC elites ruling against the will of the American people and usurping power from the states."

Mechler reassured Texas Republicans that the party would continue to ensure that their religious freedoms were protected.

"In light of today’s ruling, the fight for religious liberty continues, and the Republican Party of Texas will continue to work with our elected Republican leaders to protect the freedom of Texans to exercise their religious beliefs."

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/texas-gop-chair-gay-marriage

June 26, 2015

Marco Rubio: I 'Disagree' With Same-Sex Marriage Ruling, But It's 'Law'

Source: TPM

-snip-

Read Rubio's full statement below:

“I believe that marriage, as the key to strong family life, is the most important institution in our society and should be between one man and one woman. People who disagree with the traditional definition of marriage have the right to change their state laws. That is the right of our people, not the right of the unelected judges or justices of the Supreme Court. This decision short-circuits the political process that has been underway on the state level for years.

“While I disagree with this decision, we live in a republic and must abide by the law. As we look ahead, it must be a priority of the next president to nominate judges and justices committed to applying the Constitution as written and originally understood.

“The next president and all in public office must strive to protect the First Amendment rights of religious institutions and millions of Americans whose faiths hold a traditional view of marriage. This is a constitutional duty, not a political opinion. Our nation was founded on the human right of religious freedom, and our elected leaders have a duty to protect that right by ensuring that no one is compelled by law to violate their conscience.

“I firmly believe the question of same sex marriage is a question of the definition of an institution, not the dignity of a human being. Every American has the right to pursue happiness as they see fit. Not every American has to agree on every issue, but all of us do have to share our country. A large number of Americans will continue to believe in traditional marriage, and a large number of Americans will be pleased with the Court’s decision today. In the years ahead, it is my hope that each side will respect the dignity of the other.”

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/marco-rubio-scotus-same-sex-marriage

June 26, 2015

Mississippi Attorney General: No Same-Sex Marriages Allowed Yet

Source: TPM

-snip-

Television station WREG published the statement:

The Supreme Court’s decision is not effective immediately in Mississippi.

It will become effective in Mississippi, and circuit clerks will be required to issue same-sex marriage licenses, when the 5th Circuit lifts the stay of Judge Reeves’ order.

This could come quickly or may take several days.

The 5th Circuit might also choose not to lift the stay and instead issue and order, which could take considerably longer before it becomes effective.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jim-hood-mississippi-gay-marriage