Showing posts with label marriage equality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marriage equality. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
The Justice vs. The Student * Or * Out With The Old In With The New
In response to a question from the honorable Duncan Hosie (freshman at Princeton University) during the question-and-answer period following his speech, SCOTUS associate Justice Scalia doubled-down on his then- and still- stunningly intolerant, inflammatory, ignorant and illogical dissenting opinion from the Lawrence vs. Texas Supreme Court decision. In that 2003 case, the High Court struck down (6-3) a Texas ban and ruled that states could not outlaw sodomy between consenting adults of the same sex.
If doing so at this time - when a significant majority of Americans support marriage equality - makes Scalia look/sound like an unapologetic bag of hot, fetid wind who may be showing early signs of dementia... What's the big deal?
Well, the problem is that - as an active member of the ultra-exclusive club that is SCOTUS - Scalia ought to refrain from giving speeches. Especially if, in doing so, he reveals his own personal (discriminatory) opinions on issues which directly pertain to upcoming Supreme Court Cases. Actually, in this instance, to *Two* upcoming Supreme Court cases (one pertains to the unconstitutionality of California's Prop. 8 and one pertains to striking down DOMA).
Since Scalia's behaved similarly before, one could say: "At least he's consistent."
And, here's hoping that he remains consistent when these two historic cases are heard and that - when the Court's equal rights- and equal protection-based decisions are finally announced - Scalia, yet again, finds himself (alone, hopefully) in the minority, dissenting opinion.
From The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell (the delightful Alex Wagner guest hosts):
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
NC’s Anti-Gay House Majority Leader: Gay People Are ‘Things’ Whose Relationships Can Be ‘Treated Differently’
NC’s Anti-Gay House Majority Leader: Gay People Are ‘Things’ Whose Relationships Can Be ‘Treated Differently’:
North Carolina House Majority Leader Paul Stam (R) and Minority Whip Rick Glazier (D) debated the proposed constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage in North Carolina at the UNC law school this afternoon. Towards the end of the event, Stam — who supports the measure — suggested that allowing gay and lesbian people to marry would open the door to polygamy and challenged Glazier to respond to his “slippery slope” argument.
North Carolina House Majority Leader Paul Stam (R) and Minority Whip Rick Glazier (D) debated the proposed constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage in North Carolina at the UNC law school this afternoon. Towards the end of the event, Stam — who supports the measure — suggested that allowing gay and lesbian people to marry would open the door to polygamy and challenged Glazier to respond to his “slippery slope” argument.
“Different things can be treated differently if the things or people are in a very different relationship,” Stam said.[...]
"Things"?... Mr. Stam - you infinitely small, little man with the microscopic, little mind - think that gay people are "...things"?
"Things"?... Mr. Stam - you infinitely small, little man with the microscopic, little mind - think that gay people are "...things"?
Ugh! People like Mr. Stam are no more than present-day incarnations of the same, old, tired & dead bigots of previous generations (whom we look back at in disgust and horror) who even now do nothing more than sputter the same, old, tired, dead (and patently false) arguments against True Equality for All Men and Women/Enlightened Change.
Silly me... I believed my teachers when they said that all those reptilian dinosaurs with the teeny-tiny brains had died off millions of years ago. Apparently... a few have survived... hopefully for only a very brief period.
Friday, June 24, 2011
New York State Moves To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage (CNN)
Today the Republican-controlled New ("If You Can Make It There, You Can Make It Anywhere!") York State legislature cleared the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage.
The bill is now on its way to the governor's desk to be signed into law. (Whew!)
Visualize me doing "The Snoopy Dance".
Intolerance is so Dark Ages.
* In the interest of full-disclosure... Personally, I agree w/Mae West on the subject of marriage (*Google it).
But, I also agree that every adult human being has the right to live Happily with the ones they Love - regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
Here's the link to the article and video at cnn.com
Enjoy!
Peace,
L.
The bill is now on its way to the governor's desk to be signed into law. (Whew!)
Visualize me doing "The Snoopy Dance".
Intolerance is so Dark Ages.
* In the interest of full-disclosure... Personally, I agree w/Mae West on the subject of marriage (*Google it).
But, I also agree that every adult human being has the right to live Happily with the ones they Love - regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
Here's the link to the article and video at cnn.com
Enjoy!
Peace,
L.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Dick "F-U" Cheney Comes Out For Same-Sex Marriage.
Whoa...
I just heard some news that has me quite stunned...
News that has me uncharacteristically intrigued...
And wanting to know...
Is it possible that I dozed off in my usual 'Reality'... And woke up in another Parallel Universe? A 'Reality' that is almost exactly like the 'usual' one... Almost... Except for one - maybe two - minor differences?
In my 'usual' Reality, I might not have thought it was even a possibility that former Vice President Dick "Old Scratch" Cheney could have undergone such a stunning Transformation... One which - if it happened in a movie - would likely be referred to as being 'Body Snatched'? (From the Horror Film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers.)
Not that I would be complaining if he was...
I just heard the news... And saw the video clip that confirms it.
Our Gee-Dubya-B Deputy, The Self-Proclaimed Water-Boarding Wunderkind... Darth Cheney...
Has 'come out' - on-the-record - To say that he personally feels that:
"... people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish."
The Very Same Dick who - as Vice President - Creatively Granted Himself Any and Every Imaginable and Unimaginable Freedom...
(These Included All "Known Freedoms" - Those Freedoms Which We All Know About... As well as An Unknown Number of "Unknown Freedoms"... The Latter Are In Reference To Previously Unidentified and Unspecified Freedoms That We Weren't Aware Of... And, That We Didn't Know We Weren't aware Of. :P *From Cheney's "Unknown Unknowns" Speech. )
To Do Whatever He Wanted...
Or - Depending Upon What Was Being Asked Of Him...
To Refuse To Do Anything He Didn't Want To Do.
The Dick Cheney Who May Be Seen In This Video Saying, "... I think that freedom means freedom for everyone...",,,
Is The Very Same Dick Who - Simultaneously - Didn't See Fit To Expand On His Own Passionate Personal Fight For Freedoms...
At Least, Not Enough To Protect and Defend Several Of America's Founding Freedoms When They Were Initially Threatened And Later - Crippled - For Countless Other Americans.
Ahh, The Bad Old Days...
But, I digress.
This is a Good Thing.
Dick is now... at this moment... at least on this one enormously important Civil Rights issue...
Progressively LEFT of President Obama!
Cheney supports Same-Sex Marriage?
What's Next?
'Down' Will Mean 'Up'?
The North and South Poles Will Suddenly Switch Places?
Jesus will return (again?)... Arriving in a flying saucer... And He will tell all of His Followers to "... Stop Doing Stupid Things In My Name. And, Get a Life, Already!"?
Cool!
Peace. L.
Cheney Offers Support For Gay Marriage (With VIDEO)
(From: www.huffingtonpost.com
Sam Stein
Dick Cheney rarely takes a position that places him at a more progressive tilt than President Obama. But on Monday, the former vice president did just that, saying that he supports gay marriage as long as it is deemed legal by state and not federal government.
Speaking at the National Press Club for the Gerald R. Ford Foundation journalism awards, Cheney was asked about recent rulings and legislative action in Iowa and elsewhere that allowed for gay couples to legally wed.
"I think that freedom means freedom for everyone," replied the former V.P. "As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there ought to be a federal statute to protect this, I don't support. I do believe that the historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis. ... But I don't have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that."
Cheney has made similar arguments in support of gay marriage in the past, including during the run-up to the 2004 election. But his current comments come at a moment when the Republican Party and conservative movement is increasingly split on the issue. Bush recount lawyer Ted Olsen and John McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt have both argued in favor of gay marriage. The religious right, as expected, remains opposed.
Caught up in the debate is the Obama administration. The president has said he supports civil unions for gay couples but that he remains committed to marriage being between and man and woman. His press department has been completely quiet about the recent California Supreme Court case upholding a ban on gay marriage in the state -- something that, it seems, Cheney would object to in spirit if not law.
I just heard some news that has me quite stunned...
News that has me uncharacteristically intrigued...
And wanting to know...
Is it possible that I dozed off in my usual 'Reality'... And woke up in another Parallel Universe? A 'Reality' that is almost exactly like the 'usual' one... Almost... Except for one - maybe two - minor differences?
In my 'usual' Reality, I might not have thought it was even a possibility that former Vice President Dick "Old Scratch" Cheney could have undergone such a stunning Transformation... One which - if it happened in a movie - would likely be referred to as being 'Body Snatched'? (From the Horror Film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers.)
Not that I would be complaining if he was...
I just heard the news... And saw the video clip that confirms it.
Our Gee-Dubya-B Deputy, The Self-Proclaimed Water-Boarding Wunderkind... Darth Cheney...
Has 'come out' - on-the-record - To say that he personally feels that:
"... people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish."
The Very Same Dick who - as Vice President - Creatively Granted Himself Any and Every Imaginable and Unimaginable Freedom...
(These Included All "Known Freedoms" - Those Freedoms Which We All Know About... As well as An Unknown Number of "Unknown Freedoms"... The Latter Are In Reference To Previously Unidentified and Unspecified Freedoms That We Weren't Aware Of... And, That We Didn't Know We Weren't aware Of. :P *From Cheney's "Unknown Unknowns" Speech. )
To Do Whatever He Wanted...
Or - Depending Upon What Was Being Asked Of Him...
To Refuse To Do Anything He Didn't Want To Do.
The Dick Cheney Who May Be Seen In This Video Saying, "... I think that freedom means freedom for everyone...",,,
Is The Very Same Dick Who - Simultaneously - Didn't See Fit To Expand On His Own Passionate Personal Fight For Freedoms...
At Least, Not Enough To Protect and Defend Several Of America's Founding Freedoms When They Were Initially Threatened And Later - Crippled - For Countless Other Americans.
Ahh, The Bad Old Days...
But, I digress.
This is a Good Thing.
Dick is now... at this moment... at least on this one enormously important Civil Rights issue...
Progressively LEFT of President Obama!
Cheney supports Same-Sex Marriage?
What's Next?
'Down' Will Mean 'Up'?
The North and South Poles Will Suddenly Switch Places?
Jesus will return (again?)... Arriving in a flying saucer... And He will tell all of His Followers to "... Stop Doing Stupid Things In My Name. And, Get a Life, Already!"?
Cool!
Peace. L.
Cheney Offers Support For Gay Marriage (With VIDEO)
(From: www.huffingtonpost.com
Sam Stein
Dick Cheney rarely takes a position that places him at a more progressive tilt than President Obama. But on Monday, the former vice president did just that, saying that he supports gay marriage as long as it is deemed legal by state and not federal government.
Speaking at the National Press Club for the Gerald R. Ford Foundation journalism awards, Cheney was asked about recent rulings and legislative action in Iowa and elsewhere that allowed for gay couples to legally wed.
"I think that freedom means freedom for everyone," replied the former V.P. "As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there ought to be a federal statute to protect this, I don't support. I do believe that the historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis. ... But I don't have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that."
Cheney has made similar arguments in support of gay marriage in the past, including during the run-up to the 2004 election. But his current comments come at a moment when the Republican Party and conservative movement is increasingly split on the issue. Bush recount lawyer Ted Olsen and John McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt have both argued in favor of gay marriage. The religious right, as expected, remains opposed.
Caught up in the debate is the Obama administration. The president has said he supports civil unions for gay couples but that he remains committed to marriage being between and man and woman. His press department has been completely quiet about the recent California Supreme Court case upholding a ban on gay marriage in the state -- something that, it seems, Cheney would object to in spirit if not law.
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