Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Vi JMG: House GOP Demands And Gets DOMA Response Delay From Supreme Court


The GOP's House Bipartisan (snort) Legal Advisory Group has requested and received a delayed deadline for when they must respond to two pending DOMA suits before the Supreme Court. As always, super-reporter Chris Geidner gets to what the request was really all about.
The deadline extension, which lawyers familiar with the cases say could cause up to a one-week delay in when in the fall the Supreme Court justices would consider when to take the cases, won't likely have any long-term effect on how and when the cases might be considered by the justices. The new deadline, however, means that House Speaker John Boehner's lawyers could take the chance to take aim at the Obama administration, which stopped defending DOMA in early 2011, following the conclusion of the Republican National Convention on Aug. 30 and before the start of the Democratic National Convention the next week.

Reposted from Joe

Via Obama for America:


Via FB: This is not a Church


Via JMG: Yet Another Court Strikes Down DOMA


Via press release from GLAD:
Today, a U.S. District Court Judge ruled that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional as a violation of equal protection guarantees. Her ruling comes with respect to claims brought by six married same-sex couples and one widower from the states of Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont who were denied federal tax, social security, pension and family medical leave protections only because they are (or were) married to someone of the same sex. Under the ruling, the plaintiffs’ marriages must be accorded the same federal protections and responsibilities as those of other married couples. The ruling by Judge Vanessa L. Bryant, an appointee of President George W. Bush, stems from the lawsuit Pedersen et al v. Office of Personnel Management et al, filed by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) in November 2010 in the Federal District Court in Connecticut.

“Section 3 of DOMA obligates the federal government to single out a certain category of marriages as excluded from federal recognition,” Judge Bryant wrote, “thereby resulting in an inconsistent distribution of federal marriage benefits as all marriages authorized by certain states will receive recognition and marital benefits, whereas only a portion of marriages authorized by other states will receive federal recognition and benefits.”
“Judge Bryant’s ruling is very clear: married people are married and should be treated as such by the federal government. There is no legitimate basis for DOMA’s broad disrespect of the marriages of same-sex couples,” said Mary L. Bonauto, GLAD’s Civil Rights Project Director. “We are very pleased that the Court recognized that DOMA’s creation of second-class marriages harms our clients who simply seek the same opportunities to care and provide for each other and for their children that other families enjoy.”

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: More Chicken Wars News

Eat Mor (Gay-Friendly) Chikin


Opportunism? Corporate pandering? Just good business? From their Facebook page:
Help us support Marriage Equality. Throughout the month of August, we will donate $1.00 from every purchase of a Schnipper’s Chicken Filet Sandwich to Marriage Equality USA (a non-profit whose mission is to secure legally recognized civil marriage equality for all). A truly good Chicken Filet Sandwich would always be in favor of Marriage Equality. Ours is the best you’ll ever have since its made from fresh chicken breasts and hand dipped to order in our seasoned corn flour blend and buttermilk. It’s super crispy and it’s gluten free! The sandwich is tasty – Marriage Equality is timely.
Schnipper's locations are in Hell's Kitchen and Madison Square. (Tipped by JMG reader Ian)


Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: More Chicken Wars News

Eat Mor (Gay-Friendly) Chikin


Opportunism? Corporate pandering? Just good business? From their Facebook page:
Help us support Marriage Equality. Throughout the month of August, we will donate $1.00 from every purchase of a Schnipper’s Chicken Filet Sandwich to Marriage Equality USA (a non-profit whose mission is to secure legally recognized civil marriage equality for all). A truly good Chicken Filet Sandwich would always be in favor of Marriage Equality. Ours is the best you’ll ever have since its made from fresh chicken breasts and hand dipped to order in our seasoned corn flour blend and buttermilk. It’s super crispy and it’s gluten free! The sandwich is tasty – Marriage Equality is timely.
Schnipper's locations are in Hell's Kitchen and Madison Square. (Tipped by JMG reader Ian)


Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: SCOTUS Gets Prop 8 Overturn Appeal


In addition to the DOMA-related cases that landed on the desks of the Supreme Court this month, today they received an appeal on the overturn of Prop 8. Chris Geidner reports:
Supporters of California's constitutional amendment banning same-sex couples from marrying, Proposition 8, have asked the Supreme Court to hear the ongoing challenge to the law in order to reverse an appeals court decision from earlier this year that struck down the amendment as unconstitutional.

Specifically, they ask the court in a filing today to decide "Whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the State of California from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman."

Arguing that "[u]nique recognition of a unique relationship in no way disapproves or dishonors other relationships that the State has chosen to recognize differently," the Proposition 8 proponents ask the court to take the case to correct the "manifest errors" of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and "to return to the People themselves this important and sensitive issue."
Geidner notes that AFER has 30 days to respond to the filing. The Supreme Court is on summer recess and will not announce which cases it will review until this falls.


Reposted from Joe

Via Gay Politics Report:

  • Democrats back freedom to marry in platform draft
     
  • A draft of the Democratic Party platform includes support for allowing same-sex couples to marry, a development that caps the party’s rapid evolution on the issue in the past few years. "The fact is, by every action that should be taken, the Democrats in Washington have repudiated DOMA,” said Rep. Barney Frank, a member of the platform drafting committee who said the vote to include support for marriage equality was unanimous. Other LGBT-related language in the draft rejects the Defense of Marriage Act and supports passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Washington Blade (7/30), The Huffington Post (7/31) LinkedInFacebookTwitterEmail this Story

VIa Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma July 31, 2012

A Little "Aha!"

Our whole spiritual transformation brings us to the point where we realize that in our own being, we are enough.
- Ram Dass, "Little 'Aha!'s"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through August 2nd, 2012
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member

Read Article

Via America Blog Gay:

Draft Democratic party platform includes marriage equality

From Chris Johnson at the Blade: The Democratic Party platform drafting committee approved on Sunday language endorsing same-sex marriage in addition to other pro-LGBT positions as part of the Democratic Party platform, according to two sources familiar with the drafting process. Retiring gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who sits on the committee, told the Washington Blade on Monday that the...