The Ninth Circuit just issued an Order stating that the Plaintiffs’ response to the Motion to Stay is due by 11:00 p.m. tonight. The Prop 8 supporters’ reply, not to exceed 15 pages, is due by 9:00 a.m. on Monday, August 16, 2010. This suggests that the Ninth Circuit is preparing to rule on the Motion to Stay before Judge Walker’s temporary stay expires on August 18th at 5:00 p.m. It’s surprising that the Court only gave the Plaintiffs about 9 hours to file their brief, and gave the Appellants until Monday to Reply. But I wouldn’t read too much into this. They know that everyone anticipated the Motion and that everyone’s briefs are essentially written already.Sounds like everybody wants to get to Hawaii.
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| Dear Daniel, Yesterday, we learned that marriage equality could return to California next week. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who ruled Proposition 8 unconstitutional in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case, lifted the stay on his decision as of August 18. If the federal appeals court does not intervene, marriages will resume at that time. Equality is returning to California, and the shameful specter of Proposition 8 is shrinking. That law must never return -- our Constitution says so. Increasingly, so do our neighbors. On August 11, CNN released a national poll showing for the first time that a majority of Americans believe in a constitutional right to marriage equality for same-sex couples. As in previous polls, people under age 50 were far more likely to support equality than those over 50. What a change since 2004, when waves of anti-LGBT marriage amendments swept our nation in the election-year frenzy to enrage a right-wing base. Today, although some insist on fomenting hysteria around the Perry case (more on that in a moment), the issue of marriage equality is not at the top of the right wing’s list. Just look at what Glenn Beck had to say on The O'Reilly Factor: O'REILLY: OK. Is [same-sex marriage] going to harm the country in any way? BECK: I believe -- I believe what Thomas Jefferson said. If it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket, what difference is it to me? Unfortunately, the ruling has generated some of the familiar anti-LGBT hate from certain quarters. The National Organization for Marriage’s summer bus tour -- a sham designed to help NOM challenge the requirements of neutral state campaign finance laws -- has been drawing miniscule crowds, but their supporters are showing the very worst of the anti-LGBT movement. At an Indianapolis event, one supporter carried a sign that read “the solution to gay marriage” with a picture of two nooses. At another event, Alveda King, niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said "I don’t know about you, but I'm not ready to be extinct. None of us wants to be, so we don't want genocide." Fortunately, only a few dozen people attended the rally. A note to NOM and their followers: when Glenn Beck is calm about something… well, you figure it out. Beck's muse Thomas Jefferson also famously said "Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man." Our basic right to marry predates any litigation or ballot initiative; we have always had it. In the past few years, California families were all too briefly granted their basic human rights. Next week, if the appeals court does not intervene, California will once again recognize same-sex couples as equal citizens. Congratulations to California families and the Perry plaintiffs. Our nation took a step forward thanks to them.  Joe Solmonese President, Human Rights Campaign  |
Above is one of the images from an ad campaign for the Academy Of Martial Arts in Key Biscayne, Florida. Via Copyranter: Yeah, Pops. Nip that gaiety in the ass, and get junior kicking some ass and karate-chopping some wood, all while listening to Eye of the motherfucking Tiger. That'll knock those show tunes out of his head and some sense into him. Other tips: Make him change the oil in your pickup, naked. And take him deer hunting, naked. Better yet, queer hunting. You and your drinking buds can go to a local Miami gay bar and show him how to pound the dust out of some fairies, who hopefully haven't taken martial arts classes at Key Biscayne's RDCA.And if karate doesn't work, you can always beat him to death for acting like a girl.r
If Protect Marriage's emergency motion to stay the overturn of Prop 8 is denied by the Ninth Circuit Court, they are expected to immediately appeal to the Supreme Court. The justice assigned to hear cases from the Ninth is swing voter Anthony Kennedy. 
On August 4, Federal Judge Vaughn R. Walker ruled that Proposition 8 -- the ban on gay marriage in California -- is unconstitutional. Walker ruled to overturn the gay marriage ban because it violated both the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution. 
