Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Via JMG: Donald Trump Opposes Gay Marriage
"No, I'm just not in favor of gay marriage. I live in New York. New York is a place with lots of gays, and I think it is great. But I'm not in favor of gay marriage." - Three times married Donald Trump, whose potential 2012 presidential run is being backed by GOProud. Before you dismiss his opinion as inconsequential, consider that Donald Trump is arguably the most famous New Yorker in the world and somebody whose support on this could have been quite useful.Monday, February 14, 2011
Via JMG: Unmarried Until Gay Marriage
About a dozen married straight couples were "umarried until gay marriage" yesterday in a Central Park protest staged by performance artist Reverend Billy. More photos here.Today's "Why I could never ever be a Republican Post" Wingnuts Turn On Ann Coulter (who to me is pure evil) via JMG:
After her CPAC declaration that "gays are natural conservatives" and should be actively recruited by the GOP, Ann Coulter has been the subject of blistering attacks across the right-o-sphere. Here's just a sampling of the reactions on Free Republic:
-"Big tent fag hag and muslim bodily fluids swapper."
-"I have no tolerance for homo-tolerants. Boo & shame on you Ann. You are a Catholic."
-"There are still fools and idiots who think this woman is a conservative. I bet within a year she will become a Democrat. Maybe then, she will grab a brain, a hamburger, and Obama’s Birth Certificate."
-"I guess it’s OK to destroy the traditional family as long as you call yourself a conservative republican.
-"Fame is a terrible drug, Ann. Shame. You were once brilliant."
Via JMG: Inspired By The Hefty Cinch-Sak
reposted from Joe
Via JMG: Editorial Of The Day
From the New York Times editorial board.
The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act is indefensible — officially sanctioned discrimination against one group of Americans imposed during an election year. President Obama seems to know that, or at least he has called on Congress to repeal it. So why do his government’s lawyers continue to defend the act in court? [snip] There are two crucial questions here. The overarching one, of course, is whether it is constitutional for the federal government to deny benefits to some people who are legally married under their state’s laws. Much also depends on the standard of review. How should courts evaluate claims that a law discriminates against gay people?Read the entire editorial.
On the merits, this should be an easy call. A law focusing on a group that has been subjected to unfair discrimination, as gay people have been, is supposed to get a hard test. It is presumed invalid unless the government proves that the officials’ purpose in adopting the law advances a real and compelling interest. That sort of heightened scrutiny would challenge the administration’s weak argument for upholding the act. It would also make it more difficult to sustain other forms of anti-gay discrimination, including state laws that deny same-sex couples the right to marry. By now, such blatant discrimination should be presumed to be unconstitutional, and the Justice Department should finally say so.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Via JMG: KENTUCKY: Gay Couple Denied Admission To Creation Museum's "Date Night"
On Friday a couple gay was turned away from a special "Date Night" event at Kentucky's Creation Museum after being told that their presence would add an "un-Christian element" to the venue. Blogger Joe Sonka describes his evening:I rushed back from DC to my old Kentucky home last night to attend the spectacular "Date Night at the Creation Museum", where my date and I were to take in a nice dinner and listen to Ken Ham explain what makes a good relationship work. Unfortunately, we were told at the door that we would not be allowed entry. They explained to us that the Creation Museum Date Night was a "Christian environment", therefore the presence of two men eating dinner together would not be allowed. The very sight of this would "add an un-Christian element to the event" and "disrupt the evening for everyone". The Creation Museum rep further informed us that you cannot be a Christian if you are gay, asking "can you tell me what exactly is Christian about being gay?"Sonka and his date were also denied refunds on their $71 tickets.
RELATED: In December the museum announced the construction of $25M "full-scale replica" of Noah's Ark.
Via JMG: Rumsfeld Endorses DADT Repeal
Shortly after his CPAC appearance, former defense secretary Donald "War Criminal" Rumsfeld endorsed the repeal of DADT. “First of all, we know that gays and lesbians have been serving in the military for decades with honorable service,” Rumsfeld said. “We know that [repeal of a ban on gays serving openly] is an idea whose time has come.” Rumsfeld says he has “enormous respect” for the ground commanders and service chiefs who have expressed concerns about the impact of gays serving openly on unit cohesion, and he urged the top brass to implement the new law “with care.” But Rumsfeld says that congress, which passed the repeal bill in the waning days of the last session, has expressed the will of the American people.The Freepers are very unhappy with this.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Via JMG: ReasonTV Tours CPAC
ReasonTV took a spin around the CPAC exhibitor booths with stops to chat with the Young Libertarians, the John Birch Society, and GOProud.
reposted from Joe
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Via JMG: Canada's Parliament Approves Transgender And Gender Identity Protections
By a vote of 143-135, the Canadian Parliament has narrowly approved a bill granting transgender and gender identity anti-discrimination protections nationwide. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it faces a tough battle. Via Dented Blue Mercedes:
Bill C-389 now goes to the Senate, where it must go through three readings. Readings in the Senate don’t take months-to-years as they do for Private Members Bills in Parliament. However, as far as I know, a Senator still needs to be found who is willing to bring the bill to the floor. There could be some perils in the Senate. In the past, the Senate has mostly just ratified and tweaked legislation passed by Parliament, but as Harper has packed more conservatives into the Senate (rather than reforming it to create an elected Senate, which he once campaigned on), it has been sometimes used more undemocratically. In one recent such move, he used a lack of attendance of Liberal senators to kill a climate change bill. It is also still entirely possible that an election call could kill the bill before it is enacted into law. What would happen then is that as a community, we would need to press candidates and parties to pledge to finish what was started, and also to address other glaring omissions such as the absence of sex / gender from the hate crimes provisions from the Criminal Code of Canada.(Tipped by Rex Wockner)
Via JMG: UPDATE: Rep. Christopher Lee (R) Resigns After Craigslist Adultery Scandal
UPDATE: GOP Rep. Chistopher Lee (NY) resigned tonight "effectively immediately" in the light of the scandal detailed below. Lee sent Fox News a short statement announcing his resignation and expressing regret "for the embarrassment caused to my wife and family."
Gawker has posted the Craigslist ad of married GOP Rep. Christopher Lee (R-NY), who has allegedly been using the site's "Women Seeking Men" section to seek out adulterous hook-ups in the Washington DC area. The gossip site has posted screen shots of numerous emails purportedly exchanged between Lee and a woman he angered by lying about his marital status.Yesterday, we reached out to Rep. Lee, whose support for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and vote to reject federal abortion funding suggests a certain comfort with publicly scrutinizing others' sex lives. A spokesman for the Congressman confirmed that the email address belonged to Lee, and that he had deleted his Facebook account because our initial inquiry had him fretting about "privacy." (A screenshot of his account before it vanished is at right.)As noted above, Lee was among the U.S. House members who voted to retain DADT. His position on other LGBT rights such as same-sex marriage appears to be unknown at the moment.
So did the married Republican prowl Craiglist looking for hook ups? After first telling us that he couldn't comment until we forwarded every single email in question, a request we refused—shouldn't Lee know if he's corresponded with women on Craigslist?—Lee's spokesman eventually announced that the Congressman believed he'd been hacked, and provided an email he claims Lee sent to his staff about the security breach on January 21.
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