The Baltimore Sun published a detailed endorsement Tuesday of Question 6, Maryland’s referendum on marriage equality. Not only did the editorial board affirm that the law would “treat everyone the same” and protect religious freedom to not solemnize same-sex unions, but they took ample time to dispel opponents’ “scare tactics,” rebutting claims made about straight victims and kids learning about same-sex marriage. Instead, the Sun points out that marriage equality will benefit children and families:

As for Maryland’s children, this law only improves their welfare. Thousands of Maryland children are being raised by same-sex parents in this state already. Allowing their parents the chance to marry strengthens their families and provides them with crucial protections under the law. More fundamentally, it recognizes that their families are equal to everyone else’s.

The board also points out that out-of-state same-sex marriages are already recognized because of a recent court decision, so rejection Question 6 is pointless sacrifice of state income that helps nobody:

If that happens, Maryland will lose more than the money those couples would have spent here on cakes, photographers, caterers and florists. Some couples, no doubt, will return to Maryland to settle down, but others will surely decide to stay someplace where the law fully recognizes their value as members of the community.

Nothing short of marriage equality will accomplish that. Civil unions and domestic partnerships in some states have sought to afford gay families the same packages of rights and benefits as married couples — a difficult and usually incomplete task, given the number of laws that reference marriage in one way or another. But that approach creates two kinds of marriage — one for straight people and one for gay people — and that inevitably relegates same-sex couples to second-class citizenship.

Polls over the past few months (August 2, September 26, October 1, October 18) have all shown strong support for marriage equality, though a new poll this week shows a much tighter race. The Baltimore Sun has spelled out a very clear case for supporting the measure, but now it’s up to voters to ignore conservative fear-baiting and vote in the best interest of Maryland families.

Last week, two students at Celina High School celebrated “Twin Day” with T-shirts that read “Lesbian 1″ and “Lesbian 2,” but they were forced to remove them. In response, some 20 students went to school Tuesday wearing home-made T-shirts that read “I Support… [Rainbow] Express Yourself” and “Straight but Supportive,” a show of support organized by sophomore Jimmy Walter. Assistant Principal Phil Metz forced all the students to remove the shirts because they were “political,” and those who did not were given detention with the threat of suspension.

Though Metz and Principal Jason Luebke have yet to respond, Superintendent Jesse Steiner offered this weak defense for the disciplinary action:

STEINER: The only reason they would be told that they couldn’t wear something is if it is a disruption of the educational process, or if it’s not allowed in the handbook. And there’s a line in our handbook about drawing undue attention to yourself.

It’s true that the student handbook limits dress that could “materially interfere with school work, create disorder, or disrupt the educational program,” but Steiner’s interpretation of that policy in this case is grossly unconstitutional.

ACLU Ohio points out that this is considered a “heckler’s veto,” an attempt to shut down free speech that the administrators in the very conservative district happen to disagree with. Erick Warrner, a Celina junior who brought attention to this situation on Reddit, points out that plenty of “political” dress is regularly tolerated at the school, including “Students for Life” anti-choice T-shirts with pictures of fetuses, as well as blatantly political shirts supporting Mitt Romney for President or calling President Obama a socialist. In fact, just this week the school hosted a Romney campaign event at which Paul Ryan spoke.

Both the students and the school are consulting lawyers, but it’s clear the students would have a winning case. In the 1969 case of Tinker v. Des Moines, the Supreme Court ruled that “state-operated schools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism” and students are entitled to free speech so long as it does not “interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school.” Benignly gay-supportive t-shirts come nowhere close to meeting that standard. If anybody disrupted the educational process, it was the administrators who removed the students from the classroom and violated their First Amendment rights.

Rebecca Kadaga

Uganda’s Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, took umbrage to the threat that Western countries like the U.S. and Canada would cut aid because of the country’s persecution of homosexuality. Instead, she suggested that the anti-homosexuality (“Kill The Gays”) bill that has persisted in the legislature be brought to the floor for a vote:

KADAGA: I will not accept to be intimidated or to be directed by any government in the world because we are independent. We are Ugandans. We are not a colony of Canada; we’re not even a protectorate. [...]

I will now instruct the chair of the Committee of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to quickly bring the report of the anti-homosexuality bill so that we discuss it and so that Uganda can take a position. [...]

If the price of aid is going to be promoting homosexuality in this country, I think we don’t want that aid. I don’t think we want it.

Watch a news report featuring her remarks:

As Box Turtle Bulletin notes, the bill was slyly changed to remove the proposed penalty of “suffering death,” but was replaced with a reference to another penalty law that also includes the death penalty. Sodomy is already illegal in the country, and the only purpose of the bill is to increase stigmatization against both gay citizens and their allies.

Preserve Marriage Washington (PMW), the campaign against Referendum 74 to approve marriage equality in the northwest state, apparently felt the need to buy friends to look like a relevant player. Washington United for Marriage (WUM) researched some conspicuous activity on the anti-gay group’s Facebook page and found that its growth was marked by huge sudden spikes in “Likes” corresponding with days the “most popular city” supporting the page was in a foreign country.

The first spike took place between August 20 and 22, when PMW jumped from about 2,500 Facebook fans to over 10,000. During the same time, the most popular city was New York City, then finally Makati, Philippines. Shortly thereafter, Facebook started cracking down on fake “Likes” and PMW suddenly lost 4,000 fans. Since then, there have been three additional spikes, corresponding with apparent popularity in Chemnitz, Germany; Bangkok, Thailand; and Vilnius, Lithuania. Every spike had a similar drop-off days later as Facebook weeded out the fake fans. In total, the group has tried to add 16,000 fake “Likes” since August (click to see full-size):

WUM campaign manager Zach Silk pulled no punches in calling out PMW’s blatant dishonesty:

SILK: It’s probably not surprising that the same group that distorts the truth and tries to confuse voters would go so far as to buy their supposed ‘grassroots’ fan base and violate the terms of Facebook. Clearly, our opponents don’t give a hoot about the truth. It’s just hard to believe that people in Southeast Asia or Northern Europe care all that much about Referendum 74 in Washington.

There does seem to be a fair correlation between a campaign’s honest advocacy and the support that it garners. The Approve 74 campaign showed what a normal progression of Facebook support looks like: