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Alyssa

NFL Veteran Scott Fujita Speaks Out For Marriage Equality

By Travis Waldron posted from ThinkProgress Alyssa on Mar 25, 2013 at 6:10 pm

Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita is among the National Football League players who have signed onto a brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8, the California amendment that banned same-sex marriage. Arguments in the Supreme Court case begin Tuesday, and Fujita penned a powerful editorial in the New York Times this weekend outlining his support for marriage equality, making a perfect case for why sports can have such an impact on issues like this one:

Sometimes, people ask me what any of this has to do with football. Some think football players like me should just keep our mouths shut and focus on the game. But we’re people first, and football players a distant second. Football is a big part of what we do, but a very small part of who we are. And historically, sports figures like Jackie Robinson, Billie Jean King and Muhammad Ali have been powerful agents for social change. That’s why the messages athletes send — including the way they treat others and the words they use — can influence many people, especially children.

Believe it or not, conversations about issues like gay marriage take place in locker rooms every day. In many respects, the football locker room is a microcosm of society. While there is certainly an element of bravado in our sport, football players are not the meatheads many think we are. For some of my friends who raise personal objections to marriage equality, they still recognize the importance of being accepting. And many of them also recognize that regardless of what they choose to believe or practice at home or at their church, that doesn’t give them the right to discriminate. I am encouraged by how I’ve seen such conversations evolve. [...]

I support marriage equality for so many reasons: my father’s experience in an internment camp and the racial intolerance his family experienced during and after the war, the gay friends I have who are really not all that different from me, and also because of a story I read a few years back about a woman who was denied the right to visit her partner of 15 years when she was stuck in a hospital bed.

Athletes, as Fujita notes, have experiences that shape their lives and views, just like the rest of us. What they also have is a platform that allows them to play a major role in positive social change. Sports matter in these fights. Fujita, like Brendan Ayabadejo and Chris Kluwe, is yet another example of that.

Alyssa

Sony Chairman Amy Pascal Calls Out Hollywood For Casual Homophobia And Prison Rape Jokes

By Alyssa Rosenberg posted from ThinkProgress Alyssa on Mar 25, 2013 at 5:15 pm

Amy Pascal, the co-chair of Sony Pictures, gave a speech at a fundraiser for the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center last week in which she encouraged her colleagues in the entertainment industry to discourage lazy defaults to homophobia in the form of insults. While I do think that sometimes it’s important to depict the worst impulses of bigots in order to demonstrate just how unappealing and damaging they are, it’s nice to see Pascal treat homophobic language as something that should used thoughtfully rather than casually. And I’m particularly glad to see her call out one of the most insidious and persistent forms of homophobia acceptable in the entertainment industry: prison rape jokes that assume gay men are the primary perpetrators:

Turning her attention to the media and industry, she elaborated on stereotypes and slurs commonly seen in entertainment. “How many times have you heard a character imply to another that the worst thing about going to prison isn’t being locked up for the rest of your life, it’s the homosexuality? And old stereotypes still exist,” Pascal said. “The most benign stereotypes would have a gay kid believe that they will end up being the asexual, witty best friend of the pretty girl, or a drag queen, or a swishy hairdresser. The list goes on.”

This stereotype of gay prison rapists is so disturbing not just because it reinforced long-standing and ugly prejudices that paint LGBT people as predators whether they’re incarcerated or not, but because the stereotype is the inverse of the reality. As David Kaiser and Lovisa Stannow wrote in the latest installment of their long-running series on prison rape in the New York Review of Books “According to the new BJS study, 3.5 percent of men who identified themselves as heterosexual had been sexually abused by another inmate, but 34 percent of bisexual men had, and 39 percent of gay men.” I have no problem with Hollywood emphasizing the horror of prison rape. But it’s an issue that affects both men and women, and should be a source of solidarity between LGBT folks and heterosexual people, rather than a way to drive wedges between them.

Mark Warner: Marriage Equality ‘Is The Fair And Right Thing To Do’

By Zack Ford on Mar 25, 2013 at 4:28 pm

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) has joined the cavalcade of lawmakers expressing their full support for same-sex marriage. He posted the following this afternoon on his Facebook page:

I support marriage equality because it is the fair and right thing to do. Like many Virginians and Americans, my views on gay marriage have evolved, and this is the inevitable extension of my efforts to promote equality and opportunity for everyone. I was proud to be the first Virginia governor to extend anti-discrimination protections to LGBT state workers. In 2010, I supported an end to the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, and earlier this month I signed an amicus brief urging the repeal of DOMA. I believe we should continue working to expand equal rights and opportunities for all Americans.

As recently as the beginning of this month, Warner was still “evolving” on the issue.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) also came out for marriage equality this weekend, as did Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) earlier this month.

Update

According to BuzzFeed, Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) have also indicated today that they no longer support the Defense of Marriage Act.

Puff Pieces Profiling Paid Anti-Equality Activists Plague The Mainstream Media

By Zack Ford on Mar 25, 2013 at 3:41 pm

Many paid anti-gay activists work for an organization connected back to Robert George.

This week’s Supreme Court oral arguments on marriage equality have understandably attracted media attention, but unfortunately the coverage has been peppered with blatant puff pieces that offer a free pedestal for paid operatives working against same-sex marriage. These articles claim to profile individuals who make their living off the anti-equality movement offer little context, instead invite them to share all their talking points without any rebuttal.

For example, last Friday USA Today ran a piece profiling some of the top lobbyists against marriage equality, while the New York Times profiled young conservatives working with many of the same organizations. NPR offered two puff pieces, one similarly profiling various conservatives and another just to highlight Maggie Gallagher’s views on the topic. Almost every individual in each of these stories advocates against equality as a profession. Here’s a list of who they are and how they used their free media pedestal:

  • Brian Brown is executive director of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).  He told USA Today that “The people are definitely on our side,” even though polling continuesto show the exact opposite.
  • Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), told USA Today that “there will be collateral damage to other freedoms” because of marriage equality, but offered examples of people who seek to violate nondiscrimination protections.
  • Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America (CWA), told USA Today that marriage equality will “lure” people into homosexuality, just like legalizing marijuana, gambling, prostitution, abortion, “or any vice that is legalized.” The article neglected to mention that CWA is recognized as a hate group along with FRC.
  • Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, chair of the Catholic Bishops’ committee for the “Defense of Marriage,” told USA Today that same-sex couples are inherently inferior, and that the LGBT movement should have a “live and let live” philosophy instead of calling equality opponents bigots.
  • Rev. William Owens, head of the Coalition of African-American Pastors, which is funded by groups like NOM and FRC, claimed to USA Today that marriage equality is “another nail in the coffin for black families,” confirming his role in NOM’s race-wedging tactics.

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Dupont Endorses Marriage Equality In Delaware

By Zack Ford on Mar 25, 2013 at 2:20 pm

DuPont, one of Delaware’s largest employers, has come out in favor of advancing marriage equality in The First State. According to a statement from Benito Cachinero-Sánchez, senior vice president of human resources for the chemical company, marriage equality aligns with DuPont’s values:

CACHINERO-SÁNCHEZ: DuPont is passionate about equality, and I am proud of our company and our employees’ unwavering commitment to our core value of respect for people. Support for marriage equality is an affirmation of these fundamental beliefs and an opportunity for our actions to speak louder than our words.

At DuPont, every employee is responsible for ensuring a respectful workplace in which people are treated fairly and consistently, and we embrace the value and differences of each individual. Our support of marriage equality shows our employees and the community that our commitment to respect for people and equality extends beyond our walls.  Our inclusiveness is what allows us to develop and grow as individuals and as a company, and it reinforces our position as a leading employer.  We firmly believe our commitment to diversity and respect attracts talented individuals with like values, and that creates a more innovative culture, enabling us to produce more and better solutions for the challenges facing our world.

Delaware Rep. Melanie George Smith (D) intends to sponsor the marriage equality legislation, but it’s unclear when. On Friday, the Delaware NAACP also endorsed marriage equality:

POLL: Majority Of Ohioans Support Marriage Equality

By Zack Ford on Mar 25, 2013 at 1:15 pm

A new Saperstein Poll for the Columbus Dispatch shows that a majority of Ohio voters support a proposed constitutional amendment to repeal the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Though 62 percent voted for the 2004 ban, 54 percent now say they’re ready to repeal it. Only 40 percent oppose the proposal.

These results come just as numerous Ohio lawmakers have spoken out on the issue. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) expressed his support for marriage equality two weeks ago, explaining that he came to support the issue after his son came out to him. In response, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) countered that even having a gay son would not change his opposition to same-sex marriage. Last Thursday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) briefly offered his support for civil unions before his office walked back the statement.

An October poll similarly found that 52 percent of Ohio voters support marriage equality. According to the crosstabs, support was highest among women, young people, and independents:

Colorado Extends Insurance Nondiscrimination Protections To LGBT Community

By Andrew Cray, Guest Blogger on Mar 25, 2013 at 12:20 pm

Last week, the Colorado Division of Insurance became the second state agency in the week to issue a bulletin stating that discrimination in health coverage on the basis of sexual orientation and transgender status is impermissible under state law. The bulletin is the latest in a series of decisions by states and employers clearly stating that no person should be denied health care or coverage based on who they are.

The bulletin clarifies that existing law in Colorado prohibits discriminatory practices by insurers, including:

  • Denying coverage to a transgender person for medically necessary care that would be covered under current standards for any other individual
  • Charging more for health insurance based on a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

One Colorado and the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative have been working closely with the Colorado Division of Insurance to seek legal clarification in response to input from Colorado’s transgender community. And the result reflects the growing movement toward equitable health insurance policies at the state and federal level.

Ending discriminatory policies that deny transgender people access to medically necessary care reflects basic values of fairness, and it also aligns with the consensus among major medical associations that transition-related health care is medically necessary for many transgender individuals and that determination of what care an individual patient needs properly rests with medical providers, not insurance companies.

Read the full bulletin and the FAQ from One Colorado and the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative.

 

Claire McCaskill: Supporting Marriage Equality ‘Is Simply The Right Thing To Do’

By Zack Ford on Mar 25, 2013 at 11:30 am

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) has a fairly solid record on supporting LGBT equality, particularly in contrast to her most recent challenger, former Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO). It wasn’t until this weekend, however, that she expressed her full support for marriage equality:

I have come to the conclusion that our government should not limit the right to marry based on who you love. While churches should never be required to conduct marriages outside of their religious beliefs, neither should the government tell people who they have a right to marry.

My views on this subject have changed over time, but as many of my gay and lesbian friends, colleagues and staff embrace long term committed relationships, I find myself unable to look them in the eye without honestly confronting this uncomfortable inequality. Supporting marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples is simply the right thing to do for our country, a country founded on the principals of liberty and equality.

Good people disagree with me. On the other hand, my children have a hard time understanding why this is even controversial. I think history will agree with my children.

McCaskill is not the only lawmaker who has discussed the issue of same-sex marriage with her children. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) recently came out for marriage equality as well, largely due to his son, Will, coming out to him. Will wrote today in the Yale Daily News about the national exposure he’s received and how proud he is of his dad. Both McCaskill and Portman have incredible potential to make a “positive impact on anyone who is closeted and afraid.”

Justice

How Marriage Equality Could Win In The Worst Possible Way At The Supreme Court

By Ian Millhiser posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Mar 25, 2013 at 10:40 am


One way or another, marriage equality is coming to the United States. A recent poll shows support for equality at 58 percent, up 21 points from just a decade ago, and a massive 81 percent of adults under 30 support treating same-sex couples just like any other. The Supreme Court should strike down the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s equally anti-gay Proposition 8 because they are unconstitutional, but one way or another, marriage equality is happening. And it is happening soon.

Perhaps for this reason, two leading conservatives published columns last week advocating a way the Supreme Court could strike down DOMA while doing maximal damage to the social safety net. Five days after anti-science columnist George Will published a piece seeking to discredit the social science supporting marriage equality, Will endorsed a radical misreading of the Constitution’s Tenth Amendment that would lead to DOMA being struck down. One day later, Michael McConnell, a former federal judge and leading socially conservative law professor, made the same argument in the Wall Street Journal. Here’s McConnell’s version:

[T]he court need not base its decision in Windsor on the merits of the same-sex marriage question. The leading argument against DOMA all along has been that the federal government lacks authority under the Constitution to create and enforce a definition of marriage different from that of the state in which a couple resides. It is hard to think of an issue more clearly reserved to state law under constitutional tradition than the definition of marriage.

The court has held that “regulation of domestic relations” has “long been regarded as a virtually exclusive province of the States” (Sosna v. Iowa, 1975). In the past, the court has recognized a “domestic relations exception” to federal judicial power. Although the legal question is close, the court could take the same path in Windsor—holding that DOMA improperly intrudes on the reserved powers of the states.

This is constitutional gobbledygook. McConnell and Will are both arguing that, because the Constitution does not give the federal government power over “domestic relations” it follows that DOMA exceeds Congress’ lawful powers. This is similar to the argument conservatives raised against the Affordable Care Act, and it is also compete nonsense.

Federal law grants married couples numerous financial benefits that unmarried individuals do not enjoy. Married couples pay taxes at different rates than single people. They are exempt from estate and gift taxes that apply to their spouse’s property. They receive certain benefits under Social Security, Medicare and other federal programs, and so forth. These financial benefits are constitutional because the Constitution gives Congress the power “to lay and collect taxes . . . and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States” — what lawyers call the “tax and spending power” — and the power to tax and spend necessarily includes the power to decide who pays what taxes and who receives what benefits. DOMA does not, as Will and McConnell suggest, define the meaning of “marriage” for the entire nation. Rather, it mostly just defines the meaning of the word “marriage” for the purpose of determining who is eligible for federal benefits that are given only to married couples.

If Congress does not have the power to decide who pays what tax rates and who receives what federal benefits, than the entirety of America’s safety net could be in danger. Retirement programs like Social Security cannot exist unless the government can limit it to persons of retirement age. Veterans benefits cannot exist unless the government can limit them to veterans. Even progressive taxation is in jeopardy under Will and McConnell’s theory, because the government must have the power to decide who pays more and who pays less taxes.

In other words, if the Supreme Court embraces Will and McConnell’s misreading of the Constitution, it could radically rework America’s social contract and leave most Americans much worse off as a result.
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French Anti-Equality Protesters Challenge Police Barricades Using Children As Shields

By Zack Ford on Mar 25, 2013 at 9:50 am

Opponents of marriage equality staged a march in Paris over the weekend that ended violently as protesters attempted to challenge police barricades. The city had originally denied the anti-equality group a permit to march down the famed Champs-Elysées because of safety concerns, so organizers proposed an alternative route. Though the march of some 300,000 proceeded mostly peacefully, it took a violent turn when a group of 100-200 protesters insisted on returning to the original route. Police countered with tear gas to hold them back from the prohibited area.

The French National Assembly approved marriage equality in February, and the Senate is expected to easily pass it in early April. Despite the size of Sunday’s protest in addition to January’s similar protest, polls show that the issue is not as controversial as the media portrays it, with 63 percent supporting marriage equality.

Among the protesters challenging the barricade was at least one man who insisted on using his own young child as a kind of human shield to challenge the police. Other young people can be seen nearby. Below are two clips of the violence, and the negligent father can be seen at the end of the second.

Justice

Thirteen Offensive Things Justice Scalia’s Compared To Homosexuality

By Ian Millhiser posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Mar 25, 2013 at 9:00 am


Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear the first of two cases which could end discrimination against same-sex couples and ensure that all Americans can marry the person they love. Whatever happens in those two cases, one thing is all but certain: Justice Antonin Scalia will vote to maintain marriage discrimination, and he will spend much of this week’s oral arguments making insulting comments about LGBT Americans. Here are some of the most offensive things Scalia compared to homosexuality in his past opinions:

  • Murder, Polygamy and Cruelty to Animals: In Romer v. Evans, the Court held that Colorado could not enact a state constitutional amendment motivated solely by animus towards gay people. Scalia saw no problem with laws enacted with such a motivation — “The Court’s opinion contains grim, disapproving hints that Coloradans have been guilty of ‘animus’ or ‘animosity’ toward homosexuality, as though that has been established as Unamerican. . . . I had thought that one could consider certain conduct reprehensible–murder, for example, or polygamy, or cruelty to animals–and could exhibit even ‘animus’ toward such conduct.”
  • Drug Addicts and Smokers: In the same opinion, Scalia suggested that a law which relegates LGBT people to second-class status is no different than any other law “disfavoring certain conduct.” Anti-gay laws, in Scalia’s view, are no different than laws disfavoring “drug addicts, or smokers, or gun owners, or motorcyclists.” His decision to include “gun owners” on this list is somewhat ironic, considering that he would later write the Supreme Court’s opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller which held for the first time that there is an individual right to own a firearm.
  • Prostitution and Heroin Use: Dissenting in Lawrence v. Texas, Scalia rejected the idea that an outright ban on “sodomy” violates the liberties protected by the Constitution. Such a ban, “undoubtedly imposes constraints on liberty,” Scalia wrote, but “so do laws prohibiting prostitution” or “recreational use of heroin.”
  • Incest, Adultery, Obscenity and Child Pornography: Rejecting the Lawrence majority’s conclusion that private sexuality between consenting adults receives “substantial protection” under the Constitution, Scalia responded “[s]tates continue to prosecute all sorts of crimes by adults ‘in matters pertaining to sex’: prostitution, adult incest, adultery, obscenity, and child pornography.”
  • Bestiality: Later in the same opinion, Scalia argues that gay sex can be criminalized because some people find it immoral — “The Texas statute undeniably seeks to further the belief of its citizens that certain forms of sexual behavior are ‘immoral and unacceptable,’ the same interest furthered by criminal laws against fornication, bigamy, adultery, adult incest, bestiality, and obscenity.”
  • Having a Roommate: For all his over the top rhetoric, Scalia’s cruelest dig on same-sex couples may be his most subtle. In a discussion about what the anti-gay Colorado amendment in Romer does and does not prohibit, Scalia suggests that the bond between two men or two women in a committed relationship is no greater than the bond between two “roommates”: “The amendment prohibits special treatment of homosexuals, and nothing more. It would not affect, for example, a requirement of state law that pensions be paid to all retiring state employees with a certain length of service; homosexual employees, as well as others, would be entitled to that benefit. But it would prevent the State or any municipality from making death benefit payments to the ‘life partner’ of a homosexual when it does not make such payments to the long time roommate of a nonhomosexual employee.”

After writing all of these lines, Scalia concludes his Lawrence dissent with a plea that he is not in the least bit anti-gay. “Let me be clear,” Scalia writes, “that I have nothing against homosexuals.”

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The Morning Pride: March 25, 2013

By Zack Ford on Mar 25, 2013 at 8:32 am

Welcome to The Morning Pride, ThinkProgress LGBT’s daily round-up of the latest in LGBT policy, politics, and some culture too! Here’s what we’re reading this morning, but please let us know what stories you’re following as well. Follow us all day on Twitter at @TPEquality.

- GLAAD has officially stopped using its name as an acronym to show solidarity with bi and trans people.

- Does Congress have a conservative bias against LGBT rights?

- The U.S. Navy has openly discriminated against an officer’s same-sex spouse, denying her a Certificate of Appreciation upon her wife’s retirement.

- The Nevada state Senate has passed a trans-inclusive hate crimes bill.

- Former Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove (D) now regrets signing a law banning same-sex couples from adopting children.

- The Delaware NAACP supports marriage equality.

- The chair of the Iowa Republican party believes any Republican who supports marriage equality is “doing grave harm” to the GOP.

- Disappointingly, the Arkansas House of Representatives approved a resolution reaffirming support for laws banning same-sex marriage.

- Meanwhile, the Georgia House of Representatives approved a resolution honoring the Atlanta Freedom Bands, the LGBT music association.

- Students at Texas A&M University are trying to make it optional for students’ fees to support the campus GLBT Resource Center.

- An Oregon high school has introduced unisex toilets to ensure transgender students have a safe place to use the bathroom.

- Ex-gay advocates in Britain have lost their fight to run bus ads because they would “cause grave offense” and might increase the “risk or prejudice and homophobic attacks.”

- Did the outing and public scrutiny of a trans teacher by a Daily Mail columnist lead her to commit suicide?

- NFL linebacker Scott Fujita explains his support for marriage equality.

- Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures, urged the entertainment industry to take a more critical eye to its inclusion of LGBT characters.

- CNN columnist John Sutter tackles the invisibility and yet persistence of employment discrimination against the LGBT community.

- Watch a video from Sunday night’s rally for marriage equality in New York City:

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