Conservatives Dismiss CA Gay Marriage Decision By Falsely Attacking ‘Unelected Judges’
Conservatives Dismiss CA Gay Marriage Decision By Falsely Attacking ‘Unelected Judges’
Responding to the California Supreme Court’s decision yesterday overturning the state’s ban on gay marriage, congressional conservatives attacked the decision by calling it the result of “unelected judges” turning over the will of the people.
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), the House Minority Whip, charged in a statement that “unelected judges” are trying to “substitute their own worldview for the wisdom of the American people”:
Today, the decision of unelected judges to overturn the will of the people of California on the question of same-sex marriage demonstrates the lengths that unelected judges will go to substitute their own worldview for the wisdom of the American people.
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), piled on, saying that “unelected judges” had “irresponsibly decided to legislate from the bench.”
But, in making their rush to judgment about the CA decision, both Blunt and Feeney have the basic facts wrong about how California’s judicial system works. SmartVoter.org, a resource of the League of Women’s Voters, makes clear that California’s Supreme Court justices are “confirmed by the public at the next general election” after being appointed and “justices also come before voters at the end of their 12-year terms.”
In fact, each of the seven justices involved in yesterday’s decision were approved by California voters by overwhelming margins:
- Justice Joyce L. Kennard confirmed in 2006 with 74.5% of the vote.
- Justice Carol A. Corrigan confirmed in 2006 with 74.4% of the vote.
- Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar confirmed in 2002 with 74.1% of the vote.
- Justice Carlos R. Moreno confirmed in 2002 with 72.6% of the vote.
- Justice Marvin R. Baxter confirmed in 2002 with 71.5% of the vote.
- Justice Ronald M. George confirmed in 1998 with 75.5% of the vote.
- Justice Ming William Chin confirmed in 1998 with 69.3% of the vote.
The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder notes that Feeney’s statement on the decision also engages in “coded gay baiting” when he informs “Florida’s hardworking families” that he “will continue to fight to prevent San Francisco taxes and values from infiltrating our community.”
Ellen DeGeneres announces plans to get married after yesterday’s court ruling.
Ellen DeGeneres announces plans to get married after yesterday’s court ruling.
Today, on her talk show, host Ellen DeGeneres applauded the California Supreme Court’s ruling striking down the state’s ban on gay marriage and announced that she would be wedding her longtime girlfriend, actress Portia de Rossi:
This is very exciting, I have to say. Yesterday, the California Supreme Court overturned the ban on gay marriage. So I would like to say right now, for the first time, I am announcing that I am getting married. […]
I’m so excited. It’s something that we’ve, of course, wanted to do, and we’ve wanted to be legal, and we’re very very excited.
The audience gave her and de Rossi, who was also present, a long, standing ovation. Watch it:
The Advocate (via Perez Hilton) has more reactions on yesterday’s ruling from prominent members of the LGBT community.
California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban.
California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban.
The California Supreme Court has overturned the state’s ban on gay marriage today, “paving the way for California to become the second state where gay and lesbian residents can marry.” The court stated that “an individual’s sexual orientation — like a person’s race or gender — does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights.”
However, the court’s ruling “might not stick,” as right-wing organizations “have submitted more than 1.1 million signatures for an initiative that would amend the state Constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage. If at least 694,354 signatures are found to be valid, the measure would go on the November ballot and, if approved by voters, would override any court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage.”
McCain Stays Silent On Hagee’s Homophobic Slurs
McCain Stays Silent On Hagee’s Homophobic Slurs
Earlier this week, right wing pastor John Hagee, a supporter of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), re-embraced his oft-repeated belief that Hurricane Katrina represented “the curse of God” for the sins of New Orleans. Though the media have put McCain on the spot over Hagee’s characterization of the Catholic Church as “the Great Whore,” they have been reticent to press McCain on Hagee’s homophobic comments.
To his credit, Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly asked McCain last night about the “bad things” Hagee has said “about Catholics and gays and other things like that.” McCain only repudiated the statements about the Catholic church, however, tacitly refusing to denounce Hagee’s despicable homophobic slurs:
O’REILLY: OK. John Hagee is a guy…
MCCAIN: Yes.
O’REILLY: …that you sought his endorsement in San Antonio, Texas. He said bad things about Catholics and gays and other things like that. And your opponents are saying, hey, you know, McCain hangs around with Hagee. Obama hangs around Wright. No difference.
MCCAIN: I do not embrace a view that he stated about the Catholic church. I steadfastly reject it and repudiate it. I’ve never been in Pastor Hagee’s church. I know him, but the fact is that I accept his endorsement.
Watch it:
Throughout the controversy, right wingers have completely ignored Hagee’s anti-gay comments. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich said McCain “should make clear that he disagrees with statements of anti-Catholicism.” He was silent, however, about Hagee’s homophobia. In the past, McCain has repeatedly rejected Hagee’s Catholic comments, but has refused to distance himself from Hagee’s anti-gay comments (even rejecting a question from a reporter on the subject as “nonsense.”)
O’Reilly suggested that McCain had little interaction with Hagee other than “having breakfast” with him once. In fact, as Newsweek pointed out, “McCain personally wooed Hagee for more than a year.” Indeed, Hagee’s endorsement was an integral part of McCain’s attempts to woo religious conservatives.
Michigan Supreme Court rules against benefits for domestic partners.
Michigan Supreme Court rules against benefits for domestic partners.
Today, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled “that a 2004 ban against gay marriage also blocks governments and state universities from offering health insurance to the partners of gay workers. … Up to 20 public universities, community colleges, school districts and local governments in Michigan have benefits policies covering at least 375 gay couples.”
Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen: Military Ready To Accept Repeal Of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’
Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen: Military Ready To Accept Repeal Of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’
For quite some time, U.S. troops have supported repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy. A December 2006 poll of servicemembers who had served in Iraq or Afghanistan found 73 percent of those polled were “comfortable with lesbians and gays.” A 2004 poll found that a majority of junior enlisted servicemembers believed gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military, up from 16 percent in 1992.
The military’s leadership is finally catching up to its troops. On Sunday, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen told graduating cadets at the U.S. Military Academy that the military was ready to accept gay servicemembers if Congress repeals DADT:
With a national election looming, a cadet asked about the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law and what would happen if someone took office who wants to change it. “It’s a law, and we follow it,” Mullen said. Should the law change, the military will carry that out too, he said.
“We are a military that is under the control of our civilian elected leaders,” he said. “It has served us well since we’ve been founded. That is a special characteristic of our country and I would never do anything to jeopardize that.”
Mullen’s statement is a refreshing change from the military leadership’s traditional approach under the Bush administration. In March 2007, then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace publicly stated that homosexuality is “immoral.” He said that he supported DADT because “we should not condone immoral acts.” At the time, Defense Secretary Robert Gates refused to condemn Pace’s remarks, calling the general “one of the finest people I’ve ever worked with.”
Even public discussion of DADT has been considered taboo. Last year, Pentagon official David Chu claimed that a “national debate” on allowing gays into the military would bring “divisiveness and turbulence across our country” and “compound the burden of the war.” Servicemembers who have spoken out in favor of repealing the ban have been punished.
Unfortunately, the reversal of DADT likely won’t happen under a McCain presidency. In the past, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has said repealing the ban would “elevate the interests of a minority of homosexual servicemembers above those of their units” and put the “national security of the United States” at “grave risk.”
Right wing attacks ‘Dear Abby.’
In 2007, “Dear Abby” author Jeanne Phillips publicly — and controversially — spoke out in support of gay marriage. Since that time, she has become a target of conservatives. Today, the Washington Times highlights a recent analysis by the right-wing Culture and Media Institute, which concludes that Phillips has repeatedly “rejected traditional morality“:
“Abby has flown under the radar for years dispensing radical advice on matters of sexual morality while enjoying a reputation for hard-nosed, common-sense advice,” says Robert Knight, director of the institute. “We thought people ought to know there’s a pattern here that’s consistent throughout her career.”
“Dear Abby, overall, dispenses good advice on most other matters,” Mr. Knight says, “but when it comes to sex, she is a disciple of the sexual revolution, which basically says if it feels good, do it.”
Last year, PFLAG honored Phillips with its “Straight for Equality Award.” “Dear Abby is one of the most trusted advice columnists in the world and rightfully so,” said PFLAG spokesman Steve Ralls.
Right-Wing Video Warns ‘Gay Activists’ Are Plotting To ‘Take Over The Cities Of America’
Right-Wing Video Warns ‘Gay Activists’ Are Plotting To ‘Take Over The Cities Of America’
Recently, Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern (R) came under intense criticism for making a host of incendiary remarks toward gays. For example, she said gays are a “bigger threat” to our nation than terrorism. She also warned, “Gays are infiltrating city councils.” As an example, she cited the town of Eureka Springs, AR, whose city council she claimed is now “controlled by gays.”
The American Family Association (AFA) has joined in promoting this myth of the evil gay agenda in a new video called “They’re Coming To Your Town.” The poster advertising the DVD appears to have menacing rainbow-like lights in background. PageOneQ summarizes the trailer for the video:
The presentation in the AFA trailer…”They’re Coming to Your Town,” tells the tale of an uncharacteristically diverse resort town’s government infiltrated by “a handful of homosexual activists” and bent to their will through the enactment of the town’s domestic partner registry on June 22, 2007.
“Watch, and learn,” says the trailer, “how to fight a well-organized gay agenda to take over the cities of America, one city at a time.”
Watch the trailer here.
Eureka Springs is not pleased with people such as Kern, who claim that they have the city’s best interests at heart. Responding to Kern, Eureka Springs’s mayor said the city is “welcoming to all visitors and residents without regard to their race, color, sex, age, sexual orientation, disability or national origin. It is our hope that all people would aspire to this ideal.”
This is not the first time AFA has launched a homophobic campaign. In 2005, AFA president Tim Wildmon backed a warning about “evidence of homosexuality and lesbian people on programs like HGTV and Animal Planet.” AFA founder and chairman Don Wildmon also proposed a hypothetical trip to “the homosexual bathhouses,” saying, “[W]e’re going to confront these people…for what they’re doing.”
O’Reilly Disgusted By Transgender Couple: ‘Imagine A Poor Kid Getting Born Into That Family’
O’Reilly Disgusted By Transgender Couple: ‘Imagine A Poor Kid Getting Born Into That Family’
The media have been fixated on the story of Thomas Beatie, a man who “used to be a woman before undergoing gender reassignment surgery.” Beatie married a woman and is now six months pregnant.
Yesterday on Fox News, Bill O’Reilly — clearly disgusted — railed against the media’s coverage of Beatie, exclaiming, “[D]o you want a 13-year-old watching this kind of stuff and you’ve got to explain all this crazy stuff?” From his exchange with right-wing pundit Bernard Goldberg:
O’REILLY: Yes. It’s hard to keep track, Bernie. It is. Imagine a poor kid getting born into that family, going, hey –
GOLDBERG: That’s — that’s the real tragedy.
O’REILLY: Of course.
Watch it:
There’s no evidence that the child born to Beatie and his wife will be psychologically damaged, as O’Reilly claims. According to a fact sheet by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry:
Current research shows that children with gay and lesbian parents do not differ from children with heterosexual parents in their emotional development or in their relationships with peers and adults. It is the quality of the parent/child relationship and not the parent’s sexual orientation that has an effect on a child’s development. Contrary to popular belief, children of lesbian, gay, or transgender parents:
* Are not more likely to be gay than children with heterosexual parents.
* Are not more likely to be sexually abused.
* Do not show differences in whether they think of themselves as male or female (gender identity).
* Do not show differences in their male and female behaviors (gender role behavior).
Transcript: Read the rest of this entry »
I keep thinking that Joe and Mika and Willie are reasonable tolerant, hip people-- and then I see this morning's show, where the pregnant trans man's appearance on Oprah is used as grounds to cite this as "one of the reasons why 81% of Americans feel the country is headed in the wrong direction" (Joe); and "disgusting" (Mika) (!). Maybe by now, I shouldn't be surprised by Joe and Mika showing astoundingly little empathy or compassion for our community, but it still gave me a morning "jolt," especially on a day when Martin Luther King's legacy was a major topic.
You know, until now it hadn’t occurred to me that I have some sort of sinister force within my gayness that drives me to colonize gaydem into Oklahoma and Arkansas. After all, I just crave men with potbellies, polyester short sleeved dress shirts, bad haircuts, worse table manners, and brains the size of raisins. Yep, sounds like Paradise to me.
Fortunately, this video has awakened me. Look out, Oklahoma and Arkansas, I’m on my way. And I’m bringing a great big can of pink paint."