Gay Marriage

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Idaho and Nevada join the 21st century

Thanks to the recent Supreme Court decision not to take the appeals, 30 states now have marriage equality.

Oops, make that 32.

Yesterday, Idaho and Nevada’s bans were struck down as well. MarriageEqualityMap_GIF2

That means that the majority of states, containing over 60% of the population of the United States, have finally entered the 21st century.

It’s not all smooth sailing, of course. Some Republican governors are refusing to follow the court’s orders, despite the fact that such a thing is, you know, a violation of their oath of office and basically a form of treason. Like George Wallace standing in front of the schoolhouse blocking black children, they will serve as a reminder to future generations of how mean-spirited bigotry can be.

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Breaking: Supreme Court Does Something Right!

The U.S. Supreme Court today just announced that it would not accept appeals from states fighting to keep gay marriages from happening.

This means that in those states where a Federal Court (or highest State Court) held that the state could not deny marriage equality, their decision stands.  Supreme Court

The Supreme Court gets thousands of appeals, and can decide which cases to accept. By refusing to accept these cases, the court has said that the lower decision stays, and that’s the end of it.  There’s no where else to appeal to.

So Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin will have to start allowing gays to get married as soon as possible.

Let’s hope this sends about as clear of a signal as possible to all those other states that are still fighting this.  Give up. History is not on your side.  Justice has won.

EDIT:  Apparently, the court did not take a position on other cases that are similar and pending.  I am not sure exactly where they are, but it is likely that the appeals from North Carolina, West Virginia, South Carolina, Wyoming, Kansas and Colorado will also either die because they will be withdrawn or will be similarly decided soon.

That means that the number of states with gay marriage is likely to quickly jump from 19 to 30, for more than half of the country.

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Louisiana stays in the 20th Century

Good ol’ Louisiana!  Judge Feldman, perhaps inspired by the Dred Scott decision, has held that all them faggots don’t got no rights at all in Nawleans.

Judge Feldman. I think.

Judge Feldman. I think.

Breaking a streak of 21 previous decisions, Judge Feldman tied together state’s rights and a complete lack of empathy and understanding to determine that marriage is for straight people only because tradition. Or babies. Or something. You know, the standard garbage that every other judge laughs out of court.

It gets worse. He says the state has an interest in preventing gay marriage so there won’t be incest. Got it? You understand that? See the connection? Well, you might be a redneck if…

Look, we all knew this was getting to the Supreme Court sooner or later. I would have liked all courts to have been unanimous when the case arrived, but this is just a minor hump.

Or as Judge Feldman would say, “What hump?”

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I’m against “gay marriage”

A couple I know announced this weekend that they’re getting married.  (Congratulations Kris and Emily!)  They’ve discussed how happy they are that they can do so now in Pennsylvania and how weird it will be to have a gay marriage in Amish country.

But I still am against “gay marriage.”  gay+marriage+generic081612

I don’t want them to get “gay married.”  I want them to get “married.”

When Heidi and I got married, we didn’t say “Hey, we’re getting straight married, everyone!”   Other friends of mine didn’t announce, “Guess what!  We’re getting inter-racially married!”

So what I’m really looking forward to is when people stop using the phrase “gay marriage.”  It’s just “marriage.”  I know it may take a while until we stop hearing that phrase, and that will be when it’s no longer news or different — and that’s what I’m looking forward to.

You’re getting married, and I couldn’t be happier for you!

 

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Kentucky joins the 21st Century

“Sometimes, by upholding equal rights for a few, courts necessarily must require others to forebear some prior conduct or restrain some personal instinct,” Heyburn wrote. “Here, that would not seem to be the case. Assuring equal protection for same-sex couples does not diminish the freedom of others to any degree.”  

Federal Judge Heyburn hit the nail on the head with his decision striking down Kentucky’s anti-marriage law.

Judge Heyburn (approximation)

Judge Heyburn (approximation)

 “Even assuming the state has a legitimate interest in promoting procreation, the Court fails to see, and Defendant never explains, how the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage has any effect whatsoever on procreation among heterosexual spouses. Excluding same-sex couples from marriage does not change the number of heterosexual couples who choose to get married, the number who choose to have children, or the number of children they have … The Court finds no rational relation between the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage and the Commonwealth’s asserted interest in promoting naturally procreative marriages.”

Sadly, the Governor of Kentucky has vowed to appeal the decision.  It’s sad because he’s a Democrat.  Kentucky’s Democratic Attorney General refused to defend the law in court (because, as any lawyer who understands the law will tell you, it is legally indefensible), like our own AG here in Pennsylvania.

However, given that the anti-marriage folks have won exactly zero appeals makes me pretty optimistic that this appeal will also be a failure.

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Indiana joins the 21st Century

Another domino falls, and Indiana becomes the latest state to allow people in love to get married.

That brings the anti-gay-marriage wins up to a grand total of zero.    indiana-gay-pride

Today also saw Utah losing its appeal of last December’s decision, paving the way for marriages to start happening there as well.

“In less than a year, every Federal District Court to consider the issue has reached the same conclusion in thoughtful and thorough opinions – laws prohibiting the celebration and recognition of same-sex marriages are unconstitutional,” Judge Young wrote in the Indiana decision. “It is clear that the fundamental right to marry shall not be deprived to some individuals based solely on the person they choose to love. In time, Americans will look at the marriage of couples such as plaintiffs, and refer to it simply as a marriage – not a same-sex marriage. These couples, when gender and sexual orientation are taken away, are in all respects like the family down the street. The Constitution demands that we treat them as such.”

 

 

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Wisconsin joins the 21st century

I love writing these posts.

Wisconsin has now joined 26 other states where either the legislature has passed marriage equality or a judge has ruled that they anti-marriage law was unconstitutional. (In some of those states, those decisions are still on appeal.) WI-Gay-Marriage Like Pennsylvania, it is surrounded by states that had been performing gay marriages for years without a single adverse affect.

It’s inevitable. It’s been inevitable for years. And finally, many on the right are acknowledging it. The fever in their fight is gone. Governor Corbett, here in Pennsylvania, didn’t even appeal the decision, and there’s no great movement in the state to urge him to do so (since the majority of people here are in favor of gay marriage).

Still, there are some who continue to argue that laws preventing people from marrying are perfectly constitutional. Their reasons make no sense (as every judge has held) but yet they keep making them.

These people are overwhelmingly elderly. They’re stuck in the 20th century. And I know it sounds cruel, but they are dying off — along with their antiquated notions of marriage.

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Oregon joins the 21st Century

For those keeping score at home, the number of anti-gay marriage lawsuits that have succeeded is up to a grand total of zero.

Oregon is the latest state to affirm equality in marriage.  That’s a 100% success rate.  Some of my conservative friends (you know who you are) still claim that these laws preventing gay marriage are constitutional.  Not sure how many more cases we need to convince you if 100% isn’t enough.   gay oregon pd

In Oregon (like Pennsylvania) the Attorney General refused to defend a law that is clearly unconstitutional.

In his opinion, Judge McShane wrote, “Expanding the embrace of civil marriage to gay and lesbian couples will not burden any legitimate state interest … The state’s marriage laws unjustifiably treat same-gender couples differently than opposite-gender couples. The laws assess a couple’s fitness for civil marriage based on their sexual orientation: opposite-gender couples pass; same-gender couples do not. No legitimate state purpose justifies the preclusion of gay and lesbian couples from civil marriage.”

Watch:  The attack will come that Judge McShane, who is gay himself, is unable to make this decision because he is biased.  Conversely, it is just as easy to argue that he is more qualified than a straight person to make this decision, as he has suffered through the discrimination and knows first-hand its effects.

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Idaho joins the 21st Century

Hooray!  I get to do two of these posts in one week!

With this decision, anti-gay marriage wins in state courts rise to a grand total of zero.  gay+marriage+generic081612

In the last year, we’ve had decisions in Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Virginia.  Meanwhile, Hawaii, New Jersey and Rhode Island have removed the provision by the legislature, without a court decision.

That’s now eight decisions out of eight in the past year which have knocked down these laws. Not one court case has gone the other way.  The breaking down of discrimination has been 100% effective.  So to my friends who keep insisting these laws are constitutional:  How’s 100%? Is 100% enough for you?  What percentage will convince you?

“Marriage is a fundamental right of all citizens, which neither tradition nor the majority may deny,” said Judge Dale.  “The defendants offered no evidence that same-sex marriage would adversely affect opposite-sex marriages or the well-being of children.  Without proof, the defendants’ justifications echo the unsubstantiated fears that could not prop up the anti-miscegenation laws and rigid gender roles of days past.”

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Michigan joins the 21st Century

I love writing these posts!  Here’s another Federal court decision striking down a state’s law against gay marriage (or as we like to call it, “marriage”).  This time, it’s Michigan.

In the last year, we’ve had decisions in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.  Meanwhile, Hawaii, New Jersey and Rhode Island have removed the prohibition without a court decision.

This is a great map from Mother Jones that has yet to be updated to include this latest decision

This is a great map from Mother Jones that has yet to be updated to include this latest decision

Not one has gone the opposite way.  It will be quite difficult for the Supreme Court to rule that all of these cases were wrongly decided when they are unanimous.  This is especially true when all of these decisions rely upon and quote the Supreme Court’s decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act to justify their rulings.

The best parts of these decisions have been when the judges point out that the arguments of those who want to deny this basic right are ridiculous.  Judge Friedman, in this most recent case, called the witnesses “unbelievable” and called their so-called scientific studies “deeply flawed.”  (It should be noted that Judge Friedman is a Republican who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, just in case someone wants to try to argue that this is a political decision instead of a legal one.)  “In attempting to define this case as a challenge to ‘the will of the people,’ ” he wrote, “state defendants lost sight of what this case is truly about: people.”