Gay Rights
gregladen | January 4, 2014Utah has gay marriage. Say no more. It's officially over at the highest levels, folks. You can't spend decades legislating and ordering equality from the chambers of congress, statehouses, and the benches of the high courts before, eventually, it becomes part of our culture to assume that the state and society supports equality even if an obnoxiously large minority of citizens does not. Struggle is followed by reluctant acceptance and regulation which is followed by shifting norms. What happens then is interesting: You have to shut up. STFU in fact. If you are really against equal…
gregladen | October 15, 2009I have been to Uganda a number times, but only illegally or by accident, in which case I was in the remote bush, or in transit, stopping at Entebbe Airport, so I can't say that I know much, directly, about the culture there. However, I have spent months in Kenya and years in Zaire/Congo, and a little time in Tanzania and Rwanda, so I've kinda got Uganda surrounded. I can tell you that the political culture and government of Zaire/Congo, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda are very, very different from one another. At the same time, all of these countries have certain commonalities that are relevant…
stcynic | November 14, 2006Rabbi Yehuda Levin, the wingnut American rabbi who has been trying to destroy the Jerusalem gay pride event, is declaring victory after confining the event to a stadium and keeping it off the streets.
Rabbi Yehuda Levin of the New York-based organization Jews for Morality is in Jerusalem to protest the parade. He feels Israel's ultra-liberal Supreme Court has been very accommodating to homosexual activists; but nevertheless, he says, "the strong showing by the religious people of the city [of Jerusalem] was very effective in banishing the homosexual militants to the periphery, and as such,…
stcynic | November 14, 2006The American Family Association is really obsessed with Walmart's decisions to court gay customers, so much so that it is willing to completely distort reality in order to whoop up its mostly mindless followers into an anti-gay frenzy. Look at this Action Alert, where they make it look as though Walmart made the decision to donate a huge amount of money to a gay rights group:
In a show of support to help homosexuals legalize same-sex marriage, Wal-Mart has agreed to automatically donate 5% of online sales directly to the Washington DC Community Center for Gay, Lesbian Bisexual and…
stcynic | November 7, 2006Just how crazed has the religious right (of all varieties) gotten over the gay pride parade in Jerusalem? This crazed:
For some of their followers, the issue is worth spilling blood over: An unknown extremist Jewish group pasted up signs announcing a $500 "reward" for every gay man or woman killed during the parade, which is scheduled for Nov. 10. Several ultra-orthodox rabbis have vowed to mobilize more than 100,000 protesters to shut down Jerusalem on the day of the parade, and police warn that some groups plan to pelt the marchers with apples jagged with razor blades.
The good news, though…
stcynic | November 2, 2006More of the same from these nuts:
Members of an ultra Orthodox Jewish sect Wednesday night took to the streets in Jerusalem for a second night, setting small fire and engaging police with stones and bottles, to protest next week's gay pride parade.
A number of protesters were arrested for causing a disturbance.
The demonstration, organized by the Haredi sect, marched through mainly Orthodox neighborhoods. At one point police had to rescue a taxi driver whose cab had been encircled by protestors.
The bad news is that they're promising to keep this up every night until the event is cancelled:…
stcynic | November 2, 2006Dale Carpenter cites an op-ed piece (subscription only, unfortunately) at the Wall Street Journal written by William Eskridge and Darren Spedale that shows that, contrary to the hysterical claims of the anti-gay crowd, traditional marriage got stronger after gay marriage was legalized in several countries. Carpenter sums up their findings:
Seventeen years after recognizing same-sex relationships in Scandinavia there are higher marriage rates for heterosexuals, lower divorce rates, lower rates for out-of-wedlock births, lower STD rates, more stable and durable gay relationships, more monogamy…
stcynic | November 1, 2006The violence in response to the gay pride parade in Jerusalem has already started. Reuters reports that a group of nutcases attacked the police in Jerusalem and started fires to protest the event, which is slated to take place November 11th.
Groups of ultra-Orthodox Jews torched trash bins and hurled stones at police in Jerusalem on Tuesday in protests against plans to hold a gay rights march in the holy city.
Three policemen were hurt and five protesters arrested in what Israeli media said was one of the most violent demonstrations in the city in recent times...
They overturned trash bins…
stcynic | November 1, 2006Glen Lavy, an ADF attorney, has a deliciously illogical column at Townhall.com about the New Jersey gay marriage ruling. Even if one grants his premise, his conclusion completely contradicts that premise: Here's the premise:
Those pressing for the legalization of same-sex marriage built a lot of their case on the notion that people in love have a right to get married, whatever their gender, and that the government has an obligation to protect and enforce that right.
In fact, the government has only one obligation, when it comes to marriage, and as recently held by three major courts - the New…
stcynic | November 1, 2006After being delayed twice already, now the Jerusalem police are considering withdrawing a permit to hold a gay pride parade in Jerusalem:
Jerusalem's police department said Monday it is reconsidering its approval of a parade permit for next month's gay pride celebration.
The parade has been under increasing condemnation by religious extremists and conservative members of Israel's Parliament. Orthodox rabbis, Muslims and conservative Christians have reignited the firestorm of criticism they mounted over World Pride events held over the summer in Jerusalem. Their opposition resulted in the…
stcynic | October 30, 2006From a comment at Volokh about the New Jersey ruling:
It's an undisputed assumption that marriage is important to the welfare of children. The NJ Supreme Court decision yesterday virtually ignored the impacts on children, merely because the current executive branch officials in NJ chose to do so.
We see this argument constantly and no one that uses it offers anything like a rational reason why it actually argues against allowing gays to marry. Here's the argument:
Person A: We should allow gay people to get married.
Person B: We can't do that, because marriage is a good thing, it protects and…
stcynic | October 28, 2006Jim Chen, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, has a powerful essay comparing prohibitions on interracial marriage to prohibitions on gay marriage. I'll post a long excerpt below the fold:
Among life's challenges, none is more difficult to undertake, and none is more rewarding when achieved, than the mission of finding one person to love above all others, and persuading that person to love you in return. The law has no legitimate basis for regulating this quest on the basis of the race or sex of one's beloved.
The most obvious analogy supporting legal recognition is Loving v.…
stcynic | October 28, 2006One thing has become very clear: you can always count on Kevin McCullough to bring the crazy when it comes to gay rights (and pretty much anything else). Take a gander at this column responding to the New Jersey gay marriage ruling.
Despite all that their angry-mob front groups argue in front of television cameras to the contrary, radical homosexual activists despise the institution, and more importantly the sanctity, of marriage. That is the fundamental reason why they are seeking to destroy the institution.
Of course, Kevin, you've cracked the code and you've got it all figured out. Jason…
stcynic | October 27, 2006The Jerusalem gay pride march that I've written so much about is scheduled now for November 10th. This site reports that several different groups of anti-gay Jews and Muslims are planning to protest and disrupt the event:
The haredi sector is organizing mass protests to sabotage the gay pride parade which will be held in Jerusalem on November 10.
United Torah Judaism is leading the campaign with plans to hold a protest on King George Street where parade will pass.
These include followers of Meir Kahane, the late American rabbi with fanatical followers. And heck, these people are moderates…
stcynic | October 26, 2006My first thought when the New Jersey gay marriage ruling came down was, "Oh boy. This should be fun to watch as the religious right responds." The Thomas More Law Center has responded with a News Alert (I'm on their mailing list). And it includes this delightfully ironic quote:
Patrick T. Gillen, the Thomas More Law Center attorney who drafted Michigan's Marriage Amendment for the Coalition, noted another lesson to be learned from the decision. "The defense of traditional marriage was fatally compromised by the Attorney General's failure to defend the role that marriage plays in promoting the…
stcynic | October 26, 2006The ADF immediately put out a press release after yesterday's ruling on gay marriage from the New Jersey Supreme Court. It was a very strange statement. The title declares, NJ high court hands loss to marriage opponents. Then they spend most of the press release complaining about how bad the ruling is for "traditional marriage".
"If marriage can mean anything, then marriage means nothing," said ADF Senior Counsel Glen Lavy. "This is a wake-up call for people who believe that marriage doesn't need constitutional protection. The court was right to conclude there is no fundamental right to…
stcynic | October 25, 2006The New Jersey Supreme Court just came down with a ruling in a gay marriage case that is similar to what Vermont did a few years ago. They are requiring that all of the benefits and protections of marriage be given to gay couples, but allowing it to be called something different. Here's the key passage:
Although we cannot find that a fundamental right to same-sex marriage exists in this State, the unequal dispensation of rights and benefits to committed same-sex partners can no longer be tolerated under our State Constitution. With this State's legislative and judicial commitment to…
stcynic | October 25, 2006Okay, I know I took David Noebel to task yesterday for saying that after decriminalizing sodomy, the gays got all uppity and started demanding other things. But after seeing this article from Agape Press, I'm beginning to come around. Would you believe that those damn gays think they actually have a right to buy products from Walmart? And Walmart thinks they have a right to sell products to gays? I know it sounds crazy, but it's true, I assure you. But Randy Sharp, the director of special projects for the American Family Association, did some crack research on the Walmart website and found…
stcynic | October 24, 2006This post at House Blend reports on a tactic being used by the Republican Party in Alabama leading up to the November elections. The head of the Alabama Republican Party, whose real name - I'm not making this up - is Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, has recorded an audio clip being used in automated phone calls all over the state accusing 4 Democratic lawmakers of being captive to the "gay agenda" because one Democratic candidate for Congress there is a lesbian.
Someone should remind them that the Alabama Republicans share a party with mouth-breathing moron Gerald Allen, who thinks that all books…
stcynic | October 24, 2006The LA Times has a story about some religious right leaders pushing for gays to be purged from the Republican Party. In the wake of the Foley scandal, there are increasing calls to get gay people out of the party entirely.
"The big-tent strategy could ultimately spell doom for the Republican Party," said Tom McClusky, chief lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a Christian advocacy group. "All a big-tent strategy seems to be doing is attracting a bunch of clowns."
Now the GOP is facing a hard choice -- risk losing the social conservatives who are legendary for turning out the vote, or…