The Gay Thing: 6th Circuit Rules FOR Gay Marriage Bans (Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan)

For an atheist, I have an unusual amount of things that are so intuitive and coincidental, that it makes me wonder if agnosticism might not be more my speed. Almost daily I have an odd occurrence, the repetition of an unusual word in disparate places, talking about an obscure celebrity, only to have them die the next day. Things like that. I had another one today. I thought, "What's going on with the 6th Circuit?"  They'd heard cases on marriage equality quite a while ago. The election is over, so I figured the timing was ripe. When were they going to rule? This was right before lunch. I did a quick couple of Google searches, and no news.

After lunch, boom, the news hit. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the gay marriage bans in their jurisdiction can stand. This is quite the departure, and provides a Circuit split, as every other Circuit Court that has ruled on the subject has ruled against such bans. In a week of bad political news (from my perspective), this was just the rancid icing on the moldy cake. I suppose it shouldn't bother me so badly, since we're on the edge of 34 states having marriage equality. Even my current state has me in the legal column.

But Ohio is my home state. We've talked about moving back there. If we moved tomorrow, in most of the states in our path, our marriage would be intact. It would wink off in the Texas panhandle, wink back on in Oklahoma, and remain so until we got to our destination. Where we'd promptly become roommates in Ohio. Clearly, this is no way to run a country. And I'm hoping, that's what the Supreme Court will think as well. The question is, when will the case even get there? If things move quickly, it could be decided by June of next year. Or maybe June of 2016. And there's no guarantee we'll win.

But I think we have a much better than even chance. Let's start with the 6th's decision. While I'm no lawyer or judge, I don't think this decision would pass in high school debate class. There's very little in the way of legal reasoning at all. It's mostly appeals to tradition, and--very oddly--an effort to duck responsibility. The court is actually saying it's not their place to decide. Not their place to decide a constitutional issue! It's absurd.

Actually, the entire battle from the anti-gay side has been absurd. I've been arguing this subject for years online and elsewhere, and there is literally nothing new to their arguments. The things that this court did latch onto have been argued down and defeated in dozens of previous decisions. These retread arguments would only sway judges who were groping for reasoning. And rather than answer the questions before them: a) can a state constitutionally ban gay people from getting married and b) can a state refuse to recognize a legal marriage from another state, were largely responded to with a, "What? Who? Us? You're asking us? It's not up to us." Crazy man. Crazy.

[Excerpt]

Supreme Court Gay Marriage Showdown Looms After Appeals Court Upholds Bans
 
The march toward gay marriage across the U.S. hit a roadblock Thursday when a federal appeals court upheld laws against the practice in four states, creating a split in the legal system that increases the chances the Supreme Court will step in to decide the issue once and for all. The cases decided were from Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

The Gay Thing: Tennessee Stalls Marriage Equality's Winning Streak

Since the Supreme Court ruled part of the (badly named) Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional in 2013, the marriage equality cause has been on an unbroken streak of victory, at least 30 wins, depending on how you count them. Inevitably, that streak was broken by a contrary decision in the State of Tennessee.

Image from source, TPM

There is a very strange wild card in play that has so far been dismissed, but in the Tennessee case was ruled valid. It's called Baker v. Nelson, a Minnesota State Supreme Court case, which ruled against same-sex marriage in 1971. The next year, the Supreme Court of the United States dismissed the appeal, but somehow--I'm not a lawyer, so I'm really not getting this--the Baker decision is precedent. Other courts have decided that times have changed in the past 43 years (imagine that!), and Baker doesn't apply. Tennessee apparently thinks otherwise.

So, it's a wrinkle. It was pretty much bound to happen, and I'm sure the National Organization for Marriage and its allies will undoubtedly be doing cartwheels, and trumpeting that the tide has turned.

[Excerpt]

Judge Ends Marriage Equality's Undefeated Streak Since SCOTUS Ruling

A state judge in Tennessee has upheld a law banning recognition of same-sex marriages, snapping the extraordinary winning streak for marriage equality in several dozen state and federal courts since the Supreme Court ruling U.S. v. Windsor in June 2013. Circuit Court Judge Russell E. Simmons ruled that Tennessee need not recognize the union of Frederick Michael Borman and Larry Kevin Pyles-Borman, who married in August 2010 in Iowa. The judge invoked Tennessee's state laws defining marriage as between one man and one woman. . .

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

That's So Takei!

The incredibly stupid "Don't Say Gay" bill in Tennessee has had one positive benefit. Star Trek's Mr. Sulu, George Takei has given us new euphamism. So maybe you can't say "gay," but you can say "Takei!

Sarah Palin Tea Bags Nashville

Ugh. I just heard on the (ludicrously named) "Power Panel" segment of the (also ludicrous) FOX "News" Sunday that opponents to both "Tea Partiers" and Sarah Palin have a derangement syndrome. This was the catch-all excuse for George W. Bush's detractors during his administration. He's not a bad President, his opponents just have "Bush Derangement Syndrome!" They conveniently forgot the gusto with which they hated Bill Clinton. The clearer difference here is that the Tea Baggers, and to a only slightly lesser extent, Palin herself, are themselves deranged.




In my previous post, I gave my impressions of Palin's appearance on F"N"S. It is no coincidence that Palin appeared on the program in tandem with her appearance at the $549-per-ticket Tea Party convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Why waste all that prep work on one event when you can get a twofer? So, here is the Great GOP 2012 Hope. Everything I said in the previous post (and all commentary I've made about Palin since fall 2008) applies to this pile of word salad too.

Trouble in Teabaggistan

Image from source, DBKP

I've covered the "tea party" movement here on the blog rather a lot, and not just to throw around "tea bagging" and "tea bagger" (though I've done that rather a lot too. . .it's fun!). I've written about how it was initially a libertarian idea, co-opted by conservatives who really, really didn't like losing in 2008 (and to a black guy, yikes!). Mostly, I've written about how what was briefly a "grass roots" movement very quickly was taken over by corporate interests (mostly behind the scenes), and mainstream Republicans. Or what passes for them these days, like batshit crazy Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Sarah Palin (R-Facebook).

It has been with a mixture of fascination and amusement that I've watched the tea partiers fracture and splinter into warring subgroups. I don't know if any of them is truly grass roots anymore, or if their scatter shot anger has focused into a real message. But the view from the sidelines is still entertaining.

[Excerpt]

NASHVILLE IS HOSTING “A” TEA PARTY CONVENTION,NOT “THE” TEA PARTY CONVENTION

The group, Tea Party Nation held a convention this weekend in Nashville and I’m not there.

How can this be? I’m conservative, in the “new media” and a supporter of the Tea Party movement. How did it come to pass that I’m at home while a mediafest seems to have broken out in the Volunteer State?

I guess I can mark it down to “poor communications. . .”

Read more at: Death by 1000 Papercuts

Rape: It's Just Not Like it Used to Be

Photo from source, Feministing

Political gaffes are a dime a dozen, but they come in many varieties. There are the malapropisms, or garbled syntax. Our President makes those daily. There are unintended double-meanings, and misunderstandings. But the ones that make your jaw drop are the ones that you're just sure the politician actually meant to say.

And this one, from Tennessee State Senator Doug Henry really takes the cake. Now, I'm not from Tennessee, and this is surely not my issue. But it's just so staggeringly bad, it warrants a little attention.

[Excerpt]

Rape: They just don't make it like they used to

“Rape, ladies and gentlemen, is not today what rape was. Rape, when I was learning these things, was the violation of a chaste woman, against her will, by some party not her spouse. Today it’s simply, ‘Let’s don’t go forward with this act.’ ”

Wow. Just wow. I mean, dude. . .

For a look-see at what the folks over at women's rights blog Feminising thought of that, click here: Feministing