Proposition 8
Gay Marriage is a Fundamental Right Under the U.S. Constitution
Published November 03, 2009 @ 01:15PM PT
Two federal cases are moving forward challenging the legality of bans on same-sex marriage. One case, stemming out of Massachusetts, asserts that the Defense of Marriage Act unjustly hinders states from fully recognizing the equal rights of gay and lesbian citizens. Another case, out of California, is challenging Proposition 8, the ballot measure passed last year that rescinded the rights of gays and lesbians to marry in the state.
This particular lawsuit has made a big splash this year, in part because the two lawyers behind it are Ted Olson and David Boies, the two attorneys that argued Bush v. Gore, respectively. Today, Boies penned an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer that made a pretty damn bold statement. To play off a Miracle on 34th Street reference, Boies essentially said, "Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a constitutional right to gay marriage."
Boies makes the case that if you look at U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence, it's clear that precedent falls on the side of letting people love whoever it is that they want to love.
"The constitutional issue is quite simple," Boies writes. "The Supreme Court repeatedly has held that the right to marry the person of your choice is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the equal-protection and due-process clauses of the Constitution."
Mormons and Catholics Waste Church Resources Fighting Marriage Equality
Published October 14, 2009 @ 04:57AM PT
Sen. Harry Reid is the highest-ranking member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints serving in Congress. His church was one of the biggest funders of the anti-gay ballot initiative in California, Prop 8, which rescinded marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. Sen. Reid is now saying that as a whole, the Mormon Church has bigger fish to fry than fighting marriage equality.
According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, Sen. Reid regretted the divisiveness caused by the Mormon Church's involvement in Prop 8, and wished the institutional church would have spent resources on something much more productive to society.
"He said that he thought it was a waste of church resources and good will," LGBT rights activist Derek Washington told the Tribune. "He said he didn't think it was appropriate."
Sounds about right. Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to take away the civil rights of gays and lesbians doesn't sound like the type of investment anyone should support, let alone the Senate Majority Leader. Now let's see if we can find a Catholic politician to criticize that Church's behemoth money dump in Maine to do discriminate against gay and lesbian couples. Numbers were released yesterday in the state, and the Catholic Diocese of Portland donated $245,000 to fight marriage equality in the state.
Meanwhile, God was heard to say yesterday, "Do you know how many hungry people $245,000 could feed." Way to misplace your priorities, Catholic Church.
Catholic Church Gives Millions to Fight Gay Marriage. Why Won't They Give Money for Health Care?
Published August 24, 2009 @ 05:49AM PT
The Catholic Church gave more than $500,000 to help enact a same-sex marriage ban in Michigan. The Catholic Church gave $200,000 directly (and up to $1 million more through networks like the Knights of Columbus) to efforts to take away marriage equality in California, by supporting Proposition 8 like gangbusters. This year, the Catholic Church is expected to give up to $2 million (they've already donated more than $100,000 to date) to take away marriage equality in Maine, spending yet more money to take away civil rights for gays and lesbians.
If the Catholic Church can spend all that money on an issue like same-sex marriage, why can't they spend any money or give any institutional pull to help pass national health care, one of the Church's priorities?
Politics certainly seems to be the short answer, given that the institutional bishops have become really close to a political party in this country whose members by and large oppose national health care. Instead of wading into the debate about health care and how health care impacts poverty, education, immigration, and many other supposed priorities of the Church, Catholic bishops and many Catholic organizations have instead spent the past decade focusing on a series of 'non-negotiable' issues that have become increasingly less controversial for the American public: same-sex marriage, euthanasia, and stem cell research. There's also abortion, too, and while that remains a touchy subject in some parts of the U.S., most of the country still believes that women should have the ability to determine their reproductive health.
Makes one wonder if the Catholic Church in this country, while still a source of money for very conservative causes, is watching its political influence dry up. Last week Obama gathered numerous faith groups together to talk about universal health care. There were Jewish organizations, Methodist organizations, Baptist organizations, Muslim organizations, and evangelical organizations in the fold. But no Catholic Bishops.
On paper, the church supports universal health care. On paper, the church supports a public option. On paper, the church says that ending poverty is a fundamental issue of our time.
But in practice, the Church is spending millions of dollars to take away the civil rights of gay and lesbian people in places like Maine, instead of supporting national health care for all. Our country is having the largest conversation about health care in nearly twenty years, but the Church is more concerned about whether Lutherans will accept gay clergy.
Misplaced priorities? Well, if the sky is blue....
The Fierce Urgency of Maine
Published August 15, 2009 @ 07:01AM PT
This year will be remembered as the year of same-sex marriage, with four states enacting marriage equality already in 2009. But if conservative activists succeed in repealing Maine's same-sex marriage law this November, 2009 could be remembered as the year that the momentum for marriage equality stalled. And we can't let that happen.
Here at Netroots Nation, there have been several panels, caucuses and gatherings focused on LGBT rights, and almost universally all of them have talked about the importance of Maine. Monique Hoeflinger of the LGBT Mentoring Project spoke passionately about what Maine's ballot initiative over same-sex marriage could mean for the rest of the country: "Maine will be the turning point among the public at large over the issue of marriage equality."
What does that mean? It means that if we win in Maine, to quote that 1980s Starship song, 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.' If we win in Maine, it will have become the first time we have ever defended marriage equality at the ballot box. And the ripple effect of that in places like California could be huge.
But if we lose in Maine, it becomes the second year in a row where right-wing pundits succeed in scaling back the rights of gays and lesbians. And if we thought California was a bitter pill to swallow in the wake of Proposition 8 passing last year, just imagine what losing in Maine could feel like.
We can't let that occur. Here's the picture of the opposing side that organizers with Maine Freedom to Marry painted for us. Anti-LGBT activists will raise lots of money. Anti-LGBT activists will use as much outside help as they can get. Anti-LGBT activists won't be afraid to misrepresent the issues in order to gain the upper hand.
And we have to be prepared. Already, groups wanting to take back marriage equality have raised substantial amounts of money - although most of it comes from a small group of donors/organizations who don't even live in Maine. The Catholic Church has promised that they will give up to $2 million to take back the rights of gays and lesbians to marry. And the public relations group that ran California's Proposition 8 campaign have been hired by anti-LGBT organizers in Maine to lead the charge against marriage equality there.
For our side, there are important steps we need to take now to win this campaign. First, early money matters. If you can give $5.00, $10.00, $20.00, $50.00, or whatever to help preserve marriage equality, please consider doing so now (via Act Blue). Second, talk to your friends (or friends of friends) who live in Maine. Third, consider traveling up to Maine for what marriage equality organizers are calling "volunteer vacations." Maine is one of the most beautiful states in the country during the Fall season. Why not spend some time up there vacationing and working for the rights of gays and lesbians?
Early voting in Maine starts in October, which means that we have less than two months to prepare for a Get-Out-The-Vote campaign that rocks the house. Sure, we didn't ask for marriage equality to be put on the ballot in Maine. But now that it's there, we have to work like hell to preserve marriage equality. Both for gays and lesbians in Maine, but for those pushing for marriage equality throughout the country.
Hypocrisy 101: Lead Charge Against Gay Marriage, But Divorce Your Own Spouse
Published August 13, 2009 @ 02:51PM PT
Talk about irony. Doug Manchester, one of the Proposition 8's biggest defenders and an advocate for traditional marriage, is doing a rather un-traditional thing by conservative standards: he's divorcing his spouse. Or make that, his wife is divorcing him, after 43 years of marriage.
Divorce happens of course. But is there something extremely hypocritical at play when an ardent opponent of gay marriage - one who gives substantial amounts of money to defeat gay marriage at the ballot box - argues against same-sex marriage while severing his own marriage?
Even more dubious are some of the charges made by Doug Manchester's wife. Among other things, Elizabeth Manchester accuses Doug of taking $100,000 out of their joint checking account, and also accuses him of stealing her mail. Does that sound like behavior that's becoming of someone so dedicated to "the sanctity" of marriage?
Hell no. Which means that Manchester now gets to join the club of people like Newt Gingrich, John McCain, and Rush Limbaugh who think that gays are the worst thing to happen to marriage, but who themselves have a history of divorce (and in the case of Gingrich and Limbaugh, at least, a history of divorce after divorce after divorce...). Is that hypocritical? Sure is.
