A Decision is Finally Coming: Marriage Equality to be Argued at SCOTUS

As reported by many news organizations, at least four Justices of the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) have agreed to hear four cases coming out of the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals in regards to marriage equality.  After the October 6th, 2014 decision by SCOTUS to deny "cert" to challenges to rulings coming from the 4th, 7th and 10th US Circuit Courts of appeals and the despicable ruling by the 6th Circuit, this day could not come soon enough.

The two questions before SCOTUS will be whether or not same sex marriage bans in 31 states and their denial of recognition of same sex marriages performed in other states violates the 14th Amendment.  Numerous federal courts, including four appellate courts, along with several state courts have ruled that yes, these bans violate the 14th Amendment.  The 6th Circuit is the only appellate court to have ruled otherwise, going so far as to claim that the federal courts have no business overturning "voter approved" bans on marriage equality.

I am, of course, biased and believe that these bans do violate the 14th Amendment as well as the 9th Amendment.  Hell, SCOTUS has already ruled that marriage is a "fundamental right" in Loving v. Virginia (which also, by the way made marriage a "federal issue").

My hope is that the votes are there for marriage equality to become the law of the land in all 50 states and the various territories come June of this year.  My fingers are crossed.

Marriage Equallity Gets Great Field Position On A Punt From SCOTUS

Sometimes, when the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decides it really doesn't want to deal with an issue just yet, it will do what we like to call a "punt".  That is, without comment they decide to let various appellate court decisions stand.  Today, October 6th, 2014, SCOTUS did just that in regards to various marriage equality cases attempting to be reviewed by SCOTUS.

Just as we saw in several NFL games this past weekend, a punt can be a wonderful thing, for either team.  In the case of marriage equality, it is now legal for same-sex couples to get married in 24 states and the District of Columbia and in a very short time, it will be legal in 30 and Washington D.C.  That is incredible field position for advocates of marriage equality, such as myself.  In essence, to further push the football analogy, with the punt from SCOTUS, anti-marriage equality forces are stuck on their own 10 yard line with two minutes left on the clock, only one time out left , down by nine points and their quarterback is playing injured.

But, as we also saw this past weekend, the fortunes of any team can be turned around in the last two minutes.  So we need to watchful of the decision soon to come out of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which could be the first appellate decision against marriage equality.  If that is the case, SCOTUS will most likely need to take up the issue of marriage equality for a full hearing.  I just hope it doesn't come down to the that.

Grow a Fucking Pair

Why are the Justices of the United States Supreme Court so scared to do their fucking job?  That is the impression I got from oral arguments yesterday and today in the two marriage equality cases before the Supreme Court this term.  A lot of time (10 minutes for Prop 8 and 50 minutes for DOMA) was taken at the start of each oral argument to find out if the plaintiffs in each case standing.  That's right, 1/6 of oral arguments in the Prop 8 case and almost 1/2 of oral arguments of the DOMA case was spent on how the Justices might be able to kick the cases and avert doing their job.

Remember, at least four Justices voted to accept to hear these cases this term and scheduled oral arguments.  Two of the most important gay civil rights cases since 1996's Lawrence v. Texas and the Justices are looking for away to avoid handing down a real decision.  They would rather punt.  And that includes the "liberals" on the Court.

Is it too much to ask the Justices of the Supreme Court to grow a pair of fucking balls and do their job?  Is it too much for these Justices to say that this issue is too important to push down the road?  Is it too much for these Justices to say the time is now, not later, but now for them grant "equality under the law" to gays and lesbians in regards to marriage?

If not now, when?  I am getting very tired of asking that question in regards to equal rights.  So, I am going to ask this simple question of the Justices: Will you please grow a pair and find that discrimination against gays and lesbians in regards to marriage is a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment in both the Prop 8 and the DOMA cases?

Just grow a pair and do your fucking job.

The Milquetoast Evolution

The day after voters of North Carolina approved an amendment (Amendment 1) which bans same sex marriage, civil unions and some protections for single mothers, the headlines blasted that President Obama supports gay marriage.  My fellow gays, lesbians and our allies cheered with gleeful abandon.  Conservatives had a conniption fit.  All but a few on both sides act as if President Obama came out in full, unequivocal support of marriage equality.

But, in true Milquetoast President fashion, President Obama gave only qualified support for same sex marriage.  Instead of saying, “I personally support the right of same sex couples to marry and I believe the U.S. Constitution does as well”, he said this:

“At a certain point, I've just concluded that-- for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that-- I think same-sex couples should be able to get married. Now-- I have to tell you that part of my hesitation on this has also been I didn't want to nationalize the issue.

… And I continue to believe that this is an issue that is gonna be worked out at the local level, because historically, this has not been a federal issue, what's recognized as a marriage.”

In other words, our Milquetoast President has evolved enough to support same sex marriage, but thinks it is a state’s rights issue and not a civil rights issue.  He doesn’t think that this should be a national issue, but a local and state issue.  This is how the President operates.  He can’t be for something 100%, he has to try and split his support to try and appease everyone.  He could have come out in support of gay marriage before the voters of North Carolina went to the polls, but he didn’t, he waited until the day after and the results were negative.  That’s not leadership, that’s cowardice.

I understand that as President, one has to make compromises on some issues, such as the budget, national security and such.  When it comes to civil rights though, compromise is not an option.  You are either for or against.  There is no fence sitting, as President Obama was previously doing, and there is no attempt to create “separate but equal” constructs such as “civil unions” which leaves a segment of the population as second class citizens.

I understand the desire by my fellow gays and lesbians around the nation and our allies to stand and cheer the President’s “support” of gay marriage.  It’s the desire to believe that the most powerful man in the world supports our equality.  That desire, though, blinds them to the realities of our Milquetoast President and one of those realities is that President Obama will pander just as much as Mr. Romney in order to be reelected.

I thank the President for his evolution in regards to same marriage equality, I just wish it wasn’t such a milquetoast evolution.

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The full transcript and video of President Obama’s interview can be found here.

For further reading, please check out Lyle Denniston’s write up on SCOTUSBlog.

I Hate Valentine's Day

Every year leading up today, Valentine’s Day, we are inundated with ad after ad enticing us to purchase flowers, diamonds and stuffed teddy bears to show how much we love our mate.  Although those ads feature male and female couples not one of them features a same sex couple.  If love is supposed to be universal, why are gays and lesbians ignored by the flower, diamond and stuffed teddy bear companies? 

Is our money not good enough for them or is it they don’t consider our love equal or real?  That seems to be the argument by politicians and religious figures around the nation when they argue against same sex marriage.  Rick Santorum equates our love with pedophilia, bestiality and alcoholism.  The “One Million Moms” doesn’t like that a lesbian is the spokesperson for J.C. Penney.  A vast majority of states ban same sex marriage and/or recognition of a same sex marriage legal in another state, thanks to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Sure, we can celebrate victories in the war for marriage equality in Iowa, Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire, but the war is far from over.  Even though same sex couples can get married in those states, their marriages are only recognized by those states.  The United States government is prohibited from recognizing same sex marriages because of DOMA and because of DOMA states that ban same sex marriage don’t have to recognize same sex marriages from other states either.  Gays and lesbians are finally allowed to serve openly in the military, but they are eligible to receive spousal benefits as their straight married comrades-in-arms are.

This is what happens when we have legalized discrimination.  This is what happens when we put civil rights up for a popular vote.  This is what happens when religious leaders are allowed to steer legislation and push ballot measures.  This is what happens when politicians use us as punching bags to garner votes.

So, it’s not surprising that the flower, diamond and stuffed teddy bear companies don’t value us enough to include us in their marketing.  Our love just isn’t good enough for them.

I hate Valentine’s Day.

Marriage Equality Symposium

My friends over at SCOTUSblog have been having an interesting online debate regarding same-sex marriage for the past couple of weeks.  I recommend that everyone takes a bit of time and takes a look at what the various participants have been saying.