First, in Virginia, being gay apparently makes you unqualified to be a judge:
Virginia’s General Assembly rejected a gay man for a Richmond judgeship early Tuesday, after conservatives argued that his support for gay marriage and challenge to the military’s now-defunct “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy made him unfit for the bench.
The House of Delegates voted 33 to 31, with 10 abstentions, to make Richmond prosecutor Tracy Thorne-Begland a General District Court judge in Richmond. He had needed 51 votes in the 100-member chamber to win appointment.
“He holds himself out as being married,” said Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), who is running for U.S. Senate. Noting that gay marriage is not legal in Virginia, he said that Thorne-Begland’s “life is a contradiction to the requirement of submission to the constitution.”
Next, in Colorado:
Gay couples who watched as Colorado lawmakers rejected a civil unions measure are taking comfort in the bill sponsor’s mantra: It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when civil unions become law.
The most emotional issue — some call it divisive — at the Legislature came to an end late Monday in front of hundreds of observers at the Capitol. It was the second time within a week the bill failed. The first was after a Republican filibuster, the second during a special session.
Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper had said the second go-around was needed to address a “fundamental question of fairness and civil rights” on whether gay couples deserve rights similar to married couples.
The bill’s demise during special session was expected by Democrats, who have begun using the issue as a rallying cry to topple Republicans in the November elections. Republicans assigned the bill to the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, which voted 5-4 along party lines to kill the measure.
“My family is the same as every one of yours,” said Rep. Mark Ferrandino, the Democrats’ leader in the House and a gay lawmaker who co-sponsored the civil unions bill, moments before it was defeated.
Though the ending came as no surprise, the lead-up was emotional. Two Democratic lawmakers choked up before their votes. In the audience, Marq Shafer, 31, put his hand on his partner Cody Shafer’s shoulder and nervously rubbed Cody’s wedding ring.
Republican Rep. Don Coram, whose son is gay, cited his reasons for voting against the measure while his wife, Dianna Coram, wiped away tears in the audience. Coram said civil unions are too similar to same-sex marriage, which Colorado voters banned in 2006. He blasted Democrats, accusing them of bringing up the issue to try to gain votes.
“The gay community is being used as a political pawn,” he said.
I especially love that last line- Yes, Rep. Coram, it’s the people trying to give equal rights to your son who are using gays as political pawns, not the people catering to bigots and religious nuts. I bet family gatherings are a real hoot in the Coram household.
Meanwhile, some minor blowback for the Republicans:
An openly gay supporter for Mitt Romney is asking the campaign for his money back now that President Barack Obama has endorsed marriage equality.
Bill White, the chairman and CEO of consulting firm Constellations Group and former president of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, sent a letter to the Romney campaign after Romney’s recent commencement address to Liberty University, reinforcing his position against marriage equality.
“I feel that I no longer wish to support your presidential campaign and ask that you please return the maximum contribution that I gave to you last year,” Bill White wrote in a letter obtained by CNN. He added, “You have chosen to be on the wrong side of history and I do not support your run for president any longer.”
All the Republicans have is hate and division.
JMG
Hate and division win many many more elections than they lose, because human beings have very flawed wiring.
tones
“All the Republicans have is hate and division.”‘
Truer words were never spoken -it is all they have ever had.
pragmatism
i have it on good authority that the mean old libruls and supporters of gay marriage are the haters. take it away, bristol palin:
here’s the kicker:
“Here’s the thing. In the articles and comments, I saw a lot of hate and a lot of bullying, but you know what I didn’t see much of? Arguments. In fact, this reminds me a little bit of the incident in an L.A. bar that went viral several months ago and will be shown in its entirety in my upcoming new reality tv show.”
grifters gotta do something. grift?
Dr. Loveless
LGBT organizations evacuated because of bomb threats:
http://www.metroweekly.com/news/?ak=7356
Remember when the DHS issued that report about right-wing extremism, and the Repugs lost their shit and held their breath till the report was buried? Good times.
BigSouthern
Fucking Bob Marshall. I’m almost tempted to hope he wins just to get his ass out of the GA, but God knows I don’t want to inflict him upon the rest of the country.
David Koch
PPP: Black/Gay Jimmy Carter crushing Mittens 53-41 in critical bellwether state of New Hampshire.
The swing state of New Hampshire has voted for the winner in 8 consecutive elections and in 11 of the last 12 elections.
Scott S.
@Dr. Loveless: If I can ever manage to get my fat butt seated in the Oval Office, there are so very many rightwing motherfuckers who are going to get closely acquainted with the nation’s anti-terrorism laws.
Brachiator
What sweet revenge. I hope that the Log Cabin Republicans are paying attention.
The Republicans seem to be offering gay people a choice: either go back into the closet or “convert” or be “cured.” Otherwise, to paraphrase the majority opinion in the Dred Scot case,
Sad and despicable, but this is the future that the GOP offers to gay people, to women, to nonwhites.
El Tiburon
Oh, don’t sell yourself short Judge Smails. Republicans are also not funny. At all.
The Dangerman
Don’t forget all that Corporate money so that Labor can get fucked over (that may fall under division, I suppose).
rlrr
“An openly gay supporter for Mitt Romney…”
Why is Bill White surprised? It was wishful thinking in the extreme to expect otherwise from Romney.
Teddy's Person
This is all just so fucking depressing. *sigh*
BGinCHI
The GOP also has stupidity and fear. Heaps and heaps of it.
Bubblegum Tate
But it’s hateful and divisive to call them homophobic just because of all the homophobic things they’re constantly doing.
Violet
@pragmatism:
She’s so transparent. She’s got her mom’s ghostwriter ghostwriting blog posts for her to try to pimp her (Bristol’s) upcoming reality show. Bristol had zero personality on Dancing with The Stars, I can’t imagine an entire reality show based on her life. I think watching paint dry would be more exciting–at least something would happen.
And all of that is outside the irony of Bristol Palin lecturing anyone on anything having to do with “traditional marriage”, since she’s got at least one kid and hasn’t got married once yet.
reflectionephemeral
Wow. That Bill White, he’s a fast learner, ain’t he?
True, from an electioneering perspective.
Their policy agenda was ably described a little while back by excommunicated fiscal conservative Bruce Bartlett: Republicans are the “the greedy, sociopathic party”, driven by “ambition to retake power so that they can reward their lobbyist friends with more give-aways from the public purse.”
Roger Moore
Don’t leave out the lies and violence; they’re a vital part of the Republican
pogromprogram.Yutsano
@Brachiator:
Yesbut…tax cuts. After all it won’t directly affect THEM. Until it does. But see they’re different because SHUT UP THAT’S WHY!!
Omnes Omnibus
@tones: “Hate and war – the only things we got today
And if I close my eyes
They will not go away.”
pragmatism
@Violet: its all an elaborate kardashianesque promotion for her upcoming reality show. i totally block-quote failed on the second quote.
i especially enjoyed the oh so subtle goalpost shift from “allowing two people to marry” to “allowing two people to love each other”.
AA+ Bonds
Fox News pretty much admitting defeat on the issue on their front page right now
NO LOOK OVER HERE X(
Rick Massimo
So, literally in the case of DADT, they voted against him because he was right.
Stuck in the Funhouse
The George Custer party of many last stands. Zigging when they should be zagging
There are not enough Indians in the world to defeat the Seventh Cavalry.
dmsilev
And yet, somehow, the Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud exist.
pragmatism
@AA+ Bonds: hasslebeck’s gonna hear it from the righty purists for smiling in that pic. jan brewer set teh wingnut standard for how to act in the presence of the kenyan usurper.
AA+ Bonds
White’s right – The White House knows it’s made its place in history no matter what happens
It’s usually very easy to see how these things will go; I remember when historian after historian got up in front of Congress during the Clinton impeachment to tell them that those responsible for impeachment would undoubtedly look like idiots to everyone, right or left, in a century or so
Teddy's Person
Bristol Palin (via @pragmatism):
But we’re talking about the government denying homosexual couples the same rights and privileges that it extends to heterosexual couples who are “in love” and can get married. I’m not exactly sure how you’d deny someone the right to be in love.
More B. Palin (via @pragmatism):
See above for an argument, bitch.
AA+ Bonds
One thing is sure: they are fucking Mitt Romney’s campaign up this last couple weeks
Actual poll numbers are tied w/in the margin of error nationwide and in some key states but the Rove/Crossroads story-telling folks are just getting steamrolled
Mitt Romney hasn’t even really been allowed to start his campaign; he might as well still be competing in primaries
jl
@pragmatism: And speaking of the economy:
Boehner: No Higher Taxes In Lame-Duck Debt Limit Fight
” In addition to teeing up another debt limit fight for the lame duck session of Congress later this year, by demanding dollar-for-dollar budget cuts in exchange for new borrowing authority, House Speaker John Boehner also insists that regardless of the election outcome, Republicans will reject higher taxes on wealthy Americans in that fight. ”
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/boehner-debt-limit-lame-duck-taxes.php?ref=fpa
For me the Congressional GOP is a source of both dire fear and great hope in the November election.
Biden is right, the GOP is putting all their cards on the table. Not sure how they can do as well with this strategy as they could if they would play the old bait and switch routine, if the turnout is high.
dedc79
It may not seem like it at times, but the battle is actually coming to an end. We’re seeing the dying gasps of an opposition that knows it’s losing. Every day that goes by, people from older generations with outdated views on gays and gay marriage are passing away while babies are being born who will be as stunned to learn about a time when gays couldn’t marry as I was when I first learned about a time when whites and african americans couldn’t marry.
jl
@Teddy’s Person:
I think of B Palin as being part of the Reality Show demographic. So, we need to ask if she knows all the definitions of the word ‘argument’.
Butch
I don’t feel like (OK, don’t know how to, if you must make me admit it) linking, but Britol’s original post contained a reference to Dora the Explorer that was beyond baffling.
Jewish Steel
Submission to the constitution? Isn’t this part of the vow that nuns take?
Fucking gibberish.
pragmatism
@jl: i think the UV-a and b rays have decimated orange julius’ short and long term memory.
Scott S.
@AA+ Bonds:
“ECONOMY THE ISSUE, NOT GAY MARRIAGE”
And it turns out the Democrats are winning on both issues…
Teddy's Person
@dedc79: I hope you’re right, but I’m afraid we’ve still got a long way to go. (see @pragmatism above regarding Bristol Palin). New bigots are being raised everyday by the olds ones.
rlrr
@Scott S.:
“BUT OBAMA CAUSED THE RECESSION!”
— Fox “News”
Matt McIrvin
“He holds himself out as being married,” said Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), who is running for U.S. Senate. Noting that gay marriage is not legal in Virginia, he said that Thorne-Begland’s “life is a contradiction to the requirement of submission to the constitution.”
Anyone who gets asked what gay people stand to gain from legal marriage, as opposed to marriage-in-all-but-name, can just point to this.
It reminds me a bit of the recent stories about Lawrence v. Texas. It was difficult to challenge sodomy laws in court because they were almost never enforced, which meant that test cases were difficult to find. Why overturn a law that’s almost never enforced? In part, because the existence of sodomy laws was used in legal arguments for all manner of other anti-gay discrimination. The fact that those laws were in effect still made a big difference.
Brachiator
@Yutsano:
Actually, I can understand a gay person, or anyone, who believes in conservative fiscal philosophy, and even the fig leaf of “respect” for individual rights.
But the GOP has crazily moved beyond this, and is furiously grasping onto a rigid fundamentalism just as deadly as any feverish dream they have of Islamic extremism.
And it’s not just about gays who appear to be selling out because of tax cuts. Here’s one thing that I understand, but still find puzzling. There are any number of closeted gay Republican law makers who live an openly gay second life (a la Mark Foley). And there are any number of openly gay staffers who work for openly bigoted legislators. I do not understand why other gay people continue to keep these people’s secrets. They should be outed if they willingly choose to work for people who publically and stridently demand that gay people be excluded from society. Seems to me that here the hypocrisy has gone on far too long.
Stuck in the Funhouse
@dedc79:
Agree. Whatever faults this country has, and they are legion, the march toward equality marches on. There are setbacks galore, from both traditionalist lawmakers and judges, but somehow, at some point, the leap is made. Long as we have reasonably free and fair elections, I expect this pattern to continue. The issue of gay marriage is rounding the last bend for the stretch run to another long denied freedom realized. wingnuts pounding sand won’t stop that.
AA+ Bonds
@Brachiator:
I can ‘understand’ that they’re wrong
AA+ Bonds
@Scott S.:
What seems to be happening here is that Romney super did not want to make this pre-summer business about what we call ‘social’ issues in the U.S., but instead about how he is King C.E.O. who will whip this country’s economy into blah blah blah
Guess he should not have been a gay-bashing fascist and then this might have been avoided WHOOPS
peach flavored shampoo
A winning combination, according to at least 48%-ish of the population.
I haz me a sadwhich.
Mark S.
@pragmatism:
And watch those goalposts trot down the field.
pete
To sum up: All Republicans have is hate and division. And tax cuts. And a lack of humor. And corporate money. And lies and violence. Throw in gynophobia to go along with homophobia, and that pretty much sums it up.
They still might win …
beergoggles
@Dr. Loveless:
Cole is so wrong about hate and division. That right there is some prime
christianrepublican love.AA+ Bonds
As usual, Power Play has your Real Deal Ailes Line from FoxNews
GOOD LUCK MOTHERFUCKERS
AA+ Bonds
The main notes they are hitting on Fox News/Fox Nation today:
1) This is to distract from the economy and how FDR caused the Depression by being Obama (giving Your Money to Lazy Blacks)
2) This is to raise money from the Gay Mafia That Is Rich And Tells Your Kids To Be Gay, proving we were right about that all along
3) Trans people are super gross you guys!
4) Imagine a dude in bikini briefs! ICKY POO and btw YOU TOTALLY REMEMBER RICKY MARTIN, you’re hip as fuck Dear Reader
jl
@AA+ Bonds:
The ‘out of it’ is growing strong with them. And, sad to say, I like it.
Also, is characterizing the GOP and their teabagger hordes as the American Taliban still hate speech? That phrase has been coming to my mind repeatedly recently, but I do not want to be guilty of sowing hate and division.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@AA+ Bonds:
__
Well, can you imagine “The View” being broadcast on the TV in say Spain under Franco? Me neither. QED.
Stuck in the Funhouse
The reason wingnuts resent so much what Obama did with supporting gay marriage, you have to enter the wingnut zone of fact free freedom. In their pea brains, they fashion themselves as ‘freeing peoples’, either by installing a fully free dog eat dog society at home, or invading countries and killing people to make them free. All this gay rights mumbo jumbo is best left in the dark corners of society to not upset the baby jeevus. And if they feel the urge to visit those dark corners of society themselves, they can just take a flashlight. And so can you.
jl
@AA+ Bonds:
” btw YOU TOTALLY REMEMBER RICKY MARTIN, you’re hip as fuck Dear Reader ”
I am not a ‘hep cat’ like you kids here at BJ, but I think Ricky Martin was novelty act on Lawrence Welk? Is that right?
Odie Hugh Manatee
OT: Ross Douchehat will be on Rat-Again in a few to tell us what we should think if we are stupid like him. The guest host is that guy who looks like Ralphie Nader’s son.
I’m debating on whether or not to change the channel.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@jl:
__
Well it is a rather nasty way of talking about the folks that the Karzai govt in Afghanistan is going to have to negotiate with in order to broker some sort of temporary peace agreement. After all, nasty as they are, at least the Taliban have some sort of warped and misguided sense of patriotism and are trying to further what they perceive to be their national interest. The GOP, not so much. But I suppose you are within your rights to talk that way if you want to. Just not in front of the children, OK?
Brachiator
@AA+ Bonds: RE: Actually, I can understand a gay person, or anyone, who believes in conservative fiscal philosophy
Not really the point, but thanks for trying.
gex
@dedc79: Yeah, but the bomb threats kind of imply you can’t just have a casual attitude about the conflict as it stands today.
Punchy
@jl: Wait…the GOP cannot control the tax hike, can they? Dont the Bush tax cuts expire automatically, and require a bill to pass to extend them?
Darkrose
Given the way the wingnuts flog it, I always thought the constitution was the submissive in that relationship.
AA+ Bonds
@Brachiator:
I am just wondering why you need to flash a peace sign at the people who are the reason America is in the shitter
(You don’t)
It is really condescending to treat gay people who are dangerously wrong about fiscal policy as though they are exempt somehow
FlipYrWhig
@AA+ Bonds: Um, guess they forgot that Ricky Martin performed at George W. Bush’s 2001 inauguration.
Violet
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
No, because it would have to be in Spanish. Real fascists speak English!
chopper
then stop acting like the bishop, douchebag.
AA+ Bonds
@FlipYrWhig:
Fox has worked hard to make sure that they all forget that Bush was ever inaugurated
FlipYrWhig
@Darkrose: Green balloons! Green balloons!
Darkrose
@Matt McIrvin:
If you haven’t read it already, I highly recommend Flagrant Conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas. Reading about everything that led up to it, and the actual people involved–who, in all probability, weren’t actually having sex–was fascinating. Heartbreaking, too, when I learned that one of the defendants died in 2006, and his family couldn’t afford the funeral.
the fugitive uterus
i commented on and linked to the Bill White story last nite, i think, along with some kind of rant about LC republicans.
neeewbody listens to me :)
Bruce S
“All the Republicans have is hate and division” – and tax cuts.
jl
@Punchy:
I think the extension ends Dec 31 this year. So Congress has to pass something, and Obama would have to sign it, to extend the Bush II tax cuts into 2013.
So, looks like the Congressional GOP is saying now, before the election, that they want to pass another extension, and are willing to have another debt limit showdown to get it.
I find that strategy odd, since it, as ol’ Joe Biden says, puts all the GOP cards on the table.
I guess the GOP thinks that will fire up their base and depress the non GOPper vote somehow. Or something.
Dee Loralei
@Stuck in the Funhouse: I read your last line wrong and had to do a double take, you did not say they could take a fleshlight to the dark corners, LOL!
jl
@FlipYrWhig:
” Um, guess they forgot that Ricky Martin performed at George W. Bush’s 2001 inauguration. ”
Well, see there, I think that is Welk audience territory, IMHO.
Welk, Ricky Martin, Barry Manilow, the other corny similar song dude I always mix up with Manilow, they all kind of blur together for me.
JWL
“All the Republicans have is hate and division”.
That’s not very Honorable Opposition-ey of you, is it, Cole?
Way to go!
Joe McCarthy was undeniably projecting, but he was also right. The government is infested with domestic enemies. The good news? You get to choose your own.
jl
@Dee Loralei: He didn’t say it, but that doesn’t mean they don’t.
eemom
@Brachiator:
I guess it depends on what you mean by a conservative fiscal philosophy. I mean, hasn’t the word “conservative” has been rendered essentially meaningless by being applied to people who are hellbent on crashing the economy for political gain?
On a related note, I just had a protracted and rather exhausting FB argument with a dear old fellow liberal friend who chastised me for saying that there are no republicans in office today who are “decent and responsible” people.
He further didn’t get why I believe that repealing the ACA is the equivalent of condeming millions of people to suffering and death. He’s off in “hey, if it gets reversed we’ll get single payor!” lala land.
FlipYrWhig
@jl: Are you thinking of Josh Groban or Michael Buble? Or Enrique Iglesias? Because Ricky Martin is pure pop. “Livin’ La Vida Loca” and all that. Or maybe you’re being wittier than I’m capable of getting.
Brachiator
@AA+ Bonds:
Odd. There was nothing in my previous posts about flashing peace signs to anyone.
Opinions about fiscal policy isn’t the issue.
FlipYrWhig
@eemom: Your pal is odd. Who exactly is going to rush to vote for single-payer who didn’t already vote for ACA? What, suddenly Charles Grassley says, “Hey, in that case, I’ll recant all I said about death panels and lost liberty and vote for a national system of tax-funded redistributionist health care”? That’s just not thinking, not even a little.
Chyron HR
Am I really the first to say, “Good fucking luck with that, Bill”?
jl
@FlipYrWhig:
I was thinking of Billy Joel.
For me, Welk, Ricky Martin, and Billy Joel all fall in the class of out of it novelty act music, and therefore should all be total faves of the Faux News audience.
Except I can listen to Welk reruns longer than the others before screaming and running out of the room.
Forum Transmitted Disease
@Brachiator: There are a lot of gay conservative folk who prefer the closet, and who very much do not want it opened.
There’s a reason for that. I’ll leave it to you all to guess what it is. And every guess you all make will be wrong.
Davis X. Machina
@FlipYrWhig: They’ve got their own private version of history, with a special private version of of King Pyrrhus of Eprius saying “One more such crushing defeat and we are victorious!”
Woodrowfan
@tones:
To be fair, that wasn’t ALWAYS true. OK, it’s been true for the lifetimes of everyone here but still…. 8-)
MobiusKlein
How does the math on
work?
33 + 31 + 10 = 74
74 < 100
Woodrowfan
@eemom:
Unicorns included?
Patricia Kayden
Good on Bill White!! Not understanding why gays would support Repubs given the current political climate, but good for White to demand his $$$ back. Would love to hear Romneybot’s response.
jl
@FlipYrWhig:
” Who exactly is going to rush to vote for single-payer who didn’t already vote for ACA? ”
I think if ACA goes down, no one will have to vote for single payer. It will come via incremental steps through Medicare and Medicaid eligibility expansion due to voter outrage over unnecessary premature death and suffering. It will take decades, and be extremely expensive in terms of Uncle Sam bucks.
Southern Beale
On the positive side, Lincoln Chaffee, now governor of Rhode Island, signed an executive order recognizing out of state same sex marriages and urged the legislature to allow gays to marry in the state.
Brachiator
@eemom:
I’m sure that there are Republicans who see themselves as decent. The question is what do you do when your party insists on being indecent.
This is the dilemma they face. And I don’t know whether there are Republicans who believe that they can tamp down the crazy if they win in November.
There are some liberals who seem themselves as decent, and yet they have no problem in watching people suffer, since in their fanciful big picture, this will just bring on the revolution and Nirvana.
Southern Beale
Let me add: the comments on that Lincoln Chaffee article are thoroughly repulsive.
Ruckus
@Violet:
I think watching paint dry would be more exciting—at least something would happen..
It would have to be lead based paint. In a closed room. It wouldn’t kill me fast enough but just knowing sweet relief would be on it’s way… The onoff button. Better in every way.
FlipYrWhig
@jl: Ahhh. I bet it’s because both have a first name for a last name.
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
What a topsy turvy world where gay rights are being used as a wedge against the GOP.
Jamey
And all they need on 11/6 is one more vote than the other guys. That’s the part that scares me.
g
@pragmatism: I thought that was the reality show she couldn’t sell?
The one where a young single mom goes to Hollywood and shares an apartment with two single guys….
But now she’s an expert on raising kids with traditional family values?
RalfW
Both Colorado and N.C. have in common the rejection of civil unions. Those ‘principled’ libertarians who vote for Republicans can all eat a bag of salted cowshit as far as I’m concerned.
There is no room in the GOP for anyone other than talibangelicals. The latest CBS/NYT poll showed 38 percent supporting gay marriage plus 24 percent favored civil unions. Only 33 percent said they opposed both.
By that metric, the Colorado GOP will soon be in 27%-land. Good luck with that.
Stuck in the Funhouse
@Dee Loralei:
Ha!
Nice wordplay
FlipYrWhig
@jl: That’s a bleak vision, but I think it’s too hopeful. I can’t see Republican politicians ever voting to expand health care coverage, and I can’t see Republican voters turning against their politicians to demand that they support such an expansion. Republicans _might_ support SCHIP and Medicare because even they would by and large admit that children and the elderly are special cases that can’t be solved by compelling them to “work harder.” But at this point I don’t think rank and file Republicans support taxpayer-funded health care _for themselves_, because liberty, that’s why. They’re true believers in crab-bucket syndrome.
Davis X. Machina
@jl:
Like that’s having much effect now.
That would all be drowned out in the massive effusion of Freedom™ that would follow.
Look, people don’t care if other people die, provided they’re strangers. And we have a political party popular enough to win the odd election whose core support is people who don’t care if they or their family members die, just so long as the tribe remains strong.
Self-interest just isn’t that strong a motivator.
FlipYrWhig
@Davis X. Machina: DXM and I were on the same wavelength. I tip my sparrow a la curtain rod to him.
Brachiator
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
Well, you could always just tell me what you think the reason might be.
But I am not as concerned about the gay conservatives who prefer the closet. Here, I wonder about the gay people, including activists who supposedly want equality, who know who these people are and allow them to remain in the closet, even though they work to pass laws that hurt gay people, or work for people who work to pass laws that hurt gay people.
pragmatism
@g: she can be whatever her ghostwriter can dream up. it’s the wingnut welfare ‘murican dream. USA! USA!
The Bearded Blogger
GOProud= hate us all you want but don’t raise our taxes!
The weird thing is that it’s not like the Democratic party is some sort of socialist outfit economically… The GOP is far right, the Dems are center-right.
eemom
@FlipYrWhig:
He has a theory that it can pass through reconciliation, which I guess means he is counting on the decent and reasonable teatards in the House.
Dunno, maybe it’s a “not a political junkie” kind of thing.
Suffern ACE
@eemom: If the ACA goes crashing down, no one will touch it again for 20 years. And it is just as likely that they will start cancelling medicare, and definitely rolling back medicare than extending it. Roll them dice.
Clime Acts
I am one hundred percent in support of marriage equality nation wide, not state by state as the Prez supports, BUT…
…would like us to take a breath here and remember that MARRIAGE is not the end all/be all of life and happiness and fulfillment. I fear too many of us gay folks are getting caught up in the immediate hype and projecting onto the institution magical qualities it does not possess.
Look at the divorce rate among straights.
Among the marriages that survive, look at the innumerable folks who stay in fucked up/unhappy situations with people they don’t care about any more or outright hate.
Look at the straight rate of infidelity.
Hell, I’m open to the idea that polyandry, polygamy, and group marriages ought to be allowed. What business is it of the government’s?
LOTS of people, gay straight and in between, are not well suited to marriage of any kind and shouldn’t be made to feel that civil marriage is a requirement for or a direct line to happiness. It most definitely is not.
FlipYrWhig
@eemom: I have a theory that it can pass through the serendipitous discovery of a wormhole to a cosmic dimension where it has already passed. And I think my theory is roughly as well-considered as his.
Brachiator
@Clime Acts:
We might as well ban marriage altogether then. If you are going to save gay people from misery, shouldn’t you want to save straight people from misery as well?
Davis X. Machina
@eemom: It’s more of a ‘my hobby is hitting myself in the forehead with a ball-peen hammer’ thing.
eemom
@Brachiator:
I will allow for decency on the part of ordinary folk who have various misguided reasons for voting republican, but I personally deny that status to any elected official with an R after their name. The party is actively pursuing policies that will cause suffering and death to millions of people and impoverish millions more. Anyone who signs on to that has lost any claim to the possession of decency, in my book.
The Bearded Blogger
@Southern Beale: Yay Lincoln! Call me Joe Kline but I do hope Bloomberg/Chafee/Snowe type centrists some day form an alliance with democrats
Brachiator
Some background on the the North Carolina prosecutor whose nomination to become a judge was rejected.
Past public service doesn’t matter. Competence doesn’t matter.
And the Republicans are saying that while a presumably straight married person can make decisions that might affect gay people, a gay person could not possibly be expected to make a rational or unbiased decision about anything.
Despicable.
eemom
Tee hee. Maybe I will tell the dude that all my blog friends think he’s a fucking idiot.
That’ll learn him to argue with me. :)
The Bearded Blogger
@Clime Acts: True BUT… I think the recogntion of gay marriage has benefits even for single gay people and gays who wish to remain single. It’s about recognition of gays and straights as equal before the law… it has powerful symbolic consequences
OzoneR
It’s all they need
eemom
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
At least tell us WTF is up with Anderson Cooper.
FlipYrWhig
@Clime Acts: Obama is in support of each state instituting same-sex marriage, insofar as each state sets marriage law.
You’re defining “support” on a different plane than Obama is. Obama’s statements in the interview suggest that he _wants_ each state to provide marriage equality but that he knows there are limits to how to compel them to do it. What’s the alternative? What would you say if you were being interviewed and the reporter said, as she would, “But haven’t states historically settled marriage law individually?”
So what exactly do you think you “support” that Obama isn’t brave enough to do? A constitutional amendment guaranteeing same-sex marriage? A federal marriage law that specifically creates it? How does such a thing get passed? How does it square with how the courts have, for better or worse, historically given states leeway to define such things for themselves?
Brachiator
@eemom:
Fair enough.
The Bearded Blogger
@Brachiator: Bill Maher: “Welcome to dixie, where we’re assholes about your asshole”
Randy P
@jl: I don’t want to get into a religious war over music, but I am a rabid Billy Joel fan. He’s a talented classically-trained performer and writer who has a huge range of styles. Many great songs.
Now before somebody points out that Manilow went to Julliard (or was it Eastman) I’ll emphasize “range of styles”
Brachiator
@Suffern ACE:
We’re beyond this. The GOP is not simply looking to repeal ACA, they are now actively supporting efforts that make the practice of medicine subordinate to religious bigotry, uh, they mean to say “religious liberty.”
It is not simply a matter of legislators not touching health care reforme; they will erect barriers designed to prevent people from getting any kind of medical care, treatement or insurance that is not subject to review for conformity to the most rigid interpretation of religious principles.
The Bearded Blogger
@Randy P: I like Billy Joel too… lots…
also, when you cut your comment short at “has a huge” it invites gutter-like thinking
Randy P
@The Bearded Blogger: The mobile interface is a little flaky sometimes and publishes when I don’t mean to. I tried to edit as quickly as possible but it was hard while LMAO.
I had visions of starting a sentence in this reply with “sometimes I prematurely…” and then having another accidental publish.
Clime Acts
@Brachiator:
Please try reading my comments before you reflexively object. Jeez.
Please read my first sentence in that comment. Thank you.
Clime Acts
@The Bearded Blogger:
I completely agree with you.
My comment was more of a slow down, take a breath, and realize this is not about making anyone’s lives perfect, cautionary statement before going back to the battle. Because I know people who seem to be treating it as a gateway to ultimate happiness.
Clime Acts
@FlipYrWhig:
although this wasn’t the focus of my comment, I’ll go there a little bit with you: What Obama could have done was explicitly state that he believes it is ALREADY a constitutionally guaranteed right under the 14th amendment, and that he will push for that interpretation as much as he is able to do so from here on out.
Villago Delenda Est
Can someone parse this for me? Before James Madison burns out the rotisserie? Because it makes no fucking sense at all.
“Submission to the constitution”? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
lacp
So Bill White is in favor of both gay marriage and Willard Romney economics. The Libertarian Party ought to be burning up his phone line.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@jl: I am not a ‘hep cat’ like you kids here at BJ, but I think Ricky Martin was novelty act on Lawrence Welk? Is that right?
He was a hunk-of-the-week on General Hospital.
Ella in New Mexico
The House of Delegates voted 33 to 31, with
10 abstentions,ten cowardly wimps with their penises shrunken like they were walking into the Arctic Ocean…There, fixed.
kindness
I know there are lots here who don’t like Dan Savage. Eh, what ever. I do. Read his column every week. Good on several levels. Today he had this little ‘confidential’ note at the bottom:
Amen.