Religious groups looking to GOP to fight Supreme Court’s marriage decision

Organizations that have opposed marriage equality are now turning to the Republican Party to continue the battle.

While the Supreme Court made marriage legal in the entire country, groups like the Family Research Council, Heritage Foundation, and National Organization for Marriage are pushing for passage of the First Amendment Defense Act.

Utah Senator Mike Lee introduced the measure (S.1598) last month, before the Supreme Court’s marriage decision.

Idaho Representative Raul Labrador is sponsoring a similar bill (H.R. 2802) in the House of Representatives.

The proposal, essentially a freedom of religion measure, would would prevent federal agencies from blocking tax-exempt status to individuals, or businesses, who see marriage as the union between a man and woman.

According to The Hill, the legislation has the support of Senators Ted Cruz Marco Rubio, and Lindsey Graham, all in the hunt for GOP 2016 presidential nomination.

‘The freedom to live and to act in accordance with the dictates of one’s conscience and religious convictions is integral to human flourishing, serving as the foundation upon which America has produced the most diverse, tolerant and stable society the world has ever known,’  Lee said in a statement when he released the bill.

According to The Hill, the legislation presently has 63 co-sponsors in the House and 21 in the Senate.

The anti-marriage equality groups plan to press for the bill’s passage after the 4 July recess.

‘It doesn’t change the definition of marriage,’ said David Christensen, vice president of government affairs at the Family Research Council, said to The Hill.

‘It simply protects those who believe marriage is between a man and a woman,’ Christensen added.

‘There is a clear case to be made that the government is going after Christians,’ Andrea Lafferty, president of the Traditional Values Coalition, said to The Hill.

‘The issue is really about whether we have a right to live out our faith in public,’ she continued.

The post Religious groups looking to GOP to fight Supreme Court’s marriage decision appeared first on Gay Star News.

James Withers

www.gaystarnews.com/article/religious-groups-looking-to-gop-to-fight-supreme-courts-marriage-decision/

Happy Birthday America: A Short Killjoy Rant by a Trans Immigrant
Happy Birthday to a nation founded in 1776 on slavery, colonialism, imperialism and genocide!

239 years later, many of these principles still exist but in different forms, such as anti-black police brutality, the prison industrial complex and white xenophobic supremacy here and abroad masked as “spreading democracy.” This is a nation developed on stolen land by racist, sexist Europeans, the ancestors of citizens who now tell others to “go back to your own country.”

As we recite the Pledge of Allegiance and remind religious and spiritual minority communities that this is “one Nation under [a Christian] God,” remember that liberty and justice is reserved only for those who resemble the Founding Fathers. Remember that “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” as outlined in the Declaration of Independence are meant solely for the elite. Remember that the false myth of “all men are created equal” is a consistent ploy to distract the nation, marketing Equality and Assimilation to marginalized populations as more appealing than Liberation and Freedom. Remember that we’re “number one” in all the wrong ways…

Are we truly the “land of the free” when so many people living and working within our borders have little to no access to clean water, food, shelter, medical care, employment or other resources? Are all people free when black and brown bodies are still devalued, exploited, beaten and murdered daily without accountability or justice? Are we truly the “home of the brave” when so few are willing to stand in solidarity with oppressed communities and end the injustices plaguing our own nation? Are we brave when we turn our heads to high rates of sexual assault and battery against women and femmes, and ignore the widespread killings of trans women of color? Can one truly say the phrase “I’m proud to be American” without it holding similar cultural and historical weight as saying “I support the Confederate Flag?”

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Gay Wedding Advice for Gays and Straights

Now that marriage equality is the law of the land, a few questions must still be answered.

read more

Adam Sandel

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2015/07/04/gay-wedding-advice-gays-and-straights

US Supreme Court justices ‘rap’ about marriage equality

Still celebrating marriage rights in the US? Your enjoyment is now topped off with this video by See You Next Tuesday.

It’s a parody of the Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, aka The Notorious RGB, takes to the mic to explain why she and her ‘crew’ stood up for marriage equality.

‘I make gay marriage legal with my gavel at hand, all across the USA,’ the judge ‘raps.’

Hopefully all nine of the judges watch this, especially Justice Anthony Kennedy. He wrote the actual opinion! Where’s his video?

h/t: Huffington Post

The post US Supreme Court justices ‘rap’ about marriage equality appeared first on Gay Star News.

James Withers

www.gaystarnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-justices-rap-about-marriage-equality/

WATCH: Top LGBT Legal Experts Break Down SCOTUS Gay Marriage Ruling, Look Ahead

Three leading experts broke down the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges this week on Free Speech TV’s “Gay USA.”

Co-hosts Andy Humm and Ann Northrop were joined by Freedom To Marry’s Evan Wolfson, James Esseks of the ACLU’s LGBT & AIDS Project, and constitutional and civil rights attorney Joan Gibbs.

The intro features footage from outside the Supreme Court after the ruling, as well as photos of landmarks across the country that were lit up in rainbow colors in response. The 58-minute segment concludes with footage (shot by yours truly) from the wedding of Jack Evans and George Harris, a gay couple of 54 years who were the first to marry in Dallas.

In addition to their initial reactions to the ruling, Wolfson, Esseks and Gibbs discussed what it could mean for LGBT equality going forward.

“I went back to my office because I figured I needed to read the decision to be able to answer questions and so on,” Wolfson said. “Those who know me may be surprised, but I found myself crying. I was scrolling through the decision and each paragraph would trigger a memory of a conversation or a battle or the pioneers in the movement whom I’ve been talking to a lot in the last several months. …  And It was just so profoundly moving. I realized afterwards it was partly moving and partly relief.”

Esker said he was in the courtroom when Justice Anthony Kennedy read the decision.

“There was absolute collective relief, and lots of tears,” Esseks said. “I was crying, and the guy sitting next to me was balling. It was the culmination of decades of work.”

They also discussed how significant they believe the ruling is, from a legal standpoint, in the context of LGBT civil rights, and particularly nondiscrimination laws.

“This is heightened scrutiny, this is equal protection, it’s the command of the Constitution, and we need to go out and use it that way,” Wolfson said.

They touched on backlash over the ruling, such as the push for “religious liberty” carveouts for government officials and in public accommodations. Finally, they talked about the need for an LGBT-inclusive federal civil rights law.

“This is a high point if not the high point of our lives, and it’s important that we not let it stop here,” Wolfson said.

Watch it below.

The post WATCH: Top LGBT Legal Experts Break Down SCOTUS Gay Marriage Ruling, Look Ahead appeared first on Towleroad.

John Wright

WATCH: Top LGBT Legal Experts Break Down SCOTUS Gay Marriage Ruling, Look Ahead