Shame On Sixth Circuit Court
www.hrc.org/blog/entry/shame-on-sixth-circuit-court?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
A Balloon Took a Camera to Space to Create the Stunning Video for José González’ New Track: WATCH
A Balloon Took a Camera to Space to Create the Stunning Video for José González’ New Track: WATCH
Most people are familiar with José González because of the famous 2005 SONY Bravia commercial shot in San Francisco with thousands of bouncing balls.
González has a new album forthcoming in February and the first track from it has hit the web along with a video produced by global collective Eyes in Space.
Writes the collective:
Seven billion people on Planet Earth, of which only 536 are lucky enough to have seen Space. Eyes In Space aspire to change this, taking every one on a personal journey to roam the cosmos. The collective’s maiden voyage allows everyone to wander space freely using immersive 360-film to create an endless, all-sensory experience. The galactic journey is accompanied by José González’ newest release. Eyes In Space is a global collective established to mesh artistic experiment with scientific innovation to open new worlds. Space is the collective’s first destination.
Check out the video and the gorgeous track, AFTER THE JUMP…
Andy Towle
Penn Medicine Program for LGBT Health – Climate
Penn Medicine Program for LGBT Health – Climate
Penn Medicine Program for LGBT Health – Climate.
N. Ireland Bakery Refuses to Apologize for Denying Gay Bert and Ernie Cake
N. Ireland Bakery Refuses to Apologize for Denying Gay Bert and Ernie Cake
A Christian-owned bakery in Northern Ireland that refused to bake a cake adorned with the Sesame Street pals and the words ‘support gay marriage’ has been ordered to make things right.
Thom Senzee
www.advocate.com/world/2014/11/06/n-ireland-bakery-refuses-apologize-denying-gay-bert-and-ernie-cake
In Blistering Dissent, Appeals Court Judge Slams Colleagues Who Upheld Gay Marriage Bans
In Blistering Dissent, Appeals Court Judge Slams Colleagues Who Upheld Gay Marriage Bans
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court judge on Tuesday issued a scathing dissent to an opinion supported by two of her colleagues who upheld bans on same-sex marriage in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky.
In a 2-1 decision, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the rulings of lower federal courts that found same-sex marriage bans unconstitutional.
But in a blistering dissent, Martha Craig Daughtrey wrote that while her colleagues’ opinion would make “an engrossing TED Talk or, possibly, an introductory lecture in Political Philosophy,” it “wholly fails” to address the issue of whether a state constitution’s ban on same-sex marriage violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The majority opinion “treats both the issues and the litigants here as mere abstractions,” Daughtrey wrote.
“Instead of recognizing the plaintiffs as persons, suffering actual harm as a result of being denied the right to marry where they reside or the right to have their valid marriages recognized there, my colleagues view the plaintiffs as social activists who have somehow stumbled into federal court, inadvisably, when they should be out campaigning to win ‘the hearts and minds’ of Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee voters to their cause,” she wrote.
“But these plaintiffs are not political zealots trying to push reform on their fellow citizens; they are committed same-sex couples, many of them heading up de facto families, who want to achieve equal status … with their married neighbors, friends, and coworkers, to be accepted as contributing members of their social and religious communities, and to be welcomed as fully legitimate parents at their children’s schools,” she continued. “They seek to do this by virtue of exercising a civil right that most of us take for granted — the right to marry.”
Citing the Supreme Court ruling that struck down key provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013, Daughtrey said that the majority of the federal appeals court ignored the damage to the children of same-sex couples whose unions were not recognized.
People familiar with the Supreme Court ruling in the Windsor case, Daughtrey wrote, “must have said to themselves at various points in the majority opinion, ‘But what about the children?’ I did, and I could not find the answer in the opinion.”
She added that it was “ironic that irresponsible, unmarried, opposite-sex couples in the Sixth Circuit who produce unwanted offspring must be ‘channeled’ into marriage and thus rewarded with its many psychological and financial benefits, while same-sex couples who become model parents are punished for their responsible behavior by being denied the right to marry.”
In concluding her dissent, Daughtrey cited the oath of office she took more than 20 years ago when she was sworn into office. She said her colleagues “seem to have fallen prey to the misguided notion that the intent of the framers of the United States Constitution can be effectuated only by cleaving to the legislative will and ignoring and demonizing an independent judiciary.” She wrote that the judiciary existed to “ensure that rights, liberties, and duties need not be held hostage by popular whims.”
“If we in the judiciary do not have the authority, and indeed the responsibility, to right fundamental wrongs left excused by a majority of the electorate, our whole intricate, constitutional system of checks and balances, as well as the oaths to which we swore, prove to be nothing but shams,” she wrote.
Read Daughtrey’s dissent below.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said the court ruled 3-2. In fact, the ruling was 2-1.
Major setback for gay marriage in US: Bans upheld in four states by federal appeals court
Major setback for gay marriage in US: Bans upheld in four states by federal appeals court
Decision 6th Circuit Court of Appeals opens the doors for US Supreme Court to review cases in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee
gregh
Shameful Sixth Circuit Decision Upholds Discriminatory Marriage Bans
Rose McGowan Is Sorry About Gay Slur; Doesn’t Get Golden Girls
Rose McGowan Is Sorry About Gay Slur; Doesn’t Get Golden Girls
For those of you who hang upon the words of celebrities, it may be time to relax a little bit about Rose McGowan. The star of Charmed and Conan the Barbarian came under fire yesterday for a few unkind, thoughtless words, and now she’s apologized. Somewhat.
“I made a dumb generalization, for that I apologize,” she wrote today, but added, “For everything else I said, no. I will not.”
“Gay men are as misogynistic as straight men, if not more so,” she said. “You wanna talk about the fact that I have heard nobody in the gay community, no gay males, standing up for women on any level?”
Errrrr, well that may not be true. Plenty of gay men are concerned about feminism and gender equality. But we get her point: as a group, gay men aren’t super-vocal about women’s issues. It’s definitely a blind spot. She’s right. And to be fair, Rose has been an ally of LGBT equality in the past, so it’s not like she’s out to attack us for no reason.
But then she said this, which is a little rude: “I see now people who have basically fought for the right to stand on top of a float wearing an orange Speedo and take molly.” Ouch.
And in her apology, she tells a story about how a gay friend of hers called Blanche from Golden Girls a slut, and then she yelled at him and corrected him, which just sounds annoying. Rose, please don’t attempt to goldsplain the show to us. It’s OK to call Blanche a slut. That’s not misogyny. That’s just being real.
matt baume
Judge Martha Daughtrey Rips Colleagues in Stinging Dissent of 6th Circuit Marriage Ruling
Judge Martha Daughtrey Rips Colleagues in Stinging Dissent of 6th Circuit Marriage Ruling
While we’re waiting for some analysis from our legal editor Ari Ezra Waldman, here are a couple of stinging passages from Judge Martha Craig Daughtry’s dissent of the 6th Circuit marriage ruling upholding gay marriage bans in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky (click to enlarge):
Daughtry then goes on to accuse her colleagues, Judges Jeffrey Sutton and Deborah Cook of betraying their oaths:
Read the full ruling and dissent HERE.
Andy Towle
IVFNJ LGBT Family Building – Start Your Journey with Us!
IVFNJ LGBT Family Building – Start Your Journey with Us!
We’ve been helping build LGBT families since 1990! IVF New Jersey’s leadership position in LGBT family building means a smoother, less stressful process for LGBT intended parents. Let us…
