Gay Marriage Ban Struck Down in Arkansas!

I'm with you on government having the infrastructure and capacity to handle major issues, though the bureaucracy side is what hurts them. I'm just saying that an organization who wants to stay tax exempt shouldn't be involved in politics, and that once they are, they shouldn't be able to apply that exemption to the process.

The difference being that in many cases, you have a small organization with local ties being responsible for the money, rather than having to run all decisions back through Washington.

I so can't wait for this gay marriage thing to be over, because...

1.) Said it before, bears repeating. America isn't America until we resolve this. The "all men are created equal", shit doesn't kick in until the project of Civil Rights is completed, and gay rights is that last little bit of Civil Rights that didn't get finished off in the 60's, and gay marriage is de-facto gay rights. It's the one big thing they can't do. It'll be on paper, and done.

2.) Christians will be defeated on their last social issue. It'll be over for them. They can go back to shouting "hallelujah!", and "testify!", and eating cupcakes, and leaving everyone else the fuck alone. You can put a birth and death date on fundamentalist Christianity ruining politics starting with Reagan, and ending now. And I can pee on the tombstone.

Marriage equality won't be end. We'll have nationwide marriage equality before it's illegal to fire someone for being gay in all 50 states. With the Hobby Lobby ruling, the proposed religious exemptions in ENDA would basically mean that employment discrimination against LGBT people would be legally endorsed as long as the perpetrator sincerely had a problem with gay people.

Ah, dammit, thanks for reminding me.
There's always that one step back.

That's how it works, though. We'll take a collective leap forward, and then individual areas will take 3 steps back.

True to some extent, but nonprofits also have advantages compared to government.

Major reasons to have services administered by government include accountability through open records laws, more ability to verify that services are really going to the people who need them, and the knowledge that services won't just be limited to the people donors happen to feel sympathetic towards.

But nonprofits are often able to deliver services more efficiently and effectively. People on the edges of society are often mistrustful of government, and thus potentially reluctant to seek help. Nonprofits can be, and often are, staffed entirely by volunteers (how many government agencies can say that?). And private entities can generally move much faster in response to need.

Ahem.

Not quite.

ENDA is deader than dead. All its supporters bailed after the HL decision. Precisely because of the exemption.

And the hiring thing isn't the big Christian cause that's next, though tere will be the ongoing "religious liberty" noise.

No, they need a fresh fear generartor. And THAT is gonna be folks like me. It has already begun.

You can't write off donations* to a non-profit that exists to influence public policy, a 501(c)4.

*what most people mean when they talk about churchs' tax exempt status.

And non-profits don't get to wave the 990 requirements like churches do, nor do the executives get the "parsonage exemption" that churches do.

Yup.

Transgender issues, then intersex, then who knows . . .

Damn, according to my browser, "intersex" is a misspelled word.

Doesn't "Intersex", sound like a bad 80's SF movie about a guy that uses a helmet wired to a silver condom to enter his dick's dreams?

I have to disagree, actually, as I have had a lot of debates with strident traditionalist and almost all of them "hand wave" away intersex people as being victims of a birth defect and entitled to deal with it medically without moral judgment.

What I've tried to point out to them is that the very existence of those people undermines almost all their traditional arguments against transsexuals, though most are far too obstinate to think logically. Still, I don't sense any hint of animosity towards the intersex among traditionalist. Even they realize they can't claim that THAT is a choice.

Intersex people still face routine genital mutilation and being pigeonholed into the wrong gender.

This is still a big civil rights issue.

true, but not - in the U.S. - a subject of Traditionalist frothing. The fact that reforms are needed is a different subject.

Suggest that someone leave their kid's genitals alone until the kid decides what (if anything) should be done with them, and you're bound to see some frothing.

A judge in Florida has ruled the state's ban unconstitutional. The decision only applies to one county at the moment and is currently stayed.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a decision finding Oklahoma's ban unconstitutional as well. The decision is stayed pending appeal to the SCOTUS.

A decision from the 4th circuit in the Virginia case is expected any day now.

Federal Judge Overturns Colorado’s Ban On Same-Sex Marriage.

So, there goes Colorado.
Pot, and gay marriage, what will all those poor constipated rednecks do with themselves?

I'm sure God will send a hurricane to Mississippi or some other devoutly Christian part of the US to punish Colorado over this.

Laugh their asses off at all the stupid and unemployed degenerates that try and raid the supermarkets for cheetos using their EBT cards.

Colorado is in a confusing situation. The judge in the Federal case hasn't reached a ruling on the merits. He issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the ban, but put a 30 day stay on the the injunction. The case will not proceed further until the Utah case is resolved (they're in the same appeals circuit) by either having the SCOTUS deny cert or render a decision. Unless a higher court intervenes and extends the stay, couples can begin marrying statewide in Colorado on August 25.

A state court has also ruled the ban unconstitutional earlier this month. That decision is stayed pending appeal.

The Boulder county clerk has been issuing licenses for a few weeks citing the 10th circuit decisions. The state failed to get an injunction preventing her from further issuing licenses, so couples can currently get married there with the caution that their licenses may later be invalidated.

The 4th Circuit is still expected to render a decision any day now in the Virginia case. I would not be surprised to see it tomorrow as these cases often have decisions handed down on Fridays. The 4th Circuit typically publishes decisions at 2:30 PM Eastern.

Ahem.

I know it's not respected by anyone any more but the 10th amendment says things not specifically given to the federal government belong to the states. Marriage licenses are one of those things. Somehow judges miss this part of it.

You'd have no problem with your state enacting a ban on free speech and firearms, then?

14th Amendment specifically gives the federal government the right to enforce equal protection. The 10th has nothing to do with the matter. You could make an argument that the 9th applies in that it protects individual rights that aren't explicitly mentioned, but you don't hear too much about that one.


There's been another decision in Florida ruling the state's ban unconstitutional. It's stayed pending appeal.

The Virginia case is in. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeal says that the ban is unconstitutional. No word on a stay yet. West Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas are also in the 4th.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/under...sex-marriage-ban-unconstitutional-192975.html

Are we really going to have to do this state by state...then of course all the territories...


Money well spent.

SCOTUS could have dealt with this once and for all in Windsor last year, but they chose not to. They've got 2 cases pending (Utah and Oklahoma) for the next term and this could be the 3rd, so we'll see what they do. I'd say there's a good chance they'll deny cert on each of these cases until there's a circuit split.

No, I think that will be due to global warming, I mean climate change.