Tag: Missouri

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University of Missouri students give Michael Sam standing ovation

Photo via YouTube

Returning to his alma mater with his football team mates to accept the 2104 Cotton Bowl Trophy, newly out football player and SEC Defensive Player of the Year Michael Sam received a standing ovation from the crowd at the Mizzou vs. Tennessee basketball game halftime.

Of course, Westboro Baptist Church felt the need to show up to protest Michael Sam’s return. But hundreds of students formed a “silent wall” to block Westboro as they publicly called Sam a “filthy pervert.”

Via Instagram

Via Michael Sam Twitter

Via YouTube

(via Buzzfeed)

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Missouri: ACLU will file lawsuit this week challenging same-sex marriage ban

It looks as though Missouri will be next to join the current crop of states being challenged in court over the freedom to marry.

From News-Leader.com:

Couples from Kansas City, St. Louis, mid-Missouri and Springfield are included in the suit, which will be filed in state court in Kansas City.

The litigation comes less than a month after a federal judge struck down Oklahoma’s ban on same-sex marriage. The ban is similar to Missouri’s prohibition on same-sex marriage.

Missouri voters approved the ban in 2004 — 71 percent to 29 percent — the same year Oklahoma approved its ban. The bans in both states are amendments to the state constitutions.

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Missouri: Judge rules flashing headlights as speed trap warning is “free speech”

According to USA Today, a federal judge has ruled that flashing your headlights to warn drivers about a possible speed trap is protected as free speech under the First Amendment:

U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey in St. Louis on Monday issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the St. Louis County town of Ellisville from citing and prosecuting drivers who flash their lights to warn of radar and speed traps. Ellisville’s city attorney said there are no plans to appeal.

[snip]

Jonathan Turley, a criminal attorney and a professor at George Washington University Law School, said courts across the country are dealing with the same issue. In virtually every case except those still being decided, the person cited has prevailed, Turley said.

“This has sweeping implications for the First Amendment,” Turley said. “What this citizen is doing is warning other citizens about the violation of law. People regularly warn others about the possibility of arrest. There’s no difference between a verbal warning and a mechanical warning. Both are forms of speech.”

Who hasn’t done this while driving?

Who knew you could be cited with a possible $1,000 fine?

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Missouri man arrested for allegedly searching for someone to rape his 11 year old daugher

Missouri man arrested for allegedly planning to have his 11 year old daughter sexally assaulted

A Missouri man has been arrested after posting a Craigslist ad looking for a woman to sexually assault his 11 year old daughter.

At a press conference Monday, St. Louis County Detective Mike Slaughter said it takes a lot to shock his team of detectives, but when the father appeared at a pre-arranged meeting with the child in hand, they couldn’t believe it:

Slaughter said that the Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force was called into action after someone reported a Craigslist ad Brinkman posted last week. He told an undercover officer posing as 27-year-old woman that he was looking for a girlfriend and someone who would help him assault the girl with sex toys, according to Slaughter.

If the undercover officer liked what he saw at the Cracker Barrel then the plan was for them all go back to Brinkman’s place and begin sexually assaulting his daughter.

“From the time he posted that ad to the time we arrested him was less than 48 hours,” Slaughter noted.

Brinkman was charged with attempted statutory sodomy and was being held on a $100,000 cash-only bond. Prosecutors were considering additional charges for sex trafficking.

(via Raw Story)

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Update: Missouri hospital issues 2nd statement regarding arrested gay partner

The Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri, has posted a second statement in response to earlier reports regarding a gay man being handcuffed and removed from his partner’s bedside at the hospital.

The statement was posted on the hospital’s Facebook page:

We appreciate your concern and would like to assure you that Research Medical Center puts the care of our patients as our #1 priority regardless of sexual orientation. We support all the communities we serve. We have a long history of commitment to a culture of diversity. Research Medical Center was one of the first hospitals in Kansas City to offer domestic partner benefits, which have been in place since 2005, and we have had a policy specifically acknowledging domestic partners’ visitation rights in place for years.

This was an issue of disruptive and belligerent behavior by the visitor that affected patient care. The hospital’s response followed the same policies that would apply to any individual engaged in this behavior in a patient care setting and was not in any way related to the patient’s or the visitor’s sexual orientation or marital status. This visitor created a barrier for us to care for the patient. Attempts were made to deescalate the situation. Unfortunately, we had no choice but to involve security and the Kansas City MO Police Department.

We would also like to correct the misinformation about a restraining order. There was no issue of a restraining order by the hospital.

(h/t JMG)

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Missouri: Sen. Claire McCaskill supports marriage equality

This past weekend, Sen. Claire McCaskill expressed her full support for marriage equality:

“I have come to the conclusion that our government should not limit the right to marry based on who you love,” McCaskill wrote on Tumblr. “While churches should never be required to conduct marriages outside of their religious beliefs, neither should the government tell people who they have a right to marry.”

McCaskill joins a number of other prominent Democrats who have endorsed same-sex marriage; just last Monday, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she supported gay marriage, fueling speculation she would run for president in 2016.

McCaskill’s announcement comes two days before the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the first of two cases on gay marriage.

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Missouri teen can bring his male date to prom

Stacy Dawson, a 17-year-old senior at Scott County Central High School in Sikeston, Mo., had been told last year that he couldn’t bring his boyfriend due to a line in the school’s handbook that said “students will be permitted to invite one guest, girls invite boys and boys invite girls.”

Today, the district superintendent has said Dawson, or any gay teen, may bring a same-sex date, the line forbidding it has been removed from the rule book, NBC News reports:

“I found out why the stipulation in the student handbook was originally put in there, and it’s rather innocent, to be honest,” Alvin McFerren, Scott County Central School District superintendent, said. “This was during a time 10-15 years ago that the previous administration was having issues with some of the students trying to come in on either the single rate or the couple rate. They implemented that to make sure they couldn’t circumvent the rates that students were supposed to pay as they entered into our dances.”

McFerren said Dawson will be allowed to go to prom with his boyfriend.

“It was never intended to be a discriminatory thing,” he said. “We want an educational environment for all of our kids and we’re not ever going to discriminate as to whether or not the board has the policy and we don’t do that based on sexual orientation. Period.”

(source)

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Rep. Todd Akin kills Romney lead in Missouri

As the controversy over Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” comment continues, Mitt Romney’s lead in Missouri has vanished.

One month ago, Mitt Romney was leading in the state by 6 points.

Today, however, according to Rasmussen Reports most recent poll of Likely Missouri Voters,  President Obama leads with 47% support to Romney’s 46%. Three percent (3%) favor some other candidate in the race, and three percent (3%) more are undecided.

In addition, before the kerfuffle the Senate seat currently held by Democrat Claire McCaskill was seen as “leaning Republican” in polls.  She now holds a 10 point lead and the seat is being seen as “safely Democrat” now.

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Missouri GOP State Rep Zach Wyatt comes out and speaks against “Don’t Say Gay” bill

Republican Missouri State Rep. Zach Wyatt came out of the closet today in a speech to Republican colleagues, asking them to withdraw their support like anti-gay issues like the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which has been advancing through the legislature.

By coming out, Wyatt becomes the only openly gay Republican state lawmaker in the country, according to PROMO, Missouri’s statewide advocacy organization for LGBT equality.

Said Wyatt:

“I will not lie to myself anymore about my own sexuality. It has probably been the hardest thing to come to terms with. I have always ignored it, didn’t event think about it, or want to talk about it. I have not been immune to it. I hear the comments, usually snide ones, about me. I’m not the first or last Republican to come out. I’ve just gotten tired of the bigotry being shown from both sides of the aisle on gay issues.”

If passed, the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” would ban public school-sponsored instruction, material, or extracurricular activities that discuss sexual orientation except when concerning human reproduction.

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Missouri congressman calls for repeal of stimulus, attends ground breaking of stimulus project

Rep. Billy Long attends groundbreaking of stimulus
funded health care clinic

Freshman Rep. Billy Long (R-MO) called for a complete repeal of President Obama’s stimulus program during his campaign last year. “I hope that Congress will admit they made a mistake and vote to repeal the Stimulus Act in order to reduce our deficit,” he said confidently at the time.

On the second anniversary of the bill’s signing, Long sent out a press release claiming that the stimulus had “failed.”

On Friday, however, Long appeared with other community leaders to break ground for the new Access Family Care clinic in Cassville, Missouri. The construction was made possible with a $635,000 grant from the stimulus, secured in part by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who unlike Long supported the stimulus.

Plans for the facility include housing three medical providers, two dentists and two dental hygienists. “This will be a great facility,” Long declared at the event.

I’m not sure if Long revealed to the audience that he had called for repealing the funds that made the clinic possible.

Ah, hypocrisy. It’s a funny word, isn’t it?