LGBTQ news and entertainment
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| Michigan couple Scott and Brandon tie the knot after SCOTUS ruling |
From Freedom To Marry:
In commemorate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of the freedom to marry nationwide, we present this celebration of love. Because in the end, #LoveWins.
A little girl named Zea faces down a fire and brimstone street preacher, at a festival in Columbus, the day after the SCOTUS marriage equality ruling.
Bless the young. She’s is not backing down to the anti-gay nutjob.
Good on her.
Forward.
Never Too Late #LoveWins ❤️A video posted by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Jul 1, 2015 at 10:35am PDT
Click over to the Dallas Morning News which has an interactive map showing which counties are and are not issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Of those not issuing licenses yet, only two specifically cite “religious objections (Lipscomb and Kimball). The majority of others say they are waiting for “Official advice or forms” or a “software update.”
Get with it Texas. You can drag your feet for a while just to be stubborn, but marriage equality is here.
Forward.
Politico reports that the fantastic rainbow lights on the White House in celebration of the historic SCOTUS ruling on marriage equality was an idea months in planning.
SPOTTED, at 4 a.m. Sat. at the White House: Jeff Tiller, 32, the White House director of specialty media (includes LGBT outreach) and former press-advance marvel, who had the inspired idea of bathing the North Portico (“The President’s Front Door”) in rainbow lighting.
The crowds were gone, sunrise was coming, and the lighting contractors who had installed the rainbow were long asleep. After spending the night at the White House in a lawn chair, Jeff climbed downstairs to the tradesman entrance to unplug the lights that he had conceived of months earlier.
Sen. Ted Cruz erroneously says the recently SCOTUS ruling on marriage only applies to four states.
From Politico:
“Those who are not parties to the suit are not bound by it,” the Texas Republican told NPR News’ Steve Inskeep in an interview published on Monday.
Since only suits against the states of Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan and Kentucky were specifically considered in the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which was handed down last Friday, Cruz — a former Supreme Court clerk — believes that other states with gay marriage bans need not comply, absent a judicial order.
“On a great many issues, others have largely acquiesced, even if they were not parties to the case,” the 2016 presidential contender added, “but there’s no legal obligation to acquiesce to anything other than a court judgement.”
While Cruz’s statement may be technically true, federal district and circuit courts are obligated to follow the Supreme Court’s precedent and overrule all other states’ same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional.
Clearly Ted Cruz has no firm grasp of legal precedent.
While the decision on same-sex marriage addressed four states, that ruling becomes controlling precedent for all other courts to follow on the issue from here on forward.
If Cruz wants to force gay and lesbian couples to go through the time and expense to file lawsuits which WILL end up with a judgement in favor of same-sex marriage, he can I guess. But the result will be the same whether states go through the lawsuits or not. At the end of the day, any judge will have to cite the SCOTUS ruling and marriage equality will prevail.
Period.
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| Dalan Wells and Sgt. Brandon Morgan |
From the Washington Blade:
Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex marriage across the country, the Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday confirmed it’s set to issue spousal benefits to gay, lesbian and bisexual veterans regardless of their state of residence.
Walinda West, a VA spokesperson, told the Washington Blade the ruling striking down all state bans on same-sex marriage allows the department to “recognize the same-sex marriage of all veterans” anywhere in the United States.
“VA will work quickly to ensure that all offices and employees are provided guidance on implementing this important decision with respect to all programs, statutes, and regulations administered by VA,” West said.
Out Magazine is reporting that over 26 million Facebookers used the company’s filter to change their profile pictures to the LGBT pride rainbow in celebrating Pride Month and the historic SCOTUS ruling on same-sex marriage.
Celebrities, athletes, gay, straight, transgender…. across many spectrums folks made Facebook a veritable rainbow this weekend.
Did you change your pic?
From the Michelangelo Signorile Show on Sirius XM Radio:
On Friday, the Supreme Court handed down it’s historic ruling on marriage equality in the US.
Michelangelo Signorile took calls from listeners and Robert in Wisconsin told him how his parents left him money is their will for him to finally get married.
Robert said during the call that the SCOTUS decision “Made me feel that I was valued, and that I matter as a person now.”
Via the Austin Statesman:
County clerks can refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples based on religious objections to gay marriage, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Sunday. Paxton noted that clerks who refuse to issue licenses can expect to be sued, but added that “numerous lawyers stand ready to assist clerks defending their religious beliefs,” in many cases without charge. The formal opinion did not specify what constitutes a sincerely held religious belief, noting that “the strength of any such claim depends on the particular facts of each case.”
“Friday, the United States Supreme Court again ignored the text and spirit of the Constitution to manufacture a right that simply does not exist. In so doing, the court weakened itself and weakened the rule of law, but did nothing to weaken our resolve to protect religious liberty and return to democratic self-government in the face of judicial activists attempting to tell us how to live,” Paxton said. Paxton’s opinion also noted that judges and justices of the peace can refuse to perform same-sex marriages.
Bolding is mine.
This has been my question: WHAT will constitute a “sincerely held religious belief?” Will folks be able to suddenly claim such beliefs out of thin air?
I believe some folks may have such deep religious tenets, but what if someone is just a hater and decides to use “deeply held religious beliefs” as a shell of a defense?
And by the way – if you are a civil governmental employee like a county clerk or a judge, you should have to do your job. Suddenly state employees can decide what tasks they want to do?
Here’s the full “opinion.”
