LGBTQ news and entertainment
I realized I’ve been posting the “progress of marriage equality” maps from Wikipedia showing the beautiful blue states where gay and lesbian couples enjoy the freedom to marry.
But then I thought “what if folks really like red???”
So, for all the red lovers, here’s the current state of same-sex marriage in the US in rich, vibrant red from the folks at Freedom To Marry.
See? I do like both sides 🙂
Click the pic for an enlarged view.
Set to the fab Sara Bareilles’ “I Choose You” – check out the shiny happy people who were among the first in Boise, Idaho to exercise their freedom to marry.
Congrats kids! Happy Dance Time!
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has granted the state of Alaska a stay on a district court’s ruling that the state’s same-sex marriage ban in unconstitutional until Friday, October 17th at noon to allow Alaska an opportunity to seek a stay from the United States Supreme Court.
Should SCOTUS deny the request, the stay dissolves at 12:00 p.m. PDT on October 17, 2014.
Read the ruling here.
The domino effect of the US Supreme Court’s decision to NOT review any of the same-sex marriage rulings from appellate courts has become apparent as states under the jurisdiction of those courts now are bound by the Circuit Court rulings.
That includes South Carolina, who is covered under the jurisdiction of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals who held that Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional.
However, South Carolina Governor Haley and Attorney General Wilson continue to apply the marriage ban as if nothing had happened.
So….
Today Lambda Legal, in partnership with South Carolina Equality, filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court of South Carolina arguing that South Carolina is obligated to allow same-sex couples to marry.
“The Fourth Circuit’s decision means that same-sex couples in South Carolina should be shopping for a caterer, not a lawyer. Governor Haley and Attorney General Wilson cannot continue to ignore the rule of law. Fortunately, they have run out of cards to play – we’re urging the court to allow same-sex couples in South Carolina to marry without any further delay,” said Beth Littrell, Senior Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office based in Atlanta. “The state doesn’t have any credible arguments for a court in South Carolina to entertain.”
“The Governor and Attorney General are playing politics with our families and it’s shameful,” said South Carolina Equality lawyer Nekki Shutt, partner at Callison Tighe & Robinson. “Instead of celebrating and planning weddings, same-sex couples all over South Carolina are holding their collective breath – and they have been waiting long enough.”
(via press release)
Stephen Colbert covered the recent news regarding marriage equality last night highlighting the latest state to join the majority – Alaska.
“Gay marriage is legal in Alaska! Gay couples will have the right to celebrate the traditional Alaskan way – by having Bristol Palin cold-cock one of their guests.”
Colbert also covered the new attitude the Vatican seems to have about the gays.
This just makes my day.
Congratulations Idaho!
Couples getting married outside the courthouse #idpol pic.twitter.com/FhtAwF34vv
— Kimberlee Kruesi (@kkruesi) October 15, 2014
Amber and Rachel. Among first with same sex marriage license. pic.twitter.com/rNS1pGGPjc— Karen Zatkulak (@KTVBKaren) October 15, 2014
One of the first same-sex marriage licenses issued in Idaho. Note the Spouse/Spouse section at the top. #idpol pic.twitter.com/1cXc57UWMo— Scott Graf (@ScottGrafRadio) October 15, 2014
#MarriageEquality is official in #idaho. Huge crowd outside courthouse. #ssm #idpol pic.twitter.com/g3mvM9Fi9f— Christina Marfice (@IPTchristina) October 15, 2014
From this past weekend, watch Freedom To Marry head Evan Wolfson calmly and methodically deconstruct all of hate group leader Brian Brown’s misleading lies and exaggerations against same-sex marriage in an hour-long call-in show on C-SPAN.
Best moment of the hour is at 43:00 – Wolfson calls out Brown for participating at the recent anti-gay Kremlin conference.
Wolfson: “Mr. Brown was in Russia, people can go and look it up, for something called the World Conference [Congress] Of Families, that endorsed a resolution calling on other countries to adopt the same kind of vicious, brutal, sweeping anti-gay law that Putin’s Russia just enacted that has launched a wave of thuggery and beatings in the street and discrimination against gay people in that country that is now seeking to export that kind of attack. That’s not about marriage. That’s about beating up and in some cases killing and licensing thuggery. Mr. Brown was part of that conference and that’s part of the work he is doing.”
Brown: “That’s absolutely wrong.”
Wolfson: “People can look it up. “
Brown: “His facts are absolutely wrong. All people can look up are Evan Wolfson’s and Human Rights Campaign’s absolute lies and slurs.”
Wolfson is excellent at staying on point and addressing the real concerns and issues regarding marriage equality.
Watch below.
Gov. Butch Otter has issued a statement acknowledging his state has run out of options and same-sex marriage will begin in Idaho beginning tomorrow morning at 10AM MDT.
“The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has issued its mandate for enforcement of decisions overturning the Idaho Constitution’s prohibition on same-sex marriage effective at 10 a.m. MDT, 9 a.m. PDT on Wednesday, October 15.
“I continue to believe that the federal courts are mistaken in abandoning the sanctity of traditional marriage and in undermining the will of Idaho voters and each state’s right to define marriage. But we are civil society that respects the rule of law. We have done all we can through the courts for now to defend traditional marriage in Idaho.”
You’ll note the use of “for now” in that last sentence.
Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden’s spokesman, Todd Dvorak, told BuzzFeed News, “Attorney General [Wasden] currently has no plans for filing any legal challenge today or tomorrow.”
BREAKING: 2nd federal judge declares #NC marriage ban unconstitutional. Statement to follow. #LoveWinsAgain #DayOneNC— ACLU-North Carolina (@ACLU_NC) October 14, 2014
From QNotes:
A federal judge in Greensboro, N.C., has ruled that the North Carolina’s anti-LGBT marriage amendment is unconstitutional, but will also allow the state’s top Republican legislative leaders to intervene in their continuing effort to defend the constitutional ban.
U.S. District Court Judge William Osteen issued his order Tuesday, following fellow federal Judge Max Cogbburn’s ruling on Friday overturning the amendment and opening legal marriage to same-gender couples across the state.
From WRAL:
Chief U.S. District Court Judge William Osteen Jr. issued an order granting requests by House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate leader Phil Berger seeking to intervene in the cases. Osteen’s order follows a separate ruling Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. declaring the ban unconstitutional, triggering a rush of joyful same-sex couples getting legally married.
Osteen agreed with Cogburn that a July ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia required that North Carolina’s ban must be struck down. However, he differed on whether the Republican leaders should be allowed to enter the cases. The state’s Democratic attorney general has concluded any further defense of the prohibition would be futile.
“In reaching this conclusion, this court is not expressing an opinion on the relative merits or demerits of any appeal, only that there is an appeal right that a party with arguable standing and interest has sought to preserve,” wrote Osteen, who was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush.
Pastor Ron Baity has long railed against marriage equality.
After leading many anti-gay marriage rallies and being honored by the American Family Association with their 2012 “Watchman Award,” Mr. Baity is now spewing fire and brimstone about the “super-ebola” plague (or something) that will come to America because “gay.”