the conservative case for same sex marriage

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well, okay, props to Ken for this:
Ken Mehlman Co-Chairing Major Fundraiser in Case Against Prop 8

Just got off the phone with Chad Griffin, Board President of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the organization challenging Proposition 8 in federal court, regarding former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman and reports that he is about to come out of the closet.

MehlmanGriffin tells me that Ken Mehlman is chairing a major fundraiser in late September that has already raised over $1 million for the organization battling Prop 8. The fundraiser is co-chaired by prominent Republican donors Paul Singer and Peter Thiel and will be held at Singer's home.

A large number of other Republicans are co-hosts of the fundraiser including Mary Cheney, Margaret Hoover, and Steve Schmidt. Dick Gephardt is also among the hosts.

Said Griffin to Towleroad:

"Mehlman has committeed his own resources and been an integral part of the team at the American Foundation for Equal Rights. Our goal is to get as many people who aren't on the side of gay marriage on our side, and once they are here, to welcome them."

Said AFER board member Dustin Lance Black:

"Ken represents an incredible coup for the American Foundation for Equal Rights. We believe that our mission of equal rights under the law is one that should resonate with every American. As a victorious former presidential campaign manager and head of the Republican Party, Ken has the proven experience and expertise to help us communicate with people across each of the 50 states."

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men.
 
Took them long enough. I like it much better if they support it because it's genuinely okay in their eyes instead of supporting it on a superficial level because they need the votes for upcoming elections, but still, any progress on this issue is good :up:. Plus, with all the Republicans that have come out in recent years, they can't really stand on that anti-gay platform much anymore.

I don't know if this sudden shift in view on gay marriage will drastically help their chances this November, though-I think their chances will be about the same then as they are now.

Angela
 
congratulations on the 5 years

I am sorry about the legal strangers part,
when the topic comes up, I say it is always wrong to discriminate.

That may sound like a no-brainer, but in my environment it puts me at odds with the majority.
 
Screw Virginia!


i know, right?

some life changes are on the way in 2011. for now, we're staying where it's cheap, going to roll through Oz for a month, and then figure shit out in January.



Cali is always on the table, if a few years away. :shh:
 
some life changes are on the way in 2011. for now, we're staying where it's cheap, going to roll through Oz for a month, and then figure shit out in January.



Cali is always on the table, if a few years away. :shh:

You could come live in Iowa :hyper:! It's not fast-paced like California is, but you'd be okay here, you wouldn't be "strangers" here :). Most Iowans are pretty nice people.

Hope you manage to get everything you need to figure out sorted as soon as you can. Congratulations on 5 years together, may you two have many years of continued happiness. And may the day come when you can go anywhere you want in this country and not have to battle this crap :hug:.

Angela
 
AP

MIAMI — Florida will immediately stop enforcing its ban on adoptions by gay people following a decision by a state appeals court that the three-decade-old law is unconstitutional, Gov. Charlie Crist said Wednesday.

Crist announced the decision after the 3rd District Court of Appeal upheld a 2008 ruling by a Miami-Dade judge, who found "no rational basis" for the ban when she approved the adoption of two young brothers by Martin Gill and his male partner.

"I'm very pleased with the ruling on behalf of the Gills," Crist told reporters in Tallahassee. "It's a great day for children. Children deserve a loving home."

The appeals court decision is not the final word on the law. Gill and the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented him and his partner, want the state to take the case to the Florida Supreme Court to obtain a final statewide determination on the law.

"If that continues to be their desire, we would support that, and I think given the makeup of the current Supreme Court they would have a very good chance to get a very good ruling," said Crist, a former Republican running for the U.S. Senate as an independent.

Earlier this month, Crist's campaign issued a position paper supporting several gay rights issues he'd once opposed, including adoption rights.

The prohibition was first enacted in 1977 and is the only law of its kind in the nation, according to court records. Arkansas and Utah ban any unmarried straight or gay couples from adopting or fostering children. Mississippi bans gay couples, but not single gays, from adopting.

"Clearly, Florida's law was the most draconian in the nation until today," said Robert Rosenwald, the lead counsel on the case for the Florida ACLU.

In a 28-page opinion, a three-judge panel of the court noted that gay people are permitted to become foster parents or legal guardians in Florida, yet are the only group not allowed to adopt.

"It is difficult to see any rational basis in utilizing homosexual persons as foster parents or guardians on a temporary or permanent basis, while imposing a blanket prohibition on those same persons," wrote Judge Gerald Cope for the panel. "All other persons are eligible to be considered case-by-case to be adoptive parents."

The ruling came in an appeal of the 2008 decision by the state Department of Children and Families, which had urged the judges to consider evidence of what it said were risk factors among potential gay parents. These factors, according to attorneys for the department, included more sexual activity by children of gay parents and more incidents of teasing and bullying suffered by children from gay households.

The appeals panel said the state's evidence did not back up those claims and that its "experts' opinions were not valid from a scientific point of view." DCF also now agrees, according to Wednesday's ruling, "that gay people and heterosexuals make equally good parents."

DCF said in a statement late Wednesday it was analyzing the decision and would decide ahead of the 30-day deadline whether to appeal. The statement said the agency is trying to find "the balance between the value of a final ruling from the Florida Supreme Court versus the impact on the Gill family."

Gill said he'll take the case as far as he can if the state appeals. The yearlong wait for the decision has been agony, with him worrying "week after week that my kids might be taken away."

"We're thrilled for the Gill family and we're thrilled for what this means for the advancment for human rights in the state of Florida," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, which represented the Gill family.

Gill has tried to shield the boys, now 6 and 10, by not discussing that ramifications of the case with them and putting blocks on their TV at home. If the state doesn't appeal, Gill said he can't wait to tell them he and his partner are their "forever parents" and they can finally share the same last name. It's been disappointing for the boys to enroll in school with different last names, he said.

"I'm actually going to get their birth certificates with me listed as their father. That will be a thrilling thing for me," Gill told The Associated Press in a telephone call. "I think the birth certificates are going to have a prominent place in our house. That will be the written proof of all of this struggle."

Matthew Staver, an attorney with Virginia-based Liberty Counsel, which supports the ban, said adoption is a privilege, not a right under Florida law. The agency filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting that position.

"Common sense and human history underscore the fact that children need a mother and a father," Staver said in a statement. "Gender does matter to the well-being of children. Moms and dads are not optional non-essential in the lives of children."
 
Huffington Post


Nobody ever said Ann Coulter was going to play nice during her time at Homocon, a summit held by the gay conservative group GOProud over the weekend, not even the organizers who insisted that she be there. Perhaps it came as little surprise to them, then, when the conservative pundit stood before the group of 150 attendees and aggressively railed against gay marriage.

Marriage "is not a civil right -- you're not black," Coulter told the crowd, building upon an argument that claimed the equal protections provided by the Fourteenth Amendment -- and potentially used to build a case for marriage equality -- were only applicable to black people.

Coulter, who was dropped from a recent event by conservative publication WorldNetDaily for her supposed traitorous behavior in headlining the gay event, wasn't done taking social issues to the heart of perhaps the most socially liberal faction within the GOP.

Talking Points Memo's Megan Carpentier on Coulter's speech:

In fact, despite opening her speech with a joke about the difficulty of "coming out" as a fiscal conservative to one's parents -- something she congratulated the attendees on -- Coulter's speech to GOProud mystifyingly focused on social issues and not the fiscal and foreign policy issues that brought most of the attendees there. For instance, she told GOProud that the conservative gay rights movement ought to make common cause with the anti-abortion movement because, she said, "as soon as they find the gay gene, you know who's getting aborted." Coulter also made a forceful case against sex education in schools, accusing liberals of attempting to teach kindergartners about "fisting" (which garnered her a heckler, who shouted out "What's wrong with fisting?") and told the crowd that most parents didn't want their children learning about the "homosexual lifestyle" instead of reading and writing.

But the attendees of Homocon can't say she didn't warn them -- literally.

"I should warn you: I've never failed to talk gays out of gay marriage," Coulter said at the beginning of the speech.

And the organizers of the event didn't seem surprised.


"We didn't invite her here because we agree on everything," GOProud Executive Director Jimmy LaSalvia told the Daily Caller. "We invited her here because we know she gives a great speech and we had a great dialogue on that subject tonight."

As for Coulter, she told the Daily Caller that the gay crowd was actually more receptive to her anti-gay marriage message than they were willing to concede.

"The truth is...they're already against gay marriage, they just wont admit it publicly," said Coulter. "I'm trying to get these gays to come out of the closet."
 
Marriage "is not a civil right -- you're not black," Coulter told the crowd, building upon an argument that claimed the equal protections provided by the Fourteenth Amendment -- and potentially used to build a case for marriage equality -- were only applicable to black people.

What...the...? Wow.

I've no problem with the idea of inviting people to events that you don't see eye to eye with on every issue, that's fine. But invite her because she gives a great speech? How in the world is what she said considered "great"?

Angela
 
No, because your questions imply that you are under the impression that I actually believe people should be deported for being obnoxious assholes.

Which is so unbelievably ridiculous I'm not going to dignify them with actual answers.
 
No, because your questions imply that you are under the impression that I actually believe people should be deported for being obnoxious assholes.

Which is so unbelievably ridiculous I'm not going to dignify them with actual answers.



OK, you did not say this:

"She should be deported because she's an obnoxious asshole."
 
Are you saying that you want to live in a country that deports people who you view (or others) view as "assholes?"

This one time, I disagreed with Corianderstem over how much one should be invested in following setlists of U2 shows they are not attending.

She misconstrued my intentions, and probably assumed I was being an "asshole". Next thing I knew there were three armed men that showed up at my door and threatened to send me to Italy, where my family is from. They said Corianderstem would show me mercy and allow me to stay only if I agreed that Stand Up Comedy should never be played at a concert. So that's what I did and that's why I am still enjoying freedom to this day.

So, yes, Iron Horse, she is absolutely serious.
 
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