Friday, December 07, 2012

GOProud Reacts To SCOTUS Decisions


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MAINE: Portland City Hall To Perform Midnight Marriages On Dec. 29th

Portland's City Hall will open at midnight on December 29th, the first day that gay Mainers can marry.
The announcement came a day after Augusta said it would open its offices for the same purpose on that Saturday, during more traditional morning hours. Portland decided to go a little further and open the minute the law takes effect. "There was a lot of discussion about logistics, and the feedback from staff and others was that this would work," said city spokeswoman Nicole Clegg. "It's very exciting," said Ian Grady, communications director for EqualityMaine, the state's leading gay-rights group. "I think the biggest part of the excitement is these people who have been waiting years and years who literally don't want to wait another second."
One of the most beautiful aspects of this latest bit of LGBT history has been watching city governments and civil servants step up, often on their own time, to serve our people.  To serve their people.

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NOM Reacts To SCOTUS Decisions

"We believe that it is significant that the Supreme Court has taken the Prop 8 case. We believe it is a strong signal that the Court will reverse the lower courts and uphold Proposition 8. That is the right outcome based on the law and based on the principle that voters hold the ultimate power over basic policy judgments and their decisions are entitled to respect. Had the Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts' decisions invalidating Proposition 8, it could simply have declined to grant certiorari in the case. It's a strong signal that the justices are concerned with the rogue rulings that have come out of San Francisco at both the trial court and appellate levels. It's worth noting that Judge Reinhart is the most overruled judge in America. I think this case will add to his record." - John Eastman, chairman of NOM.

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AFER Reacts To Prop 8 Decision

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Protect Marriage Celebrates

"The day we've been waiting for is finally here. Today we scored a MAJOR victory for traditional marriage in the Supreme Court of the United States!! Just moments ago, the Supreme Court GRANTED our petition seeking the Court’s review of the Ninth Circuit’s erroneous decision striking down California's Proposition 8. Thankfully, now we finally have a fighting chance at a fair hearing to defend the votes of over 7 million Californians who approved Prop 8 to restore traditional marriage. This is a great relief, after a long and difficult journey through the lower courts where the deck was stacked against us from the start." - California-based hate group Protect Marriage, via press release.

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SCOTUS Reactions

MA Attorney General Martha Coakley
We believe that the First Circuit’s ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act was correct and we look forward to the time when that discriminatory law is conclusively invalidated. Though the Supreme Court has chosen to take up the issue of DOMA’s constitutionality in another case – Windsor v. United States – my office will continue to work hard to support the parties involved. We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will decide, once and for all, that DOMA’s discrimination is unjustifiable and wrong.
Lambda Legal
This is an exciting moment in our journey toward equality. DOMA is a terrible law that forces our government to discriminate against loving same-sex couples, and it is time for it to go. It is clear that DOMA's days are numbered. Every one of the cases that the Court was considering makes a clear and compelling case for striking down this outrageous and discriminatory law. As we have throughout this litigation, we will contribute support and file a friend-of-the-court brief. We look forward to working with the ACLU and other sister organizations in making this case before the Court. As for Hollingsworth v. Perry, while the Supreme Court's decision to review the Ninth Circuit's correct and carefully-worded ruling delays the restoration of equal access to marriage for same-sex couples in California, we believe the lower court rulings in California will stand.
ACLU
Windsor is represented by attorneys from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; the American Civil Liberties Union; the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. While New York and eight other states now give same-sex couples the freedom to marry, DOMA requires otherwise legally married same-sex couples like Edie and Thea to be treated by the federal government as if they had never married,” said New York Civil Liberties Union executive director, Donna Lieberman. “It is time for the Supreme Court to strike down this unconstitutional statute once and for all.”
NY Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell
While I am disappointed that Californians will now have to wait even longer for Marriage Equality to be restored in their state, I am profoundly hopeful that the Supreme Court is taking this opportunity to consider the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act. I was proud to help lead New York’s successful Marriage Equality fight, but until the federal government recognizes marriages like mine, we have not achieved true Marriage Equality.
GLAD
DOMA creates a gay-only exception to federal recognition of state-licensed marriages, and we believe that the federal government should stop discriminating against same-sex couples legally married by their states. We know from working with legally married same-sex couples since 2004 in Massachusetts that DOMA undermines their security in every aspect of life and death. GLAD has been leading the fight for marriage equality for two decades, including the historic marriage equality breakthroughs in Massachusetts and Connecticut. That the issue will soon be heard by the Supreme Court is a vindication of our work to achieve equal protection under the law for same-sex couples. This day has been long in the making, and we are committed to the success of this case.
Empire State Pride Agenda
Although marriage equality in New York and the recent wins in Maine, Maryland and Washington were major victories, DOMA currently prevents our marriages from being recognized on the federal level. This means that our commitments are not honored and our families are not protected by the federal government. We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will grant all married couples, in New York and other states, the recognition they deserve by upholding the multiple lower court rulings that have already declared sections of DOMA and Proposition 8 unconstitutional. We view these deliberations as necessary to end discrimination and advance full equality for all Americans.
Human Rights Campaign
Today is a milestone day for equal justice under the law and for millions of loving couples who want to make a lifelong commitment through marriage. The passage of Proposition 8 caused heartbreak for so many Americans, but today’s announcement gives hope that we will see a landmark Supreme Court ruling for marriage this term. As the Court has ruled 14 times in the past, marriage is a fundamental right and I believe they will side with liberty, freedom and equality, moving us toward a more perfect union as they have done in the past. “Proposition 8 has been already been declared unconstitutional in Federal District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Now the Supreme Court has an opportunity to do the same and send a resounding message of hope to LGBT young people from coast to coast that they have the same dignity and same opportunities for the future as everyone else.
Freedom To Marry
By agreeing to hear a case against the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, the Court can now move swiftly to affirm what 10 federal rulings have already said: DOMA’s ‘gay exception’ to how the federal government treats married couples violates the Constitution and must fall. When it comes to the whole federal safety net that accompanies marriage – access to Social Security survivorship, health coverage, family leave, fair tax treatment, family immigration, and over 1000 other protections and responsibilities -- couples who are legally married in the states should be treated by the federal government as what they are: married." “Additionally, gay and lesbian couples in California – and indeed, all over the country – now look to the Supreme Court to affirm that the Constitution does not permit states to strip something as important as the freedom to marry away from one group of Americans.
CA Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom
Today marks the beginning of the end for a California journey that started eight years ago when San Francisco issued same-sex marriage licenses. By agreeing to hear the Proposition 8 case the U.S. Supreme Court could end, once and for all, marriage inequity in California. Forty-five years after the Supreme Court ruled that marriages between interracial couples were constitutional in Loving vs. Virginia, Justices can once again reaffirm the basic American principal of equality for all. Today’s announcement starts the clock towards the final decision for California. History will one day be divided into the time before marriage equality and the period that follows. And thankfully, we will be on the side of history worthy of being proud of.
Marriage Equality USA
It’s crystal clear that the United States Supreme Court should rule in favor of the freedom to marry. Our Constitution guarantees every American the fundamental human right to marry the person they love – regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or any other external characteristic. Proposition 8 targeted lesbian and gay people – and lesbian and gay people alone – to take away their freedom to marry and thus exclude them from the American dream. Proposition 8 cannot stand.
NGLTF
The recent election signaled just how far we’ve come on the path toward treating all families fairly, with landmark statewide victories affirming the right of loving, committed same-sex couples to share in the celebration and responsibilities of marriage. This long road to the high court has been filled with thousands of personal conversations about why marriage matters to us, and of how discrimination hurts our families. The transformative nature of talking about our love and our lives is clear, as we saw with the recent sweeping statewide marriage victories, and in the fact that the majority of Americans now supports the freedom to marry. But the journey is not finished, for as long as DOMA and Prop. 8 remain intact, then true equality remains out of reach. It’s time the Supreme Court strike down DOMA and Proposition 8, once and for all.
Equality California
While we would have preferred for the court to decline to hear the Prop. 8 case — which would have immediately restored the freedom to marry in California — we've prepared for this and we intend to file a friend-of-the-court brief urging the court to find Prop. 8 unconstitutional. The arguments in favor of the freedom to marry are strong, and we are confident that they will receive a fair hearing from the court. And as we have seen in the last month, the nation has taken important steps forward toward affirming this basic human right — we know that full equality is coming.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
Today’s decision to hear these two cases on same-sex marriage in the nation’s highest court is truly historic. Already, first and second circuit federal appeals courts have deemed DOMA unconstitutional, and I am pleased the Supreme Court will soon have its voice heard on this important issue. Regardless of the Court’s ultimate decision, Congress will need to do its job too. It is well past time for the federal government to recognize the marriages of all loving and committed couples and finally put the discriminatory DOMA policy into the dustbin of history.
National Center for Lesbian Rights
Both the federal DOMA and California’s Proposition 8 serve only one purpose: to harm and stigmatize same-sex couples and their children. Without a doubt, Ted Olson, David Boies, and our colleagues at the ACLU will make the strongest possible case for equality before the Court. We are confident the Supreme Court will strike down DOMA once and for all next year, and, after four long years, will finally erase the stain of Proposition 8 and restore marriage equality to California couples.The day is now clearly in sight when the federal government, the State of California, and every state will recognize that same-sex couples and their children are entitled to the same respect and recognition as every other family.
Log Cabin Republicans
Today's decision by the Supreme Court to review Proposition 8 and hear a challenge to DOMA is another step forward for California couples to marry, with the hope that the federal government will also recognize these marriages," said Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper. "In recent years, many conservative judges have repudiated DOMA, and five of the eight justices who have overturned this anti-federalist and discriminatory statute were appointed by Republicans. Add conservative champions like for former Solicitor General, Ted Olson, and it becomes clear that true conservatism demands respect for the freedom to marry.
More as they arrive....

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BREAKING: Supreme Court To Hear Proposition 8 & Windsor DOMA Cases

SCOTUSblog weighs in:
Trying to sort this all out, it is clear that the Court has agreed to consider the merits case in Prop. 8, because that is what the petition presented as its question, but that it is also going to address whether the proponents had a right to pursue their case. If the Court were to find that the proponents did not have Art. III standing, that is the end of the matter: there would be no review on the merits of Proposition 8, or of the 9th CA decision striking it down.
UPDATE: The decisions have been posted.

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MN Governor: I'd Sign A Marriage Bill

Democratic Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton today told NPR that he will sign a marriage equality bill should one reach his desk. 
When asked about legalizing same-sex marriage after Minnesotans defeated a constitutional amendment defining marriage as only between a man and a woman, Dayton said he would sign a bill if it comes to him. But he said he's unsure if the Legislature is ready to consider the issue. "I hope we're going to get to that point. The younger generation is broadly accepting of that change and we'll get there, it's just a question of when," he said.
Last year Dayton symbolically vetoed Minnesota's ultimately failed ballot measure to place a ban on same-sex marriage in the state constitution.

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New URLs Purchased By NOM

NOMexposed today revealed that Brian Brown's crew has purchased the above URLs in an apparent plan to sow infighting among LGBT people. Earlier this year secret NOM documents exposed the hate group's plan to incite anti-gay hatred in the black community.

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SCOTUSblog Says Stand By...

SCOTUSblog has posted an "editor's note" at the top of their site: "We anticipate orders, including likely in the same-sex marriage cases, this afternoon. We will be live blogging beginning around 2:00PM. Monday morning, we expect further orders and opinion(s)."

That's the only "news" today at this writing.

UPDATE: Their live-blog is now running. They advise that any denials, which is what many hope for in the Prop 8 case, probably won't come until Monday.

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Photo Of The Day

SF Weekly reports:
You can count on San Francisco to keep things real, and last night the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence didn't just keep it real, they kept it really entertaining. Was it a coincidence that the sisters had dinner reservations next to the very conservative Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio (aka "America's Toughest Sheriff") last night at John's Grill in Union Square? Whether it was or wasn't, last night's surprise dinner guests made for some great Kodak (and Hallmark) moments.
More photos at the link. (Tipped by JMG reader Dan)

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Koch Brothers Group Slams "Naughty" Republicans For "Treason" On Tax Reform

The wingnut Koch Brothers astroturf group Americans For Prosperity today launched a new "Merry Taxmas" website which slams top Republicans for "treason" over their dealings with the Obama administration regarding the fiscal cliff.  Soon to be former Sen. Jim DeMint tops the "nice" side of the site, which includes disparaging e-cards for followers to send to their traitorous reps. Infighting is hilarious, y'all.

UPDATE: Obviously, the naughty list includes some Dems.

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Alec Baldwin Slams NYC Speaker Christine Quinn: She Has Blood On Her Hands

Last night Alec Baldwin appeared on CNN to tell Piers Morgan that openly lesbian NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn is "untrustworthy" and "self-seeking." Baldwin, who says he is not running for mayor, added that Quinn "has blood on her hands" for her role in Mayor Bloomberg's successful bid for a third term despite two earlier voter referendums that had limited top officials to two terms. Quinn herself gained a third term due to that City Council vote to overrule the referendums.

(Via Gothamist)

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UGANDA: Tabloid Publishes Photos Of Soccer Star "Sodomizing A Boy"

The Ugandan daily tabloid Red Pepper today published photos allegedly depicting a local soccer star having sex with a young man they characterize as a "boy." Gay Star News has the story:
A photo depicting Chris Mubiru having anal sex with a young man covered the entire front page of the paper entitled: "SMOKED OUT! Uganda Cranes boss nabbed sodomising players – Shocking pictures inside." The paper printed five striking photos of the head of Cranes football team allegedly in the process of "sodomising" a young team player. The photos detailed the alleged sexual acts with captions designed to outrage the country’s conservative population: "MASTER AT WORK: Mubiru nails the boys butt,"  "shafting" and "hurting the boy," to finally "END GAME: The boy struggles to stand up after the bum shattering session." The alleged "young player" was not identified nor could the validity of the pictures be ascertained. No statement has been issued by the Crane’s football team at the time of publishing this story. Speaking with Gay Star News, Denis Nizoka, editor of Identity Kenya said: "This was clearly designed to provoke a moral outrage about what is seen as a bastion of male sportsmanship – the country’s top football team."
The timing of today's Red Pepper story is doubtlessly meant to generate increased support for the still-pending Anti-Homosexuality Act.

RELATED: In 2010 a different Uganda tabloid published the names and photos of "100 Top Homos" under the headline "HANG THEM."

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Jesus Is In The Closet

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BRITAIN: Nurse Who Took Prank Call From Fake Queen Elizabeth Found Dead

On Wednesday an Australian radio duo pretending to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles prank-called the British hospital caring for Kate Middleton. Today the nurse that took that call and revealed information about Middleton's condition was found dead. Authorities suspect suicide.
DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian made the prank call from Down Under, impersonating Prince Charles and the Queen to get information about Kate's condition.  The duo — whose station is notorious for courting controversy — were amazed when their dodgy uppercrust British accents got them put through to Kate's ward in the King Edward VII Hospital. The nurse apparently failed to rumble it was a hoax from the 2Day FM staff. She is understood to be the first person heard during the prank call. She was initially thought to be a receptionist at the hospital but is now said to have beeen a nurse staffing the switchboard. The woman was found unconscious close to the King Edward VII Hospital. Paramedics made desperate efforts to revive her but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Prior to today's news, the DJs had issued an apology.

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YouTube Launches New Interface

If you've been on YouTube this morning, you've already noticed today's change, which is the first update the site has made in quite some time. They write:
On YouTube video always comes first, and with this new design the site gets out of the way and lets content truly shine. Videos are now at the top of the page, with title and social actions below. Also, playlists have been moved up, so you can easily browse through videos while you watch. You may also notice YouTube is looking a little more like other Google sites. Because you login to YouTube with your Google Account, we wanted our new design to remind you that all of your favorite Google features will follow you to YouTube.
The usual wailing has commenced on Twitter.

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Dan Savage On "Normal" Sex

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Cory Booker's Third Day On Food Stamps

"My third day on the #SNAPChallenge was by far the toughest. Today, I was in motion and at meetings all day. My crazy schedule required that I prepare all of my food in the morning to enable me to eat on the go. In addition to preparing and packaging my meals, I realized early this morning that I am eating too much food per meal. If I do not cut back the amount I am eating at each meal, I will run out of food before the #SNAPChallenge is over.  In the days ahead I am now going to eat smaller portion sizes. I decided to eat my dinner of peas, black beans, cauliflower and broccoli in small bites between 3pm and 7pm in between meetings and calls hoping that would allay some of the hunger pains I felt yesterday. This actually worked and something I might try again tomorrow." - Newark Mayor Cory Booker, halfway through his week-long existence on food stamps money.   

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TV's Hottest Actors, Part 2

Over at Boy Culture, Matt Rettenmund has followed up last week's ranking of television's fifty hottest male actors with the rest of his top 100. A lot of the men you folks felt deserved to be in the first list appear in the second half. Gil Gerard!

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Jobs Report Shows Improvement

The federal government today released its jobs report for November and there's some good news there.
The economy added 146,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, its lowest level since December 2008, the government said today in a report that was complicated by special factors of weather and politics. Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist for Capital Economics, described the report as “something of a mixed bag” but said “on balance, it’s positive.” The drop in the jobless rate, from 7.9 percent in October, wasn’t great news because of why it happened: More people dropped out of the labor force so they weren’t counted among the unemployed. The labor-force participation rate remains depressed more than three years after the end of the 2007-09 recession. If it were at normal levels, the unemployment rate would be substantially higher.
The bad news is that today's report revised the numbers for the last two months in a downward direction. The number of new jobs added in October was reduced from 171,000 to 138,000.  If that lower figure had been reported before the election....

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Contractor Sues Over Online Reviews

A Virginia contractor is suing the woman who posted a negative review of his work on two websites.  The suit claims defamation and seeks $750,000 in damages.
In her write-ups on the popular business review sites Yelp and Angie's List, Perez accused the company of damaging her house, trespassing and stealing jewelry. On Wednesday, Judge Thomas FortKort granted a temporary injunction in favor of Dietz Development and ordered Perez to change parts of her online review to remove the reference to the stolen jewelry. 'I found my jewelry missing and Dietz was the only one with a key,' Perez wrote in the review.  A police investigation found no connection between the missing jewelry and Dietz or his company.
Free speech advocates say that businesses who receive poor online reviews are increasing turning to the courts. Several similar high-profile suits have been filed in recent years.  Legal experts say the law has not yet caught up with the advent of online defamation claims.

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Sen. Marco Rubio: Gays Are Sinners

"I can tell you what faith teaches, and faith teaches that it is. And that's what the Bible teaches ... but it also teaches that there are a bunch of other sins that are no less. It teaches that lying is a sin, it teaches that disrespecting your parents is a sin, it teaches that stealing is a sin, it teaches that coveting your neighbor and what your neighbor has is a sin. So, there isn't a person in this room that isn't guilty of sin. I don't go around pointing fingers in that regard." - Sen. Marco Rubio, when asked if homosexuality is a sin.

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Katy Perry: Trevor Project Hero Award

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Walking Dead: Top Ten Zombie Killers

The National Post has counted the zombie bodies over the last three seasons of The Walking Dead and posted an exhaustive recapping of how all 349 zombies (so far) have been dispatched: shovel, spear, gun, crossbow, etc. Above is their graphic of the show's top ten most-prolific zombie killers. The ones still living, that is. Embiggen for details.

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Israel Sees First Gay Divorce

Same-sex marriage is not legal in Israel, but this week a civil court ended the marriage of a gay couple that had wed in Canada.  Legal experts are flummoxed over what this might portend.  Via Daily Beast:
This week, when a family court near Tel Aviv dissolved the marriage of Uzi Even and Amit Kama, they granted Israel's first gay divorce and, effectively, its first civil divorce as well. And to that, we should all say mazel tov! The gay community cheered the decision as a major step for gay rights, but the ruling may also have implications for the broader cause of civil marriage and, by extension, the unresolved issue of the separation of religion and state in Israel. [snip] So the triumph of this week's ruling was side-stepping the Rabbinate altogether and getting the civil courts to settle the issue.

Practically speaking, this means that gay divorce has preceded gay marriage in Israel, which is kind of comically ironic. The question now is whether this case can be applied to matters of marriage for all couples, regardless of religion or sexuality. Now that a precedent has been set, some legal experts are saying, it may open the door for a heterosexual couple to do the same. And once civil divorce has been achieved, as backwards as it seems, then maybe civil marriage will follow.
The above-linked story notes that the divorce might be vetoed by the Interior Ministry.

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REPORT: Gays Earn More, Owe Less

According to a study released yesterday by Prudential, gay people tend to make more and owe less that most Americans.
Respondents not only reported significantly higher annual incomes -- $61,500 compared with the national median of $50,054 -- but they also carried about $4,000 less in debt than the average American and had $6,000 more in household savings. They were even slightly more likely to have jobs in the first place, with an unemployment rate of 7% versus the national rate of 7.9%, Prudential found.

A combination of factors play into this, said Michele Meyer-Shipp, chief diversity officer at Prudential. To start, LGBT individuals are generally well-educated, with more than half of respondents receiving at least a bachelor's degree, and tend to live in higher-income areas, she said. "It flows down -- you have a higher level of education, access to higher paying jobs in areas where there are good salaries, and more disposable income to allocate to things like saving and retirement," Meyer-Shipp said.
Anti-gay groups already use the presumed relative affluence of the the LGBT community as "proof" that we do not suffer discrimination. This latest study will surely add to that claim.

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Live Nativity Scene Held At Supreme Court To Protest Oppression Of Christians

Charisma News has the story:
The Nativity Scene, sponsored by Faith and Action and The Christian Defense Coalition, was held Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in Washington, D.C. in response to other courts banning nativity scenes in some parts of the country.  “Sadly, we are seeing an erosion and hostility toward public expressions of faith in the public square. This is especially true during the Christmas season., the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said.

“'The Nativity Project' is a reminder that our Constitution provides freedom of religion not freedom from religion. By encouraging people of good will to publicly display nativity scenes all across America, we are not only supporting religious liberty and First Amendment freedoms but we are loudly proclaiming the powerful message of Christmas. That timeless message needs to be heard now more than ever: 'Peace on earth and goodwill toward man.'
Bolding is mine.

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David Axelrod Shaves His Stache

Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod shaved off his famed mustache on national television this morning after donations pushed his epilepsy research fund over $1M. Axelrod hasn't been clean-shaven in over 40 years.

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At The National Xmas Tree Lighting

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Thursday, December 06, 2012

Liberty Counsel: The Government Should Treat Gay People Like Drug Addicts

Right Wing Watch points out the above charming message posted today to Liberty Counsel's Facebook page. (I zipped over to ask them about that RICO Act lawsuit filed against them for abetting in the kidnapping of a young girl, but they'll surely delete that.)

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Photo Of The Day II

Photographer Meryl Schenker captured this moment at a Washington state marriage bureau today.  (Or marriage bear-ro, if it pleases you.) The photo already has 1400 8000 shares on Facebook.

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Today's Lie From NOM

As you'd guess, this wedding vendor isn't being "forced" to do anything.  They aren't even going out of business, despite Brian Brown's typical lie.
An Annapolis wedding vendor plans to ask Maryland's General Assembly to give his company and others like him the right to refuse services to gay couples on religious grounds. "The law exempts my minister from doing same-sex weddings, and the Knights of Columbus don’t have to rent out their hall for a gay wedding reception, but somehow my religious convictions don’t count for anything," Discover Annapolis Tours owner Matt Grubbs wrote in an email. Grubbs confirmed the email, and said his attorney advised him to shut down the wedding part of his business immediately because he could be sued for refusing services to same-sex couples. "We’re a Christian-owned company, and we just can't support gay marriages," Grubbs said. "We're not trying to make a statement. We're not trying to make a point. We're just trying to be faithful Christians." The decision will cost him approximately $50,000 a year in revenue.
Maryland state law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodation, housing, and public and private employment. The legalization of same-sex marriage didn't change that.

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Tweet Of The Day

Colonel Margaret Cammermeyer, you should know, was played by Glenn Close in the 1995 movie Serving In Silence, which tracked her successful court battle to be reinstated to the Washington National Guard after her 1989 disclosure that she is a lesbian. Cammermeyer now serves on a civilian advisory committee to the Department of Defense after retiring from the National Guard in 1997 as one of the military's very few pre-DADT openly gay members.

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WA Judges Step Up For Marriages

Via Slog blogger Dominic Holden:
After learning that City Hall is fully booked for weddings on December 9, the first day gay couples can legally wed in Washington State, King County Superior Court judge Susan Craighead called this afternoon to let me know that judges have made a plan. Judges will come into the courthouse on their day off, unpaid, to meet the demand.  Many people were told there was no room left at City Hall, Judge Craighead said on the phone, and wanted me to post this to help get the word out. "The building isn't even heated, but we are willing to be in our courtrooms marrying people as needed. The court just realized that the community needs our services, and we are happy to provide them."
You have to file for a license today to get married on Sunday. (Tipped by JMG reader Matthew)

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Washington's First Day Of Legal Pot

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Apple To Open US Factory

In a televised interview with NBC, Apple's quietly gay CEO Tim Cook yesterday revealed that next year his company will be opening a manufacturing facility in the United States.
Mac fans will have to wait to see which Mac line it will be because Apple, widely known for its secrecy, left it vague. “We’ve been working for years on doing more and more in the United States,” Cook told Williams. This announcement comes a week after recent rumors in the blogosphere sparked by iMacs inscribed in the back with “Assembled in USA.” It was Timothy D. Cook’s first interview since taking over from his visionary former boss, Steve Jobs, who resigned due to health reasons in August 2011. Jobs died on October 5, 2011, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. The announcement could be good news for a country that has been struggling with an unemployment rate of around 8 percent for some time and has been bleeding good-paying factory jobs to lower-wage nations such as China. Cook, who joined Apple in 1998, said he believes it’s important to bring more jobs to the United States. Apple would not reveal where exactly the Macs will be manufactured.
Apple, as you doubtlessly know, has faced great criticism over the working conditions at its plants in China, where the suicides of employees have made international news. Yesterday Cook told NBC that the American education system is failing to provide the skilled workers Apple needs to manufacture domestically.

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Latter Day Saints Launch Site Asking Gay Mormons Not To Leave The Church

Via the Deseret News:
With a clear invitation to gay Mormons to “stay with us,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today launched a new website aimed at providing “greater sensitivity and better understanding” among Latter-day Saints with regards to same-sex attraction.  “When people have those (same-sex) desires and attractions our attitude is, ‘stay with us,’” said Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the LDS Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during a video that introduces the subject of the website. “I think that’s what God is saying: stay with me. And I think that’s what we want to say in the church: stay with us, and let’s work together in friendship and commonality and brotherhood and sisterhood. “Here (in the church) more than anywhere, it’s important that there be love, that there be hope,” Elder Christofferson continued. “We want to be with you and work together.”
And by "stay with us" they really mean, "Why don't you sit down while I try to brainwash the gay out of you?"  From the site:
From a public relations perspective it would be easier for the Church to simply accept homosexual behavior. That we cannot do, for God’s law is not ours to change. There is no change in the Church’s position of what is morally right. But what is changing — and what needs to change — is to help Church members respond sensitively and thoughtfully when they encounter same-sex attraction in their own families, among other Church members, or elsewhere.
Here's their promo clip.

(Tipped by JMG reader Javier)

UPDATE: Zack Fords excerpts another portion of the plea.
We believe that with an eternal perspective, a person’s attraction to the same sex can be addressed and borne as a mortal test. It should not be viewed as a permanent condition. An eternal perspective beyond the immediacy of this life’s challenges offers hope. Though some people, including those resisting same-sex attraction, may not have the opportunity to marry a person of the opposite sex in this life, a just God will provide them with ample opportunity to do so in the next. We can all live life in the full context of who we are, which is much broader than sexual attraction.
In other words, no, you can't know love in this life. But "a just God" will totally reincarnate you as straight in the next one.

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WASHINGTON: Homosexual Man To Host Lighting Of National Christmas Tree

God, our nation is flooded with sin and debauchery. (Just quoting the Family Research Counsel, who will surely have conniptions about this.) More on today's ceremony can be found here. (Tipped by JMG reader Ed)

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Holy Tweet

Catholic League blowhard Bill Donohue is super upset about this cartoon.
The Kansas City Star and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have long been among the most anti-Catholic newspapers in the nation. So it is not surprising that their love for abortion rights and the right of two men to marry would lead them to suffer apoplexy over the pope’s Twitter account. This is why their respective cartoonists, Lee Judge and Rob Rogers, exploded in anger today at the pope; they used these issues to hammer the pope’s use of Twitter to advance his views. No one will stop the Holy Father from championing the rights of children, born and unborn, and the integrity of marriage and the family. Those who find his positions objectionable have every reason to be scared: the more people learn how abortion kills, and homosexual marriages dilute the privileged position of traditional marriages, the more they are likely to embrace the pope’s idea of civil rights and the common good.

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NEVADA: Anti-Gay Group Bypasses Appeals Court And Asks SCOTUS To Rule On Same-Sex Marriage Ban

The anti-gay group that just won the battle to uphold Nevada's same-sex marriage ban is apparently fearful that Lambda Legal's promised appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court won't go their way.  Yesterday they went directly to the Supreme Court even though they just won their case.
The Coalition for the Protection of Marriage said the case crystalizes the fundamental question of whether the legal definition of marriage should be changed from a man and a woman to the union of any two people. The coalition filed documents seeking what is known as a writ of certiorari that asks the Supreme Court to take the case before it can be considered by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund vowed last week to appeal to the 9th Circuit a federal judge's ruling in Reno that Nevada has a "legitimate state interest" in prohibiting the recognition of same-sex couples. Officials with Lambda, a gay rights advocacy organization based in Los Angeles, didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The coalition, based in Boise, Idaho, opposes gay marriage and was involved in the Nevada case. Monte Stewart, a lawyer for the group, declined comment on the effort to have the Supreme Court intervene. "The fundamental marriage issue is whether ... the legal definition of marriage (should) be changed from the union of a man and a woman to the union of any two persons," the coalition filing said.
SCOTUSblog has details: "The Nevada petition has now been docketed as 12-689. The response is currently due January 7. There is no word yet on whether its filing will have any impact on the other pending cases on same-sex marriage issues."

Buzzfeed's Chris Geidner speculates:
By filing the petition on Wednesday, it is possible the coalition is attempting to delay further the court's decision on which of the cases related to same-sex couples' constitutional rights it will be taking this year. In the past this year, it has appeared that the court held off on considering any of the petitions until all of them were fully briefed. And, with the court scheduled to discuss the 10 petitions at its conference on Friday, this petition could be a last-ditch effort to hold off a decision on which of those to hear.
REMINDER: Tomorrow there may be news in our long SCOTUS waiting game with the DOMA and Prop 8 cases.

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Calvin Klein's Ex: He Hooked Me Up To A Lie Detector To Prove I Wasn't Cheating

Today Page Six Magazine published a lengthy interview with Calvin Klein's former boytoy, Nick Gruber, who is about to publish a tell-all account of their relationship.  An excerpt:
Gruber claims, Klein's jealousy started to sour the affair. That spring, the designer left town, and Gruber invited a male friend to sleep over at Klein's Perry Street residence for, he says, entirely innocent reasons. When Klein returned, the housekeeper tattled about his lover's overnight guest. Despite Gruber's denials, the designer assumed the worst-and that's when things got ugly, he says. "[Calvin] picked me up in his car, drove me down to the Holiday Inn in Chelsea, and we went downstairs in the basement of the hotel," he says, furrowing his brow. According to Gruber, another man was waiting there with a lie detector. He said he was an ex-detective, and presented a business card bearing the name "Dr. Love." Gruber, indignant that Klein was accusing him of cheating, says he agreed to be hooked up to the machine and interrogated for about two hours. "He made me take a lie-detector test," Gruber says in disbelief. "I passed it. And then, you know, things were much better. But I mean, what kind of partner would make you take a lie detector test? I was like, 'Did you ever cheat on me, Calvin?' I never cheated on him."
Gruber also complains that Klein took back his $250,000 Bentley after they broke up. His book is due early next year.

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60 Reasons To Be Proud In 2012

Click over to Buzzfeed for Stacy Lambe's 60-item recap titled Reasons To Be Proud In 2012. Lambe's list ticks off landmark moments from pop culture, to sports, to politics. This really was our best year. SO FAR.

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GOP Sen. Jim DeMint To Resign

The Wall Street Journal reports today that GOP Sen. Jim DeMint will resign from office next month in order to head the nation's most prominent right-wing think tank.
South Carolina U.S. Senator Jim DeMint will replace Ed Feulner as president of the Heritage Foundation. Mr. DeMint will leave his post as South Carolina's junior senator in early January to take control of the Washington think tank, which has an annual budget of about $80 million.  Sen. DeMint's departure means that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a Republican, will name a successor, who will have to run in a special election in 2014. In that year, both Mr. DeMint's replacement and Sen. Lindsey Graham will be running for reelection in South Carolina.  Mr. DeMint was reelected to a second term in 2010. The 61-year-old senator had announced earlier that he would not seek a third term.
Right-wing sites have already lit up this morning with speculation about DeMint's replacement.

UPDATE: DeMint wants Rep. Tim Scott.
Scott, you may know, was elected in the 2010 Tea Party wave and immediately floated a bill to deny food stamps to anybody participating in a union strike.  Last year Scott called for President Obama's impeachment over the debt crisis.

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Fiscal Cliff Prompts "Panic Home Selling" Among Hamptons Mega-Millionaires

The New York Daily News reports that the approaching fiscal cliff has prompted a rash of slashed mansion prices in the Hamptons.  Some homes have been marked down to only $20 million!
Hamptons homeowners have launched a selling spree, offering fire sale prices to get rid of their properties before higher capital gains tax rates are expected to kick in Jan. 1.  “There is a frenzy here right now,” said Enzo Morabito, a long-time Hamptons-based broker with Douglas Elliman. “People know they save money if they sell now. I have very willing sellers and hot buyers who want to take advantage of the low interest rates that might go away next year as well.” And the prices are being slashed to cut down on delays and to keep the capital gain from the tax man.  “We had a beachfront seller in Southampton who reduced his home 15% to $23 million this week,” said Paul Brennan, also of Douglas Elliman. “The window is closing. If you're anticipating any fiscal cliff, you better sell now.”
Hit the link for photos of these distressed properties.

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VSauce On The Five-Second Rule

From one of YouTube's most popular educational channels, here's a wonky explanation of why the five-second rule doesn't necessarily work.

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The World's Highest Paid Musicians

Forbes has posted its annual ranking of the estimated 2012 incomes for the world's highest-paid musicians. Here's their top ten.

1. Dr Dre - $110M
2. Roger Waters - $88M
3. Elton John - $80M
4. U2 - $78M
5. Take That - $68M
6. Bon Jovi - $60M
7. Britney Spears - $58M
8. Paul McCartney - $57M
9. Taylor Swift - $57M
10. Justin Bieber - $55M

Forbes notes that the revenue comes from music sales, merchandising, touring, and (especially in Dr Dre's case) from businesses owned by the performers. (Via Andrew Sullivan)

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FRC Prays For SCOTUS

The Family Research Council's prayer of the day:
God, our nation is flooded with sin and debauchery. Move upon our Supreme Court to uphold the Constitution, the laws of Congress, the will of the people, and "the laws of nature and of nature's God." Cause us to return to you. Send revival to your Church and awakening to our nation and a turning of the cultural tide, including our laws, politics and policy. Make us, yet, a City on a Hill and a light for You to the nations. Help us fervently to pray until our courts preserve natural, historic, biblical marriage just as You intended it! (Lev 19:5; Dt 28: all; 2 Sam 23:3; Is 1:2-20; 59:11-21; Eze 18:27-32; 22:24-31; 1 Tim 3:1-4:5; Jn 7:24; Acts 2:38; Rom 1:18-32; 1 Tim 2:1-8)
(Via Good As You)

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Photo Of The Day

Shortly after midnight last night, Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller were among the first Washington state couples to receive to their marriage licenses.  Savage and Miller first married in Canada in 2005.
Hundreds of couples lined up in downtown Seattle Wednesday night for the state's first batch of same-sex marriage licenses, in a historic, jubilant event that began at 12:01 a.m. Thursday and was expected to last for hours. They formed an eager, festive crowd, with couples young and old braving a night-time chill and wee-hours wait for the chance to make history at the normally dull King County Administration building. Supporters cheered for them with roses, coffee, hand-warmers and serenades of "Going to the Chapel."
Photo via Seattle Slog, where you can find many more.

UPDATE: Porno Pete can't resist being evil.

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Grammy Noms For Michelle Obama, Bill Clinton, Rachel Maddow, Ellen Degeneres

Four big names on our side of the aisle earned Grammy nominations yesterday in the Best Spoken Word category. Via Deadline:
They both campaigned with President Barack Obama to help him secure a second term. Now both First Lady Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton have landed Grammy nominations. Both are up in the Best Spoken Word Album category for the audio version of their books American Grown (Michelle Obama) and Back To Work: Why We Need Smart Government For A Strong Economy (Bill Clinton). Clinton won the category in 2005 for his autobiography My Life, while Obama’s husband has topped it twice — for Dreams From My Father and The Audacity Of Hope. Michelle Obama and Clinton are facing two top TV personalities in the Best Spoken Word Album field — Ellen DeGeneres (Seriously… I’m Kidding) and Rachel Maddow (Drift: The Unmooring Of American Military Power).

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Out Star Frank Ocean Lands Grammy Nomination For Best New Artist

The accolades continue to roll in for recently-out R&B star Frank Ocean, who yesterday landed Grammy nominations for Best New Artist, Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, and Best Urban Contemporary Album. Others tapped for Best New Artist are Alabama Shakes, Fun, The Lumineers, and Hunter Hayes. More on the rest of the categories:
There were no major snubs among the top nominees. Most of 2012's inescapable hits are represented in some way -- Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" is up for record of the year and Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" garnered a song of the year nod. Drake, Rihanna and Nashville residents Swift, Kelly Clarkson, Jack White and best new artist nominee Hunter Hayes were among 16 nominees with three nods. In many ways the nominations reflect a singles-driven year when no album rose to the level of acclaim as Adele's "21" or West's "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," which dominated the Grammys last February.
The full list of nominees is here.

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Giuliani Backs MTA Chief For Mayor

Two weeks ago we learned that MTA head Joe Lhota, who has earned widespread praise for the response to Hurricane Sandy, was being touted in GOP circles as a candidate to succeed Mayor Bloomberg. Now he's got Giuliani in his corner. Via New York Times:
Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, under whom Mr. Lhota was a deputy mayor and with whom he still speaks frequently, is encouraging him to run and appears poised to take on an active role in any campaign. And Republican county leaders in the city have been contacted by a supporter, Jake Menges, an adviser to Mr. Giuliani, requesting that they hold off on endorsing a candidate. “He said, ‘I’ll have someone that you’ll like,’ ” Phil Ragusa, the Queens Republican chairman, recalled of his conversation with Mr. Menges. “I guess it was probably Joe.” In a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 6 to 1, the specter of a run by Mr. Lhota, who declined to comment on his plans, has galvanized some who quietly expected the 2013 race to end a two-decade stretch without a Democratic mayor. “The M.T.A. happens to be one of the few things that was run well since Sandy,” State Senator Martin J. Golden of Brooklyn said. “I think he’d win.”
In a poll conducted last week, Lhota lost against a hypothetical and unnamed Democrat by a 6-1 margin. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn continues to lead in most polls.

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No, No, That Wasn't A Question

Bloomberg News reports an interesting rumor:
President Barack Obama is considering nominating Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, as his next ambassador to either the U.K. or France as he looks to reward his biggest fundraisers with embassies never out of fashion, according to two people familiar with the matter. Wintour, 63, may have some competition for the London posting; Matthew Barzun, finance chairman of Obama’s presidential campaign, also is interested in the job, officially known as ambassador to the Court of St. James’s, said the people, who requested anonymity when discussing possible personnel moves.
Wintour reportedly raised over $500K for Obama's 2012 campaign. That's all.

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Open Thread Thursday

What was your favorite movie of 2012?

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Adelson Vows To Double Down

Wingnut casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who spent an estimated $150M during the 2012 campaign, says he's willing to spend twice as much next time.  Think Progress reports:
Adelson told the Wall Street Journal that his 2012 donations were double what he gave in 2008 and that he was ready to double his spending again. “I’ll spend that much and more,” he pledged, “Let’s cut any ambiguity.” In 2004, the general election campaigns of President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry — combined — spent less than $150 million.
Adelson is thought to be worth $25B.

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SPOILER: American Horror Story

Stay out of the comments if you've not yet seen last night's episode. Otherwise, dive in and dish!

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LAUNCHED: #FireBoehner

After the GOP purged some its most hard-right members from key congressional committees, Tea Party sites are backing a campaign to depose House Speaker John Boehner.
American Majority Action (AMA) is launching a #FireBoehner campaign. If 16 members of the Republican Party abstain from voting for Boehner as speaker in January, he will be one vote shy of the 218 necessary to confirm his speakership. “Speaker Boehner has been an abysmal failure as speaker, and his latest purge is the nail in the coffin for conservatives,” said Ned Ryun, president and CEO of AMA. “Boehner has never won a negation [sic] battle with the White House or Senate — and he’s been nothing short of an embarrassing spokesman for the conservative movement. It’s time for him to go.”
Among the sites calling for Boehner's removal are Breitbart and Daily Caller.

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Caption This

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Wednesday, December 05, 2012

OMM Plug Naughty TV Filter

Today's bleat from One Million Moms:
Have you ever been watching what you thought was a good, clean, family movie...only to be ambushed by crude, offensive language? Ever heard God's name used in vain or Jesus' name as a cuss word on TV? The leading cable and satellite providers in America KNOW that families and people of faith don't want obscene language on TV...yet they continue to do NOTHING about it. Now there's a way YOU can take control over the language in your home: TVGuardian, the only foul language filter available for TV today. TVGuardian is a small box you connect to your TV and it automatically filters out foul language...crude language...sexual language...racial slurs...even God's name in vain and Jesus' name used as a cussword!
If yours is a quiverfull household, you can order "ten or more" TV Guardians for only $100 each. Otherwise, $129.


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Father Tiger - On Christmas Day

It's a hunky hairy hipster holiday! Free download.

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BREAKING: Mexican Supreme Court Strikes Down Ban On Gay Marriage

In what activists are hailing as a landmark ruling, today the Mexican Supreme Court struck down the ban on same-sex marriage.
The court ruled on behalf of three same-sex couple seeking to marry in the southern state of Oaxaca. The court had already ruled in 2010 that gay marriages performed under a Mexico City ordinance had to be recognized nationwide. With this precedent, the remaining bans on gay marriage in most Mexican states could quickly fall.

This ruling does not immediately eliminate marriage statutes limiting unions to a man and a woman—the Mexican Supreme Court doesn’t have the power to strike down state laws like that en mass as the United States Supreme Court does. But the lawyer who brought the case, Alex Alí Méndez Díaz, said before the ruling that victory would mean the beginning of the end for bans on same-sex marriage.

The court’s ruling that the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutionally discriminatory is partly based on a February ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that governments can’t discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, Karen Atala Riffo y Niñas v. Chile.
Wow! More on the story (in Spanish) is here.

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NEW YORK: Atheist Cadet Quits West Point Over Christian Proselytizing

Saying he can no longer stomach incessant proselytizing by his Christian commanders, an atheist cadet at West Point has resigned.
"Countless officers here and throughout the military are guilty of blatantly violating the oaths they swore to defend the Constitution," wrote Blake Page, who was slated to graduate in May. "These men and women are criminals, complicit in light of day defiance of the Uniform Code of Military Justice through unconstitutional proselytism, discrimination against the non-religious and establishing formal policies to reward, encourage and even at times require sectarian religious participation." Page has learned from his superiors at West Point that he will be given an honorable discharge and not be required to pay "recoupment" costs for three and a half years at West Point. He told NBC News that when out-processing is finished, he will move to Minnesota and "continue the work I've started in whatever way I can."
Page had established a chapter of the Secular Students Alliance to support non-religious cadets. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which advocates on behalf of atheist and non-religious service members, praised Page: "This kid just torched his career in the Army, and his degree at West Point. People should recognize courage when they see it."  Commenters at World Net Daily are calling Page every foul name in the book.

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