FLORIDA: Liberty Counsel Files Motion To Intervene In Marriage Equality Suit

Last month six Florida gay couples filed a lawsuit against that state's Amendment 2, the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage approved by voters in 2008.  Yesterday the Liberty Counsel, which authored Amendment 2, filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit. Via press release:

Mathew and Anita Staver, Liberty Counsel’s Chairman and President, respectively, drafted Amendment 2 and successfully defended it against pre-election legal challenges, ultimately winning unanimous approval (7-0) by the Florida Supreme Court. Having lost in the marketplace of ideas and having failed to convince the public to adopt their radical version of "marriage," homosexual activists, led by the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Equality Florida, have now filed suit. This lawsuit threatens to disenfranchise millions of Floridians who voted to affirm natural marriage and to supplant the clearly expressed will of a supermajority of Florida’s voters with the radical vision of homosexual activists who cannot win at the ballot box.

The Orlando-based Liberty Counsel's motion was filed on behalf of PULSE, a coalition of black churches, the Florida Democratic League, a group of right-wing Hispanic "Democrats," and the Florida Family Policy Council, the group that used ugly tactics to fight a same-sex adoption case in 2010.

FL Gov. Charlie "Closet Case" Crist Set To Announce Broad Support For LGBT Rights

Trailing GOP Senate candidate Marco Rubio by several points in the polls, FL Gov. Charlie Crist will today announce support for a long list of LGBT rights, but not marriage equality. On a list exclusively attained by Raw Story, Crist gives the thumbs-up to gay adoption, ENDA, civil unions, and repealing DADT. Crist's announcement also includes the following:

Federal Safe Schools Improvement Act
As Commissioner of Education I was the first statewide official to support anti-bullying protections that specifically enumerated the most frequent manifestations of bullying in our schools. Everyone who has children or who has worked with students knows that anti-gay taunts are used relentlessly on our campuses. We need to address the epidemic of bullying and create safe learning environments for every single student.

The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act
I've been a consistent supporter of providing legal protections for gay couples. Like most Americans I believe the government should make it easier, not harder, for people to take care of their loved ones.

Uniting American Families Act
Family reunification has been the foundation of U.S. immigration law but U.S. citizens who are gay cannot sponsor their partners for family-based immigration. As a consequence, many same-sex, bi-national couples are kept apart or torn apart sometimes even separating parents from their children. This bill, which I support, humanely addresses a problem that disproportionately impacts Floridians.

Equal Access to COBRA Act
I strongly support this act which mandates that employees, their partners and dependent children be allowed to continue participation in their employer-sponsored health coverage.

Appropriations for HIV/AIDS Programs
I believe we must make combating HIV/AIDS a priority by harnessing all possible resources to prevent new infections, provide meaningful access to quality care and treatment, boost research to find a cure and address the global crisis.

Equality Florida's Nadine Smith is ecstatic: "It's great to hear a sitting governor take such a strong stand on equality issues. This is the first time in Florida's history that a sitting governor has taken these public positions on a wide range of LGBT equality issues. It marks a shift in the debate in our state."

RELATED: In 2008 Crist endorsed Florida's Amendment 2, which enshrined anti-gay marriage discrimination into the state constitution when it squeaked into law by less than 2 points. One month later LGBT activists demonstrated outside of Crist's wedding to Halloween costume heiress Carole Rome, to whom Crist had abruptly become engaged when it seemed that he was on John McCain's short list as a possible running mate. It was Crist's fifth engagement and second marriage. Crist's first wife, Amanda Morrow, has come out as a lesbian and now lives with a female partner.

File Under: Truths We Find Self-Evident

A study conducted by the University of Florida finds that education level is five times more predictive of support for marriage equality than race. But you knew that, didn't you my gentle kittens?

The education level of Florida voters, not race, best predicted support for the state's gay marriage ban, according to a new University of Florida study rebutting conventional wisdom. The study found education was about five times as important as race in determining whether a county's residents favored the ban. The results contradict claims that newly registered black voters who cast ballots for Barack Obama were a socially conservative group that can be credited with passing the ban.

"They are movable in terms of this issue," said Dan Smith, a political science professor and study co-author.Nearly 62 percent of Florida voters cast ballots in favor of Amendment 2, which amended the state constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and woman. At the same time, about 51 percent of the state's voters supported Obama in the presidential election. Controlling for political and socioeconomic factors, the study found each additional 1 percent of a county's population with bachelor's degrees correlated with a 1 percent decrease in support for the amendment. In comparison, each 1 percent increase in a county's black population led to two-tenths of a percent increase in support. "There's a lot of evidence showing increased education leads to greater tolerance," Smith said.

The short version: smarter people support civil rights for all.

Homos To Crash Wedding Of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist And His Beard-To-Be

Pure deliciousness:

Gay rights activists plan to demonstrate outside Gov. Charlie Crist's wedding to Carole Rome this month. The group Impact-Florida has called on its members to gather in pink T-shirts outside First United Methodist Church of St. Petersburg on Dec.12 to "congratulate" Crist and Rome while their wedding takes place inside. The demonstration will continue outside the wedding reception at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort in downtown St. Petersburg.

"After the positive congratulatory observance, there will be a candlelight vigil close to the [Vinoy] in downtown St. Pete to mourn the loss of gays right to get married," the group's Web site states, referring to a gay marriage ban that passed by ballot initiative in November. Crist endorsed Amendment 2 prior to its passage by 61.9 percent of state voters; it needed 60 percent to become part of the state Constitution.

In an interview with the online magazine GaySoFla.com, Impact-Florida spokeswoman Lorna Bracewell said the event will be peaceful and respectful. "Our objective will be to celebrate the governor's fundamental right to marry." Bracewell, a singer and songwriter from St. Petersburg, said the governor's wedding is an opportunity to highlight the amendment's effects. "He is exercising the same fundamental right millions of Floridians are now denied because of the passage of Amendment 2," she said to GaySoFla.com. "Perhaps it will inspire him and the many Floridians that voted for Amendment 2 to rethink their positions on the question of what constitutes a marriage," she said.

The demonstration will be "peaceful and respectful"? We don't need any more bad press like the Styrofoam Cross Lady incident, but Crist's wedding hardly deserves respect.

Better News From Florida

The latest poll indicates that support for Florida's double-extra marriage ban is below the 60% passage requirement.

The poll of 600 likely voters shows support for Amendment 2 at 53 percent, less than the 60 percent approval rate required to change the constitution. The gay-marriage question is one of six statewide referendums on this year's lengthy ballot. The poll found uncertainty high on all of the rest, which range from tax breaks for homeowners who install hurricane protection to elimination of racist language from the state constitution. Backers of the gay-marriage ban say the poll should be a wakeup call to conservatives to vote. Opponents say the poll shows they have made progress in explaining that the proposal could jeopardize domestic partnership benefits that many governments and companies offer straight and gay employees.

The Florida legislature outlawed gay marriage in the late 90's. The current constitutional amendment ballot drive is meant to protect that law from challenge by those rotten "activist judges."

Brilliant Strategy: Westboro To Appear At Florida Gay Marriage Debate

Wow. Somebody at Florida's Stonewall Legal Alliance is sharp. After the backers of Amendment 2 declined to appear at an FIU debate on the issue, the gay side invited the Westboro Baptist Church. And they are coming, over the objections of some marriage equality supporters.

A church known for spewing anti-gay rhetoric and picketing military funerals is slated to debate a state marriage amendment at a forum next week at Florida International University. The Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church accepted an invitation from the Stonewall Legal Alliance, a gay group at the FIU College of Law. The debate will focus on Amendment 2, the initiative on the Nov. 4 ballot that would add Florida's existing ban on same-sex marriage to the state constitution.

The visit has raised concerns from people on both sides of the marriage debate. Jose Gabilondo, an associate law professor at FIU, plans to argue against the amendment, while two daughters of Westboro Pastor Fred Phelps will speak for it. Westboro has gained national notoriety by picketing at gay pride events as well as funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq; it equates modern America with Sodom and Gomorrah. Westboro members agreed to pay their own expenses to Florida.

"The message of Westboro is the message of Amendment 2," Gabilondo said. Debate organizers said they invited members of a state coalition supporting the amendment, as well as several other groups, but they declined.

"That's the most heinous thing I've ever heard. They go to the most radical group," said Janet Folger, an Amendment 2 supporter who heads a more mainstream Fort Lauderdale-based group called Faith2Action. "It's a deliberate attempt to make the pro-marriage people appear to be something they're not."

The Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., identifies Westboro Baptist as a hate group, and the Anti-Defamation League monitors its actions. "If you allow such a group and give them a platform, you give them legitimacy. This group should have no legitimacy," said David Barkey, a lawyer for the southern region of ADL, which opposes the amendment.

I can understand why people are upset over the invitation, but as I've said here many times, the ferociously vile Westboro Church is the merely the frank public depiction of the hate the "love the sinners" crowd tries to hide. Putting the Westboro monsters front and center on Amendment 2 can do nothing to hurt our side and will shame the Christianists. Brilliant strategy, just brilliant.

UPDATE: Jeremy at Good As You sends us a personal response he got from Shirley Phelps-Roper. An excerpt:

This bimbo Janet Folger has got that RIGHT!! She is NOTHING like us. She is a coward of the first water. She won't get into a debate or even a discussion with those people in Florida, because she is NOT ABOUT to warn her fellow man that their sin will take them to hell BECAUSE IT IS ABOUT THE STANDARDS OF GOD, or for any other reason. She is just about the business of setting her own standards, and THAT my friend Jeremy is EXACTLY what the scripture means when it says - JUDGE NOT THAT YE BE NOT JUDGED, because by that new standard that you set, God is going to judge you!! Now - think about these hypocrites having to be judged by their own standards. YIKES!! They are in a LOT of trouble with their maker! She doesn't say any words because she HAS NO WORDS!!

Tonight In South Beach

Purchase tickets here.

Michael Schiavo Comes Out Against Florida's Anti-Gay Amendment 2

Michael Schiavo, whose battle to allow his brain-damaged wife to die with dignity created a national furor, has come out against Florida's Amendment 2.

Say No 2 Hate In Florida

"The Say No 2 Campaign, the bi-partisan group dedicated to defeating Florida's dangerous and deceptive Amendment 2, has just released a hard hitting new commercial. It highlights the numerous groups and newspapers that have come out against the so-called Marriage Protection Amendment, as well as the devastating effects it will have if passed."

Florida Marriage Ban Poised To Pass

As in California, the gay marriage amendment in Florida has gained support and may pass, despite months of indications that it would not.

A majority of Florida voters in a new WESH 2 News Mason-Dixon Poll said they plan to vote in favor of a constitutional amendment to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. The poll results showed 55 percent of respondents would vote yes, while 34 percent planned to vote no. Eleven percent remain undecided. The amendment will require approval from 60 percent of state voters in order to become law. While the current support level is below that threshold, historical trends suggest it will pass. "In other ballot amendment and initiative votes on gay rights issues taken in other states, undecided voters have generally broken strongly in the direction of the politically incorrect, anti-gay position," Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Managing Director J. Bradford Coker said.

Same-sex marriage is already illegal in Florida, but Amendment 2 will enshrine that discrimination in the state constitution.

Tea Room Naugle Is Back

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim "Tea Room" Naugle, who made national headlines last year when he insisted that gay men were running wild in the public restrooms of the city's beach, is now leading a group of Democrats supporting the push to put anti-gay marriage wording into the Florida state constitution.

A ballot measure to ban gay marriage has already won the support of many religious leaders and Republican politicians. On Tuesday, it received another endorsement -- this time from a group of Democrats.

In a press conference headlined by Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle, the community leaders -- including pastors and civic activists -- said marriage should be defined as the union between a man and a woman. Amendment 2, if passed by voters on Election Day, would do just that by changing the Florida Constitution to say, ``No other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.''

The measure has already garnered support from several Republican politicians, including Gov. Charlie [CLOSET CASE] Crist, U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez and Attorney General Bill McCollum. Outside the Stephen P. Clark Government Center in downtown Miami, where the group of Democrats rallied, some held signs that read, ''Yes 2 Marriage,'' while others clutched Bibles.

Naugle will be term-limited out of his job next year, but is expected to seek statewide office.

Amway Billionaire Gives $100K To Fight Gay Marriage In Florida

Amway billionaire Rich Devos, the owner of NBA team Orlando Magic, has donated $100K to support Florida's Amendment 2, which would make gay marriage double-extra banned in Florida. Protesters have been appearing at outside Magic games at Orlando's Amway Arena.

Inside the Amway Arena, a voice over the public-address system announced that the next two people to buy upper-bowl tickets to the Orlando Magic would get a basketball autographed by Hedo Turkoglu. Meanwhile, outside the facility, protesters chanted, "The billionaire's a bonehead. The billionaire's a bonehead."

Professional sports and political street theater intersected Sunday as opponents of a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution vented their wrath on Magic owner Rich DeVos on the day season-ticket holders were selecting their seats.

The protesters were calling attention to DeVos' contribution of $100,000 to Florida4Marriage, a group that supports Amendment 2, which would add the existing ban on gay marriage to the state constitution. Opponents say the measure could also deny domestic-partnership benefits for unmarried couples -- gay and straight.

"He's the biggest contributor to the amendment from Orlando," said Jennifer Foster, who helped organize the protest, which drew about 30 people. "And he's getting $1 billion in taxpayers' money to build the arena. That sends a bad message." DeVos was unavailable for comment.

The "Marriage Protection Amendment" on the Nov. 4 ballot states that, "Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."

Same-sex marriage is already banned in Florida. Amendment 2 is an attempt to make sure that legal same-sex marriages from other states will not be recognized in Florida. Many Florida newspapers have come out against Amendment 2, but the most recent polls indicate its passage is too close to call at the moment.

Orlando Sentinel Says "No" To Hate

My erstwhile hometown paper, the Orlando Sentinel, has come out against the Florida ballot amendment to ban gay marriage.

The state's voters will face an array of six questions on the Nov. 4 ballot, the most notable of which is Amendment 2 -- the cleverly labeled "Florida Marriage Protection Amendment." Who wouldn't want to protect marriage? Trouble is, this amendment is about more than matrimony.

Amendment 2 - What it would do: Memorialize marriage as a "legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife . . ." But it also declares that "no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."

Good idea or bad idea? Bad idea. This amendment does more than just target homosexual unions. It puts all manner of domestic partnerships at a possible disadvantage. For example, after a similar measure passed in Michigan in 2004, the state's Supreme Court ruled that public institutions could no longer offer health and other benefits to domestic partners of the same sex. Many institutions found a way around the ruling, but why put people in Florida at risk? Besides, state law already restricts marriage to a man and a woman, and Florida doesn't recognize gay unions performed in other states. This measure seems more like a cynical attempt to bring out the conservative base in a presidential election year. Our recommendation: Vote No.

Orlando's not exactly known as a bastion of liberalism in Florida, but its been on a good run for a while now.