Image by talkradionews via Flickr From Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic: Ken Mehlman, President Bush‘s campaign manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has told family and associates that he is gay. *** Mehlman acknowledges that if he had publicly declared his sexuality sooner, he might have played a role [...]
Posts Tagged ‘civil rights’
Finally
Posted: 25th August 2010 by Brant in culture, politicsTags: Bush, civil rights, Ken Mehlman, Marc Ambinder, republicans
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The stay is lifted
Posted: 12th August 2010 by Brant in culture, politicsTags: civil rights, justice
From MSNBC: The federal judge who overturned California’s same-sex marriage ban ruled Thursday that gay marriages can resume starting Aug. 18. From the Judge’s order: As it appears at least doubtful that proponents will be able to proceed with their appeal without a state defendant, it remains unclear whether the Court of Appeals will be [...]
Mark Morford on Prop 8 case
Posted: 9th August 2010 by Brant in culture, politicsTags: civil rights, justice, Morford
Read the whole thing, but here is an excerpt: Argentina, at last check, is not yet writhing in flames. Canada, as far as I can see from my window, is still right up there, stoic and mild, smelling of pine trees and bitumen, watching lots of hockey, shooting guns, being Canadian. The Netherlands? Why, still [...]
Sociological quote of the day
Posted: 9th August 2010 by Brant in culture, politicsTags: civil rights, Douthat, justice
Here are some commonplace arguments against gay marriage: Marriage is an ancient institution that has always been defined as the union of one man and one woman, and we meddle with that definition at our peril. Lifelong heterosexual monogamy is natural; gay relationships are not. The nuclear family is the universal, time-tested path to forming [...]
Ted Olson’s turn
Posted: 9th August 2010 by Brant in culture, politicsTags: civil rights, justice, Prop 8
Now Ted Olson delivers a smack down to Chris Wallace on Fox News: The take away: Well, would you like your right to free speech? Would you like Fox’s right to free press put up to a vote and say well, if five states approved it, let’s wait till the other 45 states do? These [...]
David Boies calls out Tony Perkins on Face the Nation
Posted: 8th August 2010 by Brant in culture, politicsTags: Boies, civil rights, justice, republicans, Tony Perkins
Check out how well a bigot like Tony Perkins (of the so-called “Family Research Council”) fares when faced with a direct challenge to produce facts, not mere claims. “But when they come into court and they have to support those opinions and they have to defend those opinions under oath and cross-examination, those opinions just [...]
California moves to resume same-sex marriages
Posted: 7th August 2010 by Brant in politicsTags: civil rights, justice
While the judge in the Prop 8 trial has at least temporarily stayed his opinion, thereby preventing same-sex marriage for the time being, the Governor and Attorney General of California (Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown) have filed motions seeking a lifting of the stay so that the State can resume same-sex [...]
A Republican reaction?
Posted: 6th August 2010 by Brant in politicsTags: civil rights, justice, privacy, republicans, wackos
Here is a concrete example of how the far right Republicans will respond in this electoral year the demise of Proposition 8 in California. Blatant, no-holds barred, God-fearing homophobia. A TV advertisement by a Georgia Republican running for Governor. Will anyone in the party stand up for equal rights, other than the noble Ted Olsen.
Colbert on gay marriage
Posted: 6th August 2010 by Brant in culture, fun, politicsTags: civil rights, Colbert, TV
Another great bit from Stephen Colbert. The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c How to Ruin Same-Sex Marriages www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News
Has the President lost his mind?
Posted: 5th August 2010 by Brant in culture, politicsTags: civil rights, Obama, Obama administration, wackos
President Obama remains opposed to same-sex marriage, bit claims to support equal rights for gay citizens. Here is a statement from David Axelrod: The president does oppose same-sex marriage, but he supports equality for gay and lesbian couples, and benefits and other issues, and that has been effectuated in federal agencies under his control. Axelrod [...]
Reactions to Prop 8 decision
Posted: 5th August 2010 by Brant in culture, politicsTags: civil rights, justice
Dahlia Lithwick: It’s hard to read Judge Walker’s opinion without sensing that what really won out today was science, methodology, and hard work. Had the proponents of Prop 8 made even a minimal effort to put on a case, to track down real experts, to do more than try to assert their way to legal [...]
Background on Judge Walker
Posted: 5th August 2010 by Brant in politicsTags: civil rights, Democrats, justice, republicans, Vaughn Walker
From Cato@Liberty: In fact, Judge Walker was first appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, at the recommendation of Attorney General Edwin Meese III (now the Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy and Chairman of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation). Democratic opposition led by [...]
Data point
Posted: 5th August 2010 by Brant in culture, politics, techTags: civil rights, Internet, justice, Scribd
The Prop 8 ruling (see below) was first published to Scribd, a site for sharing documents. According Scribd, the decision is the most viral document every posted to their popular service, and received more than 150,000 reads per hour.
The faces of gay marriage
Posted: 4th August 2010 by Brant in culture, politicsTags: civil rights, justice
A collection from The Big Picture. These are people in love.
Gay marriage as a campaign issue
Posted: 4th August 2010 by Brant in culture, politicsTags: civil rights, justice
Gay marriage (this year) has not been much of a political issue. Nate Silver wonders whether that will remain true in light of the ruling in California.