The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
This is a collection of posts generally related to the debate over gay marriage rights.
Brian Brown of the anti-gay designated hate group National Organization for Marriage (NOM), and Bryan Fischer of the designated hate group American Family Association (AFA), both have their knickers in a twist over recent court ruling out of New Mexico. In this ruling, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled against a Albuquerque wedding photographer, Elane Photography who refused to work with a lesbian couple citing her deeply held religious beliefs.
Who would have ever thought that New Mexico would become the new nexus for gay rights? A week or so ago, in response to the recent Supreme Court rulings, Dona Ana County Clerk Lynn Ellins started issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. As of today, she’s issued approximately 91. And just today, in response to a lawsuit filed by two men, District Judge Sara Singleton issued an order which mandates that Santa Fe County Clerk Geraldine Salazar issue the marriage licenses or appear in court to tell the judge why that shouldn’t happen.
The latest fabrication from the krazy kristian kooks is that a bakery in Oregon was “forced” to close because of gay marriage. If you read the stories cited by SPLC Designated Hate Group spokesperson, Brian Fischer, the bakery was forced out of business, and equally hateful and dishonest Matt Barber claims they were forced out of business by a “vicious boycott.”
Tony Perkins (who has frequently been a speaker at white supremacist meetings) of the Family Research Council (FRC-which got it’s start with a KKK mailing list, and is an SPLC designated hate group), is upset that a judge in Kentucky has apparently that the equal protection clause of the Constitution really does apply in Kentucky, and actually even requires that LGBT people be included in those protections
Unfortunately there are some magistrates in North Carolina who don’t understand about doing their jobs. a magistrate judge in Pasquotank County on Monday refused to marry two men, citing religious objections. Some magistrates in Alamance County also said they wouldn’t marry gay couples. I am flummoxed by Chief District Court Judge Jim Roberson of Alamance County who said that some of the 11 magistrates under his supervision didn’t want to officiate same-sex marriage ceremonies. “As a team, we’re going to abide by the law,” Roberson told the Times-News of Burlington. “Some of our magistrates have concerns based on their faiths and religious beliefs. I completely respect that. Other magistrates do not.” What kind or moronic, bigoted bullshit is that?
Same-sex marriage has arrived in Florida a midst great wailing and gnashing of teeth. While arriving sooner than expected, it wasn’t an easy delivery thanks to the political aspirations of our twice married and living in sin Attorney General, Pam Bondi. However, some Court Clerks are doing all they can to prove that, despite having to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, they still hate gay people as much as ever. This seems especially true of Pasco County Clerk, Paula O’Neil.
Boy oh boy, did I get a surprise phone call Monday. I live in Tampa, just south of Pasco County, and Monday morning I faxed a letter to Paula O’Neil, Pasco Clerk of Court concerning their discontinuing performing marriage ceremonies in deference to the bigotry of some of her assistant clerks. You can read the letter here.
We’re starting to see the backlash against LGBTQ people as the likelihood of nationwide marriage equality increases, and LGBTQ people achiever equality under the law. One of the main ways the Christianists are trying to keep us in our place, is to pass these bogus, and clearly unconstitutional, religious liberty bills. We saw how cowardly they are in Oklahoma this week.
But at the end of the day, with or without these RFRA laws, you still have the same religious freedoms you have had since the Republic was founded. You can pray to whatever God you choose, or you can choose to not pray. You can go to whatever house of worship you wish on whatever day you’d like, and you can crawl into the pulpit and preach the ugliest and nastiest things your sad little heart can drum up about people you don’t like. So Mike, stop with the lying about the need for these laws. The only thing you’re trying to do is get special rights to take your particular from of hatred and bigotry into the public square, and you’re finding that Americans are finally less and less tolerant of your intolerance. I know it’s hard to take now, but in the end, America, and even you, will be better for it.
Unfortunately, as gay people are less afraid to hide in a stifling closet, and are demanding that they be accorded the same rights as every other American, the heads of the leaders of the evangelical branch of the christian right are exploding. They are ratcheting up the rhetoric to a disturbing level, and some of their language is most certainly designed to evoke a violent response by unstable people who follow them. So, I’d like to drop them a note.
Yes, this is a bit behind, but I had to make comments about some of the discussion points put forward