Gay Rights - LGBT - Same Sex Marriage

[Orlylicious]

Once again they show ineptness and not thinking things through so the school and many others will be dragged through something because the bigoted Pence team didn't stop this from happening. And maybe even cheer it.

Karen Pence Is Teaching at Christian School That Bars L.G.B.T. Students and Teachers
Karen Pence, who taught art class at Immanuel Christian School in Virginia from 2001 to 2013, started teaching there again this month. The private Christian school forbids employees from engaging in “moral misconduct,” including sex before marriage, and from identifying as transgender, among other rules.
By Matthew Haag Jan. 16, 2019

Karen Pence, the second lady of the United States, returned to teaching art this week, accepting a part-time position at a private Christian school that does not allow gay students and requires employees to affirm that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

The website of the school, Immanuel Christian School, which enrolls kindergartners through eighth graders at its campus in Springfield, Va., details its religious beliefs and expectations of both students and their parents, as well as those who wish to work there. The school’s employment application requires candidates to describe their faith in Jesus Christ, affirm that they are a born-again Christian and vow to adhere to specific standards in their personal and professional lives.

The eighth item on the application’s “Articles of Employment,” which requires applicants to sign their initials next to a list of beliefs, outlines Immanuel Christian’s definition of marriage and stances on sexual identity.

“I understand that the term ‘marriage’ has only one meaning; the uniting of one man and one woman,” it reads, adding that certain “moral misconduct” would be disqualifying, such as “heterosexual activity outside of marriage (e.g., premarital sex, cohabitation, extramarital sex), homosexual or lesbian sexual activity, polygamy, transgender identity, any other violation of the unique roles of male and female.”

It was not clear whether Mrs. Pence, who previously taught art at Immanuel Christian when her husband, Vice President Mike Pence, was a member of the House of Representatives, had to fill out an application for the position. A spokeswoman for Mrs. Pence, whose office announced this week that she had accepted the job in December and had already started to teach at the school twice a week, did not answer a list of questions about her new job and her personal beliefs.

“Mrs. Pence has returned to the school where she previously taught for 12 years,” Kara Brooks, the communications director for Mrs. Pence, said in an email on Wednesday. “It’s absurd that her decision to teach art to children at a Christian school, and the school’s religious beliefs, are under attack.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/us/p ... e=Homepage

Heckova job, Kara!

[RTH10260]

Does Mrs Pence need extra income to take the VP family thru the shutdown? Is Mike Pence working pro bono now like other WH employees ?

[Volkonski]

Does Mrs Pence need extra income to take the VP family thru the shutdown? Is Mike Pence working pro bono now like other WH employees ?

She's just shoring up Mike's base in preparation for the 2020 primaries after Trump is removed from office.

[Dr. Blue]

One thing that jumped out at me offends me for two reasons: first, basic human rights and decency, and second, technically correct writing. The report says employees must sign this statement:

I understand that the term ‘marriage’ has only one meaning; the uniting of one man and one woman.

Regardless of religious beliefs or feelings toward same-sex couples, that is simply factually wrong. They may not like that the definition has changed in recent years, and they may think that should be the definition of marriage, but it is unarguably not the "only meaning" of marriage. In this country, the term 'marriage' includes same-sex couple. Period.

[Orlylicious]

You are right, Dr. Blue, they feverishly dream of moving America backward and taking away rights that took decades to change hearts and minds. Many fair minded people will help if these rights are ever truly threatened. The leaders are really gettin up there in age: Dobson, Robertson, LaPierre, Donald... guess they'll pass the torch but lots of America moved forward, mostly these are milking strategies for fundraising. It's like how the GOP congresspeople get on Fox News and talk about bills they plan to introduce without mentioning there is no chance it will be going anywhere. Nancy isn't interested in any of that.

[Maybenaut]

Supreme Court lifts injunction on Trump ban on transgender military service.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... ea21b092ef

[Volkonski]

When this started it was controversial but now-

Houston Chronicle
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@HoustonChron
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Houston's Drag Queen Storytime is expanding because it's so popular

https://t.co/Hnrwy9boWZ

Houston's Drag Queen Storytime is getting even more fabulo

The popular event is expanding to accommodate bigger crowds at the Freed-Montrose Neighborhood Library. The monthly event will now include two storytimes and welcome more people.

The next Drag Queen Storytimes are scheduled for 2 and 2:45 p.m. Saturday at the library. Tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis, and priority will be given to families with children. The room will be capped at 80 people.



Earlier this month, Chief U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal issued a final ruling in a case claiming the program violated the freedom of religion of library patrons. Rosenthal granted the city's request to terminate the case.

[bob]

NBC: Kentucky clerk Kim Davis may have hefty legal bill in gay marriage case:

Gov. Matt Bevin supported Davis, the former county clerk who wouldn't issue same-sex marriage licenses, in 2015. Now he's saying she broke the law.

As a candidate for governor in 2015, Matt Bevin said he “absolutely supported” a Kentucky county clerk who stopped issuing marriage licenses because of her opposition to gay marriage.

But four years later, after a court ordered Kentucky taxpayers to pay more than $222,000 in legal fees for the gay and straight couples who sued, outside lawyers for now Gov. Bevin say former Rowan County clerk Kim Davis broke the law and taxpayers “should not have to collectively bear the financial responsibility for Davis’ intransigence.”

* * *

Bevin’s lawyers also argued if legal fees are awarded, either Rowan County or Davis herself should be responsible to pay them. Bevin’s lawyer Palmer Vance II, noted the purpose of requiring losers to pay for attorneys’ fees is to deter “conduct that violates civil rights.”

“That purpose is not vindicated if the offending office_the Rowan County Clerk’s Office_suffers no liability,” Vance wrote. “Indeed, there is little to deter the Rowan County Clerk’s Office from developing policies that violate the Kentucky or United States Constitutions.”

Jeffrey C. Mando, an attorney for Rowan County, dismissed that argument. He said clerks are elected officials and not county employees. He also added that “all procedures relating to marriage licenses are governed solely by the state.” He said that’s why former Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear ordered county clerks to issue marriage license to same-sex couples and it’s why Bevin issued later issued an executive order removing clerks’ names from the licenses.

This is akin to Arpaio, MCSO, and Maricopa County: Somebody is on the hook for the fees; and everyone wants to point the finger at someone else. (And to extend the analogy, Maricopa County got left holding that bag, so I wouldn't be surprised if Kentucky ends up paying for Davis' acts.)

[Jim]

This is akin to Arpaio, MCSO, and Maricopa County: Somebody is on the hook for the fees; and everyone wants to point the finger at someone else. (And to extend the analogy, Maricopa County got left holding that bag, so I wouldn't be surprised if Kentucky ends up paying for Davis' acts.)

Just out of IANAL curiosity, couldn't differences in the law in Arizona and Kentucky make this a meaningless comparison? Are there any differences in awarding fees?

[neonzx]

How about Mike Huckabee along with Mat Staver/Liberty Counsel foot the bill for poorly advising her?



Seems fair.

[Orlylicious]

How about Mike Huckabee along with Mat Staver/Liberty Counsel foot the bill for poorly advising her?



Seems fair.

And this dude:

WORLD NEWS
Published on Nov 11, 2017

In a bizarre segment on Friday, Trenton Garmon, attorney and friend of Roy Moore tried to dub CNN’s Don Lemon as “Don Easy Peasy Lemon Squeeze-e”—and was totally shut down.

“Yeah man it’s great to be on here, I really appreciate it,” Garmon began, during a discussion of the allegations levied this week against Moore. “I hope that I’m able to give you the name “Don Easy Peasy Lemon Squeeze-e,” right? You’re gonna take it easy on me?”

Lemon didn’t react to Garmon’s first invocation of his new nickname, but later in the segment, the host swiftly shamed his guest for dropping the moniker once again.

The pair were talking over one another when Lemon explained to Garmon, “It’s a conversation, it’s not a monologue.”

“What I said specifically at the top of the show was the statute of limitations has run out, so there will be no judge and jury,” Lemon said of Moore’s current predicament. “There will be no process. the process is that a woman has come forward on the record,:

“Okay, I hear ya,” Garmon said. “Hey, Don Lemon Squeeze-e, keep it easy.”

“It’s just Lemon, hold on,” the host shot back. “My mom didn’t name me Don Lemon ‘keep it easy squeeze-e.’ It’s just Don Lemon.”

[Volkonski]

Kansas lawmakers sponsor bill calling same-sex marriages ‘parody’

https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-go ... 39545.html

A handful of Kansas lawmakers are backing a bill that labels same-sex marriages “parody marriages” and seeks to stop the state from recognizing them.

Another bill would create an “elevated marriage” for straight couples and make divorce more difficult in some cases. That bill also describes same-sex marriages as parody marriages.

The public disapproval of same-sex marriage from some Republican lawmakers comes just months after voters elected the state’s first openly gay lawmakers and less than two weeks after the introduction of a bill that would prohibit discrimination against LGBT individuals statewide.

[Volkonski]

Tennessee trying to re-ban gay marriage

https://www.wthr.com/article/tennessee- ... y-marriage

The "Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act" would "defend natural marriage between one man and one woman regardless of any court decision to the contrary."

The move comes nearly four years after the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal throughout the country. The same bill was introduced in 2016, 2017 and 2018, but has never passed. It was re-introduced Friday.

Introduced by Sen. Mark Pody and Rep. Jerry Sexton, both Republicans, the bill also prohibits government officials from facilitating same-sex marriages, and states that these officials cannot be arrested for disavowing court orders that recognize such unions.

One barrier that could prevent the bill’s passage is its projected cost. In 2017, the General Assembly estimated that the Natural Marriage Defense Act could cause approximately $9 billion in federal funding to be withheld from the state.

[RVInit]

I just don't get these people. At all.

[mmmirele]

I just don't get these people. At all.

I do. They're not happy unless they've got someone to trample on.

[Volkonski]

Trump administration launches global effort to end criminalization of homosexuality

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/nation ... ty-n973081

The Trump administration is launching a global campaign to end the criminalization of homosexuality in dozens of nations where it's still illegal to be gay, U.S. officials tell NBC News, a bid aimed in part at denouncing Iran over its human rights record.

U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, the highest-profile openly gay person in the Trump administration, is leading the effort, which kicks off Tuesday evening in Berlin. The U.S. embassy is flying in LGBT activists from across Europe for a strategy dinner to plan to push for decriminalization in places that still outlaw homosexuality — mostly concentrated in the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean.



Although the decriminalization strategy is still being hashed out, officials say it’s likely to include working with global organizations like the United Nations, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as other countries whose laws already allow for gay rights. Other U.S. embassies and diplomatic posts throughout Europe, including the U.S. Mission to the E.U., are involved, as is the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

Narrowly focused on criminalization, rather than broader LGBT issues like same-sex marriage, the campaign was conceived partly in response to the recent reported execution by hanging of a young gay man in Iran, the Trump administration’s top geopolitical foe.

Looks like a way for Trump to say bad things about Iran. However, many counties led by Trump's favorite authoritarians have laws against homosexuality.

How will this play with Trump's base?

[Notorial Dissent]

I can't believe he signed off on it.

[neeneko]

How will this play with Trump's base?

Probably pretty well. I often hear that LGBT and feminists in the US need to stop criticizing issues here because it is 'so much worse in muslim countries', so this dovetails pretty well with one of their standard domestic excuses. They get to be critical of brown countries AND claim that they are the REAL LGBT allies.

[Tarrant]

How will this play with Trump's base?

Probably pretty well. I often hear that LGBT and feminists in the US need to stop criticizing issues here because it is 'so much worse in muslim countries', so this dovetails pretty well with one of their standard domestic excuses. They get to be critical of brown countries AND claim that they are the REAL LGBT allies.

These people drive me up the wall. “Sure, we are absolutely against you getting married or having any rights, are fine with a store or restaurant deciding not to serve you, and totally great with you being able to be fired on a whim, denied housing, or kept out of a hospital room, but at least we aren’t openly advocating killing you. That makes us totally better than Democrats.”

And I’m like, they don’t want me killed either, on top of the other stuff. Plus, it leaves out all those pastors and politicians that DO want us killed (remember that group that went to Africa to “help” countries author their anti-gay laws? How about the West Virginia Republican politician that *just last week* said he’d drown his kids if he found out they were gay?) that aren’t exactly drummed out of the Republican Party. What they want to stop is Muslims that execute gay people because they want to justify their hatred and war on Islamic countries. Christian hatred of gay people is completely ignored.

The response I get is usually something to the order of “Democrats want Sharia law in the USA and then you’ll not have those things AND be killed, so you should be happy with the mere existence we’re offering.”

Yeah, fuck that.

[dunstvangeet]

How will this play with Trump's base?

Probably pretty well. I often hear that LGBT and feminists in the US need to stop criticizing issues here because it is 'so much worse in muslim countries', so this dovetails pretty well with one of their standard domestic excuses. They get to be critical of brown countries AND claim that they are the REAL LGBT allies.

These people drive me up the wall. “Sure, we are absolutely against you getting married or having any rights, are fine with a store or restaurant deciding not to serve you, and totally great with you being able to be fired on a whim, denied housing, or kept out of a hospital room, but at least we aren’t openly advocating killing you. That makes us totally better than Democrats.”

And I’m like, they don’t want me killed either, on top of the other stuff. Plus, it leaves out all those pastors and politicians that DO want us killed (remember that group that went to Africa to “help” countries author their anti-gay laws? How about the West Virginia Republican politician that *just last week* said he’d drown his kids if he found out they were gay?) that aren’t exactly drummed out of the Republican Party. What they want to stop is Muslims that execute gay people because they want to justify their hatred and war on Islamic countries. Christian hatred of gay people is completely ignored.

The response I get is usually something to the order of “Democrats want Sharia law in the USA and then you’ll not have those things AND be killed, so you should be happy with the mere existence we’re offering.”

Yeah, fuck that.

The other argument that I absolutely hate is the, "Well, if you weren't shoving your homosexuality in our faces, then we'd accept you." So often that is just coded words for basically, "Well, if you went back into the closet, then we'd accept you." Because many of the things that they consider "Shoving homosexuality in our faces" are things that they wouldn't consider "shoving heterosexuality in our faces" if a non-same-sex couple did it.

For instance, holding hands while walking down the street. Having a picture of your husband on your desk. Kissing your husband in public. Talking about how you're going to go out on a date with your husband. None of these things would be considered "shoving heterosexuality in our faces" if it's a heterosexual couple. However, when a homosexual couple comes along, all of a sudden it's "shoving homosexuality in our faces."

[Tarrant]

The other argument that I absolutely hate is the, "Well, if you weren't shoving your homosexuality in our faces, then we'd accept you." So often that is just coded words for basically, "Well, if you went back into the closet, then we'd accept you." Because many of the things that they consider "Shoving homosexuality in our faces" are things that they wouldn't consider "shoving heterosexuality in our faces" if a non-same-sex couple did it.

For instance, holding hands while walking down the street. Having a picture of your husband on your desk. Kissing your husband in public. Talking about how you're going to go out on a date with your husband. None of these things would be considered "shoving heterosexuality in our faces" if it's a heterosexual couple. However, when a homosexual couple comes along, all of a sudden it's "shoving homosexuality in our faces."

When someone in the office is soon getting married, there’s generally a technology-group-wide email that goes out (roughly 50-60 people) from the department admin announcing it and noting the location of a card that anyone can sign their congratulations. By the time it’s given to the person, there’s usually a few dozen well-wishes on the card.

When I was getting married, there was radio silence. The admin edited the mailing list down to a smaller group, even then avoided using pronouns (just “Tarrant’s getting married!”, not naming my spouse etc.), and the card was kept behind her desk by request only. 6 or 7 people signed it (my boss, our small group of 3 besides me, the admin, my boss’s boss, and maybe one or two others I don’t recall). Now I don’t care THAT much about a card from people that I otherwise never hang out with outside of work, but it definitely shouldn’t be put on the company’s “Diversity and Inclusion Wall” they talk about in their memos.

More than once I’ve been standing with a people (that aren’t in my group, which has always been fantastic) on a Monday morning and people are talking about their weekends. “My wife and I took the kids to their soccer game.” “Mine was good, my kids had swimming lessons.” “Wife and I did a late valentines dinner”. Then I say “My husband and I went...” and before I finish someone is walking away complaining about exactly what you said - I’m “shoving my homosexuality” at them despite the sentence being identical to what everyone else said, just with the gender reversed. And this is a company that supposedly has all sorts of anti discrimination and inclusion policies (not that it would usuallt be in my best career interests to report such unless it was major harassment).

[Volkonski]

Rick Wiles Blames the Jews for Trump Administration Push to Decriminalize Homosexuality

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick ... sexuality/

Saying that he is “very, very upset” with Trump, Wiles called out Trump’s evangelical advisers and challenged them to stand up in opposition to this effort, predicting that they won’t do so because all they really care about is protecting Israel.

“Now, what is the evangelical base going to do?” Wiles asked. “He’s got an evangelical board of advisers … What are you going to do about it? You’ve got access to the White House, are you going to speak out?”

“I dare you,” he continued. “I challenge you. Or will you be silent? What are you going to do, because you silence is complicity. Are you afraid to tell President Trump the truth? Will you tell him that you will withhold political support if he goes down this route? Because I think the Christians should tell him, ‘You go this way, we’re out, you’re on your own.'”

Warning Trump that “God cannot bless your administration” because it is “promoting something that God says is an abomination,” Wiles, who is deeply anti-Semitic and dedicates many of his programs to railing against Israel and the Jews, predicted that Trump’s evangelical advisers would hold their tongues on this issue because Israel is their top priority.

[Volkonski]

Trump doesn't seem to know about his plan to decriminalize homosexuality.

Aaron Rupar
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@atrupar
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REPORTER: Mr President, on your push to decriminalize homosexuality, are you doing that? And why?

TRUMP: Say it?

REPORTER: Your push to decriminalize homosexuality across the world.

TRUMP: I don't know which report you're talking about. We have many reports. Anybody else?

[Notorial Dissent]

I still don't think he knew anything about it or knowingly authorized it, and Pence certainly wouldn't have signed off on it.

[Estiveo]

It's all part of Pence's plan. When he takes over after Trump is forced out, the round up of the gays begins. And as he's throwing us in fabulous gulags, he'll say, "but at least I made killing you illegal."