NOM's no good, stinky bad day

I am presently in a hotel room in Minnesota gearing up, putting on the armor and making battle plans. God I love this stuff.

While I was on a plane to Minnesota, the National Organization for Marriage - and those opposing marriage equality - was getting a small degree of kismet for all of their nasty ramblings and such over the years.

First, to the surprise of no one, federal judge James Ware said no to the motion from Prop 8 supporters that the judgement against them by former judge Vaughn Walker should be overturned on the grounds that he is gay and in a long-term relationship:

In his 19-page decision – a response to the first attempt in the nation to disqualify a judge based on sexual orientation – Ware had a bigger message. Gay judges, he said, are just like minority and female jurists: They can be impartial, too, even in cases that might affect them.

"We all have an equal stake in a case that challenges the constitutionality of a restriction on a fundamental right," he wrote. "The single characteristic that Judge Walker shares with the plaintiffs, albeit one that might not have been shared with the majority of Californians, gave him no greater interest in a proper decision on the merits than would exist for any other judge or citizen."

. . ."The presumption that Judge Walker, by virtue of being in a same-sex relationship, had a desire to be married that rendered him incapable of making an impartial decision, is as warrantless as the presumption that a female judge is incapable of being impartial in a case in which women seek legal relief," he wrote.

Of course folks are going to try to appeal it so I say go ahead, waste your money.

This ruling is like winning an Oscar after months of knowing that you are the front runner. You know you are going to win, but it's still nice as hell to stop on that stage and receive the award.

The second item pertains to New York. It would seem that all of NOM's hyperbole, lies, and playing groups against one another may backfire (finally) in the organization's face because at press time, the New York Senate is one vote away from allowing same-sex marriage in the state:

New York is within a single vote of legalizing gay marriage after a second Republican state senator said on Tuesday that he would support the measure should it come to the floor this week.

The senator, Roy J. McDonald, from the capital region, made his comments to reporters amid growing indications that Republican leaders would bring the bill to an up-or-down vote on Thursday or Friday.

Three other Republican state senators, speaking on condition of anonymity because their conference had not yet formally debated the measure, said they believed the bill was almost certain to come up for a vote and that it would likely pass, making New York the sixth, and largest, state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage.

The vote tally in the State Senate now stands at 31 of 62 members, with one more vote needed to approve the law. The Assembly has passed the measure several times before and is likely to do so again this week if the Senate moves ahead.

Let us all pray and keep our fingers crossed that this turns out excellent for the lgbt community. I think this could very well happen.

NOM's pathetic smear campaign against Judge Vaughn Walker

Editor's note - Today will be extremely touch and go while I travel to Netroots Nation. I was the recipient of a scholarship to attend the event and will be traveling by plane today to Minneapolis. Subsequently, I probably won't be posting as much today. However, when I get there, expect more postings than usual from me.

It's no clue where NOM stands on the attempt by Prop 8 supporters to vacate the ruling against the law by former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker on the grounds that he is is gay and in a relationship:

CitizenLink: Why Judge Walker Should Have Stepped Down

Justice Alito Recuses, Judge Walker Excuses

Second Legal Ethics Expert: Judge Walker Ought To Have Disclosed His Partnership with a Man

Ed Whelan on Prop 8 Opponents’ Anti-Black Bigotry Against Judge Deciding Motion to Vacate Walker’s Ruling

Apparently NOM is throwing everything at this case but the kitchen sink. However, it doesn't look good for them or the folks who want the judge to vacate the ruling:

At the end of Monday's 3-hour long oral arguments, District Court Judge James Ware said he hoped to have a written ruling on the motion to have Judge Vaughn Walker's Prop 8 ruling vacated "within 24 hours".

The bottom line issue: Did Judge Walker have a duty to recuse himself from the Prop. 8 trial or at the very least disclose he was in a same sex relationship. Prop. 8 lawyers say that left him "in the same shoes" as the two same sex couples before him, with a direct personal interest in the outcome of the case.

Both sides more or less stuck to their pre-trial briefing. Judge Ware homed in on whether the standard for recusal is subjective or objective -- and how a personal interest differed from a financial interest.

There was some fun back and forth with Judge Ware and Prop. 8 attorney Charles Cooper about relationships. Cooper asserted that people in a 10-year relationship like Walker's would "ordinarily have an interest in marriage." Ware: "Isn't that an assumption -- not all long term relationships lead to marriage." Cooper said only long term platonic relationships are not assumed to head toward marriage.

Ware asked repeatedly: "Do you have evidence Judge Ware was interested in marriage? Or are you saying the fact that he didn't disclose it is evidence that he wanted to get married." Then, "how does failure to disclose his relationship indicate he wanted to get married?"

Ware noted that Cooper never answered the question, which could well come back to haunt him.

Ware, who is African American, asked if a reasonable person thought a Black judge couldn't be impartial on a civil rights case was that sufficient for a judge to recuse? Cooper said it was not.

Then Ware asked: Is there anything about being in a same sex relationship that would cause a reasonable person to conclude that a judge could not be unbiased.

Ware also asked if a female judge who had been raped should have to disclose that in a trial about sexual assault.

The line of questioning strongly suggests Judge Ware will reject the Motion  to vacate Judge Walker's decision.

Here is the thing to remember, however - NOM is doing a lot of talking NOW, but why didn't the organization testify DURING the Prop 8 trial?

Probably because no intelligent judge would buy that "gays want to steal the innocence of children" trash that they funnel to voters.

Related post: 
  
Marriage Equality - Simple answers to NOM's complicated lies

How should we handle Tracey Morgan's mea culpa?

For whatever reason, Tracey Morgan is extending a huge mea culpa as a result of that ugly comedy routine he did last week:

GLAAD today spoke with Tracy Morgan following anti-gay remarks made during a recent performance in Nashville, Tenn. He also spoke out in support of LGBT people, marriage equality and against anti-LGBT bullying on Global Grind.com.

During a call with GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios and members of GLAAD's staff today, Morgan committed to meet this week in New York City with LGBT youth from the Ali Forney Center who have been hurt or left homeless by parental rejection as well as family members who have lost children to anti-gay violence. Those he will meet include Elke Kennedy, the founder of Sean's Last Wish. Elke's son Sean was killed by anti-gay violence in 2007 at the age of 20 in South Carolina, when another man called him a f*ggot and punched him so hard it broke his facial bones and separated his brain from his brain stem. Since that day, Elke has traveled more than 140,000 miles to speak in states across the country about hate violence and bullying.

Morgan also committed to participate in GLAAD's upcoming 'Amplify Your Voice' PSA campaign to combat anti-LGBT bullying.

Together with GLAAD and the Tennessee Equality Project, Morgan has said he will return to Tennessee next week where he will apologize to audience members who were offended by his remarks. Currently, legislation in Tennessee is pending that would ban educators from speaking about gay people in the classroom.

Morgan stated to GLAAD: "I know how bad bullying can hurt. I was bullied when I was a kid. I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't mean it. I never want to use my comedy to hurt anyone. My family knew what it was like to feel different. My brother was disabled, and I lost my father to AIDS in 1987. My dad wasn't gay but I also learned about homophobia then because of how people treated people who were sick with that. Parents should support and love their kids no matter what. Gay people deserve the same right to be happy in this country as everyone else. Our laws should support that. I hope that my fans gay, straight, whatever forgive, and I hope my family forgives me for this."

"Meeting with gay and transgender youth shunned by their parents and families who have lost loved ones to anti-gay violence is an important first step. These meetings will help Tracy better understand that no one should be treated differently or subjected to violence," said GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios.

I happen to know Elke Kennedy personally and she is an excellent advocate for lgbt youth. The big question how should the lgbt community handle this situation. I know there are some of us who won't accept Morgan's apology no matter how many times he apologizes or how heart felt his sentiments are.

But I am not one of them. There has been too much nastiness and hate as it is. Morgan's comments were ugly. Anger was felt because feelings were hurt. To many of us, his words brought back ugly flashbacks of being called names, being threatened (even by family members), and even thrown out of our homes by those we thought loved us.

However, this is the time that we show that no matter what was done to us, we have retained our basic humanity and our capacity for forgiveness.

So I think there should be less "screw you and your apology" comments to Morgan and more of ways in which we can come together to gain better understanding for not only ourselves but our children.

Maggie Gallagher speaks of same-sex households with a forked tongue

According to Jeremy Hooper, this is what National Organization for Marriage chairperson said to the Christian Post:

Gallagher comments, “Sex, babies and marriage are not just intensely personal matters – they are civilizational ones, too.” When you add children to the mix, the stakes are even higher.

“Children are our future,” says Gallagher. “When a civilization becomes sexually disorganized, it cannot seem to channel the erotic energy of the young into making stable, loving marriages in which to raise children.

“The result is a large increase in social problems, an increasingly large government that steps in to try to solve these problems, more suffering for children, and lower levels of happiness for adults, especially for women. If the trends continue long enough, it calls into question the capacity of the society or civilization to transmit itself into the future.”

But how does that gel with what she told a Congressional committee in April:



At 2:29 - 2:41 , Gallagher admits that "there are some gay people who are wonderful parents." She also says that she thinks its unfortunate that people misinterpret things she says as a condemnation of "gay people" and their parenting skills."”

Gee Maggie, maybe folks "interpret" you as having animus gay parenting because you go off on nonsensical tangents about "sexually disorganized cultures."

And in other news:

GOP swings both ways on gay-marriage bill - If this article is true, NOM has a lot to be fearful of.


Today's Prop 8 hearing on relevance of Judge Walker's orientation & trial video release - Some people got too much time on their hands. A gay man can't be a judge? Ridiculous.

Family Research Council sneaking misleading studies back onto its webpage

Back in late 2008, I noticed the following studies missing from the Family Research Council's webpage: Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse,
The Negative Health Effects of Homosexuality, and Homosexual Parenting: Placing Children at Risk 

I emailed the organization and received the following response in early 2009:

Thank you for contacting Family Research Council.

The papers that you inquired about have been removed from our website indefinitely due to the fact that they have outdated sources. However, we have other resources on our website that contain similar information, such as the
following:

Getting It Straight
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=BK04A01

What's wrong with letting same-sex couples legally "marry?"
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IF03H01

Why Marriage Should Be Privileged in Public Policy
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IS03D1

Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to Married Couples
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IS04C02

Ten Arguments From Social Science Against Same-Sex 'Marriage'
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IF04G01

Alvin, we appreciate your interest in these important issues. Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Kathy Athearn
FRC Correspondence

At the time, I was disturbed by the fact Ms. Athearn did not indicate which sources were outdated because the resources she gave me contained, not similar information as the removed studies, but the same information.

That is a moot point now because the studies in question have returned to the FRC webpage, albeit secretly.

Another opinion of Tracey Morgan's 'comedy' - from the grave

Tracey Morgan in 2011 about the possibility of his son being gay:

. . .he "better talk to me like a man and not in a gay voice or I'll pull out a knife and stab that little (expletive) to death."

January 28, 2005:

Three year old Ronnie Antonio Paris died of injuries after being beaten by his father, Ronnie Paris, Jr. Ronnie's father, Ronnie Paris, Jr., was convicted of second degree murder. News reports give us the impression Ronnie Antonio Paris' father was trying to make Ronnie Antonio tough and to teach him to fight, because he did not want Ronnie Antonio to grow up to be gay.

The brain trauma Ronnie Antonio received when he was being taught to fight appears to have been too much for his body. News articles indicate he stopped eating, wet himself and went into a coma. He died six days later.

Some shit just ain't funny.

Tracey Morgan, his defenders, and heterosexual privilege

Just when I think I was out - that I said I would no longer talk about the black vs. lgbt divide - they pull me back in.

The controversy in regards to comedian Tracey Morgan's nasty and ill-timed "comedic" routine - in which he used shockingly ugly homophobic terms to talk about lgbts and even talked about murdering his son if the boy turned out to be gay - has caused a lot of suitable controversy.

And now it has gotten worse. CNN journalist Roland Martin and comedian Chris Rock have chosen to defend Martin - both asserting the idea that Morgan is a comedian who thrives on being shocking so maybe there is too much made out of what he said.

Of course both of these individuals did not give Michael Richards the same courtesy for his infamous nasty tirade against African-Americans during his comedy routine. Martin gave a weak defense that Richards was out of line because he attacked members of the audience, whereas Morgan's vile comments came as a part of his comedy routine.

To me, that says Morgan's comments are worse than Richards because it means that they were planned, thus premeditated.