We've come too far to turn back now

It wasn't so long ago that Republicans won an election by fearmongering about gays destroying "traditional marriage." So it's rather stunning that we've evolved so quickly to this level of public acceptance of equal marriage rights for gays.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will become the first Supreme Court member to conduct a same-sex marriage ceremony Saturday when she officiates at the Washington wedding of Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser.

The gala wedding of Kaiser and economist John Roberts at the performing arts center brings together the nation’s highest court and the capital’s high society and will mark a new milepost in the recognition of same-sex unions.

I imagine it will make the society pages. Wonder if Sally Quinn will be there.

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SCOTUS deals big blow to DOMA

Good day to be a liberal. I''m not one to drink the bitter tears of my opponents, but admit I'm enjoying the moment and wallowing in the joy exploding all over my internets. SCOTUS delivered two big victories for gay rights this morning.

The two cases, both decided on 5-4 votes, concerned the constitutionality of a key part of a federal law, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), that denied benefits to same-sex married couples, and a voter-approved California state law enacted in 2008, called Proposition 8, that banned gay marriage.

The Court struck down the use of the theocrats' strict definition of marriage as a criteria for federal benefits as unconstiutional and weaseled out of the PropH8 decision by denying standing to the plaintiffs, which allows the lower court decision that found California's gay marriage ban unconstitutional to stand.

Doubt this will be the end of it, nothing is forever in the law, but good to see the attack on equal rights thwarted for now. [photo via]

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Heckling is not helping - Updated

Lots of people talking about the heckler who rudely interupted Michelle Obama yesterday during the First Lady's speech at a private fundraiser. The heckler was said to be a 56 year old lesbian activist who demanded our FLOTUS get the President to immeditaely sign an executive order on gay rights in the workplace. I'm seeing Michelle's response being called confrontational, but we can't know for sure since there's no video. I imagine in reality the FLOTUS was polite but firm, though clearly she wasn't going to ignore it.

“One of the things that I don’t do well is this,” she said to applause from most of the guests, according to a White House transcript. “Do you understand?”

A pool report from a reporter in the room said Obama “left the lectern and moved over to the protester.” The pool report quoted Obama as saying: “Listen to me or you can take the mic, but I’m leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.”

The heckler spun it like this:

“Basically, I was asked by the first lady to be quiet, and I can’t be quiet any longer,” Sturtz told the Huffington Post. “I was surprised by how negative the crowd seemed to be. It was actually a little unsettling and disturbing.”

Well actually FLOTUS told her to stop rudely interupting while it was her turn to talk, not that the Ms. Self-Important Heckler should shut up about the issue altogether. And the heckler was surprised the crowd wasn't applauding her disrupting the event and clamoring for her to take the mic instead? Maybe she should consider they paid their $500 bucks or more to hear Michelle Obama speak and heckler woman was abridging their right to do so.

I love and support activists. I strongly believe in standing up and fighting for causes you believe in, but this isn't activism. It's selfish attention seeking that smacks of nothing so much as a bid for 15 minutes of media fame. Who walked out of the event feeling enlightened on gay rights policy I wonder. I'd guess no one. More likely they were disgusted by inappropriate tactics and far less likely to support the heckler's cause.

So to answer Charlie's question, no, not only is it not helping, it's counterproductive. Her conduct reinforced every negative stereotype about harsh, in your face lesbians. It far more likely to validate the conservative argument that "those people" don't deserve special rights at all.

Adding, the really ridiculous thing is, no one has done more for gay rights than Barack Obama. The gay activist community's relentless demands to get everything, all at once, even at the expense of other equally deserving communities -- thinking here of threats to blow up the immigration bill because it doesn't address gays -- makes them look pretty damn selfish besides. That's no way to win hearts and minds over to their side. And I say that as life long supporter of their cause. [image via]

Update: Jake Tapper at his new gig The Lead comes up with some sketchy video of the encounter. Clearly Michelle was polite about it under the circumstances. Jake also retweets this from an attendee:

@atidman: @jaketapper @TheLeadCNN I was there and I agree with Jay Carney @PressSec that she handled it brilliantly!

And Laura tweets that the heckler claims she hadn't planned in advance. But Laura links to the heckler's tweets from May 30 that suggest otherwise.

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Just do it!

By Capt. Fogg

Perhaps Fred Phelps Jr. is getting slow, or perhaps he has to type with one hand because he's so exited at God's wrath being inflicted on Moore, Oklahoma.  The very thought of little children being crushed or torn to pieces as they scream in terror must excite him past the point of self control. It took him hours to inform us that this disaster was the result of Oklahoma City Thunder basketball star Kevin Durant’s public support for gay basketball player Jason Collins.  God works in mysterious ways, but there's nothing mysterious about Fred unless you're interested in the chemistry of foul smells.

But there's light at the end of the drain and maybe a suggestion for people like Fred with more demons than synapses in their skulls. Dominique Venner is billed in the press as a right-wing historian, although some may prefer to call him a hate-filled pervert obsessed with other people's sexual preferences,  or an ultra nationalist militiaman because of his past involvement with a paramilitary Secret Army Organisation which fought against France giving up colonial rights in Algeria. A gay hating enemy of human rights and freedom, in short. Mr. Venner walked into Notre Dame de Paris Monday, placed a letter on the altar and then blew his brains out with an illegally owned pistol.

The famous Cathedral has been the site of many demonstrations and protests over the issue of gay marriage which became legal last week. Catholic conservative Venner certainly made his point to the horror of the tour groups present and one has to wonder about the dedication of lesser nobles like Phelps for not martyring himself for his ridiculous cause.  I presume God has to wonder too.

So what about it Fred?  I mean you don't need to go to Paris or even to bloody up someone elses Church, you've got one of your own. Take your dad along, make it a father and son thing, or take the whole flock along, but Just do it!

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Gay guys can jump

Don't really follow any sports except baseball and by follow baseball I mean, I check the standings regularly and cheer for my favorite teams. I don't know from stats and half the time I don't remember the players names. So I have no idea who this guy is or which team he plays for but the internets tell me Jason Collins did a brave thing:

I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay. — I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation.

I'm told he's the first major team sport player to admit it. My only reaction is, (and not to diminish his courage in any way), think it's rather sad that in 2013, this is still such a big deal.

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All the dope on DOMA

Day two of marriage equality at SCOTUS. Today my Senator Kay Hagan came out in support for equality. I appreciate her courage. Even given my longstanding belief that red state Dems should act like real Democrats and forget the Blue Dog GOP lite positions, it was just less than a year ago an anti-equality measure passed in this state. Don't blame her for hestitating.

Other than that, I don't have much to say about today's arguments. For one thing I'm superstitious about predictions and as I said before, think it's pointless to even try. SCOTUS has surprised me more often than not. But there's loads of earnest analysis on the internets if you go for that sort of thing. Me, I'll just leave you with my hopes and Tom Toles perfect toon.



And one last side note, Greg Sargent reminds us Boehner's Congress is spending big bucks on defending DOMA. Funny you don't hear any complaints from the austerity crowd about that wasteful spending. Last I heard House Republicans sank well over a million bucks into this dopey case. No surprise they don't want to talk about it at all.

Of course, when they hired the guy to defend DOMA, the GOPers were feeling all powerful and mandated by some illusionary silent majority. Which leaves them in something of a quandry now. How do they convince everyone else they really care about "teh ghey" after all and placate their crackpot base who want a theocracy and want it now dammit at the same time?

As John McCain might say, "You can't do it my friends."

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SCOTUS fever

The most amusing thing about every time SCOTUS gets to oral arguments is, everybody is either an expert on the case law or has discovered their inner mindreader and is certain they know what the Justice's questions really mean.

Me, I stopped trying to divine the future years ago. We won't know for a few more months how it all shakes out. What is most interesting about this particular round is how many politicians have been inspired to come out in favor of equal marriage rights. Clearly they're opportunists for the most part, but I welcome them all. Even if they're "coming out" for the wrong reasons, every voice raised in support helps move the public mood towards tolerance. That can only be a good thing.

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