Westboro church files a brief in the DOMA case. Among their arguments, "Of all the harms that a society can face, none are worse than incurring the wrath of God by a blatant policy of defiance of and disobedience to His plain standard."
Kevin Underhill has this to say:
Normally, when briefing the issue of whether a statute violates the Constitution it is customary to refer to that Constitution, but as Mazzone points out, Westboro may now have "the surely unprecedented distinction of authoring a brief to the Supreme Court on a constitutional question that makes not a single mention of the Constitution itself."It is probably also the first such brief to cite as authority a letter some guy in Australia wrote to the editor of the Topeka Capital-Journal, but I haven't done the research to know for sure.
To be entirely accurate, there are two references to the First Amendment in the brief, although both references appear in quotations, not the argument itself. The argument, to the extent there is one, seems to be that the Establishment Clause doesn't mean government has to be hostile to religion. That's certainly true, but that doesn't mean it has to be friendly to hostile religious people. And that's as close as the brief gets to citing the Constitution.
These guys are, well, that's certainly true to form. But that doesn't even rate compared to some of the stuff that's in our appellate record. See this list. My person favorite is the plaintiff who filed a hard-boiled egg as part of a request for a preliminary injunction.
God’s word also says that when we sin sexually, it’s particularly egregious because our bodies are the temple of Christ. This separation from God – a natural result of sexual sin – can lead to depression and even despair.If you feel such despair, know this: it is not “homophobia” causing it, as adult enablers might tell you, but, rather, it is the sin itself that causes it (or struggling alone, absent Christ, with the temptation to sin).
You are being used. Adult homosexual activists with a political agenda are using you as a pawn to achieve selfish goals in a dangerous political game.
You’re just a means to an end.
They may have convinced themselves otherwise, but they don’t care about you. They don’t love you. They can’t. Their version of “love” is built on lies. It’s devoid of truth.
Love without truth is hate.
If you continue down this wide, empty path, make no mistake: it will not “get better.”
It gets much, much worse.
This is so infuriating. I just... I don't want to offend you personally, PR, but if anything, it's been my separation from religion and god, specifically Christian/Catholic in my case that has made all of this completely irrelevant.
"Love without truth is hate." Yep. This guy hates gay people, it's right there in the lies he tells in this letter.
Just a quick thank you for this thread and you all. Nice to drop by and get updated on what progress is getting made.
You can imagine I'm rather an anomaly here in Greece, telling high school students...
I imagine the Greeks have a complicated relationship with the issue of homosexuality. I am given to understand that it is very much a macho culture with a good deal of its own homophobia, but how do they reconcile that with so much of their history being written about heroic homosexuals?
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And finally, something to make you smile...
My mom always said we would know that homosexuality was becoming more accepted when we, as a society, began making awkward panders in their direction during commercials. We have arrived.
"Love without truth is hate." Yep. This guy hates gay people, it's right there in the lies he tells in this letter.
And it's so obvious that he's wrong. Love without Truth is either Compassion or Sacrifice, depending on whether Courage is involved or not. You'd think he never played the Ultima series at all.
Washington, D.C. — The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today pledged to spend $500,000 against any Republican legislator who votes in favor of redefining marriage in Minnesota, and will support any Democrat who votes to preserve marriage.And finally, something to make you smile...
What makes me smile is the tiniest shred of hope that they'll hold to that promise and end up going broke because of it. There are 89 Republicans in the Minnesota state house, and NOM's yearly income from donations is only around 7-8 million or so. It wouldn't take too much to run them out of money.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/us...
A group of Republicans have written a letter in support of marriage equality.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/us...
A group of Republicans have written a letter in support of marriage equality.
And only two of them are present office holders.
Not only that, but mid-puberty humans of all genders and orientations feel shame as a prominent emotion.
Were surprise-boners, acne, and a cracking voice God's way of telling me that I'm a piece of sh*t abomination that should be put to death? Or was it only the homosexual teenagers with surprise-boners, acne, and a cracking voice who's shame was a direct message from God?
I imagine the Greeks have a complicated relationship with the issue of homosexuality. I am given to understand that it is very much a macho culture with a good deal of its own homophobia, but how do they reconcile that with so much of their history being written about heroic homosexuals?
Or how do they feel about the museums filled with homoerotic vases?
From what I can tell, pride in all things that came from ancient Greece are simply in a separate place, identity wise.
Part of the macho and patriarchal culture is that a gay son in particular is seen as a failure of dad's masculinity.
So that really, really helps teens trying to figure themselves out.
I've only had one student come out to me in the five years I've been at the private high school where I teach now. I try to be supportive and open of those students pinging my gaydar, but it's just not something most students could really deal with while still living here. I teach in a program (IB) for students who plan to go to university abroad...so I have hope for them when they hit the UK or the US. I'm usually not great at spotting female students questioning, but this year I have one student who I wish I could tell her...it's okay. Very, very difficult.
Since caring, empathy and tolerance are part of the mission statement of the international program, I can get away with being very openly against intolerance, and I make it clear to my students that having been an alum of the U-M Men's Glee Club (University of Michigan), I have many, many, many gay friends and it's really not okay to speak with any kind of homophobia in front of me. It varies by year whether this can lead to an open discussion of the issue or not. Oddly, I can much more easily get away with having any kind of discussion here than I could in the US. I know a friend of mine back in Michigan had a colleague who got in trouble for allowing a middle-school student to play an openly pro-gay rights/tolerance song in class.
Paleocon wrote:I imagine the Greeks have a complicated relationship with the issue of homosexuality. I am given to understand that it is very much a macho culture with a good deal of its own homophobia, but how do they reconcile that with so much of their history being written about heroic homosexuals?
Or how do they feel about the museums filled with homoerotic vases?
From what I can tell, pride in all things that came from ancient Greece are simply in a separate place, identity wise.
Part of the macho and patriarchal culture is that a gay son in particular is seen as a failure of dad's masculinity.
So that really, really helps teens trying to figure themselves out.I've only had one student come out to me in the five years I've been at the private high school where I teach now. I try to be supportive and open of those students pinging my gaydar, but it's just not something most students could really deal with while still living here. I teach in a program (IB) for students who plan to go to university abroad...so I have hope for them when they hit the UK or the US. I'm usually not great at spotting female students questioning, but this year I have one student who I wish I could tell her...it's okay. Very, very difficult.
Since caring, empathy and tolerance are part of the mission statement of the international program, I can get away with being very openly against intolerance, and I make it clear to my students that having been an alum of the U-M Men's Glee Club (University of Michigan), I have many, many, many gay friends and it's really not okay to speak with any kind of homophobia in front of me. It varies by year whether this can lead to an open discussion of the issue or not. Oddly, I can much more easily get away with having any kind of discussion here than I could in the US. I know a friend of mine back in Michigan had a colleague who got in trouble for allowing a middle-school student to play an openly pro-gay rights/tolerance song in class.
I can imagine that being a tough thing.
Granted, I grew up in a very different time, but even in highly progressive Howard County, the issue of homosexuality was very taboo and deeply ostracized in high school. And as a hetero, myself, I didn't really think to question the orthodoxy of seeing same sex relationships as deviant largely because it was just one more thing that could earn you a social or physical beatdown in the long list of infractions from the high school hothouse norm (being Asian and liking science fiction was right up there as well).
It wasn't until I got to college and a student club I was part of (an historical reinacting society) shared office space with the GLSU that it occurred to me that folks who were different had the right to be treated with dignity. This is also, incidentally, where I got in touch with my Asian identity and learned to tell racists to go fornicate with themselves whenever they'd say stuff I routinely accepted in high school.
I guess what I am trying to say is that the entire institution of high school is a deeply socially conservative one that does so much to define "normality" in a coercive and hierarchical way. Some folks grow out of it. Some never do. And your work getting people through it and to the next place where things really do get better is, as Phoenix Rev might put it, "god's work".
Thanks for that.
Obama administration plans to tell the supreme court that it favors overturning prop 8.
WASHINGTON -- California’s Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriages in the state, should be overturned, the Obama administration plans to tell the Supreme Court.An administration official confirmed that the Justice Department will file a brief in the case today. Officials would not discuss the legal arguments the brief would contain.
The decision to enter the case comes despite the president’s past position that marriage rights should be a state matter. In recent weeks, however, Obama increasingly has referred to same-sex marriage as an issue of civil rights.
Reason #89,823,372 why allowing same-sex marriage is important:
Someone I know tangentially (via G+) is about to lose his partner to heart-related issues. They don't have any paperwork in place. I don't know 100% for certain, but I'm betting that the surviving partner's about to be screwed out of everything he and his partner built together because there's nothing in place for him.
Ugh.
I musta gotten some windex in my eyes while cleaning the bathroom tonight.
Yeah. That's it
Windex.
That was awesome.
I just cannot understand how you can be so self-loathing. How do these people function mentally?
I just cannot understand how you can be so self-loathing. How do these people function mentally?
Lots and lots of illicit sex and power games.
In recent days certain allegations which have been made against me have become public. Initially, their anonymous and non-specific nature led me to contest them.However, I wish to take this opportunity to admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal. To those I have offended, I apologise and ask forgiveness.
O'Brien was leading the cause against gay marriage in the U.K. and made deplorable statements like this:
.
I can hear Jon Stewart paraphrasing this in my head,
"In recent days I thought I could get away with blatantly lying through my teeth, and then those pesky witnesses with their actual real names came up..."
ZaneRockfist wrote:I just cannot understand how you can be so self-loathing. How do these people function mentally?
Lots and lots of illicit sex and power games.
Sex is way hotter if it's sex you're not supposed to be having?
You know... you have to wonder why Peter LaBarbera is so focused on anal sex.
Actually, we're all adults. We probably don't need to wonder so much. We can figure it out.
The opponents of gay marriage are more focused on the sex than the couples that want to get married.
Sex is easy. You can do that without a legal contract.
The opponents of gay marriage are more focused on the sex than the couples that want to get married.
Also more than the people already married... or does that go without saying? Heyooooooooooooo!
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