Supreme Court

Number Of States Legalizing Gay Marriage Likely To Double In Short Period Of Time

Ronald Leave a comment

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled on gay marriage, and with 13 states now having legalized it, it seems likely, based on recent public opinion polls, that the number of states that will join the 13 is likely to be 12 more states, making half of the states allowing gay marriage by the next year or two,

The states that seem likely over the next two years to legalize are:

New Jersey
Michigan
Virginia
Arizona
Hawaii
Nevada
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Colorado
Illinois
Tennessee
Ohio

The first ten listed already have polls indicating 50 percent or more in favor of gay marriage, with Tennessee and Ohio having 49 and 48 percent respectively, with opposition being lower in percentage than those numbers.

In addition, Texas and Indiana have even division in percentage, 48-48 in Texas and 45-45 in Indiana.

So, a total of 25, and maybe 27, states will have legalized gay marriage in a very short period of time, as the destiny of history charges on!

June 28, 1969-June 28, 2013—Gay Rights From The Stonewall Riots To Marriages In California!

Ronald 8 Comments

It is exactly 44 years since the New York police raided the Stonewall Inn, leading to the Stonewall Riots, often seen as the beginning of the modern gay rights movement.

And today, exactly 44 years to the day, and as I write this, the first gay marriages in California, our most populated state, are being performed since the Supreme Court decision this week overturning Proposition 8, which stopped gay marriages in California after they had taken place for a few years, going back to then San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom marrying the first gay couples in 2004.

There is still great opposition to gay marriage among Catholic leaders, evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews, and many Muslim groups, but with 13 states allowing it, the trend is toward eventual acceptance legally in the other states, probably by a future Supreme Court decision, similar to Loving V. Virginia, which made it mandatory that all states accept interracial marriage in 1967.

This is not a question of whether one agrees with gay marriage, but rather a question of tolerance, open mindedness and acceptance of the right of two adults to marry whom they choose. Hatred and condemnation is unhealthy and poisonous, and it will not succeed in prevention of the promotion of human rights!

The gay marriage movement will not be stopped by anyone, but will be looked upon in future years as something that should NEVER have been so bitterly opposed, and those who oppose what has happened will be condemned in history as hate mongers, as much as those who promoted slavery, racial segregation, subjugation of women, nativism against immigrant groups, and anti labor actions against the workers of America!

Georgia Congressman John Lewis: The Connection Between Voting Rights And Gay Rights

Ronald 9 Comments

Georgia Congressman John Lewis has been a major civil rights leader, connected with Martin Luther King, Jr,, and had his head cracked while marching for voting rights in the South.

As a Congressman since 1987, Lewis has been a voice of conscience, and was a rare case of a politician condemning the Defense Of Marriage Act , when it passed Congress in 1996, and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, afraid to take a stand against it, due to his reelection campaign of that year for the Presidency.

At that time, Lewis compared the concept of interracial marriage,. which had been illegal until 1967, and said gay marriage was no different than interracial marriage, that anyone should be able to marry the person he or she loves!

So Lewis was devastated by the decision of the Supreme Court, negating Section 4 of the Voting Rights Acts of 1965, while thrilled by the decisions of the Supreme Court allowing for gay marriage in California, and for federal recognition of gay marriage, relating to its legality, and the right of gay couples to benefits and privileges of married couples!

Lewis has felt all kinds of emotion in the past two days, and he has stated eloquently, that voting rights guarantees that took nearly a century to accomplish, and were in place for almost half a century,. are now gone, and will it take another century to restore the guarantee of voting rights without any discrimination?

So it is hard not to feel the pain and emotional turmoil this great man, an icon of civil rights, is going through at age 73! God bless him and protect him for many more years of devoted service to civil rights and human rights!

We will see him again as the one surviving major civil rights leaders who participated 50 years ago in the March On Washington on August 28, 1963, which will be reenacted on August 24, 2013!

First Effort To Expand Gay Marriage Should Be To Promote It In Other “Blue” States!

Ronald 4 Comments

Now that gay marriage has been declared constitutional, and that gay Americans are entitled to the same benefits and privileges of straight couples, the next step should be to work to promote passage of gay marriage in the other 13 “Blue” states, states that voted for Barack Obama in 2012.

So far, the six New England states (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island); three Middle Atlantic states (New York, Maryland, Delaware); two Midwestern states (Iowa, Minnesota); and two Pacific Coast states (Washington, California) have accepted gay marriage as legal.

So 13 states have moved to adopt gay marriage, leaving 13 other states which voted Democratic in 2012. The list includes the following:

Middle Atlantic states–New Jersey, Pennsylvania
Southern states–Virginia, Florida
Midwestern states–Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois
Mountain States–Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado
Pacific Coast states–Oregon, Hawaii

Some of these states should be fairly easy to prod in the direction of gay marriage, including New Jersey, Illinois, Colorado, Oregon, and Hawaii.

Other states will be more difficult, but are possible, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, and New Mexico.

The toughest states to accomplish this goal are Virginia and Florida.

Republican Governors will fight to prevent gay marriage in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, but if they can be defeated for reelection, if their horrible, anti women, anti labor, anti immigrant policies are made the issue.

Chris Christie is a greater barrier, but do not be surprised if after reelection in New Jersey, he moves in the direction of acceptance of gay marriage!

Northern Virginia and South Florida give a long range hope for those states to accept gay marriage down the road, but not anytime soon.

The struggle for acceptance of gay marriage in more states is a battle worth fighting! Already, about one third of the American people, more than 100 million, live in states that accept gay marriage. It is essential to make that percentage more than two thirds of all Americans, over the next decade!

Of course, there is always the possibility that the Supreme Court might move in the direction of a Loving V. Virginia wide scope decision, as with interracial marriage in 1967. But the state by state battle must, meanwhile, go on!

Two Gay Marriage Decisions Of Supreme Court Are Landmark Path Breaking Decisions, Among Greatest In American History!

Ronald 9 Comments

The two gay marriage decisions of the Supreme Court today will be seen as landmark, path breaking decisions, among the greatest in all of American history!

It has been a long time coming for gay and lesbian Americans, to achieve legal equality under the law and Constitution of the United States. It is a fantastic victory for civil rights and human rights, and will make it a lot easier for young Americans, and really all Americans, who recognize they have a different sexual orientation, which should not be discriminated against by others who refuse to accept change!

The decisions declare the key provision of the Defense Of Marriage Act unconstitutional, and also allow California to follow the circuit court decision, negating Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state, after it has already been allowed.

So California will join twelve other states over the next few months that allow gay marriage—Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island in New England; New York, Maryland and Delaware in the Middle Atlantic; Iowa and Minnesota in the Midwest; and Washington State on the Pacific Coast.

It seems likely that other states, mostly “Blue” Democratic states in the last Presidential election, will soon join those 13 states, while the likelihood of “Red” or Republican states legalizing it seems far off, if not impossible to imagine.

But the fight to have the Supreme Court overturn the entire Defense of Marriage Act, allowing the Court to declare gay marriage legal in all states, following the tradition of Loving V. Virginia on interracial marriage in 1967, is the next battle, as the right to marry should be national in scope, not based on the states denying equal protection under the law!

It will take some time, but the day is not far off before gay marriage is legal everywhere in America, and if the right wing and the religious bigots have a problem, so be it, as they will have to accept it, as much as they opposed interracial marriage fifty years ago, but ultimately had to accept, at least publicly, although one can be certain there are many such people as these, who still are opposed to interracial marriage!

The point is that the right to marry is a civil right, and no public opinion poll, referendum, or utterance of a talk show host or some preacher should stand in the way of this basic human right, and the right to pursuit of happiness!

The Voting Rights Act Repeal A Massive Step Backward, And Based On Trust Not Earned!

Ronald 30 Comments

The conservative Supreme Court majority has decided to overrule the Congress, which in 2006, agreed to renew the Voting Rights Act, and in so doing, has left it to trust that Southern states, which historically have worked to limit the right to vote, can now be trusted.

This is a massive blow to the civil rights movement, and to believe that things have changed from the time of a Democratic Dixiecrat South to a Republican South today is to be living in a illusion, that one can trust Republican legislatures that are presently working against women’s rights and victimizing immigrants, that somehow, without oversight, the present increased African American involvement in voting will not be reversed rapidly!

A split Congress will be unable to do anything about enforcing voting rights fairly, anymore than protecting the rights of women and immigrants affected by discriminatory state laws.

This is the ultimate outcome of the disputed Presidential Election Of 2000, and shows once again, that elections have consequences. So the Republican majority Supreme Court has insured that its agenda will be the future, as much as it was in interfering in the 2000 election, putting a loser of the popular vote by a bigger margin than the three previous cases, into the White House!

Two Supreme Court Justices Prove To Be Disasters And Embarrassments: Clarence Thomas And Samuel Alito!

Ronald 4 Comments

It is now clear that the second Supreme Court nominee choices of George H. W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush, have turned out to be disasters and embarrassments to the Court they serve on!

Clarence Thomas was appointed by the elder Bush, and went through a tumultuous Supreme Court nomination battle, centered on sexual harassment charges by Anita Hill, and his confirmation was the closest vote of a successful nominee in decades!

He has proceeded to be an embarrassment, showing bitterness and the desire for revenge, and sullying the memory of the first African American Justice, Thurgood Marshall, who he replaced on the Court in 1991.

And a beneficiary of affirmative action, he has now, just today, compared affirmative action to slavery and segregation, an absolutely crazy comparison!

This man is inappropriate in his behavior in so many ways, including NEVER asking a question during oral arguments, the only Justice in memory to have that unfortunate distinction!

And then there is Samuel Alito, the appointment of George W. Bush in 2005, who mouthed open opposition to Barack Obama’s criticism of the Citizens United Case in his State of the Union Address in 2010, embarrassing himself and the Court!

And Alito, today, mocked fellow Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg with gestures, including rolling his eyes, shaking his head, and looking at the ceiling. And Alito apparently has a problem with the other women Justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, showing disrespect for them in open Court. As Dana Milbank of the Washington Post said today, Alito displays “Middle School antics”.

And imagine, Alito could have been the Chief Justice if John Roberts had already begun testimony to replace Sandra Day O’Connor, but before he could, Chief Justice William Rehnquist died, and President Bush decided to switch Roberts to the Chief Justice position, and so Alito replaced O’Connor as an Associate Justice on the Court! Imagine Chief Justice Alito, the sour puss and nasty personality!

So the Bushes made major mistakes in selection of Thomas and Alito, and the Court is stuck with them for many years, beyond the retirement of another conservative, Antonin Scalia, who is more intelligent, and more charming, even if often obnoxious as well!

Five Republicans Now Endorse Gay Marriage: Slow Movement On Human Rights Issue!

Ronald 11 Comments

With the announcement of Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski this week that she supports gay marriage, it now make for five leading Republicans who have endorsed the idea.

Murkowski joins Ohio Senator Rob Portman and Illinois Senator Mark Kirk in backing an idea that nearly every one of the Democrats in the Senate have already endorsed.

Former Utah Governor, Ambassador to China, and GOP Presidential contender Jon Huntsman has also backed gay marriage, as has Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros Lehtinen.

Young Republican groups are much more in support of gay marriage, and it will take many years for most elected Republicans to accept it, but gay marriage is becoming reality, and the GOP is behind on this issue, and that will affect elections into the long term future!

When one looks back in history 50 years from now, one will wonder why it took the GOP so long to endorse a basic human right that most Americans will see as ordinary, just as much as interracial marriage is now seen after nearly 50 years of its being upheld by the Supreme Court!

Two Important Supreme Court Anniversaries On June 13: Miranda Decision And Nomination Of Thurgood Marshall

Ronald Leave a comment

On this day, 47 years ago, the Supreme Court made one of its most important decisions in modern times, in the case Miranda V. Arizona, declaring that anyone stopped and questioned as a suspect by police officers must be read his basic rights before any questions are asked. While law enforcement was furious about this at the time, it has become one of the most important expansions of civil liberties in modern times, although one wonders if the Roberts Court would favor it, if a case came up to reverse it, as the Warren Court was a special, unique period in Supreme Court history.

Also, a year later on this day, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated the first African American Supreme Court Justice, Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall, who went on to a distinguished 24 year career on the Supreme Court as one of its leading liberals. Sadly, he was replaced by Clarence Thomas, who is the direct opposite of everything Marshall believed in, with the only common theme being that Thomas is the only other African American ever to serve on the Supreme Court.

These two events transformed the Court in major ways, and this is an occasion to celebrate both events, as we await major decisions facing the Court in the next two weeks!

46th Anniversary Of Loving V. Virginia Supreme Court Case, And Still Racism Is Alive!

Ronald 24 Comments

In 1967, on this date, the Supreme Court declared interracial marriage constitutional, and yet even today, there are still 14 percent of the American people, in a poll, who deplore that people of different races may marry.

The answer is that we now have one of seven marriages as interracial, and if bigots do not like it, so be it, but the world is not going to bow to their hate and prejudice!

And the same thing needs to apply to gay marriage, which faces a Supreme Court test in the next two weeks!

Whatever the Supreme Court does by the end of June, gay marriage is here to stay, and if the bigots do not like it, who cares? It is none of their business whether two men or two women marry, any more than whether a man and woman of different races marry!

And since many of these bigots claim to be “good Christians” on both issues, they need to look in the mirror as to their religious beliefs, why in the name of Jesus Christ, a Jew, they feel a need to hate people because of their race or sexual orientation!