- The home of the Flight and the Concords and Middle Earth is now same-sex-marriage-friendly
- These are photos of what the world would look like if wind was really, really powerful
- Louie Gohmert says Boston bombings should make us wary about the immigration bill, because you know, ‘Radical Islamists…are trained to act Hispanic’
- This GOP lawmaker from New Hampshire is very sorry for calling women ‘vaginas.’ He’ll try not to do it again
-Le French Senate votes le oui on le gay marriage!
-In case you haven’t seen this viral video yet, “How Animals Eat Their Food” is to be praised by BBIs (bros browsing the internet) for a long, long time. And we’re okay with that.
-Only eating ramen will leave you as healthy as an 80 year-old woman, like this British teen who’s addicted to the stuff.
-The secret rap career of Laker’s Kobe Bryant is insane in the membrane.
-Jay-Z claims Obama gave the go-ahead for a romantic Cuban getaway with Queen Bey in his new song. The White House’s response: “Not much rhymes with Treasury.”
Photo of the Day by Rishi Bandopadhay.
Today, the Supreme Court weighs the constitutionality of California’s infamous Proposition 8, which declares that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” If the Court rules Prop 8 unconstitutional, gay marriage could become recognized nationally. However, if Justices rule otherwise, the choice to legalize gay marriage would be left to each state to decide individually.
Pete Williams of NBC News reported from outside the Supreme Court that there seemed to be “very little eagerness” from any of the Justices to embrace a broad ruling, but it’s possible that Justices will rule Prop 8 unconstitutional specifically in California. Read more…
A record high number of states are now governed solely by a one-party majority – which can then generally pass whatever legislation it likes. People don’t typically pay attention to state legislative races, and gerrymandered districts enable less-informed voters to pull the straight ticket and vote in all members of one party. The results can be hilarious… and terrifying. My State Did What?! focuses on the bipartisan foibles of state government, especially around corruption, womens’ health and reproductive rights, and LGBT issues.
Today on ‘My State Did What?!’, we focus on this state, New York, which is governed entirely by Democrats. Well not entirely. Even though 32 Democrats were elected to the state Senate last fall, an Albany pissing contest led 5 Democrats to defect and vote to power-share between the Republicans and a group called the “Independent Democrats.” Go figure.
And now, an update from the other side of the pond – a place of sanity.
The British House of Commons just passed equal marriage. The bill still has to pass through the more conservative House of Lords (where they all wear wigs and fart on about semicolons) but that’s essentially a technicality – Lords can only delay, not block the legislation. This is a big deal for several reasons.
The first is just that it happened at all. Yet another country- this one with a high population (and close ties and cultural influence over the US) – has decided that marriage rights should be open to all individuals, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
The second reason, though, is more interesting. The bill, while it received a minority of their votes, was proposed by the Prime Minster – a member of the Conservative party. Britain’s center-right party proposed a bill advancing equal rights for same-sex couples, and shepherded it to pass (even though it did so with mostly left-wing votes). Read more…
This past March, we wrote a post entitled “The Most Epic, Monumental, Game-Changing Supreme Court Case In History.” We may have exaggerated the title a bit, but it was a breakdown of the impending Obamacare decision in the Supreme Court: the players, the issues and, of course, the drama. Luckily, everyone’s speculation leading up to the verdict was completely upended by swingman Justice Anthony Kennedy’s opinion, which wrote off the law as constitutional under Congress’s ability to tax. So much for all of that.
But last Friday, the Supreme Court decided to hear the cases on Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act next year. A ruling against the former could eliminate gay marriage bans in thirty-one states across the country, solidifying the legal ramifications of a homosexual’s right to marriage. A ruling against the latter could lead to full marriage benefits for hundreds of thousands of gay couples.
Needless to say, we may need to give away the title of “The Most Epic, Monumental, Game-Changing Supreme Court Case In History” again. Read more…
We’ve all heard about how the gays won the election. In Maine, Maryland and Washington, same-sex couples can finally wed, and in Minnesota a ballot initiative to constitutionally ban marriage equality failed utterly. That’s great news for everyone who cares about equality and/or has been waiting to have their commitment be legally recognized (in Maine, the same measure failed three years ago). But you know what else this is great news for? State economies.
On Monday, a study released by the Williams Institute at UCLA Law determined that gay people getting married may add $166 million to the coffers of Maine, Maryland and Washington over the next three years. Read more…
As we told you last month, four states had some kind of marriage equality issue on the ballot yesterday. Maine put marriage equality up to a popular vote, in order to reverse a referendum from 2009. Maryland and Washington passed state laws earlier this year to legalize gay marriage, and the voters in those states were deciding to approve and uphold them, respectively. Minnesota voters had the option to change their state constitution to ban gay-marriage. Here are the results:
Maine
Question 1, the measure that would overturn a 2009 ban on gay marriage, was approved yesterday, with 53% of the votes. Equality Maine collected signatures over the summer and gained enough support to put the measure on the ballot. Maine’s historic measure was the first in the country to put gay marriage to a popular vote and win. Read more…
When it comes to gay marriage and equal rights, it can be mighty tricky to wade through what a candidate has done in the past, what they say now, and what they will do in the future. President Obama said he didn’t support gay marriage in 2008 but came out (heh) in favor of it earlier this year. In 1994, Romney’s Senate campaign passed out fliers at a gay pride parade, and they said he’d be a stronger ally than Ted Kennedy. (Spoiler alert: This is no longer what they think.) Oh, the joys of politics. A more detailed outline of the different stances as they are now after the break. Read more…
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