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While most wedding businesses across the country have embraced the opportunity for more business to serve same-sex couples, a small minority are holding on to their bigoted religious beliefs over business interests.

The owner of an Annapolis trolley tour company has decided to walk away from $50,000 in annual revenue instead of compromising his “Christian” convictions when same-sex marriage becomes legal in Maryland next week. And he is urging prospective clients to lobby state lawmakers for a religious exemption for wedding vendors.

Wedding vendors elsewhere who refused to accommodate same-sex couples have faced discrimination lawsuits and have lost. This business has decided to sidestep legal trouble by avoiding all weddings all together.

Supporters of anti-equality are upset because they are being discriminated for their inability to discriminate. Can they hear themselves?

 

To read the article by Erin Cox in The Baltimore Sun, click on the Purple Duck:

Expect conservatives to make arguments against the court recognizing a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage. Many will build upon arguments of Justice Scalia in dissents in Romer v. Evans and Lawrence v. Texas, the two landmark decisions protecting gays and lesbians.

The California case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, followed the approach of Romer and Lawrence. It avoided recognizing a fundamental right or suspect classification, yet put teeth into its analysis of whether the law was rationally related to a legitimate governmental purpose -- holding that Proposition 8 instead manifested "animus" against or a rejection of the "worth and dignity of gays and lesbians as a class."

Perry was decided on narrow, "minimalist" grounds. The Ninth Circuit stated, "We need not and do not answer the broader question in this case." California "had already extended to committed same-sex couples both the incidents of marriage and the official designation of 'marriage,' and Proposition 8's only effect was to take away that important and legally significant designation, while leaving in place all of its incidents." Applying Romer, the appeals court found the amendment unconstitutional because it was "left with 'the inevitable inference that the disadvantage imposed is born of animosity toward,' or ... mere disapproval of ... gays and lesbians as a class." Perry is thus a narrow decision that does not impose same-sex marriage on the whole nation.

Like many liberals heartened by the progress of the state-by-state campaign to extend same-sex marriage, we are concerned that the Supreme Court decided to review Perry. We believe our constitutional democracy would do better to proceed as it has, at least for the foreseeable future. The outcome may come down to the vote of one justice: Anthony Kennedy. Supporters of marriage equality should take some comfort from the fact that he wrote the opinions in both Romer and Lawrence.

Constitutional change typically proceeds slowly from one generation to the next. It took the Supreme Court 17 years to move from Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), rejecting a right to same-sex intimate association, to Lawrence (2003), protecting such a right. We hope it now will have taken the court 17 years to move from Romer (1996), invalidating laws reflecting animus or a bare desire to harm gays and lesbians, to striking down Proposition 8 in Perry (2013).

 

Boston University law professors Linda McClain and James Fleming are co-authors of Ordered Liberty: Rights, Responsibilities, and Virtues, about same-sex marriage law.

You and your partner have now decided to expand your family and bring children into your home, but you may want to ask yourself a simple question first: Why do you want children?

Be honest with yourself: Do you love being around kids? Are you the nurturing type? Are you a good mentor? And how much do you value your kid-free life, and how happy will you be after that's gone?

Of course, many of these things are unknowable until you actually have the kids, and at some point you simply need to jump in. But these questions are serious and deserve serious thought. Be sure you both agree and you both want kids - and you talk about why you do.

After you decide you want kids, you still need to make sure you and your partner are on the same page concerning your parenting styles. This isn't the time to be indirect or to hide your feelings from your partner for fear that you won't come across as sympathetic or sensitive. Ask yourself the following questions before, rather than after, having a child. Even if you're single and looking to have a child, answering these questions can help solidify your intentions and desires:

Of course, this discussion may seem way premature when you're first thinking about kids, and you don't need to make every decision right away. In fact you can't figure some of this stuff out until the kids actually appear. Raising children turns things upside-down, and whatever you thought about your parenting philosophy may not survive the reality! But thinking about the big questions early and often is so important, Not being able to agree on these major life items may tell you something instructive about whether kids are really for you (at least as a member of this couple).

 

Source: The Same Sex Legal Kit For Dummies.

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