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When Republicans Rule: A Horror Story |
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 First the wing-nuts took back Virginia and now they are aiming at America.
Last month, the newly elected Republican governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell reversed an executive order banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Recently I read that Virginia Attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, sent a letter to state universities and colleges advising them to amend their non-discrimination policies to reflect Virginia state law.
In other words, he told the schools to stop protecting their LGBT students and faculty from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.
This rolling back of rights in Virginia should be a wake up call to progressives all over this country that we MUST fight to retain control of Congress and the White House or we risk losing what little we have achieved in recent years.
Oh yes, progressives LOVE to beat up on Obama and the Democrats for NOT doing enough (are you listening Jane Hamsher?) or for compromising too much.
But can’t we agree that things are a just a little bit better – although not perfect -- when the folks in charge are NOT Republicans????
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 Children, Parents, Adoption and Legal Rights
If you are not doing everything in your power to protect your child’s rights to be raised by his or her non-legal parent in the event of your death or incapacity, you are putting your child’s well-being at risk.
Although most gay men and lesbians do not have marriage rights, thousands upon thousands enter into committed relationships and many of those partners have or adopt children to complete their family.
Some partners manage to get both of their names listed as parents on their child’s birth certificate through joint or second-parent adoption. Many more create parenting agreements which, depending on their specific state’s law, may or may not be legally binding should the couple break-up, or worse, the legal parent dies.
And, of course, the vast majority of same-sex partners with children do not have any legally recognized relationship with their partner or children at all.
Whatever the situation, one thing is clear – when something bad happens – a break-up or death – children get hurt. And when a child loses both parents simply because no one took the time to create legal protections, it can be devastating.
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California Marriage Equality Case |
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 Read an op-ed by Maureen Dowd on the NYT this morning. Then I wrote this comment:
There are 3 primary arguments against equal marriage rights for gay men and lesbians:
1. Homosexuality is an abomination to God;
2. The idea of gay men and lesbians making love makes opponents feel uncomfortable;
3. Gay parents are harmful to children.
All of these arguments have been reasonably and accurately countered over and over again and yet the discriminatory laws remain and are reinforced by voters.
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Don’t Get Married - Incorporate! |
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 Now that the United States Supreme Court has determined corporations have constitutional free speech rights, will they soon deny equal protection rights to gay and lesbian partners?
We think the answer is yes.
Over the years, right-wingers have been decrying progressive supreme court decisions like Roe v Wade (the right to choose), Brown v Board of Education (outlawing school segregation), etc., claiming the court was “legislating from the bench” by overturning laws enacted by state and federal elected officials.
Not surprisingly, right-wing objections do not follow radical Supreme Court decisions that overturn legislation when the determination happens to correspond with right-wing ideology.
To illustrate this point, simply look at the Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday, January 21, 2010 which held that the federal government may not ban political spending by corporations (who are legal “persons” although not actual human beings) in candidate elections.
In other words, corporations – many with billions of dollars to spend – will now have the opportunity to funnel unrestricted amounts of money to the political campaigns of candidates who are more likely to vote in favor of that corporation’s interest – even if that vote would adversely impact the elected official’s human constituents.
Have you heard any wing-nuts objecting to this outrageous judicial activism? We didn’t think so.
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From 1999 to 2009: A Decade of Progress |
 The following list of gains and losses in LGBT legal rights make it clear that, over all, our community is advancing forward toward equality at a rate never before seen in the history of the gay rights movement:
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