Thoughts in a Haystack

The state of same-sex marriage in Puerto Rico is essentially settled.

It was a tangled tale. U.S. District Court Judge Juan Pérez-Giménez was one of the few Federal court judges who ruled that there was no constitutional right to same-sex marriage, as opposed to more than 60 that found such a constitutional right.

All such doubts were ended with the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell. But Judge Pérez-Giménez was not willing to give up.

Shortly after Obergefell, all parties to the action agreed that the Commonwealth's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional and, in effect, asked the First Circuit Court of Appeal to dismiss the appeal. The First Circuit agreed, vacated the judgment, and remanded. Normally, that is merely a procedural matter where the lower court enters a judgment for the prevailing party and everyone goes home.

But Judge Pérez-Giménez is made of sterner stuff. Instead, he raised some principles, known as the “Insular Cases,” whereby not all parts of the Bill of Rights, applied to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment, are applied to “unincorporated territories,” such as Puerto Rico. Worse, Judge Pérez-Giménez refused to enter a judgment, either way, that could be appealed. The arcane details of the Insular Cases need not be addressed. The reaction of the First Circuit tells the tale:

The district court's ruling errs in so many respects that it is hard to know where to begin. The constitutional rights at issue here are the rights to due process and equal protection, as protected by both the Fourteenth and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Those rights have already been incorporated as to Puerto Rico. And even if they had not, then the district court would have been able to decide whether they should be. …

In ruling that the ban is not unconstitutional because the applicable constitutional right does not apply in Puerto Rico, the district court both misconstrued that right and directly contradicted our mandate. And it compounded its error (and signaled a lack of confidence in its actions), by failing to enter a final judgment to enable an appeal in ordinary course.

Error of this type is not so easily insulated from review. This court may employ mandamus jurisdiction when a district court has misconstrued or otherwise failed to effectuate a mandate issued by this court. …

Accordingly, ... the petition for writ of mandamus is granted, … the case is remitted to be assigned randomly by the clerk to a different judge to enter judgment in favor of the Petitioners promptly, and to conduct any further proceedings necessary in this action. [Citations omitted]

Within hours of the First Circuit's decision, the case was reassigned, final judgment an order in favor of the plaintiffs was entered and Puerto Rico was in America again.

Federal Judges like Juan Pérez-Giménez are appointed for life and can't be removed for being jackasses, but that has still got to leave a mark.

I'm sorry the blog has been moribund of late, due to recent changes in my life.

I'm going to try to make it more regular.

Now here is something somewhat interesting. The Kentucky Legislature has met for the first time since the Supreme Court decision in Obergerfell v. Hodges and, of course, since Kim Davis made herself into a “martyr” for no good reason.

So, the Kentucky Legislature has a bill pending (SB 5) that basically bows to Davis' martyrbation by removal from marriage licenses/certificates forms any “authorization statement” by the county clerk, signatures by a county clerk or deputy clerk, and a very confusing change concerning the statement that the marriage certificate was recorded.

The somewhat interesting thing is that the original bill mandated two separate forms, one for heterosexual couples, where the couple is identified by "bride" or "groom," and one for same-sex couples, identified as "first party" or "second party."

Kentucky State Senator Morgan McGarvey suggested an amendment to the bill to eliminate the two different forms. He discussed the amendment at a recent county clerk’s meeting before the vast majority of Kentucky’s clerks, As McGarvey explained his amendment: “My own reasoning is simple. One form is easier to handle, less expensive and puts everyone on equal footing.” Davis was there and McGarvey explains what happened:

“After passing out sample forms and answering a multitude of questions and hypothetical scenarios, Kentucky’s clerks seemed to agree that one form is how we should proceed.

“Then Mrs Davis stood up to speak. We had never met and I had no idea what to expect.

“To my pleasure, and admittedly my surprise, Mrs Davis agreed with my amendment and my approach.

“In front of a room full of her colleagues she emotionally acknowledged her role in causing this debate but whole-heartedly endorsed my amendment. “As Mrs Davis told the other clerks, they should support my amendment because using two forms just invites problems.

Well, well, well … Davis is finally concerned about the taxpayers of Rowan County. Small progress, I guess.

Uber-anti-gay activist, Linda Harvey, is having problems getting into the holiday … um … spirit.

As she puts it:

Well, it’s that time again – time to get out the Christmas list and start hitting the stores.

The problem is – what stores? For any Christian who wants to spend hard-earned dollars with family-friendly, Christian-affirming retailers, restaurants and service providers, the list is growing shorter all the time.

She bases this on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.

Stores like Walmart, the world's largest retailer, Macy’s, Target, JC Penney, The Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Home Depot, IKEA, Nordstrom, Office Depot, Staples, Barnes & Noble, TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, CVS, and Walgreen’s are to be avoided. The largest on-line retailer, Amazon, also is verboten. Other on-line presences, Google, Facebook, E-Bay and Paypal, are to be shunned. Car companies, GMC and Ford (there goes the most popular good-ol'-boy pick-up trucks), Nissan and Volkswagen can't be dealt with.

Harvey notices that computers/electronics could be a problem. She avoids Best Buy and Dell as homo-friendly but leaves out mention of others: Apple, IBM, Hewlett-Packard (hear that Carly?), Microsoft, Intel, and Sony. Pretty hard to buy the kids any computers that don't have the gay taint.

Toys are also a problem because Mattel and Hasbro are definitely pinkish.

But it's hard to be a bigot and kids just have to suck it up and expect to get presents from stores that Harvey thinks are acceptably unknown for being part of “Satan’s Office Party,” like Auto Zone, Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Pep-Boys, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar Stores, and, in case your kid wants a gallon of paint, Sherwin-Williams.

It is so sad that bigots are feeling cramped, isn't it?

When deranged religious fanatics go after their fellow deranged religious fanatic …

Doritos announced that it was coming out with a “rainbow” version of its Cool Ranch chips. It was a limited release in support of the “It Gets Better Project,” that gets celebrities, organizations, activists, media personalities and politicians, including President Obama, to record videos intended to inspire hope for young people facing harassment. The only way you could get the chips was if you made at least a $10 donation to It Gets Better. The chips were snapped up within days, though It Gets Better is hoping to get more.

As you can imagine, heads in the religious right were exploding in a pretty fireworks display.

But the head that made the strangest pop belonged to one Ed Straker at the oxymoronic American Thinker. First of all, in accordance with the intellectual chops of the site, Straker got the facts wrong and asserts that there will be general distribution of the chips, including to children.

But Straker has a clever plan! Besides the obligatory (and ineffectual) boycott against Doritos and its parent company, Pepsi, there is this:

Furthermore, I think we should push other companies to launch pro-heterosexual campaigns. Perhaps we could persuade a hot dog maker and a hot dog bun company to do a joint effort promoting man-woman relationships.

Genius! … Pure Genius!

Well, Kim Davis got what she desperately wanted.

She is now a faux martyr.

Federal Judge David Bunning has ordered her civilly confined until she is willing to comply with the court's order to have her office resume issuing marriage licenses. Interestingly, the plaintiffs' filing asked that she not be confined but merely fined (probably anticipating that the the right wing fever swamps will use this to make her into a “martyr” and claim that this is the beginning of the “criminalization” of Christianity). But Judge Brunning stated that mere fines would not be sufficiently coercive because she was already receiving monetary support from outside sources to pay them. So he chose confinement instead. Davis even said “Thank you, judge” as she was being led away.

She is not been subjected to a criminal penalty, it is purely civil and, in a nice phrase the courts use, “she has the jailhouse keys in her pocket.” All she has to do is agree to obey the order and she will be freed. Indeed, she had that opportunity within hours of her being held in contempt. Five of her six deputy clerks (the only hold out is Davis' son … there is a fine tradition of nepotism in Rowan county, as Davis was a deputy clerk under her mother for 30+ years before she was elected to the post) are willing to to issue the licenses. As long as she agreed not to interfere with them doing her job, she would be freed. But she refused because her name appears printed on the form (as the county clerk) she would still somehow be “authorizing” same-sex marriages. Magical thinking at its finest.

So, she will stay in jail, where she can't stop her deputy clerks, and the issuance of licenses will resume on Friday.

I hope she enjoys that Crown of Thorns Publicity.

Kim Davis, the Rowan County (Kentucky) Clerk who stopped issuing marriage licenses to all couples so she didn't have to issue them to icky gays, is approaching the end of the line at breakneck speed. The question now is whether she will apply the brakes before it is too late.

A little history in case you haven't been following my deathless prose of late … The ACLU sued Davis on behalf of two same-sex and two opposite-sex couples who had been denied marriage licenses by Davis. A conservative Republican District Court Judge, David Bunning, appointed by George The Lesser W. Bush, issued a preliminary injunction requiring her to resume issuing marriage licenses to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. Thereafter, he did grant her a temporary stay until August 31st to seek a stay from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal. On last Wednesday, August 26th, the Sixth Circuit denied her request.

Not one to recognize when she's licked give up, Liberty Counsel filed an emergency petition on her behalf with Justice Kagan, seeking a stay from the Supreme Court.

For those interested in reading the 50 pages of her emergency petition to Justice Kagan, you can find it here.

I have to admit that the Liberty Counsel attorney, Jonathan D. Christman, did as well as he could with a bad set of arguments. This bit, however, shows the paucity of the argument:

[T]he district court leaped over boundary lines recently set by this Court in deciding a religious conscience dispute arising in the context of another governmental mandate, by assessing the materiality and substantiality of Davis’ belief while simultaneously conceding its sincerity. Moreover, the Sixth Circuit magnified the outright disregard for Davis’ religious conscience by acting as if she does not retain any individual rights in her role as county clerk … no court, and especially no third-party desiring to violate religious belief, is fit to set the contours of conscience. For if that were true a person who religiously objects to wartime combat would be forced to shoulder a rifle regardless of their conscience or be refused citizenship ...

Notice the several leaps in logic? In the Hobby Lobby case, the court said that the government, when dealing with non-governmental individuals (somehow including closely-held for-profit corporations … nevermind) had to use the “least restrictive” method to achieve its legitimate goals. But then they go on to argue that a public official has the same right to demand the “least restrictive” method of achieving its legitimate goals (i.e. following the Constitution) by telling the citizens of Rowan County (as they do elsewhere in the Brief) to go to the next county over to get their license. Requiring citizens to exert extra effort to get the services they are entitled to is the “least restrictive” way to protect Davis' religious prejudices beliefs? And who are those mean ol' “third-party[s] desiring to violate [her] religious belief”? Why none other than the citizens of the county, gay and straight, who won't haul their asses to some other county so our precious snowflake doesn't have to issue a government form which she is being paid by taxpayers like them to issue.

But my favorite is the war analogy. So, if you sign up with the Army as a platoon leader when there is no war but then a war starts, you can refuse to go fight while still retaining your position as a platoon leader?

I don't think so …

Anyway, the Supreme Court must have been as impressed as I was. Liberty Counsel filed the petition on behalf of Davis on Friday, August 28th, and, despite the fact that Justice Kagan referred the petition to the full court, it was denied today, Monday, August 31st. As far as I know, the court did not even request a response from the plaintiffs (it didn't), which I believe is rather unusual.

But bullshit by any other name ...
______________________________________

Update September 1, 2015: It is reported that Davis is still refusing to issue licenses “on God's authority.” She better be able to get God to show up in court when Judge Bunning holds the contempt hearing.

Fans in the area are bracing for the worst.
______________________________________

Further Update September 1, 2015: The plaintiffs have moved to hold Davis in contempt of court and Judge Bunning has scheduled a hearing for this coming Thursday at which time sanctions could be imposed.

As I noted before, there has been very petty resistance to the same-sex marriage decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.

Texas dragged its feet, after Obergefell, before amending the death certificate of a man legally married in New Mexico to reflect his relationship to his deceased spouse, when the man is, himself, dying, preventing him from straightening out their estates. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is now begging the Federal court not to hold him in contempt.

Next up is Kim Davis. Davis is the Rowan County (Kentucky) Clerk who has refused to issue marriage licenses to either opposite or same-sex couples, despite the fact that there is one clerk in her office who has no religious objection to issuing same-sex licenses.

US District Judge David Bunning issued a preliminary injunction requiring Davis to issue the marriage licenses but stayed it until August 31st to give Davis a chance to try to get a further stay from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal. The Sixth Circuit has now denied Davis a stay pending her appeal. The money quote from the Sixth Circuit:

The request for a stay pending appeal relates solely to an injunction against Davis in her official capacity. The injunction operates not against Davis personally, but against the holder of her office of Rowan County Clerk. In light of the binding holding of Obergefell, it cannot be defensibly argued that the holder of the Rowan County Clerk’s office, apart from who personally occupies that office, may decline to act in conformity with the United States Constitution as interpreted by a dispositive holding of the United States Supreme Court. There is thus little or no likelihood that the Clerk in her official capacity will prevail on appeal.

To anyone with a lick of sense, it is over … but Davis has displayed no ability to get her tongue anywhere in the vicinity of reality.

It'll get interesting if and when there are contempt proceedings. The state has ordered her to issue the licenses and the county has denied any power to require her to issue them. That leaves her, as a practical matter, the only one to pay any contempt sanctions. However, the judge could bring the state in and say "It's your responsibility to issue the license in Rowan County ... work it out!"

I wonder when and if Liberty Counsel will tell her "If you get cited for contempt, we won't pay any sanctions, even though we advised you to defy the court."

And so it goes …

Some states and localities have been resisting the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, that found that, under the Fourteenth Amendment, LGBT people had the right to marry on the same basis as heterosexual couples.

The resistance has often been incredibly petty. For example, Texas refused, after Obergefell, to amend the death certificate of a man legally married in New Mexico to reflect his relationship to his spouse, when the spouse is, himself, dying, preventing him from straightening out their estates. It took threats of contempt proceedings to get the state to comply.

Apparently the answer to WWJD is “be an asshole!”

Another practitioner of petty is Rowan County (Kentucky) Clerk Kim Davis. Davis has refused to issue any marriage licenses, to same-sex or opposite-sex couples, because she has the proverbial “sincerely held religious belief” that same-sex marriage is icky wrong. The ACLU sued Davis in Federal court, on behalf of two same-sex and two opposite-sex couples who want to get their marriage licenses in their home county. US District Judge David Bunning, nominated by George W. Bush, has now issued a preliminary injunction requiring Davis to issue the marriage licenses. Judge Bunning put the issues as follows:

[T]his civil action presents a conflict between two individual liberties held sacrosanct in American jurisprudence. One is the fundamental right to marry implicitly recognized in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The other is the right to free exercise of religion explicitly guaranteed by the First Amendment. Each party seeks to exercise one of these rights, but in doing so, they threaten to infringe upon the opposing party’s rights.

According to Judge Bunning, the rather obvious answer is:

The tension between these constitutional concerns can be resolved by answering one simple question: Does the Free Exercise Clause likely excuse Kim Davis from issuing marriage licenses because she has a religious objection to same-sex marriage?

[Spoiler alert: No!]

Davis' first excuse “defense:” is that “neighboring counties” are issuing marriage licenses and she, as a special snowflake (emphasis on the “flake”), shouldn't be made to do her job because other people are doing it elsewhere. The judge notes that "57 of the state’s 120 elected county clerks have asked Governor Beshear to call a special session of the state legislature to address religious concerns related to same-sex marriage licenses” and that, if Davis is allowed to refuse to perform her duties, what might today be an inconvenience could become a substantial interference with the right to marry. Besides, not everyone in Rowan county might have the means to travel even to nearby counties. Anyway, as the judge notes, “why should they be required to do so?”:

The state has long entrusted county clerks with the task of issuing marriage licenses. It does not seem unreasonable for Plaintiffs, as Rowan County voters, to expect their elected official to perform her statutorily assigned duties. And yet, that is precisely what Davis is refusing to do. Much like the statutes at issue in Loving and Zablocki, Davis’ “no marriage licenses” policy significantly discourages many Rowan County residents from exercising their right to marry and effectively disqualifies others from doing so.

Davis next tries to fob her duty off on the county's judge/executive but, under state law, he would only be allowed to issue marriage licenses in Davis' “absence,” which does not obviously include her refusal to issue licenses while performing the rest of her duties. Similarly, Davis suggests that there have been proposals to permit online issuance of marriage licenses directly by the state but, while such an option might be available “someday,” it is not available today.

At the heart of Davis' claims is the contention that issuing a marriage license “authorizes” it and, therefore, is “speech.” Au contraire, Judge Bunning replies:

[T]he Court questions whether the act of issuing a marriage license constitutes speech. Davis repeatedly states that the act of issuing these licenses requires her to “authorize” same-sex marriage. A close inspection of the KDLA (“Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives”) marriage licensing form refutes this assertion. The form does not require the county clerk to condone or endorse same-sex marriage on religious or moral grounds. It simply asks the county clerk to certify that the information provided is accurate and that the couple is qualified to marry under Kentucky law. [Emphasis added]

In any event, any “speech” associated with the license can be considered the government's.

The State prescribes the form that Davis must use in issuing marriage licenses. She plays no role in composing the form, and she has no discretion to alter it. Moreover, county clerks’ offices issue marriage licenses on behalf of the State, not on behalf of a particular elected clerk.

Even if the license is considered Davis' speech, government employee's speech is restricted more than the general public's. Government employees can speak “as a citizen on a matter of public concern,” but not “if the employee’s speech was made pursuant to his or her official duties.” But Davis is not claiming the right to speak out in public … indeed, she has been allowed to do that often and loudly … she is demanding the right not to “speak” by refusing to to do her official duties. Does that count as Davis speaking out as a citizen on a matter of public concern?:

The logical answer to this question is no, as the average citizen has no authority to issue marriage licenses. Davis is only able to issue these licenses, or refuse to issue them, because she is the Rowan County Clerk. Because her speech (in the form of her refusal to issue marriage licenses) is a product of her official duties, it likely is not entitled to First Amendment protection.

As to Davis' claim that the state has created a “religious test” for office in violation of Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution, Judge Bunning replies:

The Court must again point out that the act of issuing a marriage license to a samesex couple merely signifies that the couple has met the legal requirements to marry. It is not a sign of moral or religious approval. The State is not requiring Davis to express a particular religious belief as a condition of public employment, nor is it forcing her to surrender her free exercise rights in order to perform her duties.

Lastly, Davis invokes the Kentucky Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Judge Bunning points out:

Davis again argues that the [Governor] Beshear directive substantially burdens her religious freedom without serving a compelling state interest. The record in this case suggests that the burden is more slight. As the Court has already pointed out, Davis is simply being asked to signify that couples meet the legal requirements to marry. The State is not asking her to condone same-sex unions on moral or religious grounds, nor is it restricting her from engaging in a variety of religious activities.

And, of course, “[I]t is always in the public interest to prevent the violation of a party’s constitutional rights.” So there is a compelling public interest in protecting LGBT people's rights and issuing legally required marriage licenses is not a substantial burden on her religious rights.

In short, Judge Bunning systematically demolished the arguments made by Liberty Counsel on Davis' part. Liberty Counsel is led by Mat Staver, who Ed Brayton fondly calls the worst lawyer in America not named Larry Klayman. Staver's group has told Davis to defy the judge's order, even though there is no stay at this point. According to Staver:

Christianity is not a robe you take off when you leave a sanctuary,” said Staver. “The First Amendment guarantees Kim and every American the free exercise of religion, even when they are working for the government.”

In other words, Christians can use the government to impose their beliefs on everyone else.

David Ermold and David Moore, who have been partners for 17 years, went to the Rowan County Clerk's office after Judge Bunning's order but were turned away. Ermold said:

I will say that people are cruel, they are cruel, these people are cruel. This is how gay people are treated in this country. This is what it’s like. This is how it feels.

He's right. This is nothing but an exercise in cruelty.

Ed Brayton affectionately calls Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert the dumbest man in Congress. I've always wondered about that, After all, the Republicans have a plethora of teabaggers who specialize in stupid. But now I have to concede that Ed is right.

First of all, Gohmert claimed that Justices Ginsburg and Kagan ought to be impeached” for participating in the marriage equality case after officiating at the weddings of same-sex couples. This is incredibly stupid. The very issue in the Obergerfell case was the four states' claim that they should be allowed to decide whether to allow same-sex marriages or not. Ginsburg and Kagan performed same-sex marriages in jurisdictions that had decided to allow them and where same-sex marriages would have remained legal no matter what the outcome in Obergerfell. In short, their participation in those marriages did not bear at all on the issues before the Court. If Ginsburg and Kagan were required to recuse themselves for having performed same-sex marriages that were legal under state laws, then any of the justices that had performed opposite-sex marriages would also have had to recuse themselves. Chances are, there would have been no justices left to decide the case.

But that is not evidence of Gohmert's unique stupidity. All too many of the wingnuts are incapable of thinking and have been making the same argument. No, this is where Gohmert races to the head … er … butt of the class:

We could take four heterosexual couples, married, and put them on an island where they have everything they need to sustain life. Then take four all-male couples and put them on an island with all they need to sustain life, take four couples of women, married, and put them on an island, and let’s come back in 100 to 200 years and see which one nature says is the preferred marriage.

Well, doh! If we assume “everything they need to sustain life” doesn't include modern reproductive technology, such as sperm donation and surrogacy, then, yes, the all male or all female islands couldn't reproduce. But, then again, if you put four heterosexual males or heterosexual females on islands, they couldn't reproduce either. On the other hand, if you put two homosexual male couples and two lesbian couples on the same island and came back in 100-200 years, you'd doubtless find the situation about the same as you'd find on the island that had four heterosexual couples.

Of course, homosexuals and lesbians want to reproduce and will do so if given a chance. The really stupid thing is to suppose that, if you make it impossible for them to do so, that is somehow a measure of which is the “ preferred marriage.”

Please allow me to introduce myself

I'm a man of wealth and taste

I've been around for a long, long year

Stole many a man's soul and faith

And I was 'round when Jesus Christ

Had his moment of doubt and pain

Made damn sure that Pilate

Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guess my name!

Baphomet may be a busy fellow for a while.

As you may remember, Oklahoma got itself in quite a pickle recently over a Ten Commandments “monument” it erected on the grounds of the state capitol. The state was set to claim that the Ten Commandments monument was only “historical” in nature and that it was part of a “limited public forum” that all comers could contribute to. The Satanic Temple asked to erect its own “monument” to the forum … a statue of Baphomet, commonly associated with Satan, that you see above. In addition, a Hindu group proposed a statue of Lord Hanuman, a heroic Hindu figure.

Recognizing the morass it was wading into, the Capitol Preservation Commission, which decides on monuments on the capitol grounds, called a moratorium on all proposals for monuments on the capitol grounds pending the outcome of an ACLU lawsuit. Recently, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in that case that, under the state constitution, the monument is not permissible because of a provision that reads:

No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.

Now, many people, after that, would accept that the whole idea was a waste of time. But the theocrats in Oklahoma are made of sterner stuff. Gov. Marry Fallin has refused to remove the monument pending “appeals” (actually, a motion to the state supreme court to reconsider its decision) and attempts by the state legislature to amend the constitution to remove the offending provision.

Not that they are thinking logically but imagine the effect on any Federal lawsuit of the state supreme court finding that “the monument at issue operates for the use, benefit or support of a sect or system of religion” and the legislature then repealing the constitutional provision the state supreme court relied on! They might as well hang a sign on the monument “Dedicated to the Christians of Oklahoma!”

But now Arkansas has joined the fray and its excuse is actually funny:

The Ten Commandments represent a philosophy of government held by many of the founders of this nation and by many Arkansans and other Americans today, that God has ordained civil government and has delegated limited authority to civil government, that God has limited the authority of civil government, and that God has endowed people with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;

The lie is exposed by the very First Commandment (depending how you are counting) “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” The First Amendment makes clear that no one god can can claim government priority, which is, nonetheless, exactly what the Arkansas legislature wants.

These attempts will eventually fail because they aren't like Van Orden v. Perry, where a monument was donated by an outside and widely respected civic group, the monument had stood for some 40 years without complaint and it was one of 17 monuments and 21 historical markers commemorating the "people, ideals, and events that compose Texan identity.

Instead, they are like McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union of Ky., decided on the same day as Van Orden, where Justice Breyer, the swing vote in the two results, noted:

[Van Orden] also differs from McCreary County, where the short (and stormy) history of the courthouse Commandments' displays demonstrates the substantially religious objectives of those who mounted them, and the effect of this readily apparent objective upon those who view them. That history there indicates a governmental effort substantially to promote religion, not simply an effort primarily to reflect, historically, the secular impact of a religiously inspired document. And, in today's world, in a Nation of so many different religious and comparable nonreligious fundamental beliefs, a more contemporary state effort to focus attention upon a religious text is certainly likely to prove divisive in a way that this longstanding, pre-existing monument has not.

Both states will twist themselves into knots trying to come up with secular reasons to refuse the Baphomet and Hanuman monuments and, in the process, will reveal their theocratic intent.

Christians are merely pissing on the capitol grounds to mark their territory and it smells no sweeter than when dogs do it.

Friends, I need to speak with you tonight about a serious medical crisis America is now facing: PMEDS!

Over the past few months and, particularly, over the last week a significant number of Americans have come down with Post Marriage Equality Derangement Syndrome.

The symptoms are striking and tragic. People with PMEDS begin to babble irrationally and incessantly. What they say has almost nothing to do with reality as everyone else experiences it.

Linda Harvey has a particularly severe case.

It seems that a street photographer came across a young teary-eyed boy sitting on a stoop, took his picture and posted it on Facebook and asked him what was wrong. The boy replied "I'm homosexual and I'm afraid about what my future will be and that people won't like me."

One of the quirks of PMEDS is that there are glimpses of sanity that, nonetheless, then plunge headlong off a cliff into uncontrolled fantasy. For instance, Harvey grasps that a child that young probably doesn't understand what 'being gay' is all about, much less be capable of recognizing that he is, in fact, gay. But, then, Harvey leaps to the conclusion that the boy is a victim of child molestation. A more than equally possible explanation is that the boy has been bullied and taunted by his peers, because of some mannerism or his appearance, with the label 'gay' that they understand no better than the boy himself.

Then Harvey is stripped by PMEDS of any resemblance of reality: It seems that former First Lady, former Secretary of State and present candidate for President, Hillary Clinton, noticed the Facebook page and left this message:

Prediction from a grown-up: Your future is going to be amazing. You will surprise yourself with what you’re capable of and the incredible things you go on to do. Find the people who love and believe in you – there will be lots of them.

Harvey's reaction is about as far from reality as anyone could get:

No one is officially calling Hillary’s encouragement of homosexual identity and feelings in an eight-year-old child corruption, which is still a crime in most states. But they should be.

Of course, to those not suffering from PMEDS, nothing in Clinton's message constituted “encouragement of homosexual identity and feelings.” It was a simple message that what might seem to be horrible now will not seem the same tomorrow; that you have an entire future to look forward to; and that there are and will be people who love and believe in you. It would have been an entirely appropriate message to a child who was crying because he thought he was ugly or unatheletic or any of the other “failings” that children of that age think they're afflicted by.

To put an exclamation point to Harvey's flight from reality, she says:

[Clinton is] not alone in her unverifiable discovery of innate “gay”-ness.

Just last week, the editors of USA Today wrote this: “Modern science has concluded that sexual orientation, like race, is genetically determined and the court held that it deserves the same constitutional protection afforded to other immutable characteristics.”

Say again? What “science”? Quote us chapter and verse. They won’t because they can’t. It doesn’t exist.

Of course, the basic premise is unrealistic. We in the US don't just protect people from discrimination because of their “innate” characteristics. After all, nothing in any particular religion or sect a person chooses is “innate.” People can and frequently do change their religion but we nonetheless protect them from discrimination based on whatever temporary choice they have made.

More importantly, no matter how deep Harvey may bury her fingers in her ears, how tight shut she screws her eyes and how loud she hums “Nearer My God to Thee,” the simple fact is that the people who are, unlike Harvey, experts in the field, such as the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association and a host of other scientific and medical authorities are confident, based on reams of evidence, that sexual orientation is “an enduring disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions to men, women, or both.”

In short, Harvey isn't within spittin' distance of reality.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for PMEDS. The best treatment to date is to simply let the syndrome run its course. Eventually, as the gap between the sufferer's beliefs and the real world becomes wider and the delusional predicted outcomes fail to materialize, the most extreme symptoms, while not disappearing, become muted and are mostly only expressed while in the company of other PMEDS sufferers.

It is a sad state of affairs but the most we can do for PMEDS sufferers is to go about our daily life in the real world and try not to point and laugh at them too much.

So long, farewell
Auf Wiedersehen, adieu
Adieu, adieu
To you and you and you

DECATUR COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) – The employees of the Decatur County clerk’s office in west Tennessee have resigned from their positions.

Clerk Gwen Pope and employees Sharon Bell and Mickey Butler all said their resignations was due to the Supreme Court’s decision to allow same-sex marriages.

The decision reportedly clashes with the employees’ religious beliefs. Their last day will be July 14.

I don't have a problem with that. If you want to shoot yourself in the foot rather than doing your job (which amounts to “participating” in a “gay wedding” about as much as walking along the sidewalk outside a venue where one is being held), I think it is salutary that you save the taxpayers the expense of paying an unfaithful servant.

I may not be Sally Field but I am feeling liked by Justice Kennedy.

An interesting factoid is that three of the four most momentous Supreme Court decisions on LGBT rights, yesterday's Obergefell v. Hodges, United States v. Windsor and Lawrence v. Texas, were all handed down on June 26th … just in time for my birthday.

I turn 66 today and cannot be happier with my present.

Maybe I'll go out and force someone to bake me a cake.

It's been a good week for President Obama.

Not only has he been able to celebrate the upholding of his signature accomplishment in office, the Affordable Care Act, not only has he been able to deliver a moving address on the same-sex marriage victory, but he has, in tragic circumstances, delivered an eulogy for Rev. Clementa Pinckney and the other victims of the Charleston shooting that, despite it being rooted deeply in Black Christianity and including the President singing (rather off-key) “Amazing Grace,” nonetheless drew the admiration of PZ Myers.

That's quite an accomplishment.

Alfred E. ("Bobby") Jindal, has a cunning plan!

Jindal's office also provided remarks on the court's ruling from a speech in Iowa on Friday.

"The Supreme Court is completely out of control, making laws on their own, and has become a public opinion poll instead of a judicial body. If we want to save some money lets just get rid of the court.

One small problem … the Constitution at Article III requires that there be a Supreme Court.

Funny, it wasn't so long ago that Jindal called on the Republican Party to "stop being the stupid party."

I guess Jindal applied for and got an exemption from that.

President Obama gave a quite touching speech about the same-sex marriage decision.

This morning, the Supreme Court, in Obergefell v. Hodges, determined that banning same-sex marriages violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection clause.

Somewhat disappointingly, it was a 5-4 decision. Chief Justice Roberts blew his chance not to be known as the Roger B. Taney of the 21st Century.

More as I can read the decision.

Okay, as the Supreme Court's decision on same-sex marriage looms, the Religious Right is collectively losing whatever mind it ever had.

What I'm kinda interested in, in a macabre sort of way, is the names that they are now assigning to LGBT people and those that support their civil rights.

One of my recent favorites is “Rainbow Jihad.”

Of course, “Gay Gestapo” has been around around for a while.

Another relatively new one is “Homosexual Stazi” … never mind that the East German secret police were actually known as the “Stasi” ... you get the drift.

Then there is the “Gay Reich” and, for bonus points, "Big Gay."

Less imaginative types might go with “Homosexual Fascism” or something like “The Nazis of Today.”

More imaginative types might try “The Homosexual Borg.”

If you see some more or less interesting label for LGBT people and those who believe in equal rights, please leave a comment and, if possible, a link.
____________________________________________

Update: Here's a new one: "gay Sharia."
____________________________________________

Update: Here's another: “Pawns Of The Devil.”

____________________________________________

Update: Here's another: “Big Sodomy.”

Mexico's Supreme Court, in a bit of a roundabout way, has legalized same-sex marriage in that country. With Canada, politely, having done the same a decade ago, we in the US are now surrounded! … but not for long, I hope!

The Catholic Church in Mexico is taking the ruling about as well as can be expected.

The Archbishop of San Luis Potosi, Carlos Cabrero, and Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez joined together to perform the “Magno Exorcismo” (great exorcism) last month, following the expansion of marriage rights.

Famous exorcist [cough] Father José Antonio Fortea, who helped perform the exorcism, told right-wing blog Breitbart the move was necessary because “undoubtedly the abortion, Satanism, corruption, the cult of ‘holy’ death and the legalization of sexual aberrations have caused great satanic infestation throughout Mexico.”

Umm … pedophile priests aren't included?

Oh, well … as long as you are being rational about it …

When I was a kid, my family used to vacation in Canada every summer. I always enjoyed the people there who were, as is the stereotype, very polite.

It seems I was wrong, however. They are all monstrous abusers of human rights!

At least that's the case according to Billy Graham's son, Franklin:

Canada began federally mandating same-sex marriage in 2005," Graham wrote on his social media page. "What’s happened since then? One result has been that freedom of speech, press, and religion have suffered greatly.

I'm no expert on Canadian law, but I seriously doubt that Christians are being carted off, en masse to … very polite … concentration camps for saying something nasty about gays. But what do I know?

This, however, is what attracted me to Frankie's screed:

Graham declared that in Canada, "if you say or write anything questioning same-sex marriage, you could face discipline, termination of employment, or prosecution by the government," and warned that if the U.S. Supreme Court legalizes gay marriage, "we will be in the same boat."

Um … no! As much as I like and admire our northern neighbors, they lack a certain thing called the US Constitution. So, if you say or write anything questioning same-sex marriage in the US, you cannot face “prosecution by the government.” And, frankly, I doubt you'd do so in Canada either, but that's another matter.

Now, if you are disciplined or terminated by your employer for being a jackass in the workplace … that's another case altogether! And we have laws in place that protect people from being discriminated against merely because of their religious beliefs.

So what we have is hysteria politics. “When in danger or in doubt, Run in circles, scream and shout.”

The rest of us can and should point and laugh at the people who are risking running up their own asses.

Okay, I've told this story to family and friends but I should let a wider audience know about it before I die.

Back in the day, when I was an Army JAG officer at Ft. Dix, in the early 70s, I was called out to the Area Confinement Facility (“ACF”) to represent a new client, who I will call “Jeffrey.”

When I got there, I was told by the sergeant at the desk that I couldn't see him because the Criminal Investigation Division (“CID”) were interviewing him. I insisted that the exact time I arrived was logged in and then asked if the Major in charge of the ACF, who I was friendly with, and who was a good man, was in.

The first thing I said to the Major was “You know, of course, that anything that the CID gets out of Jeffery after I arrived will not be admissible in court, right?” He chuckled and said something to the effect that if the CID got anything useful out of a suspect, it would be a first!

So we then chatted about why Jeffery was there in the first place.

Back at that time civilian courts had a habit of dealing with juvenile offenders by offering them an opportunity to join the military and have their civilian records “sealed.” One slight problem was that, even though a state might “seal” a juvenile arrest record, it wasn't sealed to the FBI. So, after an FBI background check, which would take about 30 days, such people were designated for an administrative discharge and assigned to “Company D,” awaiting that discharge. It was an unique place to visit. The officer in charge, who I was also friendly with, had an interesting set of rules. As any officer entered, bodies would suddenly fling themselves against the walls and salute … a rather disconcerting effect.

Well, the ACF major told me that Jeffery had been assigned as “barracks guard” for Company D one night and for some reason three none-too-sober drill sergeants decided to harass him .

Jeffery, who was about 6'3” and about 235 lbs., proceeded to beat the shit out of the three drill sergeants … no small feat.

Anyway, he was eventually taken to the ACF doing the “stockade shuffle” … in handcuffs, belly chain and leg irons. However, he had fought the restraints to such a point that that he had left his wrists and ankles rather significantly damaged.

At that point, the ACF decided that it might be a good idea to take him for a psychological evaluation. I was also friendly with the sergeant who escorted Jeffery there and got him to tell me about it.

The sergeant and several other MPs delivered Jeffery to a psychologist and waited around to see what would happen. The first thing the psychologist did was to say that 'you have to take all those restraints off the patient … I can't possibly treat him in that condition!' The sergeant said that he couldn't take off the restraints without his commander's permission. He called the ACF and was told by the second in command that, if that was what the doctor wanted, he should do it, So he removed the handcuffs, belly chain and leg irons but still stood guard over Jeffery. The psychologist told him he had to leave so he could “treat” Jeffrey.

Now here's the only part of the sergeant's story I doubted … he said that he went to get some coffee when, next thing he heard was 'Wapp, Wapp, Wapp” ... “Oh, My God!”

The part I have my doubts about is when he said he “rushed” backed into the doctor's office” … but, in any event, when he got there, he found Jeffery 'sitting on the psychologist's chest, punching him in the face.'

So, now, after the the CID had (fruitlessly) left, I went to see Jeffrey. He was less than responsive. I went though my usual spiel … I'm your lawyer now … don't talk to anyone but me … etc, etc, … and at the end … I asked if he has any questions, To this point he hadn't even looked at me and had been quite silent. Next thing I hear is a low, barely audible rumble … 'how long can I get?' I try to explain that the maximum penalty for striking a superior officer is 45 years but that no one is likely to get such a sentence. But I don't get beyond “45 years” before a long awful moan comes out of Jeffrey of 'Oh my God …' that ends all conversation.

Then it got truly bizarre. The psychiatrist whose chest Jeffery was sitting on and punching filed a report saying that, while Jeffery was perfectly sane while he was pummeling him, he wasn't now sane enough to be tried!

The post's JAG took one look at that and said 'Hey, we were going to send him back to the civilians anyway, so why bother?' and decided not to try him.

The psychologist, then, changed his opinion yet again and said Jeffery wasn't ever insane … lest he get a disability.

The kind of sad thing was, though I was in contact with Jeffery's family and a family minister and told them they could easily sue for such a disability and I'd happily testify on their behalf, I never heard from them again.

After the JAG decided to just administratively discharge Jeffery, I went out to the ACF to let him know the news. As such things were done, I was locked into Jeffery's 6 foot by 3 foot cell, with a solid steel door. Jeffery was seated on the steel cot attached to the wall and was no more responsive than when I first met him.

So I explained that the Army had decided to just discharge him … he wouldn't be facing 45 years in jail ... and in a couple of weeks he'd be home in Philadelphia.

Jeffery looked up at me from the bed and, with tears in his eyes, said:

Captain Pieret … can I blow you?

Did I mention that Jeffery was about 6'3” and about 235 lbs? I was and am about 5'8” and maybe 160 lbs. And I was locked in a small cell with Jeffery …

I managed to babble something about how it was reward enough to help others as I sidled over to the cell door and started pounding on it for the guards to let me out, which they eventually did without any further incident.

But I will never forget Jeffrey and the great reward.

I think it does.

By an overwhelming landslide, 62% to 38%, Ireland, over the objection of the Catholic Church, approved same-sex marriage.

Why should that matter here in the US? Well, we have six Catholic Supreme Court Justices and three Jewish Justices. The three Jewish Justices are pretty safe votes for marriage equality. Justices Scalia and Thomas are pretty safely votes against.

The play ground is in between … Justice Kennedy, long assumed to be the “swing vote,” given his major contributions to gay rights, in Romer, Lawrence and Windsor, can only be assured of his place in history on the Court if gay marriage is vindicated now.

Chief Justice Roberts, who, most of all, I suspect, doesn't want to be known as the Roger B. Taney of todays' court, must surely see the handwritting on history's wall after the Irish vote.

The question I now see is whether it will be a 6-3 or 7-2 decision. Will Alito choose history or ideology?

Only time will tell.

Despite my name, most of my heritage is Irish, with boatloads of Conklin and Regan relatives. So, I am particularly proud that Ireland became the first nation today to institute same-sex marriage by a popular referendum!

And it was a landslide! (62-to-38 percent in favor of marriage equality!)

ERIN GO BRAGH!

Unless you have been hiding in a cabin in the woods with no electricity and no internet access, you have heard about the the Right Wing freakout about the Jade Helm 15 military exercise where the four branches of the military will be practicing how to operate covertly in different environments, including among a hostile population, a “permissive” (non-hostile) population, a “leaning hostile” population and a “leaning friendly” population.

A large percentage of Teabaggers and Republicans are losing their minds about this and, naturally enough, Texans (though hardly alone) are ground zero for the crazy. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the Texas State Guard (Right Wing Watch got that part wrong … it wasn't the National Guard but the State guard ... a bunch of weekend warriors who like to play dress-up) to “monitor" Operation Jade Helm 15. Louis Gohmert predictably played the buffoon. And Rick Perry practiced his patented smarminess.

The really funny thing is that not only has the military posted information on the web about the exercise, including the above map (not exactly SOP for a real military invasion) but the whole thing includes about 1,200 service members. In Texas, which has such major military bases as Fort Bliss, Fort Hood, Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, Randolph AFB and Lackland AFB, there are already some 109,000 active duty military personnel, and another 85,000 Reserves and National Guard, for a total of some 195,000 military personnel.

So, anyway you slice it … if President Obama has full control if the military, he doesn't need Jade Helm to take over Texas; if he doesn't, the troops in Texas could sweep aside Jade Helm like a gnat.

But, then again, rationality has never been a strong point of wingnuts.

Rick Santorum actually said something that made sense about Bruce Jenner's transitioning to a woman:

“If he says he’s a woman, then he’s a woman,” Santorum originally said when asked about the TV star during a roundtable with reporters in South Carolina . “My responsibility as a human being is to love and accept everybody. Not to criticize people for who they are. I can criticize, and I do, for what people do, for their behavior. But as far as for who they are, you have to respect everybody, and these are obviously complex issues for businesses, for society, and I think we have to look at it in a way that is compassionate and respectful of everybody.”

I want to know who has that clue stick because it is wearing off and Rick needs another whack:

“What I said was, I think you have to treat every person with dignity and respect, period. That’s the bottom line. And if Bruce Jenner says he’s woman then I’m not gonna argue with him. I know what obviously and biologically he is. That doesn’t change by himself identifying himself,” Santorum helpfully explained. ” His genetics and DNA isn’t changing, but out of respect, as you said, I’m not gonna argue if Bruce Jenner’s a woman with Bruce Jenner. I’m gonna treat him with dignity and respect and that’s what I said.”

Of course, he needs to walk back the original statement to maintain support from the frothing-at-the-mouth-hater wing of the Republican party if he intends to run for president but it is still pretty good by Santorum's usual standards. But another application certainly wouldn't hurt.

On a second note (***WARNING*** Unship your irony meter, make sure to drain any residual power from it and store it at least 10 feet underground in a bunker with concrete walls at least 3 feet thick!!!), Family Research Council official Craig James said that the LGBT community needs to show more civility or America will be lost.

“It’s the one-way street that is going to kill America,” James said. “This country has had a two-lane highway forever, both sides had the freedom to believe. Civility is gone. We’re haters if we think otherwise. What’s wrong with this country?”

As Right Wing Watch points out, James “works for one of the nation's most virulently anti-LGBT groups, whose leaders (including James) have described gays rights as a tool of the Devil, defended Uganda's kill-the-gays bill, called for an anti-gay revolution and urged the government to export gay people from the country ...”

But it is LGBT people who have to show civility!!!

That's some weapons-grade irony there!

I don't know whether to laugh or cry or something in between.

Sylvia Ann Driskell has, apparently, followed the “advice” of deranged bigot, Rick Scarborough, to somehow file a “class action lawsuit” against homosexuality, as when the attorneys general of many states filed a lawsuit against tobacco companies.

This is the unfortunate, handwritten, result:

To United States District Court of Omaha

Omaha, Nebraska

Plaintiffs

Sylvia Ann Driskell, Ambassador for Plaintiffs God and His Son, Jesus Christ

vs.

Defendants

Homosexuals, Their Given Name Homosexuals, Their Alis [sic] Gay

1. Ambassador: I Sylvia Ann Driskell ambassador for Plaintiffs do set forth on this 30 day of 2015 [sic] in writing this Petition to the United State District Court of Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska. On behalf of the Plintiffs [sic] God, and His, Son, Jesus Christ.

2. Ambassador: I Sylvia Ann Driskell ambassador for the Plaintiffs: God, and His, Son, Jesus Christ: Petition Your Honor, and Court of the United State District Court of Omaha, Omaha, Nebraka [sic] , To be heard in the matter of homosexuality. Is Homosexuality a sin, or not a sin,

3. Defendant’s [sic] Homosexuals: The Homosexuals say that its not a sin to be a homosexual, An [sic] they have the right to marry, to be parents, And God doesn’t care that their homosexuals, because He loves them.

4. Ambassador: I Sylvia Ann Driskell, refer Your Honor to paragraph 3, line 2 of Defendant’s [sic], Homosexuals say that its not a sin, to be a homosexual.

5. Plaintiff’s: God tells his children in Leviticus Chapter 18 verse 22. Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is abomination.

6. Plaintiff’s: God also tells his Children in Romans Chapter 1 verse 26, 27. Romans 1:26. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affection: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: Romans Chapter 1, verse 27. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; Men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

7. Ambassador I Sylvia Ann Driskell: Your Honor, I’ve heard the boasting of the Defendant: the Homosexuals on the world news; from the Young, to the Old; to the rich an [sic] famous, and to the not so rich an [sic] famous; How they were tired of hiding in the closet, and how glad they are to be coming out of the closet.

8. Plaintiff’s God, tells his Children in Romans Chapter 1, vere [sic] 28, And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.

9. Ambassador: I Sylvia Ann Driskell, Contend [sic] that homosexuality is a sin, and that they the homosexuals know it is a sin to live a life of homosexuality. Why else would they have been hiding in a closet.

10. Ambassador: I Sylvia Ann Driskell, refer to Webster [sic] Dictionary for the definition of sin: sin the willful breaking of religious or moral law.

11. Defendant’s [sic] Homosexuals: In regards to paragraph 3 line 2 They the homosexuals, say they have the right to marry.

12. Plaintiff’s God: God’s word tells his children in Jenesis [sic] chapter 2 verse 24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleanse unto his wife and they shall be one flesh.

13. Ambassador: I Sylvia Ann Driskell refer to the Webster Dictionary for the definitions of the word marry. 1 to join as husband and wife 2 to talk as husband or wife.

14. Defendant’s [sic] Homosexuals: In regards to paragraph 3 line 3 They [sic] the homosexuals, say they have the right to be parents.

15. Ambassador: I Sylvia Ann Driskell refer to Webster [sic] Dictionary for the definition for parent. 1. A father or mother. 2. Any organism in relation to its offspring.

16. Ambassador: I Sylvia Ann Driskell write these words to You, Your Honor: every good Father and Mother knows that its not just being able to give life to a child that makes a parent.

17. Ambassador: I, Sylvia Ann Driskell contend a good parent is not just a father or a mother that tells their children whats right; it’s the parent that walks the walk, and that talks, the talk, who are the example of what they teach, that’s why their children know right from wrong.

18. Ambassador: I Sylvia Ann Driskell, write, As [sic] well, we also know that if a child is raised in a home of liers [sic], an [sic] deceivers, and thieves that it is reasonable to believe that child will grow up to be one of the three, are [sic] all three.

19. Plaintiff’s: God tells the parents in Proverbs chapter 22 verse 6. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

20. Defendant’s [sic] Homosexuals: I [sic] regards to paragraph 3, line 3. They the homosexuals, say that God doesn’t care, that their homosexuals, because he loves them.

21. Plaintiff’s God: God tells his children in Romans chapter 1, verse 18. For the wrath of God is reveald [sic] from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

22. Plaintiff’s God: God also tells his children in Romans 1, verse 24. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves.

23. Plaintiff’s God: God tells his children in Romans chapter 1, verse 25. Who change the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped [sic] and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed, for ever. Amen.

24. Defendant’s Homosexuals: In regards to paragraph 3, line 4. Because God loves them.

25. Ambassador: I Sylvia Ann Driskell, contend thats [sic] the only statement the defendants have right; God loves them so much that He gave his Son, and Jesus gave his life for them.

26. Plaintiff’s God: God prophecies of His, Son, Jesus Christ, in Isaiah chapter 53, verse 5. But he was wounded for Our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are heald [sic].

Isaiah chapter 53, verse 6 All we like [sic] sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah chapter 55 verse 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

27. Plaintiff’s [sic] Jesus Christ: In Luke chapter 23, verse 34. Then said Jesus, Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.

28. Ambassador: I Sylvia Ann Driskell, wish to address You, Your Honor, and the United State District Court of Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska.

I write not in few words, So I hope you, Your Honor, and The United State District Court of Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska; will indulge me, in my writing.

Never before has Our great Nation the United State of America and Our great state of Nebraska; been besiege [sic] by sin:

The way to destroy any nation, or state is to destroy its morals; look what happen to Sodom and Gomorrah two city [sic] because of the same immoral behavior thats [sic] present in our nation, in our states, and our cities; God destroy [sic] them.

If God could have found ten righteous people among them he would have spared them.

I’m sixty six years old, an I never thought that I would see the day in which our Great Nation or Our Great State of Nebraska would become so compliant to the complicity of some peoples lewd behavior.

Why are judges passing laws?, [sic] so sinners can break religious and moral laws?

Will all the judges of this Nation, judge God to be a lier [sic]?

For God has said; that all unrighteousness is sin, and that homosexuality is abomination.

29. Ambassador: I Sylvia Ann Driskell: I have written this Petition to the United State District Court of Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska, and to you, Your Honor.

Because I feel its is imperative to do so. We as a nation, as States, and as Cities need to start standing up for the moral principles on which Our, [sic] Great Nation, Our, [sic] Great States, and Our, [sic] Great Cities were founded on.

Lamentations 3:22

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions [sic] fail not.

ambassador Sylvia Ann Driskell

Some thoughts:

It takes some chutzpah, if not outright “blasphemy,” to declare oneself as the “ambassador” of God. I thought that position was already filled by someone with the initials of J.C. Oh, wait a minute! … Sylvia is J.C.'s spokesperson too!

Sylvia also seems to think that the operative legal question concerning the rights of homosexuals is whether or not homosexuality is a “sin,” as defined by the Bible, a contention that is disputed not only by homosexuals but by many Christians.

One thing I have often wondered is where people like Sylvia get the idea that the Bible prohibits same-sex marriage. Sylvia quotes Leviticus, which says she can stone male homosexuals to death. Is Sylvia ready to cast the first stone? Otherwise, it says nothing about gay marriage.

Then there's a lot of quotations from that prig, Paul, who thinks all sex is bad, but has to be tolerated since, after all, it's only temporary, in that J.C. will be returning to do away with all that stuff any second now.

But isn't it Christian doctrine that we are all sinners? If the (surviving) gays aren't allowed to marry because they are sinners, who, then, should be allowed to marry?

And then there is this (turn off your irony meters … and put them in bunkers with concrete walls at least 3 feet thick):

... the homosexuals know it is a sin to live a life of homosexuality. Why else would they have been hiding in a closet.

Oh, I don't know, Sylvia … maybe because bigots thought, and still think, it is perfectly fine to stone them to death?

Sylvia almost gets it right when she says:

... every good Father and Mother knows that its not just being able to give life to a child that makes a parent.

I, Sylvia Ann Driskell contend a good parent is not just a father or a mother that tells their children whats right; it’s the parent that walks the walk, and that talks, the talk, who are the example of what they teach, that’s why their children know right from wrong.

That's right, you don't have to be a biological parent in order to be a parent. But one of the things parents should teach their children is that judging people, not by how they treat others or by the fact that they are our fellow human beings, but merely by some label, like “nigger” or “fag,” that may be popular, but says nothing about who they are, is wrong.

Sylvia asks why the courts decide “sinners can break religious and moral laws.” Well, it has to do with that Constitution doohickey we have that allows everybody to break religious laws, like “Thou shalt have no other gods before me" … otherwise known as “freedom of religion.”

As I said before, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. The “lawsuit” is ridiculous and, since it is filed pro se, the court will review it on its own to determine if it has any merit … meaning it will be immediately dismissed.

But it also represents what all too many people in America think about their fellow human beings.

And that is an all too very sad thing.
_______________________________________

Update: The case has already been dismissed. You can see the decision here.

Basically, the judge ruled that 1) Federal courts are not forums to debate or discourse on theological matters; 2) the plaintiff did not demand relief a Federal court can grant (a ruling as to sinfulness of homosexuality); 3) plaintiff did not allege a particularized injury sufficient to establish standing to sue anyone; and, most importantly, 4) the plaintiff did not allege any factual or legal basis for a federal claim under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States.

This an expansion on a comment I left over at Ed Brayton's blog. It seems there is a new meme going around the bigotsphere to the effect that, during the oral arguments on Obergefell v. Hodges, Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., on behalf of President Obama, has “declared war” on the religious rights of clergy and churches.

Here is Conservative commentator Robert Knight, speaking on Huntington-based talk radio host Tom Roten's program:

And here is one final thing, Tom, that was scary: that was Don Verrilli, the Solicitor General arguing on behalf of President Obama for gay marriage, and he was asked by one of the Justices 'what about the possibility that pastors will be forced ...forced … against their beliefs to perform same-sex ceremonies and he just casually said 'well, that'll probably be left up to the states, although it is already an issue in states that have gay marriage.' Now think, in the free country of ours, they're casually talking about using the power of the state to force pastors to bless something that the Bible says is an abomination.

And here is Glenn Beck:

“Hear’s (sic) my prediction: If gay marriage goes through the Supreme Court and gay marriage becomes fine and they can put teeth in it – so now they can go after the churches, like the president’s lawyer says – 50% of our churches will fall away. Meaning the congregations, within five years, 50% of the congregants will fall away from their church. Because they won’t be able to take the persecution,” Glenn said. “Because the stigma of going to church will be too much.”

This is a meme we're going to be seeing a lot of in the future, I suspect. What Knight said above is simply not true. You can find the transcript of the oral arguments here. The question about clergy being forced to perform same-sex marriages was asked of the main attorney for the appellants, Mary L. Bonauto, by Justice Scalia and Bonauto, with an assist by Justice Ginsberg, answered “No.” Although it wasn't raised in the oral arguments, there is the “ministerial exception” to anti-discrimination laws on hiring and the same logic would apply to anyone who brought a discrimination claim against clergy for not performing a same-sex marriage.

Verrilli was asked by Justice Roberts:

We have a concession from your friend that clergy will not be required to perform same-sex marriage, but there are going to be harder questions. Would a religious school that has married housing be required to afford such housing to same-sex couples?

Verrilli's answer was rather convoluted and not very clear but basically he said 1) the Court would only be answering what the states have to do under the Fourteenth Amendment, not individuals; 2) the issue would depend on the civil rights laws of the states or local governments [which is where the supporters of same-sex bans and the bigots that voted for them want that decision to be made and where, in any event, the “ministerial exception” would still apply]; 3) the Federal government has no anti-discrimination law covering sexual orientation [and, given our present Congress, isn't likely to have any in the foreseeable future]; 4) such questions are going to arise even if states are allowed to ban same-sex marriages [as in the Houston anti-discrimination law flap in Texas, a state that still doesn't allow same-sex marriages].

Asked by Justice Alito:

Well, in the Bob Jones case, the Court held that a college was not entitled to tax-exempt status if it opposed interracial marriage or interracial dating. So would the same apply to a university or a college if it opposed same-sex marriage?

… Verrilli said it could be an issue but would depend on what the particular circumstances were.

The answer to Justice Roberts' question is, assuming there is a state or local law forbidding discrimination in hiring based on sexual orientation and assuming that housing is part of the compensation for the job, does the job involve the “ministry” of the school (which can include duties constituting as little a 45 minutes a day of the person's work)? If it is, then the school is protected. If housing is given to, say, a landscaper or a cook who has no interaction with students, then the school might be in violation of the statute. Of course, many, if not most or all, such anti-discrimination laws specifically exempt religious organizations entirely.

So if you see anyone saying that the Obama administration has “declared war” on churches based on the oral arguments, put them down as low-information morons … like Beck and, apparently, Knight.