Posts Tagged What is happening to California!?
Iowa!
Posted by zoboxrox in human rights, miracle, politics on April 3rd, 2009
If it hadn’t been on more than one news station, I probably wouldn’t have believed it, but it appears that Iowa has legalized Gay Marriage — or, more precisely, il-legalized the ban on it. This makes Iowa one of a very small handful of states, and the only non-coastal one, that legally permits any two adult people to get married, no matter what the sexuality of the couple.
The Iowa Supreme Court legalized gay marriage Friday in a unanimous and emphatic decision that makes Iowa the third state — and the first in the nation’s heartland — to allow same-sex couples to wed.
In its decision, the high court upheld a lower court’s ruling that found a state law restricting marriage to between a man and woman violated Iowa’s constitution.
“We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective,” the Supreme Court wrote in its decision. “The Legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification.”
Ok, so whats going on here? California bans gay marriage and Iowa legalizes it?
Gay rights supporter and former state lawmaker Ed Fallon told NPR that the ruling is consistent with Iowa’s history.
“Iowa has always been on the cutting edge of civil rights,” Fallon said. “Whether it’s regarding desegregation of schools or the rights of African Americans to be full citizens.”
“This is huge. And I think it’s a testament to the fairness and sense of decency that Iowans have,” he said.
To be honest, this isn’t the first time Iowa has surprised me. In fact, its neither the second NOR third time either! The first was in college and is related to a home-grown corn-fed lad, but the second and third I think you all may remember as well:
Sad But True
Posted by zoboxrox in human rights, malfunction, religion on January 28th, 2009
This is one of those stories you hear and have a hard time believing. Is this really still happening? After everything we think we’ve done, as far as we’ve gotten…
“School can expel lesbian students, court rules”
After a Lutheran school expelled two 16-year-old girls for having “a bond of intimacy” that was “characteristic of a lesbian relationship,” the girls sued, contending the school had violated a state anti-discrimination law.
In response to that suit, an appeals court decided this week that the private religious school was not a business and therefore did not have to comply with a state law that prohibits businesses from discriminating. A lawyer for the girls said Tuesday that he would ask the California Supreme Court to overturn the unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal.
Kirk D. Hanson, who represented the girls, said the “very troubling” ruling would permit private schools to discriminate against anyone, as long as the schools used their religious beliefs as justification.
The girls were expelled in their junior year for “conducting themselves in a manner consistent with being lesbians…”The dispute started when a student at the school told a teacher in 2005 that one of the girls had said she loved the other. The student advised the teacher to look at the girls’ MySpace pages. One of the girls was identified as bisexual on her MySpace page, the other’s page said she was “not sure” of her sexual orientation.
McKay said the website also contained a photograph of the girls hugging.
****
“The school’s religious message is inextricably intertwined with its secular functions,” wrote Justice Betty A. Richli for the appeals court. “The whole purpose of sending one’s child to a religious school is to ensure that he or she learns even secular subjects within a religious framework.”
In addition to their discrimination claim, the girls complained that the school invaded their privacy and detained them unlawfully. The girls complained the principal sat “very close” to them and asked them if they were bisexual, if they had kissed each other, and whether they had done anything “inappropriate,” the court said.
The school also did not break the law when it disclosed the girls’ “suspected sexual orientation” to their parents, the court said. The parents, “in light of their right to control their children’s upbringing and education, had a right to know why” they were being expelled, the court said.“Labeling a young person or telling her she is ’sinful’ can be psychologically devastating,” Minter said. “Regardless of one’s religious beliefs, all adults have a responsibility to treat young people with compassion and respect.”
School officials could not be reached for comment.
The church should really ease up when it comes to homosexuals. I mean, in all honesty, what would happen to religious establishments without them? They practically run the entire Catholic Church. 
What Happens When Democracy is Wrong?
Posted by zoboxrox in church and state, human rights, malfunction, politics, tragedy on December 21st, 2008
The funny thing about democracy is that it really does put the power in the hands of the people, and quite often, quite frankly, the people end up being wrong. Take, say, 2004, when they re-elected George Bush. Or 2000 for that matter. Or the people of Illinois and the fallen Governor Blagojevich. Or Richard Nixon. Joseph McCarthy. Newt Gingrich. Ted Stevens. Tom DeLay. Even Adolf Hitler was democratically elected into office.
Proposition 8 recently passed in California state-wide elections with a definitive majority, despite the fact that the Supreme Court of California has previously defended the rights of gay marriage. The Court is once again faced with a decision regarding marriage rights, but they must view the question now in a post-8 setting.
Sponsors of the California ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage are seeking to nullify thousands of marriages between gay and lesbian couples performed after the state Supreme Court ruled them constitutional.
The sponsors Friday filed responses to three anti-Proposition 8 lawsuits with the state Supreme Court. The briefs also defend Proposition 8 against opponents’ legal challenges, including an argument that the amendment needed a constitutional convention to be added to the state’s constitution.
“We are confident that the will of the voters and Proposition 8 will ultimately be upheld,” said Andrew Pugno, General Counsel for ProtectMarriage.com and the Proposition 8 Legal Defense Fund.
So what can the California Court do now? In 2004 when faced with the same issue, they determined the following:
The court’s ruling said the right to marry is among a set of basic human rights “so integral to an individual’s liberty and personal autonomy that they may not be eliminated or abrogated by the legislature or by the electorate through the statutory initiative process.“
It reminds me of a quote I learned in grammar school and never forgot, and I have a horrible memory but I’m pretty sure it goes like this: “There comes a point when a man must refuse to answer to his leader if he is also to answer to his own conscience.” 
So I wonder, are these comparable times? Is it up to the Justices of California, and perhaps ultimately the Supreme Court, to defy the majority in favor of what is right, both morally and under our Declaration of Independence, which ensures all inalienable human rights, including the pursuit of Happiness.
Are we creating a dangerous distinction between democracy and freedom? I say, as far as marriage equality is concerned, the answer is yes.
Why Warren Works
Posted by zoboxrox in church and state, human rights, malfunction, politics, religion on December 18th, 2008
So, apparently it suddenly matters who gives the Benediction at the Inauguration of the incoming President. Bush’s Benediction was delivered by Texas mega-church pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell, twice, and I never heard anything about him until he endorsed Barack Obama for President last year. Anyway, liberal and conservative groups alike are getting their panties all in a bunch over B-rock’s choice, Evangelical Prop-8 loving pastor Rick Warren. So I looked Rick Warren up and found out a whole bunch of stuff, but what I want to share with you are some pictures and the following question: Does this really look like a man who hates the gays?
His church is called “SADDLEBACK” for Christ’s sake.
Rehearsing for the musical
He’s ready for his close-up!
Talking about his new curtains, which, coincidentally, match his shirt!!
In all seriousness, the selection was disturbing but at the same time politically brilliant. By choosing a socially conservative but economically liberal figurehead for the religious center of his inauguration, he is inviting an entire group of formerly disenfranchised voters to join his new majority. The left may not like it, and it may not be right or fair, but this Warren guy represents the views of the majority of the country, and whether we like it or not, they are here to stay.
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