Thursday, February 24, 2011

Wow! So Much Happened Yesterday.......

Most of you know I am an artist and when I get started on a project I am like a dog with a juicy bone. I can't let go until it is finished. Yesterday was full of great news if you are LGBT or PFLAG. Not so great if you are not.
Here are some highlights.....


Maryland  Senate advanced legislation by a 25 to 22 vote yesterday in favor of same sex marriage. They only needed 24 votes to pass. The final vote could come as soon as today making Maryland the 6th state and DC to have gay marriage.


Hawaii's new Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed the civil unions bill into law allowing same sex and opposite sex couples civil unions with all the perks of marriage making them the 7th in the nation to have civil unions. Just last year the Hawaii's twice-divorced Republican Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed that bill supposedly to "protect" traditional marriage.


The Department of Justice has found the Defence of Marriage Act ( DOMA) to be unconstitutional and will not be defending DOMA in court any longer. While Obama has wavered on the subject of gay marriage he agrees DOMA is wrong as well.
Even though the DOJ will not be defending DOMA in court, it will take an act of Congress to strike it down and that will take some time but it is a HUGE step in the right direction.
Keep in mind that it was an act of Congress that allowed for gay marriage in DC.


All of this has the opposition in an uproar as you can imagine. Here is what the Hate Groups and their "friends" had to say about it.....

"Prospective 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has slammed President Obama's decision on DOMA, saying that dirty queers are behind the nation's crisis of deadbeat dads." If anyone can explain what one has to do with the other, please let me know.

 Family Research Council, "This decision by President Obama and the Department of Justice is appalling. The President's failure to defend DOMA is also a failure to fulfill his oath to 'faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.'

Liberty Counsel,"Today President Obama has abandoned his role as President of the United States and transformed his office into the President of the Divided States. He has been the most divisive president in American history."

NOM, “We have not yet begun to fight for marriage. The Democrats are responding to their election loss with a series of extraordinary, extra-constitutional end runs around democracy, whether it’s fleeing the state in Wisconsin and Indiana to prevent a vote, or unilaterally declaring homosexuals a protected class under our Constitution, as President Obama just did." ( Goddess forbid gays are protected from the likes of NOM.)

House Speaker John Boehner's spokesman just issued this terse statement: "While Americans want Washington to focus on creating jobs and cutting spending, the President will have to explain why he thinks now is the appropriate time to stir up a controversial issue that sharply divides the nation."
Mr. Boehner, Americans do want Washington to focus on creating jobs and cutting spending but that is not what the Republicans are doing. They are busy trying to tell women how and when to have children and see to it that the LGBT population remains second class citizens with no protections against discrimination.

The patchwork of anti-discrimination laws and same sex marriage makes it difficult for the 1 in 8 Americans that fall under the LGBT umbrella. It is about time the federal government did something about it. Passing the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA) and repealing DOMA would end the hardships so many have to suffer.

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