After Epic 39-Hour Filibuster, Missouri Senate Passes Bill Criticized as Anti-Gay

Missouri Sen. Bob Onder, right, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Kehoe address reporters at the state capitol after the filibuster. (photo: David A. Lieb/AP)

 

Sandhya Somashekhar  | The Washington Post | Reader Supported News | March 9, 2016

or 39 hours, seven Democrats in the Missouri Senate kept up a filibuster aimed at drawing attention to, and ultimately killing, a religious freedom bill that critics called anti-gay.

On Wednesday morning, they were finally cut short. The chamber’s Republican majority voted to end the filibuster and voted in favor of the bill, which if enacted would permit religious organizations and certain others to refrain from activities viewed as condoning or participating in same-sex marriage.

It is the latest and perhaps most dramatic example of the extraordinary opposition being stoked by religious liberties bills, which have proliferated in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year legalizing same-sex marriage nationally. Social conservatives say the bills are necessary to protect faith-based organizations and faith-driven businesses from being forced to condone a practice that clashes with their religion.

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Tennessee lawsuit would invalidate every marriage since June out of spite

Jon Green | America Blog | January 26, 2016

As far as this group of conservatives is concerned, prohibiting same-sex marriage is more important than allowing opposite-sex marriage. So much so that it’s necessary to invalidate every marriage performed since June, and put the government’s entire role in issuing marriage licenses on hold, until the Supreme Court overturns Obergefell v. Hodges.

From ThinkProgress‘s Zack Ford:

Gay marriage via Shutterstock

Just one day after a Tennessee House committee rejected a bill to nullify the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision, the head of the state’s top conservative organization filed a lawsuit hoping to, at the very least, stall same-sex marriage. And he has the support of several state lawmakers.

David Fowler, head of the Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACT), filed the state suit in Williamson County, asking County Clerk Elaine Anderson to cease issuing marriage licenses until the suit is resolved. His contention relies on a mix of odd technicalities relating to the impact of the Obergefell decision on Tennessee law, particularly the idea that the state’s entire marriage statute was invalidated. He argues that because lawmakers would never have passed a marriage law inclusive of same-sex couples, there is no longer any law stipulating marriage for any couple, and thus all marriage licenses issued in the state since last June are void. This, he fears, exposes the pastors who join him as plaintiffs to liability, because a separate Tennessee statute dictates that it is a Class C misdemeanor to solemnize a wedding between two people not legally eligible to marry, punishable by a $500 fine.

As Ford notes, Fowler doesn’t go to very much effort to hide the fact that his lawsuit is part of a broader effort to get Obergefell overturned. He even laid out his strategy in a flowchart on FACT’s website. Not doing much to help himself in the court of public opinion, Fowler has also claimed that this same strategy could have been, and perhaps still could be, used to pick apart Brown v. Board of Education. Rather than integrate the schools, Fowler argued, states could have simply stopped offering public education altogether.

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Same-Sex Union Foes To Pay Up

Zoe Tillman | The National Law Journal | January 25, 2016

States on hook for $13.5M in legal fees.

TAB: Lawyers who challenged same-sex marriage bans have earned millions in fees. Diego M. Radzinschi 

Twenty-five states that unsuccessfully defended same-sex marriage bans in federal court have agreed or been ordered by a judge to pay more than $13.5 million in legal fees to the challengers.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in U.S. v. Windsor—striking down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act—opened the floodgates to lawsuits challenging state marriage bans as unconstitutional. There was a flurry of litigation in federal courts leading up to the high court’s decision in June in Obergefell v. Hodges declaring a national right to same-sex marriage.

The legal bills have steadily come due.

Payouts to plaintiffs’ lawyers, who largely represented their clients pro bono, so far ranged from $4,500 to $1.9 million. And there’s more to come. Fee petitions are pending in four states, including a $2 million request in Tennessee. In other cases, the lawyers are still fighting over how to apply Obergefell, delaying a discussion about fees.

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GOP lawmakers want exemptions for gay marriage opponents

Kathleen Foody | Associated Press | Yahoo Finance | January 22, 2016

ATLANTA (AP) — Months after the Supreme Court effectively legalized same-sex marriage, lawmakers across the U.S. are pushing bills that would give businesses and some public employees the right to refuse serving gay couples because of their religious beliefs.

The American Civil Liberties Union opposes such bills and says variations have been proposed in 22 states — mostly by Republicans, though they aren’t universally backed in the GOP. Top employers, including Delta Air Lines, Home Depot, Porsche and UPS in Georgia, warn the proposals are unwelcoming and bad for business.

Even so, Georgia lawmakers have pressed on with a bill to allow business owners to refuse products or services for same-sex couples planning a wedding, and another that protects state employees who have religious objections to the marriages.

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This is a looming danger for full LGBT equality

Jonathan Capehart | The Washington Post | January 20, 2016

An American flag and the gay pride flag fly in front of the Supreme Court. (Andrew Harnik/Associated Press)

 

Since before the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in June, leaders in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community have warned that the fight for equality was far from over. Noted gay rights activist and radio host Michelangelo Signorile wrote a book on it. In “It’s not over: getting beyond tolerance, defeating homophobia, and winning true equality,” he urged LGBT Americans not to succumb to “victory blindness.” But a new poll shows that straight people are susceptible to it, too.

According to a new survey from Harris Poll commissioned by GLAAD, the nation’s LGBT media advocacy organization, “A growing complacency appears to be developing” among non-LGBT Americans. When asked if they agreed that “gay people have the same rights as everybody else” in the United States, 50 percent said yes. The poll will be released later this morning.

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The Gay Rights Letdown Is Here

David Silverman/Getty Images

Samantha Allen | The Daily Beast | January 20, 2016

The honeymoon is over.

Same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide last year in a landmark Supreme Court ruling but, as we enter 2016, new data from GLAAD shows that many Americans believe Obergefell v. Hodges was the finish line for LGBT equality.

Half of all non-LGBT Americans believe that gay people currently have the same rights as everyone else, according to a Harris Poll survey of over 2,000 adults commissioned by GLAAD for its second annual Accelerating Acceptance report.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Backs Constitutional Convention To Reign In Supreme Court

Carlos Santoscoy | On Top Magazine | January 12, 2016

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has joined a growing chorus of Republicans calling for the first U.S. constitutional convention since 1787.

Abbott laid out nine proposed amendments in making his announcement, one of which would prohibit the Supreme Court to invalidate a state law without a supermajority of seven justices.

Abbott laid out his proposals in a 92-page plan titled Restoring The Rule Of Law With States Leading The Way.

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Two gay men among First Lady’s State of the Union guests

John Riley | Metro Weekly | January 12, 2016

Michelle Obama Official White House Photo (Photo: Chuck Kennedy).

LGBT inclusion will be on full display during President Obama’s last State of the Union address Tuesday, even if in a subtle way. Appearing in the First Lady’s viewing box will be two openly gay men that First Lady Michelle Obama has invited as special guests for the televised address.

The men, Jim Obergefell and Ryan Reyes, will be among 23 special guests seated with the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, and White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett. A 24th seat will be left vacant in honor of the victims of gun violence, as a symbol of the toll that gun-related violence has had on the country in the past few years, and to serve as a reminder of President Obama’s recent executive actions on gun control.

But it is not just the vacant chair that is symbolic: for the past three decades, the First Lady has invited particular guests who represent and can, through their presence, highlight some of the president’s major initiatives, accomplishments, or values. According to the White House website, “the individuals who will be seated in the guest box tell the story of the progress we have made since the President delivered his first address seven years ago — from a terrible economic recession and two costly wars, to a revitalized and thriving economy and renewed American leadership abroad.”

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Gay Marriage Defined the High Court Year

Marcia Coyle and Tony Mauro | The National Law Journal | December 28, 2015

The historic ruling upholding a right to same-sex marriage defined the Roberts Court in 2015 by altering the legal, political and social landscapes for millions of lesbian and gay couples. But as that year drew to a close, the justices already had teed up another potential blockbuster year involving abortion, race, religion, unions and immigration.

Although most states and local jurisdictions moved swiftly to implement the court’s same-sex marriage ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, there were holdouts. Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis captured national headlines for her refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses. She subsequently went to jail for contempt of court.

And more fallout from enactment of the Affordable Care Act confronted the justices. In King v. Burwell, the high court in June, for the second time, rejected a significant challenge to the act. Throughout the summer, religious nonprofits filed petitions objecting to the act’s contraceptive coverage requirement, and the justices agreed to hear and decide their complaints in 2016.

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Big Wins, Bigotry And Backlash: The Queer Political Stories Of 2015

Michelangelo Signorile | Huffington Post | December 27, 2015

2015 was a historic year with marriage equality coming to every state in the nation and transgender visibility surging. But the backlash to queer rights also surged.

Though it may not appear in full focus now, we’ll almost certainly look back at 2015 as the year the enemies of LGBT equality doubled-down, became reinvigorated in their fight and determined to do what they could to take away the hard-fought rights that have been won — as well as keep us from going further. All you have to do is review the year to see that every major win had an equal and opposite reaction, and that achieving full equality will mean simply demanding it — full stop — and not settling for half-measures.

Here are a few of the most illustrative queer political stories of 2015.

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