Tag Archives: civil rights

Why Call “Gay Marriage” Marriage?

Conservatives sometimes ask why gay marriage has to be called “marriage” at all. Why not, for example, stick with “civil unions”–or adopt some other distinctive name? But there already is a serviceable name distinction: civil marriage v. religious marriage. Gays … Continue reading

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The New Sexual Orientation Blindness: Michael Hannon Says It’s Time To Stop Seeing Individuals As “Heterosexual” Or “Homosexual”

In the latest volley between right and left over gay equality and civil rights, watch for this idea to catch fire among religious conservatives: sexual orientation blindness. That’s my phrase for the position of Michael Hannon. Writing in the Catholic … Continue reading

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For Gays, Jim Crow May Be Coming To Kansas

Jim Crow, Kansas style. In Kansas, Tea Party Republicans don’t just oppose gay marriage, they also favor a law that would allow business owners to discriminate against gay couples. The following bill is winding its way through the Kansas House … Continue reading

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Gays Cannot Be Excluded From Juries Just Because They Are Gay

Gay and lesbian dignity and equality in the United States continues its historic progress. This is in The Wall Street Journal today: The Constitution prohibits excluding someone from a jury based on sexual orientation, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday, … Continue reading

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A Film Worth Seeing?

Blue is the Warmest Color, a lesbian coming-of-age film, is three hours long, but Richard Corliss of Time calls it unmissable.

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Fair is Fair: Like Abortion, Slavery Should Be a Matter of Choice, Not Illegal, Says Chisago County Republican Party

It’s the kind of image and message you’d expect to stumble upon at a white supremacist website, and it’s been taken down after outrage about it spread, but the Chisago County Republican Party in Minnesota posted on its Facebook page … Continue reading

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Pushback against Biblical Literalism Directed at Homosexuals

John Corvino provides some pushback to biblical literalists on the subject of homosexuality: __________ And Marc Ambinder recently wrote a moving reflection on how difficult it still is for young gay teens: Since moving to Los Angeles, I’ve met a lot … Continue reading

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Republican House Committee Chairs: All White, All Men

The below image says it all. Not one woman will chair any major committee in the Republican controlled 113th Congress. And not one nonwhite. Not one.

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Live and Let Live

And love. Pretty darn powerful.

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A Powerful Plea for Gay Marriage from a Republican

Maureen Walsh (R), 16th District, Walla Walla, Washington:  

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Mao Luther King?

I don’t like the look or feel of the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C. For one, he looks fat, and he wasn’t particularly fat. And there’s something weirdly Maoist about it—a throwback to 20th century communist … Continue reading

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The Gay Marriage Trap?

Lawyer and philosopher Linda Hirshman thinks President Obama’s recent decision not to defend in court section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is political gold for the Democrats. Here’s the link to her interesting article at Salon: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/02/23/hirshman_obama_doma/index.html

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Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: The Human Toll

A news article in the Los Angeles Times this morning cited a statistic that startled me. I had no idea that this many service members have been dismissed from the armed services in the United States, since the early 1990s, as a result … Continue reading

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Confounding Al Qaeda and Affirming America: Aziz Poonawalla on the Ground Zero Mosque

At BeliefNet, a Muslim American, Aziz Poonawalla, weighs in on the ground zero mosque debate: My general take on the debate is that it really does boil down to an issue not just of religious freedom but also a means of putting into practice … Continue reading

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How many Americans call themselves either atheist or agnostic?

Actually, the number—at least according to a Pew poll of about 35,000 Americans from three years ago—is pretty small: just 4% (1 out of every 20 Americans). The religiously unaffiliated total is 16.1%, but most of the unaffiliated nevertheless profess to be believers … Continue reading

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Arizona’s new anti-immigration law made simple

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           . Hat tip: Jerry Coyne

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Yes we can, John Boehner

And we did. John Boehner added to the classic Will.i.am song: The above reminds me of the Beatles song where Paul McCartney sings sunnily “It’s getting better all the time” accompanied by John Lennon singing “It can’t get much worse!”

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The Muslim sisters of Rosa Parks: they won’t go to the back of the mosque

Muslim American women are starting to engage in acts of feminist civil disobedience against mosque gender segregation. This is what an assertion of subjectivity, humanity, dignity, equality, and conscience looks like: Here’s Asra Nomani on the recent act of civil disobedience … Continue reading

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We interrupt this basketball game for a bit of gay activism

Go team! And the rationale according to the person who posted the YouTube video: In light of the recent decision by the John Carroll University administration to not specifically include the protection of Lesbians, Gays, Bi-Sexuals, Transgendered, and Questioning students … Continue reading

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Martha Coakley for Senate!

Health care reform sinks if she doesn’t win. Democrats in Massachusetts better get their vote out. A loss would send an unmistakable signal to the far right that their nihilism and hysterical hyperventilating is rewarded, and pays off at the polls. The … Continue reading

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