Facets of Our Lives

When I started writing the posts for this week, I had planned my usual diversity of articles discussing all the topics I usually do. But it's been a remarkable week politically. Tuesday saw the resignation of Karen Handel from Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure , after the defunding then refunding of Planned Parenthood . The Republican voters also handed victories to former Pennsylvania Senator and far-right conservative Rick Santorum (R), giving renewed life to his campaign. Wednesday saw the Ninth Circuit of Appeals affirm the federal court ruling that California's Proposition 8, banning same-sex marriage, is unconstitutional. And all week, the talking heads on the various networks have been discussing the Obama Administration's decision to require insurance coverage for birth control, even for so-called religious institutions who may believe differently. Since this post is prepared in advance, who knows what today may bring? But if nothing else is true, it is a f...

‎ "Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples." -Judge Stephen Reinhardt, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 07-Feb-2012 Proposition 8, voted into law in 2008, was California's ban on same-sex marriage. The campaign was largely bankrolled and supported by the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, various Protestant evangelical sects, and various conservative groups from around the country, including the National Organization for Marriage. The ruling yesterday upheld the earlier federal court ruling that the law violates the U.S. Constitution. As I discussed yesterday with respect to the liberal/conservative paradigm, this is another case of conservatives denying rights to someone. For the moment, this is a losing proposition with res...

June 2011 has been an important month for change in the United States. June is typically "Pride Month", as cities across North America hold their local Pride celebrations, so perhaps it is fitting that there have been so many strides this month in the fight for marriage equality. On Friday, June 24, New York became the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage. On Wednesday, June 29, Rhode Island became the fifth state to offer same-sex civil unions. The next battles are expected in Minnesota, Maine, and Maryland, and the case against California's Proposition 8, repealing same-sex marriage in that state, continues through the appellate court system, and is expected to go to the U.S. Supreme Court before it is all over. But as of July 24, when New York's law becomes effective, more than 1 in 10 people in the U.S. will be able to enter into a same-sex marriage if they so desire. I support marriage equality from the perspective that we are a secular democratic repu...

A Facets Reader asked me to do an article in response to this Op-Ed piece from The New York Times . In a nutshell, the author of this article, Rich Benjamin, advocates an LGBTQ boycott of all heterosexual weddings this summer. Benjamin, a gay man, believes that such a boycott would drive home the point that while the LGBTQ community has allies among heterosexuals, they are not fighting hard enough for marriage equality, and LGBTQ people should not be asked to participate in an event which they are specifically excluded from having themselves as a matter of law in all but five US states and the District of Columbia. But in my view, the author contradicts himself as the column progresses. As it happens, the only wedding to which I've been invited this summer is a lesbian one. I am also an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church, specifically to perform marriages for LGBTQ individuals (although I wouldn't discriminate against heterosexuals who asked me). In jurisdict...