Posts Tagged ‘gay marriage’
Courtesy of WikiCommons
It is Wednesday, which is the day we let our Legal correspondent out of his cage to scrounge for morcels of meaty news ( as well as the occaisional pepperoni pizza)..
This week, our legal eagle spotted something with his camera… it’s a story about allowing video cameras in the courtroom. ( No… we are not talking about the Judge Judy TV show…).
Cameras are on everybody’s mind after the Supreme Court said “cut” to a the You Tubing of a high profile Prop 8 trial going on in San Fransisco. We’ve got the rundown…
Pretty much all of our readers have spent some time of their youth in the classroom. It is the one experience that pretty much unites us as a nation… we have all shared a school experience (some of us more awake than others).
Schools certainly can be a source of unity… but also a cause of division (and we don’t mean the math kind…).
School lesson plans that include controversial subjects can spark rebellion among teachers, parents and pupils.
For example, celebrating Christmas (a religious holiday for many) in public schools has been a hotly debated issue.
Religion also was a source of controversy recently when an Ohio teacher caught flack for trying to teach creationism in school using Lego building blocks.
In San Francisco, there is currently a simmering debate on another hot button subject… …read more.
Thanks to www.existentialpunk.com!
We here at USDemocrazy would rather spend our time at peace with the world, feeling really “kumbaya,” as they say.
But as we have seen of late, even issues that will help everyone (like health care or stopping climate change) can cause so much fighting!
There’s one issue that can cause more than its share of heated battles: gay marriage. We’ve seen it in the past, and no doubt we will see again. But recent battles have shown some movement on the issue. Heres’ a rundown what is going on around the world!
Thanks to Jay Michaelson and the Huffington Post!
We here at USDemocrazy think that everyone should just love each other, right?
Well, since Proposition 8 made a media splash last year, there has been a lot of love (and hate) in the air.
What Proposition 8, you ask? … That was the controversial vote in California on whether same sex marriages should be legal in the state, remember? ( oh, THAT Proposition 8!).
So, we have learned that this issue is still a lightning rod for protest.
We at USDemocrazy are glad for the rights we have, since without them, we wouldn’t be able to help you digest all this ridiculous stuff that keeps happening in the world.
It turns out, we’re not the only ones who like having rights in America. The gay community appreciates rights too!
President Obama has taken heat recently by many people for many things. One unhappy group (thus far) has been a constituency that greatly supports him: gay Americans. They are unhappy because he has been slow to fulfill campaign promises to address gay rights issues. (Of course, he has been a little busy of late…)
On Wednesday President Obama made his first nod in their direction. He signed a bill extending some rights to homosexual federal employees and their partners. This bill, according to the Washington Post,
grants employees’ same-sex partners access to a government insurance program that pays for long-term conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease. They also would be allowed to take sick leave to care for a sick partner or non-biological child.
Mr. Obama noted at the signing ceremony,
“Many of our government’s hard-working and dedicated, patriotic public servants have long been denied basic rights that their colleagues enjoy, for one simple reason: The people they love are of the same sex.”
Sure, this is progress, but it is nothing close to what gay rights activists are going for.
John Aravosis wrote for Salon that the gay community is pretty fed up with President Obama, specifically for acting as a protector of equality during the campaign, but doing little since then. He writes,
And while gay and lesbian Americans were initially willing to cut our new president some slack, the president’s now-clear reticence to follow through on even one of his many campaign promises to the gay community has put the Democratic Party on the precipice of an ugly and very public divorce with this once-solid constituency.
And then, there’s this: http://www.obamasplanforgayrights.com/
The White House resents all of this negative representation of the Obama stance on gay rights.
Marc Ambinder points out for The Atlantic, Obama is simply prioritizing right now. Like we said… the guy has been a little bit busy of late.
Ambinder suggests what gays want from Obama isn’t “long-term health care:”
They want Obama to expend his political capital to get super-majorities in the Senate for legislation getting rid of the ban on gays in the military and ending discrimination against gays in the workplace.
And so, it is up to all of us to decide: is Obama being overly cautious with this controversial cultural issue? Or is he just not as big supporter of gay rights as advertised?
(Just an aside… It’s worth noting that this article in the New York Times points out that people becoming less enchanted with Obama… Gay rights activists included…)
And Obama thought things were tough before…
Is this happy face familiar?
China’s chastising… And the US is glad!
Nine years later, no more fighting! Bush v. Gore lawyers join together for an important battle!
Is the economy staging a comeback? We surely hope so…
Pondering your freshman year? President Obama and the rest of the nation relive his!
Thanks to the Onion.
Getting the guns some sun. Joe Biden washes his car.
It’s open for discussion. Schwarzenegger’s fine for talking about marijuana.
And that makes one more. Maine legalizes gay marriage.
Kindleling my love for eBooks. Amazon.com’s got a new toy.
