U.S. District Judge Callie V. Granade late on Sunday placed a 14-day stay on her Friday ruling striking down the state’s gay marriage ban, just hours before it went into effect, WIAT reports:

The court’s ruling states that Attorney General Luther Strange (pictured) has not shown enough cause for an indefinite stay, but is allowing the Attorney General time to present his arguments to the Eleventh Circuit Court.

If the Eleventh Circuit Court fails to act during the 14-day delay, the order will be lifted February 9th.

The order to stay the ruling comes amid protest from the Alabama Probate Judges Association over the ruling. The Association issued a statement this weekend claiming that the federal ruling did not apply statewide but only to the plaintiffs involved in the case.

The plaintiffs asked Granade to deny the state’s request for a stay and also requested clarification as to the scope of the ruling in response to the Probate Judges Association.

Stay tuned for continuing developments in the case…

Read the order below:

#59 Stay Order on Scribd”>1:14-cv-00208 #59 Stay Order by Equality Case Files

Last week, Republican Larry Hogan was sworn in as the brand new governor of the state of Maryland. One of his first courses of action was to withdraw several regulations, one of which is an anti-discrimination amendment (initiated by his predecessor Martin O’Malley) that would have stopped Medicaid providers from discriminating on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Ironically, the new governor’s inaugural address included a message about “tolerance and respect.”

Equality Maryland immediately called Hogan out with a press release titled “Governor Hogan’s First 24 Hours Start on the Wrong Foot for LGBT Maryland.” It reads in part:

“Equality Maryland is disappointed in the Governor’s actions. To withdraw a regulation that prohibits discrimination in the provision of essential medical services, which also has no fiscal impact, seems contrary to the spirit of inclusiveness touted in his inauguration speech yesterday. We know that trans people in Maryland face discrimination when accessing health care and we should be working to ensure this doesn’t happen instead of overtly condoning it.”

Hogan told the Baltimore Sun:

“We just basically pulled all the regulations that were supposed to be published on Friday,” Hogan said Thursday. “We didn’t like the fact that [O’Malley] was trying to push these things through at the last minute. We’re going to make sure our new … team throughout government reviews every one of these regulations to make sure which direction we should head.”

Hogan also issued an Executive Order for Maryland Executive Branch employees which did not initially include gender identity in its equal opportunity clause. On Friday, Equality Maryland posted that Hogan’s office had done an about-face and re-issued the order to include gender identity.

Last year, Hogan revealed that his stance on marriage equality had “evolved.” Let’s hope he continues to do so in all other areas of equality.

Watch a news segment about his inauguration, which includes an appearance by fellow Republican Chris Christie, AFTER THE JUMP.

 
I have something to tell you, bitch: this movie is awesome!

BY NATHANIEL ROGERS 

Indie director Sean Baker and co-writer Chris Berloch specialize in portraits of characters on the margins of society. Baker’s previous slice-of-life film was the still underappreciated Starlet (2012), which traced an unlikely friendship between a young porn star and an old woman she meets at a garage sale.  Their very worthy follow up is TANGERINE (not to be confused with the Estonian drama currently nominated for Oscar’s Foreign Film Category called Tangerines). Again we find Baker looking at places others haven’t thought to look — or at least haven’t looked at with anything like the same affectionate humor and nuanced humanity.

In this case that place is a Hollywood block filled with ex-con trans hookers who still have their penises, their lonely trade, immigrant cab drivers, and the colorful seedy neighborhood they all share. Tangerine is filled with memorable scenes in busted-ass laundromats, car washes, cheap motels with “party rooms”, and of course Donut Time. The movie tells the story of a single event-filled day and night (Christmas Eve) in the lives of Sin-Dee Rella (Kiki Kitana Rodriguez) and her best friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor) who treats her to half a holiday sprinkled donut in the movie’s abrasively funny opening scene. 

“Merry Christmas, bitch.”

(Remember that claim that Wolf of Wall Street used the most “f–ks” ever uttered in a movie? I hope Tangerine makes that claim for “bitch”.)

MORE AFTER THE JUMP…

Alexandra accidentally lets slip that Chester, Sin-Dee’s boyfriend/pimp, has been cheating on her with a “white fish with a real pussy!” Sin-Dee’s temperature shoots up and she’s suddenly on the street, a thumping beat on the soundtrack accompanying her unspoken revenge plans.

Alexandra, who has other things on her mind including a performance at a bar that evening, chases after her begging her for “no more Drama”. But we already know, giddily, that Sin-Dee will not comply. And so the comedy is off with a bolt in its high heels, dirty fishnets and bad weaves, to find the pimp or, possibly, the white girl. The film’s soundtrack makes hilarious use of music to signify Sin-Dee’s passions. At one point she nearly calms down at a bus stop, classical musical blaring as she waits, but a moment later the house music interrupts, roaring back to life, and she snaps back into full woman-scorned revenge mode.

The rest of the film, which was incredibly shot entirely on the iPhone 5s but looks great, is Sin-Dee’s hilariously crude comic search for the pimp mixed with Alexandra’s evening show and eventually a hot-blooded collision between all the characters and their various story threads. I won’t ruin any of the funny surprises. Despite the seediness and in between the huge laughs, the biggest takeaway is the film’s sweet and salty tribute to an enduring trans friendship. These women have each other’s backs… and weaves when the need arises. Tangerine is the world’s all time best indie Christmas trans hooker movie (give or take John Waters’ Female Trouble, 1981, if it can be so categorized)

May Tangerine find theatrical distribution as quickly as these ladies make a business transaction. 

Nathaniel Rogers would live in the movie theater but for the poor internet reception. He blogs daily at the Film Experience. Follow him on Twitter @nathanielr.