Antigay Kentucky Clerk Makes Emergency Appeal to Supreme Court
Kim Davis is under an order to issue marriage licenses to all eligible couples beginning Monday, but she wants the high court to stop it.
Trudy Ring
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Pope Francis Praises Author of LGBT-Inclusive Kids' Book
Pope Francis Praises Author of LGBT-Inclusive Kids' Book
Through an aide, the pope offers support to a writer whose work was banned by the mayor of Venice, but warns against reading too much into it.
Trudy Ring
www.advocate.com/religion/2015/08/28/pope-francis-praises-author-lgbt-inclusive-kids-book
Kentucky Clerk Who Refuses To Issue Gay Marriage Licenses Begs Supreme Court For Help
Kentucky Clerk Who Refuses To Issue Gay Marriage Licenses Begs Supreme Court For Help
After defying multiple orders to issue marriage licenses to gays and lesbians, a Kentucky clerk is taking her case to the Supreme Court.
Rowan County clerk Kim Davis on Friday filed an emergency request with the court to put a temporary hold on a lower-court ruling that effectively forces her to begin serving gay couples, saying that complying with the order would violate her religious beliefs.
According to Davis’ petition, her “conscience forbids her from approving” marriage licenses to gay couples “because the prescribed form mandates that she authorize the proposed union and issue a license bearing her own name and imprimatur.”
“She holds an undisputed sincerely-held religious belief that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, only,” the petition continues. “Thus, in her belief, [same-sex marriage] is not, in fact, marriage.”
Equality Case Files, a nonprofit that tracks litigation around same-sex marriage, posted a copy of Davis’ filing on its website. The filing can be read in full here.
Davis’ request was addressed to Justice Elena Kagan, who oversees emergency petitions from Kentucky. Justices from time to time are asked to review such petitions, which are only procedural in scope and are meant to delay implementation of lower-court rulings. Kagan could either act on Davis’ petition on her own or refer it to the full court for adjudication.
The Supreme Court ruled in June that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. Following the landmark ruling, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear — who was one of the defendants in that case — ordered state clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay and heterosexual couples alike.
But Davis refused. And then refused again after she was sued and was ordered by a federal court to comply. On Wednesday, an appellate court told her that she had “little or no likelihood” of winning her case.
In her Friday petition to Kagan, Davis argues that adding her “name, authorization, and approval” to marriages by gay couples would amount to a “searing act of validation” that “would forever echo in her conscience.”
The petition goes on: “If Davis’ religious objection cannot be accommodated when Kentucky marriage licenses are available in more than 130 marriage licensing locations … then elected officials have no real religious freedom when they take public office.”
That’s the crux of Davis’ legal argument, but any Supreme Court action in response would be much narrower in scope. Rather than opining on whether Davis’ religious freedom is being violated, a ruling from Kagan or from the full court would be limited to deciding whether to halt the original court order requiring Davis to issue marriage licenses to all couples.
According to BuzzFeed’s Chris Geidner, that court order is set to go into effect on Monday.
David Ermold and his partner have been turned away by Davis’ office twice. Ermold told The Associated Press that all the back-and-forth is “getting tedious.”
“We get torn down, built back up, torn down, built back up,” he said. “It’s emotionally draining.”
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Rowan County Clerk asks US Supreme Court to intervene in her standoff against gay marriage
Rowan County Clerk asks US Supreme Court to intervene in her standoff against gay marriage
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis is hoping the US Supreme Court will step in and issue a stay on a federal court’s order that she begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
On Friday (28 August), lawyers for Davis made an emergency filing with the nation’s high court stating that Davis ‘holds an undisputed sincerely-held religious belief that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, only.’
It states that Davis does not believe same-sex marriage is marriage.
‘If a S(same-sex marriage) license is issued with Davis’ name, authorization, and approval, no one can unring that bell. That searing act of validation would forever echo in her conscience. And yet, the (same-sex marriage) mandate demands that she either fall in line (her conscience be damned) or leave office (her livelihood and job for three-decades in the clerk’s office be damned).’
Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has previously weighed in telling Davis and other clerks to issue licenses or resign.
Davis and her office have stopped issuing licenses to all couples, including opposite sex couples, because of her religious objections to same-sex marriage. She was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of four couples – two straight and two gay – after a 26 June Supreme Court ruling made same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states.
The US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday (25 August) denied a request by Davis to keep denying licenses while she appeals her case. A federal judge ruled earlier this summer that she could no longer legally refuse to issue and a three-judge panel of the appellate court stated they do not believe Davis has much of a chance of prevailing in the lawsuit.
Davis is being represented by the Florida-based Liberty Counsel.
H/T: Towleroad
The post Rowan County Clerk asks US Supreme Court to intervene in her standoff against gay marriage appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
WATCH: Focus on the Family Highlights Anti-gay Rally for Lawless Kentucky County Clerks
WATCH: Focus on the Family Highlights Anti-gay Rally for Lawless Kentucky County Clerks
Anti-gay organization Focus on the Family attended and shot a promotional video at an anti-gay rally at the Kentucky state Capitol last Saturday where Rowan County clerk Kim Davis was a key speaker for the event.
Focus on the Family’s video promotional video asks, “will you stand with them?” in support of Kim Davis and clerks like her in their lawless actions.
Earlier today, we reported Davis had filed an emergency request for a stay on a federal order calling on her to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The post WATCH: Focus on the Family Highlights Anti-gay Rally for Lawless Kentucky County Clerks appeared first on Towleroad.
Anthony Costello
WATCH: Focus on the Family Highlights Anti-gay Rally for Lawless Kentucky County Clerks
Indiana Newspaper Calls for Equal Rights for All
Indiana Newspaper Calls for Equal Rights for All
The newspaper that has served Indiana since 1903 takes a bold stand, calling for state lawmakers to enact equality legislation, which its editors proclaim as ‘necessary and right.’
Dawn Ennis
www.advocate.com/indiana/2015/08/28/indiana-newspaper-calls-equal-rights-all
Realtime Popcorn-time
Realtime Popcorn-time
There’s a luscious vegetarian cookbook on my piano. Gourmet recipes and top notch photography in a very artful package. When I flip through the pages, my mouth starts to water. It’s a little like flipping through Bon Appetit — only better. I bought this book for my wife, Sue Ann. Sue Ann is a voracious meat-lover. Type O, high metabolism, long and lean like a cheetah. There’s nothing brontosaurus-like about her. She has mentioned in passing that she’d like to try vegetarianism for the health benefits and her love of animals. It’s also part of her overall forward thinking approach to living. She’s a die hard humanitarian. My ulterior motives are a little less ambitious. If she wants to save the animals, and as a byproduct, cook clean for the both of us, sounds like a happy win-win to me.
I often poke fun of my east coast rearing. My innate separatism, that I consciously shift out of on a daily basis. My first generation Italian-American parents were products of a survivalist, depression era mentality. They were caught in the frozen tundra of cross cultures, the budding generation gap and old-fashioned mindsets of a people who left their expanding culture, prior to its expansion. My grandparents were immigrants and factory workers. I think children of immigrants have a challenging time finding their way. Immigrants, especially impoverished ones, tend to hold tightly to what they know, like choking on a chicken’s neck. I’m reminded of a story my dad used to tell me about my grandmother, Providencia, who would kill one of her chicks for dinner, with a quick stroke of her cooking ax.
There’s an excellent series on PBS called Italian Americans that really captures how four generations of the Italian people made their way in the United States. I feel a million miles away from the northern part of New Jersey I grew up in. Having adopted southern California as my home, I feel infinitely grateful for how living here has broadened my perspective, and worldview. (However resistant I can be to it ).
All this brings me back to Sue Ann. Back to that part about her humanitarianism. The interesting fact that we found each other. She’s a child of Taiwanese immigrants. On September 1, her story as a Mars One Candidate airs on AOL.com. Citizen Mars is a documentary about five Mars100 finalists from all over the globe, their intimate stories, and their personal calling to this unique opportunity. I wrote a blog about my process, adjusting to Sue Ann’s aspirations as a Mars One astronaut and colonist. You can catch up and read about it on the Huffington Post here.
This April, a Stateless Media film crew followed us around for a few days. They interviewed us, filmed Sue Ann climbing mountains in Joshua Tree, we hiked, we ate, I sang, we broke bread and talked about her leaving the earth on a “one way trip” to the red planet. As a performer and individual with a sizable ego, I’m a little afeared of the interview scenes — they were so raw and candid. My segment was filmed after a night of camping, not sleeping, no makeup, just an invitation to share my thoughts. It was one of those, “ah what the fuck” moments. What is this all about anyway? “This” meaning life. So on Tuesday, September 1, we all get to see how this ambitious idea, originating in the mind of Bas Lansdorp, is affecting my world, and the world of those four other candidates and their families at large. I’m sure we will be crying, cringing and reaching for popcorn the entire time.
for music, visit CynthiaCatania.com
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Cynthia also writes for AMNplify, Australian Musician Network
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Actor Darryl Stephens on his struggles with being black and gay in Hollywood
Actor Darryl Stephens on his struggles with being black and gay in Hollywood
During the years that he starred as a gay man on the TV series Noah’s Arc, Darryl Stephens was quiet about the fact that he was also gay in real life.
It was part of an agreement with the powers that be to not discuss his sexuality with the media.
‘When we made Noah’s Arc, every interviewer was asking: “Are the actors gay or straight?” Now, with Jack Falahee on How to Get Away with Murder, we know straight and gay actors can play straight or gay characters. It’s less an issue for the press,’ Stephens tells Salon.
‘The culture is changing a lot, and you are seeing 12-13 year-olds coming out. There is no way I could have come out when I was that age.’
Stephens shares his journey as an out black actor in his new memoir Required Reading: How to Get Your Life For Good.
‘There were a lot of lessons about what people expected of us as black gay men, and I learned to have a thick skin about how black gay men are representing themselves. Everyone has an idea of what we should look like,’ he says.
His character on Noah’s Arc was somewhat effeminate but he’s also played more butch gay men in the films Boy Culture and Another Gay Movie as well as the TV series DTLA. But because Noah is his most well-known role, Stephens says: ‘I get called in more often for sassy black queen roles. It’s learning to adapt. But I’m more a character than one type.’
Stephens has the lead role in the currently filming From Zero to I Love You written and directed by his Noah’s Arc co-star Doug Spearman. In the film, he plays a gay man with a history of getting involved with married men.
‘I love seeing all of the different types, and not prioritizing one over the other. Sissies can be powerful,’ he says.
‘The term “thug” has been co-opted by conservatives as term for a black male – but there is a clear admiration for hyper-masculine depictions of black gay men. Being black and gay in America both come with heavy doses of self-loathing. I think it’s extremely important for people who are taught explicitly or implicitly to think less of themselves, to have an alternate perspective. I wanted to be the best, most realized version of myself.
‘I have had some self-loathing come up. You have to be honest in processing those moments. One of the gifts of being a gay man is to express our emotions, and that vulnerability of being raised that we are “less than,” and having to experience that, and work through that, and do it together, is important.’
The post Actor Darryl Stephens on his struggles with being black and gay in Hollywood appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
Ellen Page Says It’s Borderline Offensive To Be Called Brave For Playing A Gay Character
Ellen Page Says It’s Borderline Offensive To Be Called Brave For Playing A Gay Character
Maybe this is a bad thing to say, but I have a hard time when people call actors brave. I don’t really get that, because our job is to read something on a page. When people are [called] brave in regards to playing LGBTQ people, that’s borderline offensive. I’m never going to be considered brave for playing a straight person, and nor should I be. It’s hard to say this, because the context of the film is so deeply tragic, but for me there was a deep sense of peace on set that I had not felt in a really long time, potentially since I was a teenager and first having these really beautiful, fortunate moments in films. There was something about being out, getting to play a gay character, and getting to play a woman who is so inspiring to me—it was such an amazing experience for me. Honestly, if I played gay characters for the rest of my career, I’d be thrilled. I wish I could, honestly!”
— Ellen Page, who stars as half of a lesbian couple opposite Julianne Moore in the upcoming fact-based drama Freeheld, speaking her mind in an interview with Time
Jeremy Kinser
Here’s Anti-gay Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis’s SCOTUS Emergency Stay Request: READ
Here’s Anti-gay Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis’s SCOTUS Emergency Stay Request: READ
As expected, Rowan County clerk Kim Davis is attempting to get the highest court in the land to intervene in her anti-gay crusade.
In an emergency application filed today, Davis asked U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan to issue a stay on a federal order calling on her to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The Sixth Circuit denied a similar motion from Davis earlier this week. The temporary hold on U.S. District Judge David Bunning’s ruling in expected to expire on Monday at the latest.
From the SCOTUS filing:
“She holds an undisputed sincerely-held religious belief that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, only. Thus, in her belief, SSM is not, in fact, marriage. If a SSM license is issued with Davis’ name, authorization, and approval, no one can unring that bell. That searing act of validation would forever echo in her conscience. And yet, the SSM Mandate demands that she either fall in line (her conscience be damned) or leave office (her livelihood and job for three-decades in the clerk’s office be damned).”
Here’s the full filing:
Courtesy of Equality Case Files
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The post Here’s Anti-gay Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis’s SCOTUS Emergency Stay Request: READ appeared first on Towleroad.
Kyler Geoffroy
Here’s Anti-gay Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis’s SCOTUS Emergency Stay Request: READ
