Krysten Sinema has used a series of Republican-dominated receptions and retreats this year to belittle her Democratic colleagues, shower her GOP allies with praise and, in one case, quite literally give the middle finger to President Biden’s White House. “Those lunches were ridiculous,” she told a small group of Republican lobbyists at a reception in Washington this year in explaining why she had stopped attending her caucus’ weekly luncheons in the Capitol, according to an attendee. Then she let loose. “Old dudes are eating Jell-O, everyone is talking about how great they are,” Sinema recounted to gales of laughter. “I don’t really need to be there for that. That’s an hour and a half twice a week that I can get back.”
Justin Snow over at MetroWeeklyreports that Sen. Jeff Merkley has formally announced that he will introduce a comprehensive LGBT civil rights bill in the next Congress.
Merkley said that while the Senate’s passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in November of last year by a 64-32 vote after the bill failed by one vote in 1996 was a “tremendous victory,” if discrimination is wrong in employment, it also must be wrong in areas such as housing, public accommodations and financial transactions.
“Such an act would be a major advance for opportunity and equality for the LGBT community and would be a major stride toward a more just society,” said Merkley, who has been the lead sponsor of ENDA in the Senate since assuming that role from Sen. Ted Kennedy in 2009.
Merkly who previously supported and introduced the last version of ENDA as written with the gaping religious exemption states that he will introduce an omnibus bill in the next Congress with comprehensive LGBT nondiscrimination protections. Also that the religious exemption in the expected omnibus bill should track identically to federal nondiscrimination provisions in the 1964 Civil Rights Act addressing race. “Obviously there’s going to be an intense conversation between stakeholders and we hope to bring in a bipartisan coalition,” Merkley said. But narrowing the religious exemption could prove detrimental to Republican support.
NOTE: The “religious exemption” in Title VII of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act grants churches, synagogues, and mosques, as well as some religiously affiliated organizations an exemption from the law’s prohibition on religious hiring discrimination–meaning they can prefer members of their own faith in hiring. The purpose of this exemption is to permit a religious organization to require those who carry out its work to share its faith (and it has subsequently been interpreted to apply even when an employee’s work is not itself religious). But, it is not a blank check for these organizations to discriminate for any reason. It does not, for example, permit discrimination on the basis of race or sex. AND WE SHOULD SETTLE FOR NOTHING LESS.
Meanwhile Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said securing comprehensive LGBT federal protections could take decades. Which is especially true now after the past 20 years of HRC’s total mishandeling of ENDA and the current GOP controlled House and Senate.
“I have great faith in those on Capitol Hill in the House and the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, who have led on ENDA who will lead us on how we get there,” Griffin said. “This is going to take a long time and this is going to be perhaps the biggest battle we’ve ever had when it comes to federal legislation.”
It’s amazing what Democrats can do when they are not in power.
Well now the HRC has another “moneybeg” for the next two decades that they can constantly fuck-up to stay in business and try to justify their bloated salaries.
Even though yesterdays mid-term elections had little to nothing to do with marriage equality, the National Organization for Marriage’s Brian Brownshirt wasted no time typing up a press release with his pudgy little talons claiming that the Republican victory was all due to “traditional” restrictive marriage.
“Marriage won an overwhelming victory last night. In red states and blue, candidates who supported marriage as the union of one man and one woman won election and those who didn’t were rejected by voters. The Republican Party should take note that their nominees who favored gay ‘marriage’ were opposed by NOM and they were resoundingly defeated. It’s time for the GOP elite and consultant class to wake up and realize that marriage is a winning issue, in red states and blue. Traditional marriage amendments have received 50 million votes across America, and candidates who embraced marriage this election won, while Republicans who rejected marriage were themselves rejected. The election results tonight were a stunning rebuke of those who wish to redefine marriage. We look forward to working with Congress to advance the cause of marriage.”
In REAL marriage equality news the only real race which could have actually impacted gay marriage was the battle for the Iowa state Senate. The Democrats held it by only 1 seat. If the they would have lost control, the GOP could have begun the process of amending the state constitution to ban marriage equality. Iowa is in the 8th Circuit, so right now there’s no court decision which would render such repeal effort moot.
The people of Iowa have now had 3 election cycles in which to make their voice heard, and marriage equality is still secure.
Tis the season for all “loving christian” anti-gay hate groups to send out their year end money begs for right-wing welfare. Here we have NOM’s Brian Brown changing his tune about the Senate filibuster rules (he was against the change) in his (allegedly) final money beg of the year promising to buy GOP Senators and smash the LGBT movement.
“Dear XXXXX,
We’re striving for 51. What would it mean if we had 51 US senators who supported marriage as the union of one man and one woman to go along with the majority of US House members we already have? It means we would be able to move forward legislation such as the Marriage and Religious Freedom Act, which was introduced in the House by Rep. Raul Labrador and is expected to be introduced in the Senate shortly. This legislation would protect people and groups who stand for marriage in the public square against government retaliation. It means we’d be able to stop the Obama Administration from the regulatory power grab they are deploying to ignore federal law and impose same-sex ‘marriage’ wherever they can — in the military, among immigrants, etc.
“And it means that we’d have a fighting chance at advancing Rep. Tim Huelscamp’s proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, which would preserve marriage across the country as the union of one man and one woman and strip courts of their authority to redefine marriage. Imagine how good it would feel after being on defense for so long to be able to pass federal laws protecting marriage, to hold the IRS and the Obama Administration to account and to advance a federal marriage amendment that would make the federal courts powerless to redefine marriage ever again? This is all within our grasp if we can hold the House and gain control of the US Senate. But that will happen only if you help us by making a year-end contribution right now to our Marriage Victory Fund.”
As usual Brian Brown is talking out of his ample ass. A ban would then need to be approved by 3/4ths of the states AFTER Congressional approval like that will ever happen.
Nice try fat boy. Just tell your lemming you need money to keep your $500k salary and your lifetime pass to Golden Corral. It’s more believable.
Dan Savage appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher to discuss gay issues in the news including same sex marriage being signed into law in Illionois, Alec Baldwin, “kiddie-fucking Catholic priests”, and “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” Cheney and her wife who Dan calls out as “two rich dykes” who have never give a fuck about anyone else’s gay marriage before as they continue to support and donate to anti-gay GOP politicians.
What happens when two sisters, one a stock raving mad Tea Party lunatic and the other a quisling homocon who’s “got hers” have different views of same sex marriage?
Hilarity ensures! Because we all know infighting is funny, and ESPECIALLY funny when Satan’s spawn are doing it!
“I don’t believe we ought to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation. If people are in a same-sex relationship and they want their partner to be able to have health benefits or be designated as a beneficiary on their life insurance, there’s no reason we shouldn’t do that. I also doesn’t support amending the constitution on this issue. I do believe it’s an issue that got to be left up to the states. I do believe in the traditional definition of marriage. Listen, I love Mary very much. I love her family very much. This is just an issue on which we disagree.” – Card carrying Teatard Liz Cheney, speaking today and kissing ass on Fox News Sunday as she stumps for a 2014 Wyoming US Senate seat.
Needless to say little sister Mary Cheney and her lesbian wife weren’t amused.
“I was watching my sister-in-law on Fox News Sunday (yes Liz, in fifteen states and the District of Columbia you are my sister-in-law) and was very disappointed to hear her say ‘I do believe in the traditional definition of marriage.’ Liz has been a guest in our home, has spent time and shared holidays with our children, and when Mary and I got married in 2012 – she didn’t hesitate to tell us how happy she was for us. To have her now say she doesn’t support our right to marry is offensive to say the least. I can’t help but wonder how Liz would feel if as she moved from state to state, she discovered that her family was protected in one but not the other. I always thought freedom meant freedom for EVERYONE.” wrote Mary Cheney’s wife Heather Poe on her Facebook page.
While Mary in an addendum to the above, which she re-posted to her own Facebook page wrote: “Couldn’t have said it better myself. Liz – this isn’t just an issue on which we disagree – you’re just wrong – and on the wrong side of history.”
Lets remember that Mary Cheney was perfectly content sitting in the back of the bus and ignoring it all while Daddy Lucifer Dick and BelezeBubba stumped for 8 years on issues to make us second class citizens.
“This would not have happened without the blessing of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church). The Mormon Church got a big black eye five years ago for all it did to pass Proposition 8 in California, which wrote discrimination into the state Constitution and took away gay marriage in the nation’s largest state. So in order to try to make amends, the Mormon Church led the effort to pass a workplace and housing nondiscrimination law in Salt Lake City in 2009. [snip]
“There are 10 Mormon members of the House of Representatives. If the Mormon Church would use its influence to get all 10 Mormon House members to support ENDA and have them to put some friendly pressure on Speaker Boehner, ENDA would likely become law. They need to lean on the Speaker to at least let ENDA come to the House floor for a vote, and then work diligently for its passage. Let’s hope that the Mormon Church, which advocates equal protection for all Americans, will stand up once again and help ENDA become the law of the land.” – 2012 gay GOP presidential candidate Fred Karger, who once said that he was proud to serve Ronald Reagan as one of his advisors writing for theHuffington Post.
Karger we hadn’t forgotten what the Mormon Church did with Prop 8, but to get all lovey-dovey over them not trying to block ENDA is nothing more than pure GOP bullshittery. Praising them for not blocking a bill that would still allow them to discriminate is ridiculous. And calling upon them to get it passed in the House is downright dangerous considering that it would enshrine LGBT discrimination into law by religious organizations, schools, hospitals businesses and more.
Stop being such a media whore and just go away Fred. GO AWAY.
Last night while all eyes were turned on Washington and the end of the Great GOP Government Shtutdown Fiasco of 2013, New Jersey’s own Superman Cory Booker in a landslide victory won the N.J. state senate seat which became vacant when Sen. Frank Lautenberg, died in June against the GOP, NOM and Tea Party backed Steve Lonegan
When Booker is sworn in, the Democratic Caucus will once again hold a 55-45 advantage over the GOP Conference. Booker will fill the seat once held by Frank Lautenberg, a long-serving Democratic senator who died in June. Gov. Chris Christie appointed fellow Republican Jeff Chiesa to be Lautenberg’s interim replacement.
Booker, 44, will become the chamber’s second African American member along with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). The Democrat will enter the Senate having already achieved celebrity status. A regular on cable news programs and Sunday morning news shows with more than 1.4 million followers on Twitter, Booker has cultivated a profile that extends well beyond New Jersey.
He could fill a void in the Senate. While there are a handful of freshman Republican senators with growing national profiles like Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.), there is a dearth of new Democratic senators eager for a spotlight.
Tea Party shew Sarah Palin who campaigned for the losing Lonegan had this to say.
“The press has now called the race for Barack Obama’s celebrity stand-in, Cory Booker, but rest assured that Steve fought gallantly for every vote that would have led to American solvency and exceptionalism. Steve energized commonsense conservatives all across the country. And though it’s sad, it’s not surprising to see the far left lapdog media finally cover this race tonight (once their chosen one was deemed the victor, but not previously when voters deserved to hear of Lonegan’s successful small-government record and intentions to defend our republic). Friends, do not be discouraged by the shenanigans of D.C.’s permanent political class today. Be energized. We’re going to shake things up in 2014. Rest well tonight, for soon we must focus on important House and Senate races. Let’s start with Kentucky – which happens to be awfully close to South Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi – from sea to shining sea we will not give up. We’ve only just begun to fight.”*Queef*
Sen. Jeff Merkley plans to introduce a Senate resolution calling on the International Olympic Committee to denounce and oppose Russia’s anti-LGBT propaganda law and receive guarantees about the law’s enforcement during the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.
The resolution will ask the IOC both to oppose the law itself and to receive a guarantee that athletes and spectators will not be discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity at the Sochi Winter Olympics, Merkley spokesman Jamal Raad said. The language is still being finalized, however, and he said the resolution will not be introduced formally until the Senate returns from its August recess. The resolution would be the Senate’s first formal statement regarding the Russian law, which was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in June. The Human Rights Campaign praised Merkley — also the lead sponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban anti-LGBT discrimination in employment in the U.S. — for the move.
Can’t wait to see how many Republicans vote against this resolution and condone the persecution of LGBT people in Russia as well as the violent atmosphere that has resulted in LGBT people being beaten, tortured, and murdered by bigoted vigilantes.
Meanwhile, President Obama, Secretary of State Kerry, and the U.S. Goverment has remained silent on the matter and has not issued any denouncement of the Russian goverment itself.
Ten GOP members of the U.S. Senate have filed a Supreme Court brief against the overturning of DOMA and one of them if the notorious self-loathing closet case Lindsey Graham.
Notwithstanding the Attorney General’s belated discovery of DOMA’s allegedly unconstitutional motivation, this argument is flawed because legislative motivation is not a basis for setting aside a federal statute supported by legitimate and rational government interests. This Court’s precedents do not sup-port evaluating the constitutionality of a federal statute based on subjective characterizations of the motives of individual legislators. In any event,support for traditional marriage cannot be equated to“animus,” as Justice O’Connor observed in her concurrence in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558, 585(2003). It would be particularly inappropriate to invalidate DOMA based on the alleged motivations of individual supporters, given that the statute was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and signed into law by President Clinton.
Graham a “lifelong bachelor” is well-known in D.C. to be a closeted homosexual in the tradition of Ken Mehlman and Roy Cohn and has never been officially outed.
