On the left: A Facebook discussion on the Chick-Fil-A page which went horribly off the rails. On the right: A stock photo of a “pretty redhead teenager isolated on white.” What do these two images have in common?
David Blankenhorn’s evolution on marriage equality is emblematic of the paradigm shift we are experiencing as a country on this issue. Loving gay and lesbian couples should not be denied the ability to make the same lifelong commitment as everyone else and Blankenhorn’s agreement with that proposition puts him in the mainstream of American opinion.
Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin • Discussing David Blankenhorn, a once-star proponent for California’s controversial Proposition 8, and his shift towards supporting marriage equality, which he expressed in an op-ed in the New York Times, which you can read here. Blankenhorn founded the Institute for American Values and testified in favor of Prop. 8 during the trial in California. source (via • follow)
This asshat was a guest speaker in one of the best classes I’ve ever taken. Our professor, the lovely Jonathan Zimmerman of NYU, brought in two speakers, one for and one against gay marriage. It’s obvious which side he was on. His main argument circled around the idea that a family should contain the biological mother and father, and that any other familial union stems from tragedy. Because he so vehemently believes that all children would go looking for their biological parents (which is valid), a same-sex couple raising a child is denying said child of something so fundamental that their marriages should not be recognized. Not getting the leap in logic here? Neither did my class. We kept trying to get an answer to why it was so fundamentally important to have the biological father be around in a loving, fully functioning, lesbian family, and he just kept stonewalling us. The idea that kids who grow up in gay families fare, on average, no better or worse than those in straight families, made on difference to him. He claimed that even if that were true, gay marriages should not be recognized by the state. He was deaf to the dangers of not recognizing the custodial rights of the non-biological or non-adoptive gay parent. If his op-ed is to be believed he hasn’t changed his mind about any of this - he’s just accepting that his bigotry is slowly becoming less and less defensible. There’s a reason this guy crapped-out at the Prop 8 trial.
“Below is a remarkable document. It’s a memo circulated by Jan van Lohuizen, a highly respected Republican pollster, (he polled for George W. Bush in 2004), to various leading Republican operatives, candidates and insiders. It’s on the fast-shifting poll data on marriage equality and gay rights in general, and how that should affect Republican policy and language. And the pollster’s conclusion is clear: if the GOP keeps up its current rhetoric and positions on gays and lesbians, it is in danger of marginalizing itself to irrelevance or worse.
Read the bluntness of this. This is the GOP establishment talking to itself. And the Republican pollster who arguably knows more about the politics of the gay issue than anyone else (how else to explain the Ohio campaign of 2004?) is advising them in no uncertain terms that they need to evolve and fast, if they’re not going to damage their brand for an entire generation” – Andrew Sullivan
h/t Huskerred
In which the GOP starts to realize that gay rights isn’t coming off the table anytime soon.
Source: letterstomycountry
Here’s the video of President Obama confirming his support for same-sex marriage.
I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.
BREAKING: Obama Embraces Marriage Equality | ThinkProgress
Welcome, Mr. President. The mini-quiches have gone cold and the ice is all melted, but we’re glad you’re finally at the party.
(via rachelfershleiser)
(via shortformblog)
Source: thinkprogress.org
North Carolina has passed Amendment 1, a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. This isn’t a change in policy as such for the Tar Heel State — gay and lesbian couples had already been barred from marriage, but not at the level of the state constitution. Moreover, there’s a slew of concern voiced by the ACLU, among others, that the broad phrasing of the amendment will have unforeseen impacts in all sorts of areas unrelated to marriage equality (domestic violence law, for example). North Carolina joins thirty other states with constitutional blocks against same-sex marriage. (Photo by hlkljgk)
In an interview with NBC’s David Gregory on Sunday’s Meet The Press, VP Joe Biden told Gregory that he’s comfortable with gay marriage. His exact statement: “I am vice president of the United States of America, the president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction— beyond that.” In a move that disappointed gay rights supporters and activists, the White House seemingly immediately backed off the VP’s statement, with a tweet from the president’s top political adviser David Axelrod that reads: “What VP said-that all married couples should have exactly the same legal rights-is precisely POTUS’s position.” President Obama himself is yet to speak out in full support of same-sex marriage.
(Via MSNBC)
Biden speaking his mind, in GIF form.
Obama better come out swinging for gay marriage in his second term.
Source: gifhound
My friends, whether they be homosexual or not, know me, and they know that I’m not bigoted.
Chris Christie • Regarding his recent veto of a bill that would have legalized gay marriage in New Jersey. Politicians who oppose marriage equality use this defense a lot, because hey, it’s easy to speak on behalf of your unnamed gay friends and say that they’re cool with your anti-gay marriage views. Any of Christie’s gay friends care to come forward and confirm this? source (via • follow)
Fuck Rick Santorum.
It was funny for a little while, but how can someone who espouses the above nonsense actually be in serious contention to be a presidential nominee? When will explicit gay-bashing become a real liability for politicians?
I Just Came Back from Stonewall
I’m not quite in the right presence of mind to write right now - I just want to go to sleep - but I have to put this on here. New York finally passed gay marriage, and I am ecstatic. We’re finally recognizing LGBTQ people as full humans.
I saw an ad on the subway a few weeks ago aimed at gay couples, asking them to be foster parents. I was delighted. This is so much better.
This state, when it’s at its finest, is a beacon for social justice.
Gov. Cuomo, on NY becoming the sixth and largest state to approve gay marriage (via newsweek)
(via hapa-nings)
Source: newsweek
Future U.S. History Students: 'It's Pretty Embarrassing How Long You Guys Took To Legalize Gay Marriage'
Funny, but sad because it’s so true. We’re going to look back on the last few decades and this debate is going to seem as ridiculous as the anti-miscegenation laws that weren’t fully repealed until 1967.
My name's Modupe. I'm an academic masochist and an NYU student. I love food, Novak Djokovic, and The Strokes, and I think you should too.
