LGBT Groups Speak Out Against DOJ Defense of DOMA

What they said, yes.

From the ACLU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

We are very surprised and deeply disappointed in the manner in which the Obama administration has defended the so-called Defense of Marriage Act in a brief filed today in Smelt v. United States, a lawsuit brought in federal court in California by a married same-sex couple asking the federal government to treat them equally with respect to federal protections and benefits. The administration is using many of the same flawed legal arguments that the Bush administration used. These arguments rightly have been rejected by several state supreme courts as legally unsound and discriminatory.

We disagree with many of the administration’s arguments, for example, that DOMA is a valid exercise of Congress’s power, is consistent with Equal Protection or Due Process principles, and does not impinge upon rights that are recognized as fundamental.

We are also extremely disturbed by a new and nonsensical argument the administration has advanced suggesting that the federal government needs to be “neutral” with regard to its treatment of married same-sex couples in order to ensure that federal tax money collected from across the country not be used to assist same-sex couples duly married by their home states. There is nothing “neutral” about the federal government’s discriminatory denial of fair treatment to married same-sex couples: DOMA wrongly bars the federal government from providing any of the over one thousand federal protections to the many thousands of couples who marry in six states. This notion of “neutrality” ignores the fact that while married same-sex couples pay their full share of income and social security taxes, they are prevented by DOMA from receiving the corresponding same benefits that married heterosexual taxpayers receive. It is the married same-sex couples, not heterosexuals in other parts of the country, who are financially and personally damaged in significant ways by DOMA. For the Obama administration to suggest otherwise simply departs from both mathematical and legal reality.

When President Obama was courting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender voters, he said that he believed that DOMA should be repealed. We ask him to live up to his emphatic campaign promises, to stop making false and damaging legal arguments, and immediately to introduce a bill to repeal DOMA and ensure that every married couple in America has the same access to federal protections.

More later. I have some thoughts on this nation of laws argument that seems to be popping up all over the place. (*cough cough* I smell bullshit.)

Rick Warren? Say It Ain’t So!

Ok, President-Elect Obama. I sometimes just don’t get you. While I think it’s cool and all that Time named you the Person of the Year, and you certainly deserve it, I am absolutely baffled at your choice of Rev. Rick Warren to give the invocation speech at your innauguration. What gives? I understand that you’re all about reaching across the aisle, and I respect that. I’d be flipping folks off, so you’re probably a better person than I; and I’ve long ago come to terms with the fact that you are not as progressive as I’d like you to be (and if you were, you wouldn’t be the President-Elect right now); but really, why are you giving a platform to a staunchly anti-gay, anti-choice minister, a man who refers to pro-choice folks as “holocaust deniers“?

I am so sick of people trying to make a point by disrespecting people’s lives and histories–both on the left and the right. That shit is so tired and needs to be called out more often.

There are many, many ministers out there that use their faith as an avenue of justice. I know. I’ve worked with them. The Rev. Rick Warren is not one of them. Here’s someone you could look up. Why? Why did you have to chose this man?

I also gotta say, that Aretha Franklin, who sang “Respect” and “Someday We’ll All Be Free” at a concert for Bill Clinton, will be following Warren…well, the irony of that is about to make my head explode.

I want to believe that my vote for you was the right thing to do. Please don’t prove me wrong. I hate being wrong.

It Doesn’t Work That Way

The first hint that I was about to come crashing down from my lofty and quite comfortable celebratory clouds was a comment left on a post where I expressed bafflement at the passage of Prop 8. The comment was nothing but a link to the exit polls. I followed the link, and after reading them, even though their was no actual commentary to go along with the link, I suspected that I was supposed to take note that 70% of Black Folks in California voted yes.

[update: I just noticed the email addy of the person who left the comment (something I rarely do, truth be told), and I realized that I know the person who left the comment, and can say that I now don't think there was any ill will in the leaving of said link]

Then, I saw a Tweet from Renee, directed to someone else, talking about people blaming Black Folks and Latin@s for the passage of Prop 8. I hadn’t read any of these accusation myself, but now, I can feel the clouds starting to dissipate right underneath me. Here comes trouble.

Then, I happen to head over to Vivirlatino, and what do I see but a post entitled, More Prop 8 Black and Latin@ Blaming. Then Joan posts this question: “And how do people get from ‘I’m gay and white and I voted for Obama’ to ‘black people owe me because of what I did for them?’”

Now it’s become clear to me that hanging up here in these clouds has made me a little blissfully unaware, and I’m not one to enjoy being blissfully unaware much. These clouds are getting thinner by the minute, but I know that when I land, as much as it will hurt, it will be for the better.

Does it matter to me that 70% of Black Folks in California voted “yes” on Prop 8? Yes, it most certainly does. It pains my heart. I agree with La Macha that Black and Latin@ communities have much work to do with regards queer issues. And I now realize that I should really be doing more myself to help heal these wounds and eradicate these prejudices. I am, nonetheless, equally pained at the notion that anyone is out there voting, or doing any other civic or activist or social justice act with the idea that they will be “owed” by other people. I am equally pained at the ease with which People of Color are so easily scapegoated, as if Prop 8 didn’t also pass with the help of a hella lot of White people as well.

You see, it doesn’t work that way. You vote for, you give aid to, you advocate for other people and causes because it is the right thing to do. If you’re doing it because you expect something in return, your doing it for the wrong reasons. No one wins in this situation because nothing has changed. No fundamental shifting of paradigms has occured. It’s simply, “I’ll throw you a bone if you throw me one back.” And the falling on the convenient (always marginalized, conveniently enough) scapegoat is just plain tired. You see it with Sarah Palin. Everyone is jumping in line to blame her for the Republican loss, and little is being paid attention to the horrific screw ups that McCain made as well. Palin throws “tantrums.” McCain has “anger management issues.” Palin doesn’t know the NAFTA countries, so she’s “ignorant.” McCain doesn’t have a friggin’ clue about economics and admits it, and he just needs a bit of education, is all. McCain doesn’t even know how many houses he owns, and yet it is Palin that is the “shopaholic.”

Now you may be wondering. Am I calling all of you so-called liberal folks out there who are so quick to blame the Blacks and the Latin@s for the passage of Prop 8 just as transparent and disingenuous and full of shit as those slimy republicans. Yes, in fact I am. Here’s a little advice from La Macha:

What this suggests to me is that communities of color have their problems–but largely white organizations seem to not value those communities until the time comes when they need them for their own agendas, and even then not so much.

Yes, it is a two-way street, so let’s leave all this blame-game/you-owe-us stuff behind and get to the actual work of reaching out, coming together, listening to each other, and maybe actually working for all this change that we claim to believe in.

We Aren’t There Yet

At the risk of dampening the celebratory mood around here at A Slant Truth, I must admit to being somewhat at a loss. I’m overjoyed, thrilled, excited beyond belief that a black person, Barack Obama, is actually going to be the President of the United States. I look forward to seeing him sworn into office and breaking into tears again. It warms my heart that the new predominate image of a black person is going to be of an educated, intellectual, well-mannered, black man.

But I gotta ask: How is it that we, as a nation, can simultaneously overcome the racial barrier to holding the highest office in the land (and no, if you’re wondering, we have still not entered a post-racial society; don’t even go there), and at the same damn time, see Floridaand Arizona pass amendments that ban same-sex marriage? How is it that a state that went out and voted for the black guy, presumably a statement that yes, indeed, all people are created equal, and then go and deny that same equality to another group of people by altering their Constitution.

IT MAKES NO FRIGGIN’ SENSE (Yes, I’m annoyed by all caps too, but I really do mean to yell here).

It’s two steps forward, two steps back. Every time I start to think that “hey, maybe we’re starting to get it,” shit like this happens and I’m back to my usual cynical self. It’s really sad that after writing a post, saying that the Declaration of Independence means more to me now than it ever has, that I then have to sit back and realize that there is an entire segment of the population that just isn’t feeling me on that one.

So, while I don’t want to make light of this historic election, the Dems finally kicking a lot of those Republicans out of office, and all that, I have to say that we still have a ways to go.

Those Activist Judges Are At It Again, And I’m Glad

Lately, it seems like whenever I start my daily routine and head over to Google News to see what’s going on in the world, I am met with news that makes me want to crawl right back into bed and pretend that the day never started. Not so, today.

Gay Marriage Is Ruled Legal in Connecticut

A sharply divided Connecticut Supreme Court struck down the state’s civil union law on Friday and ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. Connecticut thus joins Massachusetts and California as the only states to have legalized gay marriages.

The ruling, which cannot be appealed and is to take effect on Oct. 28, held that a state law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples, and a civil union law intended to provide all the rights and privileges of marriage to same-sex couples, violated the constitutional guarantees of equal protection under the law.

Striking at the heart of discriminatory traditions in America, the court — in language that often rose above the legal landscape into realms of social justice for a new century — recalled that laws in the not-so-distant past barred interracial marriages, excluded women from occupations and official duties, and relegated blacks to separate but supposedly equal public facilities.

Justice Richard N. Palmer writes:

Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same-sex partner of their choice,” Justice Palmer declared. “To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others.

That’s not a difficult concept. You don’t need a law degree to understand the principle of human fairness and equality. It boggles the mind that some people can’t accept that. I guess before I get too complacent in my happiness over a Court making the right decision, I should prepare myself for the inevitable screech about “activist judges.” *Sigh*

This pepper shaker is so 16-year old boy with a cheesy mustache

Got wind of this video from Renee and Bint, and I’m sharing because it’s on point.

Quotation of the day: “This pepper shaker is so 16-year old boy with a cheesy mustache.” Wanda Sykes is bringing it, y’all!

Might I add that the same principle applies to “that’s retarded” and “that’s lame.”

Yes, words matter.

I Am a Community Organizer

And I will be blogging on Monday, 8 September, along with blogs such as the The Young Black Profession Guide, The Electronic Village, The Jose Vilson, From My Brown Eyed View, The African American Political Pundit, Springer’s Journal, and Inkognero in honor of the great work that Community Organizers do.

Please join me, and ask your blogging buddies to do so as well. I’m not interested in stories meant to score political points (although I’m pissed at the political cynicism that would attack community organizing). I’m interested in stories about the grassroots, the community organizers out there that are doing their thing via blogs, social networking, real life organizing that doesn’t have a (D) or (R) following it. That’s what I’d love to hear about. Since Community Organizing has been brought into the limelight, I would love to hear how those involved are working for progress and transformation. Progress and transformation from the ground up. So, while a lot of this action day will be political in nature, I’d like to see some posts, comments, whatever springing from my own post that are more focused on grassroots, non-denominational progress.

If that sounds like you, please participate and please leave a link in comments so that others can find you.