“Activist judge! Liberal! Waaaaaaaaaaah!” (That may or may not be a direct quote from the NOM offices this morning.)
Sadly, no. A black Republican church-going judge, appointed by George W. Bush, has ruled that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional:
The ruling by Judge Vanessa L. Bryant, an appointee of President George W. Bush, stems from the lawsuit Pedersen et al v. Office of Personnel Management et al, filed by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) in November 2010 in the Federal District Court in Connecticut.
“Section 3 of DOMA obligates the federal government to single out a certain category of marriages as excluded from federal recognition,” Judge Bryant wrote, “thereby resulting in an inconsistent distribution of federal marriage benefits as all marriages authorized by certain states will receive recognition and marital benefits, whereas only a portion of marriages authorized by other states will receive federal recognition and benefits.”
It’s funny because it’s such a no-brainer. It’s also funny (and great) because a judicial consensus really seems to be forming around these issues. Every time the Religious Right argues for bigotry in court, they dig their hole deeper.
But yes, please, Religious Right, come up with a way to slur this judge as somehow activist and un-American. We’re waiting.
As the Religious Right’s vitriol becomes more and more unrestrained and blatantly bigoted, the overall support for marriage equality rises. Why can’t these nitwits do the math and see they’re their own worst enemies?
@Rj: because they aren’t necessarily losing. Marriage equality failed in California and there are few more liberal states. It is all well and good to say you are pro gay but it means nothing if you won’t say the same thing at the ballot box.
I agree with Trevor.
Long view, boys. Long view.
Prop. 8 won in California because anti-gay activists ran dishonest commercials saying that we would force gay marriages on churches and that we would force schools to teach children that gay marriages are good.
I lived through the campaign. These commercials were on constantly, sometimes twice in a half hour on TV. We lost, because the anti-gay side lied and scared a few percentage points of voters, not because voters disagree with the merits of our argument. We have been unable to get that argument out in a coherent way so far in any campaign. Once we figure out how to do that, we win.
If we had the republicklan’s money now….. .