Jenny Sanford, the soon-to-be ex-wife of Argentinian sex tourist South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, has revealed to Barbara Walters that Mark “insisted they take the fidelity clause out of their marriage vows.”
“It bothered me to some extent, but … we were very young, we were in love,” she said. “I questioned it, but I got past it … along with other doubts that I had.”
She still married him. Oh, but she has a book coming out! So, we’re supposed to be…sympathetic? This is supposed to make us want to read her book?
This is what happens when gays get married, y’all. Butterfly effect or something like that.
For the record, Mark Sanford is against marriage equality, civil unions, and has voted to ban adoption by gay couples.
This would be a good time to remember that hilarious satirical piece that went around last summer that claimed Jenny had blamed her marital problems on gay marriage.
Never did it occur to me that this would have to be pointed out, but I was arguing with someone about equal marriage rights on another blog, and an anti-gay commenter suggested that, were marriage equality to be the law of the land, the laws would have to be “rewritten” and that his/her marriage would now be simply a “civil marriage,” instead of a “marriage.”
Once I picked my jaw up off the ground, a question dawned on me: Do these people, these “traditional marriage” advocates, somehow think that the government is recognizing their religious marriage? Do they think that the government is granting over a thousand rights and responsibilities because of the ceremony they had in a church?
If so, civics education in the United States is far more of a failure than I previously thought.
A primer, for anyone who is unclear on what should be painfully obvious: As current federal law stands, any consenting man and woman may marry (even if they’re first cousins in some states!), and the government recognizes that based on the signed marriage license. If they choose to have a religious ceremony, it’s not the ceremony that makes the marriage official, it’s the signature on the license, and last time I checked, people’s various conceptions of God aren’t given the power to act as agents of the state! In five states, and soon in the District of Columbia, same-sex couples are included in this system, though not recognized at the federal level.
I truly hope that this is not a revelation and that the majority of anti-gay people understand this, but I suppose it’s always good to make sure. You really never know what set of “facts” or what mangled conception of reality people are working with.
Last month, the New York Senate tried and failed to bring equal marriage rights to the citizens of New York. If you don’t remember, things went south when eight cowardly Democrats betrayed their caucus and joined the Republicans in defeating the bill. One of those Democrats was Senator Hiram Monserrate of Queens, who, before his vote, had become notorious for being charged with “slashing his girlfriend Karla Giraldo in the face with a broken glass.” Continued:
Monserrate was found guilty of the lesser charge of third-degree assault for dragging a bleeding Giraldo down the hallway of their building after the alleged attack. That charge is only a misdemeanor so the lawmaker will be able to keep his seat in Albany.
Despite initially claiming Monserrate attacked her, Giraldo had refused to cooperate with the prosecution in the case.
So why am I bringing this up? Well, it seems that a group calling itself the “Coalition for Morality” has been dispersing these flyers in support of Senator Monserrate:
Classy again! So who are the generically branded “Coalition for Morality”? We don’t quite know. My Googling has come up dry, and the others who have reported this have had similar results. For all we know, Monserrate could have printed them up himself!
But I do know this: This little flyer is revelatory of the worldview which seeks to deny equality to the LGBT community. It may seem abhorrent to people with any semblance of a moral compass that a man caught assaulting a woman on camera could be held up as a paragon of morality, but it really shouldn’t be surprising. There are indeed many conservative religious people out there who hit the fainting couch over two consenting adults of the same gender falling in love, but at the same time really don’t mind the idea of abusing women. I mean, let’s get real here. Respected conservative “thinkers” have penned pieces as recently as last year which seem to support the idea that marital rape doesn’t exist! (Dennis Prager, I’m looking at you.)
So there you have it. According to some people, Hiram Monserrate, abuser of women, can claim moral authority over gay people who choose to live our lives with integrity.
Two Argentine men were joined Monday in Latin America’s first same-sex marriage, traveling to the southernmost tip of the Americas to find a welcoming spot to wed. Argentina’s Constitution is silent on whether marriage must be between a man and a woman, effectively leaving the matter to provincial officials.
The ceremony upset the Roman Catholic Church, which had to take a break from its pedophile priest scandal to condemn the love of this happy gay couple.
“The decision took me by surprise and I’m concerned,” Bishop Juan Carlos, of the southern city Rio Gallegos, told an Argentine news agency. He called the marriage “an attack against the survival of the human species.”
I just checked my newspaper and took a walk around the block. Apparently, the human species is still alive and well. I don’t suppose, given the facts, that Gallegos will issue a “correction” for his embarrassingly idiotic statement. In my view, the church is inviting violence against this couple by claiming they will essentially destroy the world.
Same-sex civil unions have been legalized in Uruguay, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and some states in Mexico and Brazil, but marriage generally carries more exclusive rights such as adopting children, inheriting wealth and enabling a partner to gain citizenship.
Only seven countries allow gay marriages: Canada, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. U.S. states that permit same-sex marriage are Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire.
Earlier this month, lawmakers voted to make Mexico City the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage. Leftist Mayor Marcelo Ebrard was widely expected to sign the measure into law.
Well, it appears the United States continues to fall behind other civilized nations as our Religious Right continues to drag this country down in its quest to take us back to the Dark Ages.
TWO friend and blogger extraordinaire Jeremy Hooper’s wedding to his husband Andrew holds the honor of being the first same-sex wedding featured in Martha Stewart Weddings magazine!
This may be the most heartwarming thing you’ll read this holiday season, even better than Glenn Beck’s The Christmas Sweater.*
There was a gay wedding in Uganda recently. Yes, you read that correctly.
The two kuchus (gay men) united before family and friends, even as a bill threatens to make their love punishable by death, in a society that wasn’t very friendly to gay people in the first place, and is getting more homophobic by the day.
Pure madness. Absolute, shrieking madness, to have such a ceremony in Uganda at this moment. No amount of security can keep such a happening secret. Never. It was madness.
Pure, sweet madness, that I identify with. I know, I am also mad. Raving.
We kuchus, we gay Ugandans, we are also human beings. Seeking the simple, the wonderful small pleasures that all other Ugandans have. And, nothing shows that like our desire to be known, in the eyes of our parents, as a couple. Acknowledged, in the ultimate way. Groom and groom, husband and husband, wife and wife.
They were stupid. They were human. I love their stupidity and humanity.
We should all be so mad.
Find something simple to be grateful for this week, and keep these guys in your thoughts and prayers.
Damn, it feels good to report some positive news for a change.
The Associated Press reports that Washington D.C.’s City Council has voted to legalize the freedom to marry for gay couples the nation’s capital. Mayor Adrian Fenty has promised to sign the bill. The final vote Tuesday was 11-2.
The bill now goes to Congress, which has final say over the district’s laws. Opponents say they’ll try to get Congress or voters to overturn it. Passage of the bill is a victory for gay marriage supporters, who have been dealt a recent string of defeats in Maine, New York and New Jersey.
If Congress doesn’t reject the bill, D.C. should start issuing marriage licenses around St. Patrick’s Day, which will make opponents green with envy. (Sorry, I could not pass up the bad pun)
Religious “morality” is once again on open display with the news that more than 500 people have filed claims accusing Jesuits of sexually abusing children across the Northwest.
The Jesuits claim to have so far spent about $25 million and have settled 200 sex-abuse claims. In bankruptcy documents the Jesuits claim to have $4.8 million in assets and liabilities of $61.8 million.
The amount of money they are spending to clean up this moral mess is staggering. And, all the cases aren’t even settled!
In other news, the New York Times reports on the disgusting cover-up of sexual abuse in Connecticut and the lengths the Catholic Church went to in their unholy efforts to conceal documents related to the cases. This went to the top of the chain and even included Bishop Edward Egan.
Interestingly, while settlements on child seduction, abuse and rape are occurring, The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue is in a tizzy over a PETA ad that features model Joanna Krupa holding a crucifix over some dogs with the caption, “Be an angel for the animals. Always Adopt. Never Buy.”
“The fact is that cats and dogs are a lot safer in pet stores than they are in the hands of PETA employees,” Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a statement. “Moreover, pet stores don’t rip off Christian iconography and engage in cheap irreligious claims. PETA is a fraud.”
How typical of Donohue and his useless organization, which is no more than a PR firm for hypocrisy. The Catholic League always finds fluffy pet issues, no pun intended, instead of fixing the moral depravity within the church’s walls. Deflection is the specialty of The Catholic League, which is used to stifle genuine reflection and having to face up to the unspeakable facts.
Millions of dollars are being shelled out because of priest scandals and the main thing Donohue is concerned about is finding a sensational issue so he can get his mug on TV.
Outrageous, isn’t it?
It shows you what The Catholic League truly values – and it’s not families. I’m not saying one has to agree with the PETA ads. But, I am pointing out that Donohue and the Catholic hierarchy in general under Pope Benedict has their priorities skewed.
I never again want to hear a Catholic priest lecture GLBT people on sexual morality. There simply is no moral authority for these priests – or Donohue – to discuss sexuality of any kind. It is time they clean up their own act before pointing fingers.
Short of murder, there is nothing worse than child sexual abuse – the primary sin of this Church. Given their sordid history, it is astounding that they would even consider entering the debate on allowing healthy gay couples the freedom to marry.
Have these “holy men” no shame? Have they no sense of decency and honor? I think the answer is self-evident.
Keep repeating this until the hypocrite walks away, head bowed in shame.
As far as I know, there has never been a huge, multi-decade scandal of gay activists molesting children. No GLBT community centers raided and shuttered. No billion dollar lawsuits against gay bars for abusing children.
Sure, one can always find a rotten apple, but the GLBT barrel – for the most-part – is stocked with the organic, red, shiny, healthy variety.
The same cannot be said of the Roman Catholic Church.
According to a new report released today that was ordered by Ireland’s government, Catholic leaders in Dublin, in collusion with the police, spent decades protecting and covering up the illegal, sinful behavior of pedophile priests.
What went on – for decades – was so incredibly sick and downright evil, that it borders on satanic. Dublin’s current Archbishop, Diarmuid Martin, said he felt deep shame and sorrow for how previous archbishops handled the child abuse.
Today’s 720-page report focused on why church leaders in the Dublin Archdiocese did not tell police about a single abuse complaint against a priest until 1995. Yet, there had been at been at least 100 parish priests who had sexually molested children since 1940. Those files had remained locked in the Dublin archbishop’s private vault.
The investigators also uncovered a paper trail documenting the church’s clandestine insurance policy, taken out in 1987, to cover potential lawsuits. Dublin church leaders publicly denied the existence of the problem for a decade afterward but since the mid-1990s have paid out more than $15 million in settlements.
The report cited documents showing how church officials learned about some cases only when Catholic police received complaints from children or their parents, but handed the investigation back to church leaders so they could engage in cover-ups.
It is hard to believe, but this high level of pious pathology, ethical corruption and sin occurred under the “leadership” of THREE Dublin archbishops: John Charles McQuaid (1940-72), Dermot Ryan (1972-84) and Kevin McNamara (1985-87).
The commission found that these moral luminaries eschewed public scandals by shuffling the abusers from parish to parish and overseas to U.S. churches – where no doubt a few of these heinous hypocrites are still loudly opposing the freedom to marry for gay couples.
Seriously, I refuse to hear lectures on wholesome values and the meaning of family from anyone affiliated with a church that engaged in such shocking and outrageous behavior. The Catholic Church has, indeed, lost its right to discuss such issues and expect thinking people to keep a straight face.
Just to reiterate, the Bishop’s and Archbishop’s have zero credibility to even discuss my healthy relationship. At least my boyfriend isn’t an altar boy.
My advice to these priests is to take their condemnation of my relationship and lock it in a private vault in the Archdiocese, along with the secret records of rampant child abuse.
Finally, I want to make it abundantly clear that this is not an attack on the millions of Catholics who are good people and oppose the handling of these child abuse cases. There are also many Catholics who support equality for all people, including a gay couples’ right to marry. This is not meant for the wonderful, charitable people who have clothed the naked, cared for the sick and fed the hungry.
However, the church hierarchy has surrendered its high ground on moral issues and must work to regain the respectability and trust it has clearly lost. Considering the behavior it has practiced, it certainly has no right to preach to those of us who have obeyed the law.
It is time to admit that the gay community has a gigantic Pope problem. Under the leadership of Benedict XVI, the Vatican has become an implacable foe of liberalism, modernity and basic rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Rome has eagerly jumped with both feet into America’s culture wars and is working on a global scale to punish or purge ideological dissenters within the church. This aggressive activism presents a formidable new front in the fight for parity – one with considerable political clout and financial resources.
Last week, a coalition of totalitarian religious activists and radical clerics joined forces to unveil the “Manhattan Declaration” at Washington’s National Press Club. This rambling manifesto, written by former Watergate felon Chuck Colson, called for “Christians” to disobey laws they didn’t fancy and to ignore civil rights laws that protected GLBT people from discrimination. It was a dishonest document filled with historical revisionism that promoted theocracy, encouraged anarchy and supported the dissolution of the rule of law. It falsely portrayed right wing Christians as victims, even as they pledged to work tirelessly to deny equality to those who would not adhere to their sectarian church rules.
An extreme manifesto of such breathtaking cynicism and insincerity is no surprise coming from what passes for “leaders” in today’s evangelical circles. It was striking, however, that more than 15 key American Catholic leaders signed on to the “Manhattan Declaration”. Signatories included heavyweights such as Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, DC. This was clearly a call to arms and a powerful signal that the Roman Catholic Church is taking the gloves off to fight political battles in America.
This hands-on involvement from Rome has passed the “trend” stage and appears to be official policy. Consider the significant involvement the Catholic Church had in stripping marriage rights away from GLBT couples in a Maine referendum held earlier this month.
In the same manner, on June 11, the Washington, DC Archdiocese threatened to abandon the homeless and quit charity work in the District if it had to comply with anti-discrimination laws. Catholic Charities had the audacity to believe it was entitled to collect $8.2 million in tax dollars meant to serve all DC residents, and then still get to handpick whom it deems worthy of assistance.
Catholic involvement with arch-conservative politics is growing by the day. In May, Catholic groups tried to stop President Barack Obama from speaking at a Notre Dame commencement ceremony because of his pro-choice position.
Earlier this month, Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin put the clamp on Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), banning the lawmaker from communion because he is pro-choice. This was reminiscent of The St. Louis Archbishop refusing to give communion to John Kerry during his presidential campaign.
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has suddenly begun to steer GLBT Catholics to 12-step programs that promise to “cure” homosexuality or support them in a lifelong celibacy. The Catholic Diocese in Sioux Falls, South Dakota urged its 128-thousand members to oppose an attempt to bring legalizing embryonic stem cell research to a public referendum. (I guess the sacrosanct “people’s right to vote” on controversial social issues only applies to same-sex marriage)
In fighting back, we must remember that the Vatican is launching these attacks from a position of weakness. It has yet to recover its moral authority from public exposure of rampant child sexual abuse scandals that cost the Church billions of dollars in legal settlements.
The Vatican appears to be acutely aware it is losing its worldwide market share. It is basically defunct in the Middle East, where the religion began, and on life-support in Western Europe, where it once prospered. In Africa, Rome competes with Islam and Anglicanism for a shrinking slice of the pie. (Who can forget that while in Africa the Pope said condoms could make the AIDS crisis worse.) South America, one of its few remaining strongholds, is losing Roman Catholics to evangelical faiths by the millions.
Instead of competing against the conservative evangelical brand, Pope Benedict has decided to embrace it, shaping a conspicuously political Catholicism that embraces extremism and drives out dissenters. The Vatican has become so doctrinaire that it recently launched an invasive probe into the lives of America’s 60,000 nuns to enforce anachronistic rules. In January, Benedict welcomed back excommunicated Bishop Richard Williamson who denied that millions of Jews died in Nazi death camps.
Fortunately, Benedict is a cold, unsympathetic figure and the majority of American Catholics often ignore his edicts. The strategy for the GLBT community should be to stand up to Rome and help mobilize mainstream Catholics to fight back against an authoritarian Pontiff who is hell-bent on making the Catholic Church as unpopular and unappealing as His Holiness.
