GLBT Week in Review August 8, 2012
BY ANN ROSTOW
Ix-Nay the fil-A
Last Friday, despite my reluctance to make a fool of myself in public, Mel and I went to our local Chick-fil-A and joined the kiss-in. I did manage to avoid the circle dance outside the restaurant, although I appreciated the concept. But after that, a sizable group of us went inside and milled around for awhile under the watchful gaze of some security guards and random customers. We then staged the kiss-in, hung out for a bit longer, and I observed to my horror that some of our hungrier gay male brothers in arms actually chowed down on some food. Guys? Do you understand the point here?
Over the days that followed I read another dozen articles about Chick-fil-A and the nature of free enterprise, blah blah blah. Of course I agree that far rightwing business owners have a right to pursue their commercial activity. It’s just that we don’t have to support them and the first dozen articles I read made this obvious distinction over and over again.
But then, I read an essay by a guy who loves Chick-fil-A and has driven miles to indulge this passion in the past. The writer, who was making the courageous decision to boycott from now on, described the taste and texture of Chick-fil-A sandwiches in such succulent terms that I felt a powerful desire to try one.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve never actually eaten at Chick-fil-A, which I thought was a kind of KFC place with bread. Now, after reading this man’s gustatory paean to the addictive chicken treats and crisp waffle fries, I’m going to need some self control to resist a politically inappropriate trip to the franchise.
--
Waiting for the Supremes
Before we get to work, has anyone else had enough of Michael Phelps, his toothy smile and dimwitted remarks to the press? I know he’s off the stage at this point, but for a time I felt as if I couldn’t get away from him. I made this observation to some friends and got a lecture about how unbecoming it is to trash talk a great champion for no particular reason. Mea culpa, I’m sure. But I was just wondering if I was alone in my gratuitous dislike for the man. Readers?
As you know, we won our fifth federal DOMA challenge the other day with a victory in the Pedersen case, brought by Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders in Connecticut. The others, of course, are Gill in Massachusetts, Golinski and Dragovich in California, and Windsor in New York. Gill, Golinski and Windsor have all been appealed to the Supreme Court even though the latter two cases are still pending in the lower courts.
This state of affairs has led to some confusing case schedules that I am not in the mood to sort out. Oral arguments were delayed in Golinski, for example, although written briefing is still due. I’m not sure what’s going on in the other challenges, but since the High Court is expected to take up the issue in the 2012/2013 session, I see no reason to keep track of these soon-to-be-moot details.
Meanwhile, in addition to the three DOMA challenges, two other gay rights cases have been appealed to the High Court. The Prop 8 people finally petitioned the Court to hear their appeal of their Ninth Circuit loss. And the state of Arizona has asked the justices to review a Ninth Circuit decision in favor of gay and lesbian state employees who were stripped of partner benefits by the legislature. I’m reminding you about the Arizona case because it seems to be constantly overlooked amidst the excitement of our marriage litigation.
In another piece of legal news this week, a federal court in Sin City will hear arguments on Friday in the challenge to Nevada’s marriage ban. Lambda filed a federal suit against the state a few months back, arguing that the state cannot reserve the title of marriage for heterosexuals without violating the U.S. Constitution. Sound familiar? Lambda is aiming to piggyback on the Prop 8 victory by filing related suits in other Ninth Circuit jurisdictions.
--
When There’s a Will There’s a Way
I have more legal news, but I’m going to spare you an extended rundown. Instead, let’s talk about the guy in Minnesota who lost his husband to an unexpected heart attack in April of 2011. James Morrison met and fell in love with Thomas Proehl a quarter of a century ago in college. They married in California during the 2008 marriage window, but moved to the twin cities a few years later.
Still relatively young, the men had not written wills when Tom died at the age of 46. Since Minnesota does not recognize same-sex marriages by law, it appeared that Tom’s assets, including his share of the family house, might automatically be transferred to Tom’s parents.
As it happened, Tom’s parents sided with John, considering him a son-in-law and a legal spouse. Luckily, a probate court has recently agreed, ruling that the marriage, though barred in the state, still makes John the legal heir. The decision seems to fall into a pattern of increasing accommodation and recognition of gay marriages by the courts in general. Where once a good ruling was the exception to the rule, the reverse is now true.
But what would have happened to John, and what might still happen to the next gay husband or wife, if Minnesota voters decide to entrench a marriage ban in the state constitution next fall? Although polls suggest the amendment could fail, we’ve also been betrayed by optimistic polls in the past.
The moral of the story is that gay couples of any age should write wills, period. Even in states that flatly refuse to recognize gay unions, a will remains perfectly valid. If you can leave your money to your dog, or a charity, you can certainly leave it to your wife, partner or husband. But without a will, he or she could be left high and dry if you live in one of the many antigay states. Like Texas, just to pick one at random.
Did you notice, by the way, that my state just nominated a Senate candidate to the right of Rick Perry himself? Ted Cruz? At least we didn’t nominate an antigay Democrat to fight for the left. That’s what happened in Tennessee, where the chief of the Democratic Party has refused to support the winner of the Senate primary, Mark Clayton. Clayton beat out a field of seven or eight, despite the fact that he runs an operation that has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
My other computer just went black as I was writing that last item, so I can’t tell you the name of Mr. Clayton’s hate group. But it’s definitely antigay and has a deceptively bland name like the “Public Policy Foundation,” or some other innocuous sounding thing. But really. How does such a screw up happen in modern politics? The U.S. Senate is not dogcatcher. Why didn’t the party groom a nominee? Why didn’t the other candidates highlight Clayton’s background? And why did so many of Tennessee’s Democratic voters mindlessly punch the first name on the alphabetical primary list like lab chimps hoping for a banana? That indeed is the general explanation for the odd outcome.
--
Olympic Hopeless
My computer returned to life, but I’m not returning to the Clayton story. Instead, let me mention an AP piece about a 67-year-old Tennessee man who called 911 at least nine times, at one point asking emergency crews for a ride to the store so that he could get some beer. Police went to the house of Allen Troy Brooks to give him a citation, but the man kept insisting that he didn’t have a phone and wasn’t responsible for the calls. Since this was in fact, not true, Mr. Brooks was arrested and brought down to the station where he was charged with abusing the 911 system. I’m guessing Brooks could have been one of the voters who picked the first name on the list to send to the U.S. Senate.
So, did you hear about the guy in Montana who claimed to be a victim of a gay bashing attack near a bar? Turns out he injured himself trying a Gabby Douglas-style back flip on the sidewalk and landing on his face. The moron, one Joseph Baken, proceeded to give police a fictitious, self-serving account of an alleged assault, complete with homophobic men calling him “faggot” and the usual ingredients of your basic hate crime.
The GLBT community of Missoula rushed to his side with sympathy and support, only to learn later that the 22-year-old invented the story. If you’re interested, you can watch the attempted back flip on youtube and hear his drunk friends react with “Holy Shit!” as Baken cracks his brow against the curb. Later, Baken tells the gang “I’m fine,” an overstatement of major proportions on many levels. When all was said and done, Baken was given a six month suspended sentence and ordered to pay a $300 fine for providing a false police report.
--
Here Comes the Cat!
Mitt Romney has confirmed that he thinks all men and boys should be able to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of sexual orientation, although he also believes the Scouts should be able to set their policy. The seemingly liberal announcement was not a move towards the center. Instead, the candidate was forced into the gay friendly stance by his own comments in a 1994 interview when he was running against Ted Kennedy for Senate. You may remember that Mitt insisted in that campaign that he would do more for the GLBT community than Kennedy himself.
But I’m more interested in a sidebar about the predatory nature of cats. According to a new study, the average cat kills about two creatures per week, including lizards, snakes and frogs (41 percent), small mammals (25 percent), insects and worms (20 percent) and birds (12 percent).
The researchers monitored 60 cats in the Athens, Georgia area, determining that the furry engines of death ate about a third of their prey, left about half to rot, and brought home the rest to present to their owners.
I had a stray cat in my backyard for a time. One time I saw him with a plump squirrel in his mouth and about two hours later there was nothing left but the tail. We named him Hector, after Hannibal Lector. He was simply a killing machine. But a cute one. He was run over by a car so we buried him under the fig tree with a little headstone. That’s my cat story.
--
Methinks Thou Dost Protest Too Much
Finally, how about the bozo who decided to light a box of Cheerios on fire to protest the gay friendly policies of General Mills? The grounds caught on fire and the man and his camera pal both took off running. Then, the man’s son posted the whole thing on youtube and seems to have triggered a police investigation.
What is it with posting your own dumb stunts for all to see? Catch the egomaniac straight guy who ordered a cup of water and then berated a Chick-fil-A drive through waitress, asking the pleasant girl how she could live with herself while working for such a hateful organization—oh, and filming all the while. The man lost his job and subsequently posted an eight-minute apology, which again, was all about him. (Not that I listened to all eight minutes.) Our insufferable straight ally made a point of telling the waitress that he was heterosexual, “not a gay in me.” Good, at least our community does not have to answer for his antics.
And did you read about the little boy who stuck a Lego wheel up his nose and couldn’t breathe for three years? The doctors just gave him antibiotics until one medic finally noticed the inanimate object. Hmmm.
BY ANN ROSTOW
Ix-Nay the fil-A
Last Friday, despite my reluctance to make a fool of myself in public, Mel and I went to our local Chick-fil-A and joined the kiss-in. I did manage to avoid the circle dance outside the restaurant, although I appreciated the concept. But after that, a sizable group of us went inside and milled around for awhile under the watchful gaze of some security guards and random customers. We then staged the kiss-in, hung out for a bit longer, and I observed to my horror that some of our hungrier gay male brothers in arms actually chowed down on some food. Guys? Do you understand the point here?
Over the days that followed I read another dozen articles about Chick-fil-A and the nature of free enterprise, blah blah blah. Of course I agree that far rightwing business owners have a right to pursue their commercial activity. It’s just that we don’t have to support them and the first dozen articles I read made this obvious distinction over and over again.
But then, I read an essay by a guy who loves Chick-fil-A and has driven miles to indulge this passion in the past. The writer, who was making the courageous decision to boycott from now on, described the taste and texture of Chick-fil-A sandwiches in such succulent terms that I felt a powerful desire to try one.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve never actually eaten at Chick-fil-A, which I thought was a kind of KFC place with bread. Now, after reading this man’s gustatory paean to the addictive chicken treats and crisp waffle fries, I’m going to need some self control to resist a politically inappropriate trip to the franchise.
--
Waiting for the Supremes
Before we get to work, has anyone else had enough of Michael Phelps, his toothy smile and dimwitted remarks to the press? I know he’s off the stage at this point, but for a time I felt as if I couldn’t get away from him. I made this observation to some friends and got a lecture about how unbecoming it is to trash talk a great champion for no particular reason. Mea culpa, I’m sure. But I was just wondering if I was alone in my gratuitous dislike for the man. Readers?
As you know, we won our fifth federal DOMA challenge the other day with a victory in the Pedersen case, brought by Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders in Connecticut. The others, of course, are Gill in Massachusetts, Golinski and Dragovich in California, and Windsor in New York. Gill, Golinski and Windsor have all been appealed to the Supreme Court even though the latter two cases are still pending in the lower courts.
This state of affairs has led to some confusing case schedules that I am not in the mood to sort out. Oral arguments were delayed in Golinski, for example, although written briefing is still due. I’m not sure what’s going on in the other challenges, but since the High Court is expected to take up the issue in the 2012/2013 session, I see no reason to keep track of these soon-to-be-moot details.
Meanwhile, in addition to the three DOMA challenges, two other gay rights cases have been appealed to the High Court. The Prop 8 people finally petitioned the Court to hear their appeal of their Ninth Circuit loss. And the state of Arizona has asked the justices to review a Ninth Circuit decision in favor of gay and lesbian state employees who were stripped of partner benefits by the legislature. I’m reminding you about the Arizona case because it seems to be constantly overlooked amidst the excitement of our marriage litigation.
In another piece of legal news this week, a federal court in Sin City will hear arguments on Friday in the challenge to Nevada’s marriage ban. Lambda filed a federal suit against the state a few months back, arguing that the state cannot reserve the title of marriage for heterosexuals without violating the U.S. Constitution. Sound familiar? Lambda is aiming to piggyback on the Prop 8 victory by filing related suits in other Ninth Circuit jurisdictions.
--
When There’s a Will There’s a Way
I have more legal news, but I’m going to spare you an extended rundown. Instead, let’s talk about the guy in Minnesota who lost his husband to an unexpected heart attack in April of 2011. James Morrison met and fell in love with Thomas Proehl a quarter of a century ago in college. They married in California during the 2008 marriage window, but moved to the twin cities a few years later.
Still relatively young, the men had not written wills when Tom died at the age of 46. Since Minnesota does not recognize same-sex marriages by law, it appeared that Tom’s assets, including his share of the family house, might automatically be transferred to Tom’s parents.
As it happened, Tom’s parents sided with John, considering him a son-in-law and a legal spouse. Luckily, a probate court has recently agreed, ruling that the marriage, though barred in the state, still makes John the legal heir. The decision seems to fall into a pattern of increasing accommodation and recognition of gay marriages by the courts in general. Where once a good ruling was the exception to the rule, the reverse is now true.
But what would have happened to John, and what might still happen to the next gay husband or wife, if Minnesota voters decide to entrench a marriage ban in the state constitution next fall? Although polls suggest the amendment could fail, we’ve also been betrayed by optimistic polls in the past.
The moral of the story is that gay couples of any age should write wills, period. Even in states that flatly refuse to recognize gay unions, a will remains perfectly valid. If you can leave your money to your dog, or a charity, you can certainly leave it to your wife, partner or husband. But without a will, he or she could be left high and dry if you live in one of the many antigay states. Like Texas, just to pick one at random.
Did you notice, by the way, that my state just nominated a Senate candidate to the right of Rick Perry himself? Ted Cruz? At least we didn’t nominate an antigay Democrat to fight for the left. That’s what happened in Tennessee, where the chief of the Democratic Party has refused to support the winner of the Senate primary, Mark Clayton. Clayton beat out a field of seven or eight, despite the fact that he runs an operation that has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
My other computer just went black as I was writing that last item, so I can’t tell you the name of Mr. Clayton’s hate group. But it’s definitely antigay and has a deceptively bland name like the “Public Policy Foundation,” or some other innocuous sounding thing. But really. How does such a screw up happen in modern politics? The U.S. Senate is not dogcatcher. Why didn’t the party groom a nominee? Why didn’t the other candidates highlight Clayton’s background? And why did so many of Tennessee’s Democratic voters mindlessly punch the first name on the alphabetical primary list like lab chimps hoping for a banana? That indeed is the general explanation for the odd outcome.
--
Olympic Hopeless
My computer returned to life, but I’m not returning to the Clayton story. Instead, let me mention an AP piece about a 67-year-old Tennessee man who called 911 at least nine times, at one point asking emergency crews for a ride to the store so that he could get some beer. Police went to the house of Allen Troy Brooks to give him a citation, but the man kept insisting that he didn’t have a phone and wasn’t responsible for the calls. Since this was in fact, not true, Mr. Brooks was arrested and brought down to the station where he was charged with abusing the 911 system. I’m guessing Brooks could have been one of the voters who picked the first name on the list to send to the U.S. Senate.
So, did you hear about the guy in Montana who claimed to be a victim of a gay bashing attack near a bar? Turns out he injured himself trying a Gabby Douglas-style back flip on the sidewalk and landing on his face. The moron, one Joseph Baken, proceeded to give police a fictitious, self-serving account of an alleged assault, complete with homophobic men calling him “faggot” and the usual ingredients of your basic hate crime.
The GLBT community of Missoula rushed to his side with sympathy and support, only to learn later that the 22-year-old invented the story. If you’re interested, you can watch the attempted back flip on youtube and hear his drunk friends react with “Holy Shit!” as Baken cracks his brow against the curb. Later, Baken tells the gang “I’m fine,” an overstatement of major proportions on many levels. When all was said and done, Baken was given a six month suspended sentence and ordered to pay a $300 fine for providing a false police report.
--
Here Comes the Cat!
Mitt Romney has confirmed that he thinks all men and boys should be able to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of sexual orientation, although he also believes the Scouts should be able to set their policy. The seemingly liberal announcement was not a move towards the center. Instead, the candidate was forced into the gay friendly stance by his own comments in a 1994 interview when he was running against Ted Kennedy for Senate. You may remember that Mitt insisted in that campaign that he would do more for the GLBT community than Kennedy himself.
But I’m more interested in a sidebar about the predatory nature of cats. According to a new study, the average cat kills about two creatures per week, including lizards, snakes and frogs (41 percent), small mammals (25 percent), insects and worms (20 percent) and birds (12 percent).
The researchers monitored 60 cats in the Athens, Georgia area, determining that the furry engines of death ate about a third of their prey, left about half to rot, and brought home the rest to present to their owners.
I had a stray cat in my backyard for a time. One time I saw him with a plump squirrel in his mouth and about two hours later there was nothing left but the tail. We named him Hector, after Hannibal Lector. He was simply a killing machine. But a cute one. He was run over by a car so we buried him under the fig tree with a little headstone. That’s my cat story.
--
Methinks Thou Dost Protest Too Much
Finally, how about the bozo who decided to light a box of Cheerios on fire to protest the gay friendly policies of General Mills? The grounds caught on fire and the man and his camera pal both took off running. Then, the man’s son posted the whole thing on youtube and seems to have triggered a police investigation.
What is it with posting your own dumb stunts for all to see? Catch the egomaniac straight guy who ordered a cup of water and then berated a Chick-fil-A drive through waitress, asking the pleasant girl how she could live with herself while working for such a hateful organization—oh, and filming all the while. The man lost his job and subsequently posted an eight-minute apology, which again, was all about him. (Not that I listened to all eight minutes.) Our insufferable straight ally made a point of telling the waitress that he was heterosexual, “not a gay in me.” Good, at least our community does not have to answer for his antics.
And did you read about the little boy who stuck a Lego wheel up his nose and couldn’t breathe for three years? The doctors just gave him antibiotics until one medic finally noticed the inanimate object. Hmmm.
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