That elephant-be-logo-ed graphic is like a Wanted poster for tea-partyers

Holy crap, Orrin Hatch and both of AZ's Senators?!? That's a nice surprise.

And someone please tell Signorile that "light year" is not a unit of time.

You know, if I, and presumably at least some of my compatriots, are to be honest, internalized homophobia still exists.

Just as ten years ago marriage for gays seemed "bourgeois" and more than we deserved or needed, I had the fleeting thought the other day that the religious exemption was necessary for this to have a hope of getting through both houses of Congress.

Fuck that noise.

Dammit Michelangelo Signorile, light years are distance, not time. What do you think this is, the Kessel Run?

While we don't *need* Congress for marriage equality in the remaining 35 states, it would sure speed things up if they'd repeal the rest of DOMA, the part that allows states not to recognize marriages performed in other states. Once that falls, it sort of becomes a moot point whether you can marry in Oklahoma or not - you have a great weekend in NYC, come home to Oklahoma, and the state has to recognize your marriage. There'd be a few more federal lawsuits to enforce the Full Faith and Credit clause, but it'd be a leap forward for the people living in states that aren't going to be jumping on the equality bandwagon any time soon. So yeah, I'd like Congress to keep evolving on marriage.

A light year is a measure of distance, not a measure of time span.

Also, Dan: The Supreme Court didn't "de-federalize" the marriage issue; it specifically hasn't ruled, yet, on whether a state may constitutionally ban same-sex marriage. Two questions are being litigated which will eventually come before the court (or at least, one side or the other will ask the court to consider them). The first is whether the remaining half of DOMA is constitutional - the part which says states may refuse to recognize each others' same-sex marriages. The second is the big enchilada - whether states can in fact ban same-sex marriage under the US constitution.

Given that the court prefers, generally, to take incremental steps on controversial issues, I am fairly confident that the court will first agree to hear a case involving the first question - and it will strike down the second part of DOMA. With that action, a couple who legally marries anywhere they can would be considered married anywhere in the United States. And that, in turn, would take the pressure off, for a while, to hear a case on the second issue - because, practically speaking, most (though certainly not all) same-sex couples could travel to a state which allows same-sex marriage for nonresidents and then return and have that marriage recognized. It preserves the fig leaf of a state being allowed to determine marriage eligibility within the state but not being allowed to pick and choose which outside marriages it will recognize.

I was pissed as fuck when I read about that god damned religious exemption. Also that employers with fewer than 15 employees are also exempt. How is that fucking possible? No other minority can be legally discriminated against by employers of any number of workers.

This piece of shit legislation is second class status for second class citizens. I thought our advocates were aware that LGBTs are done being second class any-fucking-thing. Time to get new advocates.

I remember the DOMA and ENDA votes during the Clinton years, but can't recall who besides Senator Moynihan was on the right side of both.

Consider this: Michelangelo Signorile, writing for the Huffington Post: "The fact that ENDA is unlikely to get a vote in the House gives us a chance to make sure the religious exemption comes out of this bill. That may make it harder to get it passed, and it may take a lot longer, but so be it. There are no shortcuts or bargains on civil rights. And quite honestly, when you ask for crumbs from the outset, both your friends and your enemies don't take you very seriously. We still need full protections in employment, housing and public accommodations, and none should include any religious exemptions. We need to stop viewing the ENDA vote this week as a sign of how far we've come -- as much of the hyped-up media has been doing -- and instead view it as a sign of how much further we need to go."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelange…

Indeed the religious exemption in the current bill is a huge loophole we'll come to regret.

@11 Yeah well there is that, sigh.

re "Light years are a unit of distance, not time" -- well yes that's true, but have you ever heard (or participated in) something like this:

Q: "How far is it to the city from here?"

A: "About twenty minutes."

light years ago in terms of the speed of LGBT progress

Progress implies a distance traveled, and/or a royal procession; work with me here...

Peace

@2 - Yeah, Hatch is the only big surprise here. And I think it's a testament to how much the worm has turned due to Mike Lee's shutdown/obamacare craziness. Even Mormon Utah is tiring of uber-fundamentalism.

For sure, it is a tea party target list, huh?

AZ and NV are not a surprise - nor ME and NH.

The exemption would extend beyond churches and other houses of worship to any religiously affiliated institution,

THAT is what drives me batshit crazy. These "religious organization exemptions", through which nullifyers and seccessionists have been attempting to drive semi-trucks for the past fifty years - are NOT meant to be an option to exempt out of democracy. This is, of course, precisely the tactic the US Conference of Bishops was attempting regarding Obamacare...carving out an exemption so big that any slice of the reactionary population could simply opt-out.

I'm OK with not letting the government legislate theology - that is a real form of Establishmentarianism. The government cannot compel a Church with homophobic or bigoted theological beliefs to hire black gay clergy and perform interracial lesbian weddings. But allowing the "affiliated hospital" to fire the black lesbian bookeeper is unacceptable.

Parochial schools make this tricky - in all fairness, many are nothing more than extensions of bible school and church services (eg, nuns teaching). However, any of them who claim to be non-sectarian for purposes of obtaining tax dollars should be immediately disqualified from claiming religious exemptions.

@4: Apparently the Kessel Run could be made shorter by a faster ship, since a good hyperdrive would allow you to cut a little closer to The Maw (a cluster of black holes) without worrying about getting eaten and reduce the distance you needed to travel.

@16 I concur, but there's no denying that it's fansplanation. Besides, "parsecs" are a little large as units of distance for the description of the Kessel system given in the books. It's neighborhood of forty light years.

@17: No no, the Kessel Run was a hyperlane that happened to end at Kessel.

I have a new take on ENDA, that the law should be expanded to cover everybody, not just LGBT people. You can read my piece, in a publication read by man Congressmembers and their staffs known as The Hill here:

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/c…