Leelanau Whippersnapper

From Idaho:

A same-sex couple and their three foster children were denied a reduced admission price to a pool in eastern Idaho because the Lava Hot Springs State Foundation says the five don’t fit the definition of a family.

Amber Koger and Jeri Underwood say they and their three children were recently denied the resort’s advertised family admission price.

Mark Lowe, executive director for the Lava Hot Springs State Foundation, says the state doesn’t recognize gay or lesbian marriage and defines a family as one male, one female and children.

He says as a state agency the foundation must follow Idaho law.

Not surprising and actually this would appear to be fairly common.  I would like to know if Idaho also denies family rates to single mothers (or dad’s) or grandparents raising children, or parents without marriage licenses (common law marriages) etc.  Smells like some bullshit here, they have a lot of buffalo in Idaho don’t they?

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Well, as promised, today at 10am Pacific Time, the California Supreme Court handed down it’s ruling on the two issues facing it.  They found in an 8-1 ruling that Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment that withdrew equal marriage rights in California was in fact a proper amendment.  It allowed the voter initiative defining marriage between a man and a woman to stand effectively writing discrimination (as found unconstitutional by the same court) into the California Constitution.  It also ruled in a unanimous vote that the 18,000 same sex couples who got married prior to the November election would not lose their status as legally married in California.  So, both sides got something but neither side is happy.  There are now 2 classes of gay couples.  Those who are legally married and those who are not…in the same state.  I can’t wait to see how they handle divorce.  Tonight, rather than go too much further in expressing my own disappointment in this ruling (after all, it doesn’t change anything for me since in Michigan I’m still a second class citizen regardless of what California does) I will simply post the press release from Equality California:

LOS ANGELES – Following the California Supreme Court’s decision today to uphold Prop. 8, which stripped same-sex couples of their right to marry, Equality California (EQCA) vowed to win marriage back at the ballot box. EQCA released the following statement as well as a memo to members and allies detailing its recommendations to return to the ballot in 2010.Statement from Marc Solomon, EQCA’s Marriage Director:

“Today’s ruling is a miscarriage of justice. No minority group should have to defend its right to equality at the ballot.

“Despite today’s setback, Equality California is committed to restoring the freedom to marry.  We believe, as do the majority of our members, that 2010 is the best time to return to the ballot to repeal Prop. 8. We must take full advantage of the momentum and commitment people now have to do the work required on the ground. However, we will make the final decision on when to return in collaboration with our coalition partners and allies throughout the state.

“We have already launched a mobilization campaign to reach more than 300,000 Californians in the next 100 days in places where we need the most movement-Los Angeles County, San Diego, Orange County, the Inland Empire, the Central Valley and Sacramento, and over the coming weeks we will expand our efforts with our partners and tens of thousands of volunteers.

“We do not underestimate the challenge of implementing a strong ballot campaign. Introducing ballot language is simple; winning an affirmative referendum on the freedom to marry will be difficult and expensive. But we have confidence that we can and will prevail.

“We look forward to working with our coalition partners to make a final decision on when to return to the ballot and to putting together one powerful, winning campaign program to ensure that committed, same-sex couples are once again able to enjoy the dignity and protections that marriage provides.”

To read the entire memo detailing arguments for 2010 versus 2012, please visit www.eqca.org/2010v2012memo

This is not the end of the fight, both sides know it.  By 2012 at the latest, it’s very likely that a campaign to repeal this amendment would succeed especially considering that the current amendment passed by only a very slim margin.  As I’ve said in previous posts, it is ALWAYS 1 step forward, 2 steps back.  Gay marriage will be a reality in my lifetime, it’s only a matter of time.

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Amazing.  I’ve successfully upgraded to WordPress 2.7 and I didn’t crash the blog at all!  If you happen to notice anything out of place, please let me know but I think that things are all in order and I’ve got a new back end to play with that is far more user friendly.  I know I’m a geek but I enjoy this sort of thing.

I made it back today after 2 days of intensive training with my company over in Wisconsin.  I’m exhausted and I have to work all weekend too.  I likely won’t write again until next week but you never know, I may be inspired by something so just stay tuned.

I found this graphic the other day and think it’s worth uploading due to the screaming the wing-nuts are up to lately.  If you have not been following, gays are now being blamed for being pissed off with the largely religious voting base that in my opinion (and many others who know a LOT more than me) has illegally stripped a suspect class of a fundamental right.  Say what you will about “constitutional” rights and activist judges HOWEVER, the CA judiciary determined that gays were a suspect class AND that marriage was a right they were entitled to (just like everyone else).  There are 3 parts to this government and in these cases the checks and balances ALL WORK exactly like they are supposed to work, it is simply that a vocal population disagrees with the judicial outcome and simply does not understand the decisions (but they sure do when judges agree with THEM now don’t they…).  A predominantly religious base did not agree with that CA decision and successfully (through ballot initiative) wrote specific discrimination into the CA constitution.  The legal arguments out there will draw this out for likely a couple of years but the outcome is pretty well decided and it is again, an outcome that God fearing bigots will not like.  In America in 2008 it is unacceptable for a majority to oppress a RECOGNIZED minority from obtaining and realizing their constitutional rights.  This is not an argument you can win with scripture and I will do my bloody best to resist being a second class citizen of this country.  Ya, OK you can have my soap box now but I intend to push you off of it again.

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