Obama: Marriage Is A State Issue And I'm Happy About The Vote In New York

At today's press conference, the president was asked if he believes marriage is a civil right. Obama side-stepped the question and said this:

We’ve said that we cannot defend the federal government poking its nose into what states are doing and putting our thumb on the scale against same-sex couples. What I’ve seen happen over the last several years and what happened in New York last week, I think was a good thing. Because what you saw was the people of New York having a debate, talking through these issues. It was contentious, it was emotional, but ultimately they made a decision to recognize civil marriages and I think that’s exactly how things should work. I think it’s important for us to work through these issues because each state is going to be different and each community is going to be different.

(Transcript and video via Igor Volsky at Think Progress)

NYT Keeps Marriage Heat On Obama

The New York Times has published yet another story critical of the president's position on marriage equality.

Legal scholars say Mr. Obama is correct; regulating marriage is indeed the province of the states — to a point. Federal courts have at times intervened to declare state marriage laws unconstitutional, as was the case in Loving v. Virginia, the landmark 1967 Supreme Court case that effectively ended all race-based restrictions on marriage. Yet in the context of the New York debate, Mr. Obama’s comments infuriated some prominent advocates and potential donors. They include Chad Griffin, who sits on the finance committee for Mr. Obama’s re-election campaign and recently co-hosted a fund-raiser featuring Michelle Obama that raised more than $1 million, and Paul Yandura, a Democratic strategist who advises gay philanthropists, including some Obama donors. “That language is really a dog whistle for the right,” Mr. Yandura said. Mr. Griffin, who said he intended to continue to work to re-elect the president, called the comments “a step backwards,” and said Mr. Obama should use Wednesday’s reception to clarify them. The White House sees no need to clarify.

President Obama will be hosting a LGBT Pride reception at the White House today. GetEQUAL has promised to picket.

NOM Reveals NY Repeal Plans

But it's ALL so complicated, Slaggie!

We're putting together a 4-year campaign strategy that will reverse same-sex marriage in New York. We'll have many more details, and ways for you to get involved, in the days ahead but the overall plan will have three phases:

PHASE 1:
Elect pro-marriage majorities next November that will approve a marriage amendment in both the Assembly and Senate during the 2013 legislative session.

PHASE 2:
Protect pro-marriage candidates in the 2014 elections, so that the amendment can receive final legislative approval in the 2015 legislative session.

PHASE 3:
Successfully pass the ballot measure when it goes before voters in November 2015.

A 4-year process seems like a long time—and it is—but it's achievable. In New Hampshire and Iowa, they've had same-sex marriage for just 2 years, but are already well on the way to reversal. The key to success is electing legislative majorities who will answer to the people of their state, and not to special interests.

Lots of federal work can be done in four years.

Marriage: The Wedge Issue Of 2012?

Upstate NY Town Clerk: Jeebus Won't Let Me Issue Homo Marriage Licenses

Aaaand here come the pious town clerks.

Barbara MacEwen, the town clerk in upstate Volney who is responsible for signing marriage licenses in the town, said she’s morally opposed to same-sex weddings and does not intend to affix her signature to any marriage documents for gay or lesbian couples. “If there’s any possible way to not do it, legally, then yes, I would not want to put my name on any of those certificates or papers,” MacEwen told POLITICO. “That’s their life, they can do it, but I don’t feel I should be forced into something that’s against my morals and my God.” MacEwen said she’s written her state senator – Republican Patty Ritchie, who voted against legalizing gay weddings – to determine her legal options.

MacEwen, 75, is up for reelection this fall. Hopefully she'll have been fired long before then.

Vatican Adviser: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Should Be Denied Communion

One day after World Net Daily called for NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo's arrest for supporting same-sex marriage, a top Vatican adviser has declared that Cuomo should be denied Holy Communion.

A senior adviser to the Vatican, who is a theology professor in Detroit, blasted the Catholic governor of New York for his strong backing of same-sex marriage, saying that he should be punished for his "brazen" violation of Catholicism by being denied Holy Communion — a key part of the Catholic faith. He's also calling for the Catholic Church to investigate Gov. Andrew Cuomo for violating church law, calling the politician's actions a "danger" to faithful Catholics. Professor Edward Peters of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, a consultant to the Vatican's highest court, hopes that punishing Cuomo would "serve as an example" to other Catholic politicians and clergy across the U.S. who might be considering same-sex marriage in light of New York's approval on Friday.

TOTALLY FUCKING RELATED: The Vatican adviser quoted above is the father of Thomas Peters, the douchebag NOM staffer who made news last week by preemptively declaring in the National Review that gay marriage had been defeated in New York. (National Review yanked the article within a couple of hours.) The younger Peters writes a blog titled The American Papist, which is hosted on CatholicVote.org.

George Takei On New York Marriage

"I am confident that Proposition 8 will be gone by the end of the year and we'll have marriage equality again in California too."

HRC's Joe Solmonese: NOM Made A Lot Of Noise In New York But Came Away Losers

NOM Cheers Queerty "Admission"

Once again, Queerty says something the wingnuts love to hear.

Even LGBT organizers agree that they’d rather pass marriage equality by legislature than at the ballot because at the ballot WE ALWAYS LOSE. People who oppose the ballot also like saying that if America voted on interracial marriage in the 60s, that still might be illegal too. But is that really our only defense against the ballot argument? If so, it’s no wonder that Obama hasn’t articulated a reason to support marriage that doesn’t fly in the face of the democratic process that had denied us our rights.

Bill Donahue Melts Down

ZOMG! In less than five minutes, Catholic League mental case Bill Donahue hits on every viciously anti-gay lie in the religious right's arsenal. Polygamy, procreation, incest, and even some wild shit about prongs and sockets. SRSLY. Huge huge kudos to the show's host for firing back at every bit of Donahue's batshittery.

Rev. Al Sharpton Vs. NOM's Brian Brown

Quote Of The Day - David Frum

"I find myself strangely untroubled by New York state's vote to authorize same-sex marriage -- a vote that probably signals that most of the 'blue' states will follow within the next 10 years. I don't think I'm alone in my reaction either. Most conservatives have reacted with calm -- if not outright approval -- to New York's dramatic decision. Why? The short answer is that the case against same-sex marriage has been tested against reality. The case has not passed its test. Since 1997, same-sex marriage has evolved from talk to fact. If people like me had been right, we should have seen the American family become radically more unstable over the subsequent decade and a half. Instead -- while American family stability has continued to deteriorate -- it has deteriorated much more slowly than it did in the 1970s and 1980s before same-sex marriage was ever seriously thought of." - Conservative columnist David Frum, announcing a change of heart on marriage equality.

Second City On "Natural" Marriage

Perkins Rips The Empire State Building

"People at the Empire State Building said it was a coincidence. Officials explained that it takes hours to change the lights. But there was no mistaking the message Friday night when the highest point in the city lit up like a towering rainbow, its colors blazing across the New York skyline. Like a warning flare, the reds and blues and greens exploded over the city, announcing the arrival of same-sex 'marriage' to the world. Overnight, New York had become a beacon in the fight for family--a symbol of people who had lost their way.

"When the law goes into effect next month, New York will be the sixth and largest state to shatter the definition of marriage in America. To understand the devastation of that defeat, consider this. Within hours, the number of people living in jurisdictions with same-sex 'marriage' doubled. With one vote, New York forced more Americans to bow to its twisted definition of marriage than the combined population of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa, and the District of Columbia. And none of it would have been possible without the political cowardice of New York Republicans." - Hate group leader Tony Perkins.

Maggie Gallagher Vs. Danny O'Donnell

World Net Daily: Arrest Cuomo

Right Wing Watch reports that World Net Daily has published an editorial calling for the arrest of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and others that supported the "unconstitutional act" of legalizing same-sex marriage. The editorial has a byline from Dr. Ted Beahr, noted vicious homophobe and Christianist film critic.

With regard to the illegal action of the New York state government, it is more important to understand clearly that the civil government has no authority in area of the free exercise of religion such as marriage. If it has no authority and tries to With exercise power not vested to it, then the state is acting illegally. We need to stand for God's law in the face of the power grab by those in civil authority who know no restraints. New York and the other increasingly socialized states have not only violated God's law, they have also violated their own Constitution and the will of the governed.

When they do that, they are just like King George. They have abdicated their moral and legal authority and are subject to indictment, trial and just punishment. Now, all those who freely exercise their inalienable right to religious faith must stop acting like useful idiots and fellow travelers by going along to get along. Instead, they must stand for their God-given rights by proclaiming loud and clear that these New York government servants have crossed the line into illegal activity that has no authority and makes them criminals.

AFA Poll Of The Day

New York Marriage Gets Animated

Bill Donahue On New York Marriage

"Ultimately, this issue will not be resolved in the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court: it will be decided by a constitutional amendment. Though the Federal Marriage Amendment prevailed in the House in 2006 by a margin of 236-187, it failed to achieve the necessary 290 votes required to pass a constitutional amendment; two-thirds of both chambers of Congress, and three-fourths of the states (38), are needed.

"Standing in the way of a constitutional amendment is the legitimate reluctance on the part of federal lawmakers to decide what many believe to be a matter for the states. But given that we are left with the scenario of the people vs. the elites, we are quickly reaching a tipping point, and when that happens, chances are good that this issue will be resolved by a constitutional amendment." - Catholic League blowhard and pedophile defender Bill Donahue, writing on his personal blog.

Ruben Diaz - Hate Crimes Victim

"For taking a principled, religiously-rooted stand for the institution that undergirds all of human civilization, Diaz has become the latest in a long, sad string of victims of the true hatemongers in America, homosexuals activists. Their hate crime against him is motivated by prejudice against his religion, which teaches that God designed marriage exclusively as the union of one man and one woman. Chuck Colson is another whose eyes are wide open to the steaming hate billowing from the denizens of the homosexual lobby. 'The gay-rights groups have shown their fangs. They want to silence, yes, destroy those who don't agree with their agenda.' Homosexuals are rapidly cementing their position as the number one perpetrators of hate crimes in American today. Sen. Diaz is simply the latest prey of the hatemongering hunters on the left, who live in mortal fear that someone, somewhere, actually believes what God says about marriage and human sexuality. And the list will grow longer before it grows shorter." - American Family Association radio host Bryan Fischer, writing for Right Side News.