With hundreds of Texans who attended rallies across Texas yesterday in the wake of Prop 8 being ruled unconstitutional, it's refreshing to see at least a couple of our Democratic leaders stand up and make a point about equality for all citizens. Democratic Lt. Governor nominee Linda Chavez-Thompson tweeted shortly after the ruling.
So glad to hear Prop 8 was overturned today. It was discrimination at its worst. I will keep fighting for equality for all Texans. #equality
Democratic Rep. Garnet Coleman of Houston issued the following statement.
"I've always supported marriage equality for all Americans and believe that the U.S. Constitution supports it as well. When Texas passed its constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions in 2005, I filed a constitutional amendment to let voters repeal the discriminatory amendment. I'm glad to see that our country continues to move forward. Every year, the public's opinion on marriage equality is more supportive. The law should prohibit discrimination, not sanction it."
Surprisingly, incumbent Republican officials statewide have been oddly silent on the matter. Governor Rick Perry, who was in California at the time of the ruling incidentally, has tweeted nothing other than being in San Francisco. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott who has defended Texas' Proposition 2 banning gay marriage, has been mum. A curious silence for Republicans who usually never miss a chance to bolster their anti-gay credentials in an election year. Not to mention a bit of luck for Bill White who would likely rather not have issue a statement at all on the matter.
California's Proposition 8 which had removed gay and lesbian's equal right to marry has been ruled unconstitutional by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker (a Reagan appointee unanimously confirmed by the US Senate). His ruling is based on both due process and equal protection arguments, a major victory for equality. Below are rallies planned across Texas in the coming hours, as well as the full ruling. A temporary stay until Friday has been issued in order to here arguments as to where a continuing stay should be issued.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued the following statement.
"Judge Walker had the great responsibility of deciding whether Proposition 8 violates the Constitution of the United States. He heard in-depth arguments from both sides on fundamental questions of due process, equal protection and freedom from discrimination. There are strong feelings on both sides of this issue, and I am glad that all viewpoints were respected throughout the proceedings. We should also recognize that there will continue to be different points of view in the wake of this decision.
"For the hundreds of thousands of Californians in gay and lesbian households who are managing their day-to-day lives, this decision affirms the full legal protections and safeguards I believe everyone deserves. At the same time, it provides an opportunity for all Californians to consider our history of leading the way to the future, and our growing reputation of treating all people and their relationships with equal respect and dignity.
"Today's decision is by no means California's first milestone, nor our last, on America's road to equality and freedom for all people."
(On Saturday) 5:00 PM at Denton Courthouse Square (map)
Equality Texas issued a statement including the following.
Equality Texas Executive Director Dennis Coleman says, "As we stand in solidarity with Californians, we must remember that our work is far from over. The laws in Texas are not similar to California. Existing law here allows for systematic discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Texans every single day. There is much work to be done legislatively to change the laws in Texas. And in order to change the laws, we must elect public officials who will support equal treatment under the law for every Texan."
Today between 3-5 PM CST, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker of San Francisco will issue a ruling in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case to decide the constitutionality of Proposition 8 passed by California voters in 2008 to remove equal marriage rights for gay and lesbians which had previously been afforded by the state supreme court. Below I have posted information for Texans who want to be updated on the results of the ruling as well as public gatherings scheduled around Texas later today (regardless of the outcome of the ruling).
Action
Text "EQUAL" to 69866 to get a text message with the official decision on your mobile phone the moment the court releases its decision, or sign-up for an email alert at equalrightsfoundation.org. Join AFER on its Web site to watch a live press conference with our plaintiffs and co-counsels Ted Olson and David Boies following the release of the decision.
What should Congress do? Right now, nothing. Why should Congress do nothing? Because if Congress does nothing then the Bush Administration tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans will expire and this will recover much needed revenue and help reduce the budget deficits. Except for the first time during the course of the Obama Administration Congressional Republicans actually want to do something: extend the Bush Administration tax cuts and some believe they should be made permanent.
If tax legislation is passed all the tax cuts passed under Bush Administration in 2001 and 2003 will expire. The tax rates would then revert at the end of the year, with the top marginal income tax rate rising to 39.6% from 35%, and other corresponding rates for lower income brackets would also increase. There basically have been three different lines of thought on the Bush tax cuts, and that has been to either let them all expire, let some of them expire, and to let none of them expire. Generally speaking liberal Democrats have been making the case to allow the tax cuts to expire, while conservative Democrats have been arguing to allow some to expire but maintain the lower tax rate cuts. Of course Republicans have been arguing that they should all be extended.
Recently there has been a national conversation about race and racism, but this conversation has been inadequate at best and detrimental at worst. The problem is that the conversation has not been about racism as a systemic and institutional problem, but the conversation has been about whether or not individual acts of prejudice constitute racism. This conversation then completely ignores the structural problems that create racial disparities, and therefore completely misses the point of what our national conversation about race should be about. Perhaps the most significant source of structural racism is the United States justice system, where justice is not always blind.
According to a recent study, a defendant accused of killing a white person in North Carolina is nearly three times as likely to get the death penalty than someone accused of killing a black person. This study looked at death sentence in North Carolina over a 28 year period, and examined 15,281 homicides in the state of which 368 resulted in death sentences. The results of the study where that the odds of receiving a death sentence in cases where the victim was white were 2.96 times as high as the odds in cases with black victims. This finding is not unique. According to another study, blacks who kill whites are significantly more likely to face the death penalty in Maryland than are blacks who kill blacks or white killers
Race is not only one of the determining factors in who receives the death penalty, but in who is stopped by the police, especially when police are racially profiling. In New York 575,304 people stopped and frisked by the New York Police Department last year, and information was gathered on individuals being detained to build a database on citizens who had not committed any crime. According to a report by New America Media, 87% of those who where detained where people of color. While Governor Paterson recently signed a law that made it illegal for police to randomly detain and frisk individuals and to compile their private information, this illustrates another example of the structural racism that exists in the justice system.
According to a new report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Texas ranks 34th nationally in a state-by-state study on the well-being of America's children. There are also significant areas in which Texas is among the worst in the nation, and these ranks represent a failure in many of the public policies instituted over the last two decades.
Texas is among the very worst in preventing teenage pregnancies. The teen birth rate in Texas in 2007 was 64 births per 1,000 females ages 15-19, which is considerably higher than the national rate of 43 births per 1,000. Texas ranked 48th in the nation in teenage pregnancies, and only New Mexico and Mississippi ranked higher. This follows a nationwide trend of increased teenage pregnancies. According to a report by the Guttmacher Institute, after a decade of declining teenage pregnancies the nationally teen pregnancy rate rose 3% in 2006, which reflected an increase in teen birth of 4%. The report notes that the cause of the decline in teenage pregnancies in the 1990s was due to more and better use of contraceptives among sexually active teens. However, during the 2000s sex education programs aimed exclusively at promoting abstinence, and these programs have lead to increasing teen pregnancy rates especially in states such as Texas.
Obama just needs to trust The People. They'll figure it out. Tell us the truth. Show you care about us (but don't call us "little people" cause we are equal to the BP Mega-Buckers). Watch out for us in a way that we can tell you care about us beyond your term of office, win or lose re-election. Even the numbskulls in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida will see that the guy who just kicked BP's ass is on their side, more than the GOBP that apologized to BP today for having to deposit the money they owe the people in those states.
Lamar Smith, undistinguished Representative from not-very-close to where I live, supports racial profiling by supporting the new Arizona immigration law which requires persons to present proof of their citizenship upon request, and requires law enforcement offices to ask for it upon "reasonable suspicion".
Is Mr. Smith ready to put himself in the shoes of thousands of legal darker-skinned citizens in this country and carry around his own citizenship papers and surrender them upon request?
Yesterday, Travis County supporters of Congressman Lloyd Doggett held a celebration to thank Congressman Doggett for the passage of the health care reform bill. Predictably, protesters showed up, as they did last summer when a mob of Tea Party protesters disrupted Congressman Doggett's appearance at a local grocery store. What caught my attention was the reporting the local NBC affiliate, KXAN did on an incident that occurred before the event, and the different take reported in the Austin Statesman. I was not there, so I'm hoping some of you in Travis County who were there, can shed more light on what happened.
After months of hard work, the final vote on health reform in the House of Representatives is expected to be this Sunday.
But it's shaping up to be incredibly close -- so whether you've called your representative before or haven't yet spoken out on health reform, it's now time to raise your voice.
I called my Republican representative today, twice! Just heard a television ad asking us to not trust the "sleazy backroom deals."
Well, I say, don't trust the sleazy backroom antics being used to prevent Americans from having healthcare reform.
We all deserve to hear the truth. And it's not coming from those who are lying to us about all of this. I think that would be Republicans.
I called and asked my Republican congressman's office today if he was for or against reform...just to be certain. I guess I've always held out hope that he would suddenly see the light! But no go. No. No. And No.
Sunday. I heard a Republican say recently that it would be a cold day in hell before this bill passes. Well, it's going to be below 32 degrees here in the D/FW area on Sunday.
Sunday - Cloudy. A 20 percent chance of snow in the morning. Windy. Highs in the mid 40s. Northwest winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts to around 40 mph. Wind chill readings as low as 18 to 23 in the morning.
Sunday Night - Mostly cloudy in the evening then clearing. Lows in the lower 30s. Northwest winds 15 to 20 mph decreasing to 10 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 30 mph.
