Marriage Equality Today is the day!

So much chatter about equality, human rights, gay rights, freedom of expression.  Well today the case is being heard.  We must understand that limited rights for some is limited for all.

Show your support -- make your profile image red & check out www.hrc.org/StandForMarriage for more ways to get involved!

I speak here today as one of the more than 130 Republicans and conservatives who signed Ken Mehlman's brief in favor of equal marriage rights.
Republicans and Democrats have enough to disagree about - no shortage. Yet there are some issues that are the property of no one party. The freedom of every American to pursue happiness under the law - that promise signed in the Declaration of Independence so many years ago is the promise that is coming true in our time.

For a conservative, the remarkable thing about the movement for same-sex marriage is that it is a civil rights movement that is less about claiming rights than it is about accepting responsibilities.
Marriage is a source of great joy. But - and I speak as one who'll celebrate a 25th anniversary this summer - it's also a solemn undertaking: an undertaking to care for another person, to nurse that person when ill, to sustain her or him in time of trouble, to raise children together, to provide for those children, to mourn when it comes time to mourn.

No agency of government can ever begin to do for anyone what loving spouses do for each other. The stronger our families are, of every kind of family, the less government we’ll need.
Today your families gather before this house of the law to claim the right to live as others do, without shame and without fear.

The mind of a nation is changing. It's an awesome thing to see - and to be part of. Your words - your actions -and your example have power. And will overcome.
Our song of the day is:  SKIN LaMont Wheat ft Faith Michaels (DJ Almond Brown Mix)
UNITY - ACCEPTANCE - LOVE

Federal Judge Caught Emailing Racist Bestiality-Themed Joke About President Obama

by Tommy Christopher | 8:37 am, March 1st, 2012

The more things change, the more they stay the same. A federal judge in Montana is under fire forsending a racist, bestiality-themed joke aboutPresident Obama from his official email address. Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull admitted to sending the email, and admitted that the email was racist, but says “I didn’t send it as racist, although that’s what it is.”

Judge Cebull forwarded the email to six acquaintances (plus to his own personal email address) on Feb. 20, who then forwarded it to some other people, until someone eventually sent it to The Great Falls Tribune.

The “joke” in question is pretty sick stuff, even by racist Barack Obama-opponent standards. FromThe Great Falls Tribune’s John S. Adams:

The subject line of the email, which Cebull sent from his official courthouse email address on Feb. 20 at 3:42 p.m., reads: “A MOM’S MEMORY.”

The forwarded text reads as follow:

“Normally I don’t send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine.

“A little boy said to his mother; ‘Mommy, how come I’m black and you’re white?’” the email joke reads. “His mother replied, ‘Don’t even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you’re lucky you don’t bark!’”

…”The only reason I can explain it to you is I am not a fan of our president, but this goes beyond not being a fan,” Cebull said. “I didn’t send it as racist, although that’s what it is. I sent it out because it’s anti-Obama.”

What does that even mean, “I didn’t send it as racist?” Does he think his email just ended up in the wrong pile?

The encouraging takeaway from this story is that it only took about a week for someone to do the right thing, and expose the judge’s sick email. Cebull actually had the balls to act offended by this,telling the Trib that he was “surprised the recipients of the e-mail passed it along with his name on it.”

“This is a private thing that was, to say the least, very poor judgment on my part,” Cebull said. “I did not forward it because of the racist nature of it. Although it is racist, I’m not that way, never have been.”

But incidents like this also underscore the fact that racism of the most despicable kind is alive and well in 2012. Take him at his word that he’s not a racist, and Cebull is guilty of not knowing that this kind of dehumanization is racist, or not caring. The thing is, racists never think they’re racists, they just think they’re telling the truth.

The important thing to note here is that Cebull isn’t in trouble for sending the email, he’s in trouble because he got caught. There will be many people who will cast this as an isolated incident, a curiously illogical bit of reasoning from people heavily invested in pretending that racism doesn’t really exist anymore.

PROP 8 BUT YOU STILL CAN'T MARRY By the CNN Wire Staff

 
San Francisco (CNN) -- A federal appeals court ruled against California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage Tuesday, arguing the ban unconstitutionally singles out gays and lesbians for discrimination.

In a split decision, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the state's Proposition 8 "works a meaningful harm to gays and lesbians" by denying their right to civil marriage in violation of the 14th Amendment.

"Very soon, Proposition 8 will be gone forever," said Kristin Perry, one of two women who challenged the ban in federal courts along with a male same-sex couple. "Today marks the culmination of what has been a transformational year."

Toobin: What does ruling mean?
Supporters of Proposition 8, which passed with 52% of the vote in 2008, said they were willing to take the issue all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And a stay halting same-sex marriages remains in place as the appeals continue.