Day: June 28, 2013

June 28, 1969-June 28, 2013—Gay Rights From The Stonewall Riots To Marriages In California!

It is exactly 44 years since the New York police raided the Stonewall Inn, leading to the Stonewall Riots, often seen as the beginning of the modern gay rights movement.

And today, exactly 44 years to the day, and as I write this, the first gay marriages in California, our most populated state, are being performed since the Supreme Court decision this week overturning Proposition 8, which stopped gay marriages in California after they had taken place for a few years, going back to then San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom marrying the first gay couples in 2004.

There is still great opposition to gay marriage among Catholic leaders, evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews, and many Muslim groups, but with 13 states allowing it, the trend is toward eventual acceptance legally in the other states, probably by a future Supreme Court decision, similar to Loving V. Virginia, which made it mandatory that all states accept interracial marriage in 1967.

This is not a question of whether one agrees with gay marriage, but rather a question of tolerance, open mindedness and acceptance of the right of two adults to marry whom they choose. Hatred and condemnation is unhealthy and poisonous, and it will not succeed in prevention of the promotion of human rights!

The gay marriage movement will not be stopped by anyone, but will be looked upon in future years as something that should NEVER have been so bitterly opposed, and those who oppose what has happened will be condemned in history as hate mongers, as much as those who promoted slavery, racial segregation, subjugation of women, nativism against immigrant groups, and anti labor actions against the workers of America!

Texas Governor Rick Perry: The “Pro Life” Governor? NO, A Tragedy For Texas!

Texas Governor Rick Perry was a massive embarrassment when he ran for the Republican nomination for President in 2012.

He is the longest serving Governor in America, having succeeded George W. Bush as the executive leader of the Lone Star State at the end of 2000.

He has become infamous for ridiculous, insensitive, and moronic statements, and outrageous actions in office, including suggesting that Texas secede from the Union, as it did in the Civil War.

He has a reputation as a “Pro Life” Governor, but that appellation is a mockery of reality!

This is a man who refuses to accept Medicaid expansion that is fully covered by ObamaCare, and therefore, denies millions of poor Texans, many of them Latinos, any access to health care, and this is out of spite, not wanting to accept federal aid that would cost the state of Texas NOTHING!

Here is a man who has the record for the most death warrants and executions occurring under his regime, and brags about the massive use of the death penalty, setting a record for executions in American history, and having no doubts as to the innocence of any of the people on Death Row, who face death, with the state government resistant to reconsideration of cases, even with new evidence!

Here is a state where any suggestion of background checks or other protections against gun violence are ignored and ridiculed, with any Texan able to carry firearms into public places, including schools, bars, and restaurants, and the gun violence level is one of the worst in the nation!

Here is a man who vetoes a bill passed overwhelmingly by a GOP legislature, mandating equal pay for women, many of whom are single mothers who need to support their children!

And here is a man who wants, with his party, to destroy Planned Parenthood in Texas, and shut down nearly all abortion clinics in a state with 26 million people, and the largest state in area, with the exception of sparsely populated Alaska!

And here is a man who forces State Senator Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, opposed to this legislation, to conduct a filibuster under inhumane conditions, with no food, water, bathroom break, or ability to lean against or sit down over nearly a dozen hours, and her filibuster ended early, but opposition of supporters in the Texas State Senate galleries and halls of the legislature the only way to stop this massive assault on women’s rights, including control of their bodies! And now, Perry is forcing another confrontation, determined to ram through this despicable legislation, and in so doing, lecturing Wendy Davis and showing total disdain and lack of respect for her and Texas women!

This man is an excuse for a human being, and will go down over history as a true tragedy for the Lone Star State, and Wendy Davis or Julian Castro (Mayor of San Antonio), or some other Democrat needs to run against him in 2014, and end the Reign of Rick Perry over the destiny of Texas!