Losing prime leadership material

I'm home from Austin, arriving yesterday evening. Though there were quiet moments where nothing much seemed to happen, there were lots of moments that made the trip worthwhile. The wedding reception (for my nephew) was fun though not many such events start at 4:00 and are all wrapped up by 9:00. But when there are a slew of young kids partying must end before bedtime. The Memorial Day cookout was also fun, with 35 people (at least by my count) attending. There were also great visits with individual families, though not enough of them. And, yes, we (the bachelor party) saw the new Star Trek movie. Nice to see the characters again, some great and funny lines, and a movie that was incredibly violent.



Now to catch up on the news of the last week:

The big news came the day after I went to Austin. The voting members of the Boy Scouts of America approved, by 61%, the lifting of the ban on gay scouts. That is half the battle -- gay leaders are still banned. That means once a gay kid, even if he earns his Eagle, is tossed out once he turns 18. Prime leadership material lost. And an emotional blow to the kid.



The states with the highest percentage of gay couples who are raising children are in states that ban gay marriage. The highest is Mississippi with 26% of gay couples raising kinds. Wouldn't we expect the opposite -- gay friendly states having more gay couples with children?

Gary Gates, the researcher at the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, thinks he has an explanation. In conservative states, gays tried (felt pressured into) a straight marriage, had kids, then came out as gay. They're raising kids from the failed straight marriage.



There was lots of stories written about Jason Collins as the first openly gay man in the big professional sports. One little detail -- he's between teams and hasn't actually played since his announcement (and his sport doesn't resume until the fall).

That left the door wide open for Robbie Rogers. After declaring he is gay he participated with the LA Galaxy against the Seattle Sounders in Major League Soccer. Thus he is the first to play after announcing he is gay.



Rob Tisinai of Box Turtle Bulletin looks at the latest nonsense coming from Maggie Gallagher, formerly a spokesperson for the National Organization for Marriage. And yes, Tisinai is very good at pointing out the nonsense. Her arguments purposefully confuse these two statements:

1. Responsible procreation is an important reason for marriage.
2. Responsible procreation is the only important reason for marriage.

Gallagher says #1 and then proceeds as if she has proven #2. Then she goes on to give reassuring noise to those who agree with her but don't look closely.

Timothy Kincaid responds by simplifying the Fundie argument: Marriage is permission to have sex. Fundies are so up in arms over marriage equality because that would give gay couples permission to have sex.



And news of today. Four Democratic state senators in Michigan have introduced a series of bills to repeal the gay marriage ban that was added to the state constitution in 2004 and to legalize marriage equality. The part about repealing the amendment would have to go before voters. Alas, since the senate has a clear GOP majority, these bills aren't expected to go far (perhaps you can annoy your senator?).

I'm not at all surprised that Gov. Rick Snyder refused to express an opinion about the bills. He's too focused on "jobs and kids." And not doing all that well with either.