A change of heart

Challenges to same-sex marriage bans in South Dakota and Montana have been filed. That means the only state with a ban and without a challenge is North Dakota.

The Dem governor of Montana thinks this is a great development. The GOP AG disagrees.

The challenge in South Dakota has some unique features. In addition to challenging the ban it also challenges the Defense of Marriage Act part 2 which allows states to refuse to recognize marriages performed in other states. In the challenge to the ban it adds a third way it violates the 14th Amendment: a right to travel -- with some bans still in place marriages disappear when crossing state lines.



I've written about the rainbow Equality House that more than a year ago appeared across the street from the venomously anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church. At the time my friend and debate partner was sure the house would have some effect on the WBC clan. I've also written about the story that WBC founder Fred Phelps was excommunicated shortly before he died. Fred's grandson Zacharias Phelps-Roper, who has left WBC, now links the two. He says Fred had a change of heart and was overheard complementing the work the Equality House was doing. That was the cause of the excommunication.



There was a time -- a decade ago -- when the GOP used gay rights as a wedge issue. Their string of marriage protection amendments in 2004 showed how well that worked. But Nicholas Riccardi of Associated Press shows how much opinion has shifted. It is the Democrats who are using gay rights as a wedge issue. Examples: Democratic Senator Mark Udall of Colorado is hitting his challenger for casting votes limiting gay rights. In Arizona, the scene of the failed license to discriminate bill, Democrats will be using it as an issue to hammer on GOP legislators who voted for it. A few conservative strategists, especially those with a Fundie bent, insist the courts are speaking contrary to the people's wishes and the public is on their side. Don't pay any attention to the polls that say otherwise.

We've come a long way.