Michigan's same-sex marriage case will go straight to the Supremes, rather than trying for a different result from a hearing by the full 6th Circuit. Surprising nobody (since they were on the winning side) Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and AG Bill Schuette (both just re-elected) vowed to continue to defend the state's same-sex marriage ban., though they did promise to cooperate with the lesbian couple in this case to get it before the Supremes as quickly as possible.
The dissenting judge in the case, the one who thought her colleagues violated their oaths of office, included this musing in her dissent.
Because the correct result is so obvious, one is tempted to speculate that the majority has purposefully taken the contrary position to create the circuit split regarding the legality of same-sex marriage that could prompt a grant of certiorari by the Supreme Court and an end to the uncertainty of status and the interstate chaos that the current discrepancy in state laws threatens. Perhaps that is the case, but it does not relieve the dissenting member of the panel from the obligation of a rejoinder.
A federal judge in Missouri struck down that state's same-sex marriage ban. This is on top of the ruling that seemed to apply only to St. Louis.
Another federal judge struck down the ban in West Virginia, even though same-sex marriages have already begun there through the Supremes refusing to hear the 4th Circuit case.
Because they know Congress and many state legislatures won't act a few progressive groups put minimum wage initiatives on five state ballots. All five passed (and they weren't squeakers), including the four in red states.
Michigan's initiative process sends the proposal first to the state legislature. It goes to the voters only if the legislature doesn't act. So signatures were gathered for raising the minimum wage. The state did act – by raising it to a much smaller number than was in the initiative. At least it got raised.
Another winner was gun reform. Washington state's initiative passed by nearly 60%. An advisory referendum in Cook County, IL passed by 86.5%. Governors in New York, Connecticut, and Colorado signed gun restrictions and were re-elected. So was Maine's Senator Susan Collins.
Cardinal Raymond Burke has been quite loud in saying the Catholic Church should continue to trumpet social issues (such as discrimination against us) even though Pope Francis has been talking of a kinder, gentler approach. So Francis removed Burke as head of the Vatican's "Supreme Court" and gave him the ceremonial job of Patron of the Order of Malta.
The Parliament in Uganda didn't like that their nasty anti-homosexual bill was invalidated by their country's Supreme Court (on technical grounds). They're working on a replacement. This one is worse because it also bans "promotion" of homosexuality. That means anyone who just mentions homosexuality – newspaper article, Twitter account, LGBT human rights groups – would violate the law.
The Human Rights Campaign has launched a TV campaign across the Deep South. The first ad is of the mother of a gay son who is calling for people of faith to do a better job treating sexual minorities.
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