The love you feel for your family

A pleasant Thanksgiving Day today. Dad, Mom, Sis, and Niece came for the afternoon. I roasted turkey (not a whole bird) and supplied the mixed veggies and squash. Sis brought the rest – fries (definitely not traditional), drinks (non-alcoholic!), and pie. Niece brought the game Clue and we (all but Mom) played a round. A pleasant day.



I've been posting so sporadically lately that I forgot to mention that as of ten days ago I've been writing this blog for seven years. This post is number 2766.



The big marriage equality case in Michigan, the one headed to the Supremes, started out as an adoption case. It was the judge who said to the lesbian couple the reason why they couldn't adopt each other's kids was because they couldn't get married. The couple, April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, had adopted three special needs kids – more precisely, one is the legal parent of two of them and the other is legal parent of the third. The kids would be in a big mess if their legal guardian was incapacitated or died. The other parent is legally a stranger.

Here's an indication how good DeBoer and Rowse are as parents – they've adopted a fourth special needs child. The judge in the case said, "I've had a chance to follow the love you feel for your entire family."



Many years ago gay organizations took on Westboro Baptist Church. It wasn't through confrontation, but by using Westboro's visit to a town as a fundraiser. Gays and allies would pledge per minute of protest. The longer the protest, the more money was raised. The money would go to a local gay organization.

That idea is spreading. The German town of Wunsiedel is where Rudolf Hess, a deputy of Hitler, was buried. So for the last 25 years a neo-Nazi group has held a march through town. This year others pledged by meter walked with donations going to a program to help neo-Nazi members leave the organization. All this was a surprise to the marchers.



I had written about the stinging dissent when the 6th Circuit refused to declare bans of same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional. There is one notable person who paid attention to that dissent. He is Paul Pfeifer, Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. His interest is personal – he is quite fond of his two grandchildren and their two moms. Now, he's not quite sure of this same-sex marriage thing, but those grandchildren need more protection they currently get under Ohio law. He also says the marriage ban doesn't belong in the Ohio constitution, so let's hurry up and vote for a repeal. Good to see he gets it – somewhat.