No way to talk about Stonewall without trans people

My Sunday movie was Veselka. It’s a documentary about a Ukrainian restaurant in the Little Ukraine neighborhood of Manhattan. The name means “Rainbow.” The movie describes it as “The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World.” The restaurant was started by Wolodymyr many decades ago, then turned over to his son-in-law Tom. As the story opens Tom is giving control to his son Jason. Jason’s nephew Justin is the fourth generation involved in running the place. Also on staff are Vitali, a manager, and Dima, a grill master, both from Ukraine. We hear their stories. There are also several cooks from Ukraine who seem to be constantly making pierogi. The first complication was the pandemic. When sidewalk dining becomes available their clientele supported them. The second, bigger, complication was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Vitali’s mother tells him no you’re not coming back to Ukraine to fight in the war, as my only child I want you safe in New York. Jason begins a push to make sure his employees have green cards and to begins rescuing their families. He’s delighted that a refugee process that used to take years can suddenly produce results in a month. The restaurant declares for every serving of borscht they will donate to help Ukraine. They have shirts made that say “My Heart Beets for Ukraine.” They also receive donations of supplies of all kinds which they turn over to the area’s Ukrainian church. This is a marvelous example of a small group doing all they can to build up and take care of their community. I recommend it. I’ve known about the movie for quite a while, perhaps shortly after it was released about a year ago. Finding a streaming service took a while – I watched it on Fandango at Home. Alas, I didn’t think about it when I went to New York last summer. Now I want to pay a visit. The movie shows the effects of the war on people – the worry on Vitali’s face when he can’t reach his mother, the stories refugees tell when they come to the restaurant, their bafflement trying to figure out why Putin invaded. It also shows the support Americans showed during the first year of the war. So it is outrageous to now see the nasty guy appears to be siding with Putin. Juliana Kim of NPR reported:

The National Park Service website exploring the history and significance of the Stonewall Uprising has been stripped of any mention of transgender people. The page was also updated to remove the "T" from the previously used acronym "LGBTQ+" — now, referring to the community as either "LGB" or "LGBQ." References to the word "queer" have also been removed.

Those who know LGBTQ history in America know the importance of the Stonewall Inn and the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 which ignited the LGBTQ rights movement. Those people also know how central transgender people were to battling police over those few days. Isabella Gomez Sarmiento of NPR reported on the scores of people who gathered outside the Stonewall National Monument to protest the removal of transgender people from the website. Included in the story is historian Nikita Shepard:

There's absolutely no way that you can tell the story of Stonewall and the Stonewall uprising or of the broader history of gender and sexuality without talking about trans people. ... Whatever the Trump administration says, whatever the websites of the, you know, Parks Department says, we have always been here. We are here, and we will continue to be here.

And from Angelica Christina, board director of the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, said:

It is deeply offensive and such a slap in the face for what the National Park Service did in attempting to erase trans people and queer people from their website.

In what is now a regular column on Daily Kos Emily Singer reported on the lame excuses (or approval) various Republicans are giving for the nasty guy’s illegal and unconstitutional actions. This week’s edition is about the claim that the nasty guy can do whatever he wants. Wrote Singer:

Republicans agreed with the false statement that the courts are not allowed to check the president’s power—when that’s exactly what the Constitution dictates.

So, no, Republicans are not going to demand we as a country must uphold the Constitution. Irontortoise of the Kos community quoted a report in Raw Story about Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX):

"There’s an immigrant taking people’s jobs… his name is Elon Musk," the lawmaker wrote. "He’s snatching farms, government jobs (even those in which they manage our national security), and definitely those whose jobs are to root out fraud (inspector generals), & those that are keeping us safe (FAA), meals on wheels workers, head start, and the list goes on, so I’ll be the bigger person and admit to MAGA that I was wrong when I said immigrants wouldn’t take our jobs. You were 1000 percent correct."

Lisa Needham of Kos reported that religious groups are taking the nasty guy’s deportation policy to court, in particular the part that gives ICE agents permission to enter churches to carry out raids. The religious groups are basing their case on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.

It prohibits the government from substantially burdening someone’s exercise of their religious beliefs, even if it stems from a generally applicable rule, unless the government shows that the burden is the least restrictive means of pursuing a compelling government interest.

The right has used the RFRA for a lot of mischief, such as the ruling “holding that the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate violated the religious freedom of the evangelical owners of Hobby Lobby.” The religious groups are saying caring for immigrants is core to their faith, as is such things as running food pantries and preschools. They also say their faith requires them to worship together in person – the same argument used by conservative churches against COVID stay at home orders. All that means is if ICE can arrest people in a house of worship that burdens their ability to exercise their religious beliefs. Their beliefs are already being harmed because so many are scared to come to services. This should be an obvious win for religious groups because the original policy already has lots of exceptions that cover any situation the nasty guy’s lawyers could come up with, such as imminent risk of death or harm, a threat to national security, or of evidence was about to be destroyed. Yeah, courts have sided with RFRA claims, but hard telling what these courts will do. Denise Oliver Velez of Kos posts a column on Caribbean matters each week. In this episode she discussed yellow journalism. In the 1890s the Linotype printers led to a massive surge in newspaper production. And they all wanted as many readers as possible. Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst had rival New York papers. Both wanted the Yellow Kid cartoon. Both used outrageous headlines and sensational articles, which became known as yellow journalism. The USS Maine exploded and sunk in Havana Harbor on Feb. 15, 1898, killing 266. Within days newspapers blamed Spain. Evidence was suspicious or fabricated. Once that idea took hold both Pulitzer and Hearst demanded action and goaded President William McKinley into a military response. Both papers profited from the American hysteria. Velez quoted M. Mallon, writing for the Urban Fictionary

Yellow journalism was so successful because it did not create an unfamiliar narrative, but rather buttressed its audience’s existing perceptions. The ongoing conflict between Cuba and Spain had already captured the American attention, so the public was poised to receive proof to support their ill will [towards Spain]. Because of this, Hearst and Pulitzer managed to deeply influence public opinion, despite the fact that they had fabricated information surrounding the culprit.

Does any of that sound similar to what’s going on today? At the end of the Spanish-American war the US had possession of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. America declared itself to be Puerto Rico’s liberator, and is still in Puerto Rico and Guam. That war also played havoc with Cuban independence. The peace treaty was between Spain and the US and Cuba wasn’t at the negotiating table. The US Navy established a base at Guantanamo Bay even though it was very unpopular with Cubans. So “Remember the Maine” and what it was really about. At the bottom of this post is an 8 minute video that explains the Spanish-American War. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted John Harwood of Zeteo:

Democratic strategists and commentators have spent weeks diagnosing the party’s ills, for good reason: They just lost an election they expected to win. But for the American body politic, that represents the equivalent of examining a sprained ankle while ignoring a gaping chest wound. The gaping chest wound is the moral and intellectual collapse of the Republican Party. The GOP’s descent into nihilism has become so familiar as to almost escape notice. Indeed, the reason Democratic shortcomings attract more scrutiny is that serious-minded people now take for granted that only Democrats remain capable of running our government consistent with the rule of law.

Nice imagery. But if people say only Democrats can run the government consistent with the rule of law, why didn’t they win last November? Was it something about “serious-minded people?” The Economist reported Musk and DOGE won’t get far in cutting the federal budget. “No matter how aggressive DOGE is, its actions are focused on barely more than a tenth of the overall federal budget.” I reply that though the DOGE boys won’t get anywhere near their goal of $2 trillion, they can wreak a great deal of havoc on the lives of Americans to achieve their small gains. Well wait – this article says that DOGE won’t go after Social Security and health care, which make up two-thirds of federal spending, and Musk and his minions have been talking about just that. Seth Masket of Tusk says one reason why Musk is so successful in targeting USAID, the Treasury payment system, and the indirect costs cut at NIH is because Americans are unaware of them and what little they know they don’t like. In the case of USAID Americans have a vastly inflated estimate of how much foreign aid American provides. In the comments exlrrp posted a meme showing:

“He who save his country violates no law.” -- Napoleon Bonaparte

That was retweeted by the nasty guy. Harry Sisson added:

Donald Trump just posted this. He’s doubling down on his quote. He wants to be a dictator. He’s not hiding hit.

Back to that quote. First, yeah, it was said by a dictator. Second, I see that and think saved from who and for who? Those are particularly important questions for the nasty guy. Way down in the comments is a tweet from Pete Buttigieg:

If you wanted to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, you would empower the inspectors general. If you wanted more waste, fraud, and abuse, you would fire them.

This focus on women neglects of the struggles of men

I avoid Halloween. I don’t have children and for many years I needed to avoid sugar. So I didn’t see much of a need to buy candy to hand out and perhaps have some left over I shouldn’t eat. My method of escape last night was to see the movie The Wild Robot in an actual movie theater. I think there were all of ten people there. At the advertised time there were still parts of the “pre-show” that theaters now run when one enters the theater. Then there were at least five previews. I don’t object to previews, but most were too violent for my tastes, even if they have an interesting concept (Santa kidnapped). None of them went onto my wish to watch list. Then there were a couple more commercials about the theater chain. So the movie I came to see started about 20 minutes after the advertised time. That reminded me of my time living in Germany about 1990. I occasionally went to a movie theater that showed movies in English. They started with 20 minutes of commercials (all in German, some rather humorous – even though I didn’t understand the German). And then there was a short break (to buy more refreshments?) before the feature began. The Wild Robot is an animated feature about a robot that is shipwrecked on an island with no human inhabitants. It, named Rozz, is programmed to perform whatever tasks it is asked to do, but animals (all very North American) don’t speak, so it doesn’t know what to do. Rozz decodes the animal sounds (they all start speaking English) but there is still no task. Then Rozz rescues a goose egg from a fox who wants to eat it and when the goose chick hatches it imprints on the first thing it sees – Rozz. So now Rozz has to be a parent – with advice from the mama opossum and assistance from the fox. So now Rozz has clear tasks: get the chick to eat, teach it to swim, and teach it to fly before the fall migration. When the young adult goose, named Brightbeak, begins to try to swim (thinking wings, not feet, are for paddling) he encounters other geese and they make fun of him. From there the story has lots of messages of perseverance and working together while the robot becomes more humane. It is all very enjoyable and the animation is all first-rate. This is a good one. Not until the closing credits did I see Brightbeak is voiced by Kit Connor, who played Nick in the Heartstopper series I saw through October. There wasn’t a time when I thought that goose sounds just like Nick! Connor’s IMDb page says he was 18 when the first season on Heartstopper came out and 20 when the recent season 3 came out. Looks like Connor’s career is thriving. Prices: Movie $12. Popcorn $9. I skipped the popcorn. I rarely get phone calls. Today I got a dozen, the first just before 8am. Thankfully, I either missed them or they were helpfully labeled “Scam likely.” One gets tired of writing about the nasty guy and the current outrageous things he did, so I’ll just mention them. Emily Singer of Daily Kos reported the nasty guy is already claiming that “Democrats have already started cheating” in Pennsylvania. There is no evidence. And some suggest if you are already laying the groundwork in case you lose, you must know you’re losing. Oliver Willis of Kos reported the nasty guy said he’s the protector of women – “I’m going to do it whether the women like it or not. I’m going to protect them.” Willis wrote, “Trump’s language was the language of an abuser, which is fitting.” Harris was quick to condemn. Willis reported:

Donald Trump fantasized about guns being put in the face of former Rep. Liz Cheney during a campaign event on Thursday night. “She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her where the rifle’s standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let’s see how she feels about—you know when the guns are trained on her face,” Trump said.

Yup, he wants the disloyal before a firing squad. His rhetoric has been quite violent and getting more violent. And after those violent comments against women Kos of Kos wrote that Republicans are digging the hole deeper. Some of that is in response to the add narrated by Julia Roberts that encourages women to defy their husbands and secretly vote for Harris. In the comments of a pundit roundup exlrrp posted an appropriate meme. It says, “Donald Trump is going to lose this election because of the women in this country. Whether he likes it or not.” exlrrp posted a second meme appropriate to Halloween: “My housemates are convinced our house is haunted. I’ve lived here for 274 years and not noticed anything strange.” The incidents above are misogyny, which the nasty guy campaign has been featuring for the last nine years. That and the gender gap – women strongly favor Harris and men strongly favor the nasty guy – prompted Steve Inskeep of NPR to talk to pollster Frank Luntz and Richard Reeves, a researcher of the American Institute for Boys and Men. Luntz said some of the men admire the nasty guy’s badass style and that he built an empire. Some agree with his views on climate change and other issues. They also rejected the version of masculinity demonstrated by Walz. But they don’t see the election as a gender issue and are hostile when that idea is proposed. But they see the Democrats and liberals as anti-male. Some men believe that Democrats are declaring the only reason men could vote against Harris is because of sexism or racism they’re not willing to admit. They believe these are attempts to shame or scare men into voting Democrat. The discussion then feature a quote from Michelle Obama to take women’s lives seriously, to not put them in the hands of male politicians who don’t care about women. Luntz says that’s absolutely not an effective pitch because it comes across as demonizing men. It claims that if you don’t vote for Harris you are anti-women. But most men do care about the women in their lives. They also care about other things, like the stagnating wages of men without college degrees who are poorer than their father’s were. So this focus on women means the neglect of the genuine struggles of men. Kos posed the question: Why did the joke about Puerto Rico and garbage become a story when the rest of the racist jokes, and much of the racism of the nasty guy’s campaign, haven’t? Kos says he doesn’t know, though he has ideas. The nasty guy didn’t say it. Another speaker did. The nasty guy has the reputation of saying anything and the media seems cool with it. But that doesn’t apply to anyone else. The media was primed for it. After all the talk of Haitians eating pets that media refused to describe as racist – and after nine years of the nasty guy saying racist things and not being called racist – and all the blowback from all that media was more willing to call something racist. Puerto Ricans are different from other Latinos in that they are US citizens. They are able to be “loud, proud, and opinionated” in ways that Latinos from other countries can’t be. And Puerto Ricans live in large numbers in many states, including (as Kos lists) in numbers in many swing states much larger than Biden’s margin of victory in 2020. They’re also in large numbers in Florida and Texas. They can do real electoral damage. Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos, quoted late night commentary. An example:

“Election Day is just a week away and a new report found that Americans are changing their vacation plans due to election anxiety. Yup, people are waiting until after the election so they know whether they’re buying a round-trip or a one-way.” —Jimmy Fallon

The October Surprise: Media agrees he's racist

My Sunday viewing was a couple of videos about Leonard Bernstein. The first was his 19 minute segment at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1980. As is done of each honoree they do a 10 minute summary of his life, then performances by people he inspired. In this case it was conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and his daughter Jamie Bernstein, who did a touching song thanking her father. The narrator was Lauren Bacall and in part of her introduction call him a “generous volcano.” The second was a 50 minute interview with Bernstein. I think the Kennedy Center does an extended interview with each honoree (which I didn’t know they did). In this one Bernstein talks about his influences. The woman he studied piano with at the Curtis Institute. Serge Koussevitzky at Tanglewood who became like a father. Arturo Toscanini. And from there he talked about his experiences with many of the great conductors of the mid 20th century when he was still quite young and they were getting old. He said about several of them, “He was my greatest friend.” And that he was friends with all of them, even those that hated each other. He played piano duets with this one. He made an appointment with that one over a trivial question so they could spend hours together. I am familiar with most of the names and enjoyed the stories. If you aren’t a classical music fan or a Bernstein fan this video may not mean much. Kos of Daily Kos described the rally the nasty guy held at Madison Square Garden last Sunday. A way to summarize it: “He let out his MAGA movement’s ugly all-out bigotry.” Yeah, the news has been full of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe and his comments of the “floating island of garbage” saying it is Puerto Rico. The nasty guy campaign has tried to say that’s not us, but the campaign loaded that joke into the teleprompter and refused to include another. Lots of artists and politicians of Puerto Rican ancestry are condemning the comment and the general racist tone of the event. The tone was so bad even newspaper headlines were using the term “racist” which they usually avoid.

This is the October surprise: everyone, including the media, finally realizing what the MAGA movement truly is and being unafraid to state it. The “comedian” himself sure as heck sees nothing wrong with his racism and bigotry. And Gimenez, despite criticizing Hinchcliffe, sure went out of his way to praise Trump, the guy whose operation hired Hinchcliffe for the act. This is who they are.

Oliver Willis of Kos reported that Fox News is annoyed with all the other media outlets using the term “racist.” Willis pointed out that Hinchcliffe was not the only speaker to use racist language. Emily Singer of Kos listed thirteen news outlets that used the word “racist” or “racism” in the headlines for their stories describing the event. The conservative Wall Street Journal settled for described the event as having a “dark tone.” Again, Singer’s point is the media is finally calling the nasty guy’s campaign what it is and always has been. In a pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev posted quotes discussing a variety of topics, including the Madison Square Garden event. The first is from Greg Sargent of the New Republic saying the event was the nasty guy’s actual closing argument. He has clearly told you who he is.

For many months, Trump and his top allies have been engaged in a two-step. Trump has been running on an explicit platform of ramped-up racism, vows of a mass purging of the nation’s internal enemies, and open threats of cleansing retribution and authoritarian violence. Again and again, as Trump has laid all this bare, his spinners and advisers have insisted that he doesn’t really mean what he’s saying, he’s being taken out of context, he’s not actually threatening to do what he’s telling us he’ll do in his own words. The rally at Madison Square Garden is best understood as the final coming-out party, the ultimate declaration that, yes, he has indeed meant every word of it all along.

Darrell West of Brookings Institute warned that in Pennsylvania mail in ballots can’t be tabulated until after the polls close. Since Democrats tend to vote by mail and Republicans in person it will appear the nasty guy will be in the lead early, then perhaps overtaken by Harris. And in 2020 the nasty guy declared that meant ballot fraud and a stolen election. Pennsylvania is the most important, but not the only, state that may have a slow count. And slow counts will be interpreted as suspicious. And there will be an avalanche of fake claims. The time to start debunking those claims is now. I suggest Republican legislatures passed laws to slow down the count (as was done with mail ballots in PA) to allow conspiracy theories to have time to flourish. Daniel Nichanian of Bolts discussed a proposed constitution amendment in Ohio that would ban gerrymandering by turning redistricting over to citizens and away from politicians. Good to see Ohio try to do what Michigan did six years ago. One problem: A Republican got to write the ballot description. Proposition proponents immediately complained it was misleading. Dhruv Khullar of The New Yorker discussed a study by Thomas Bollyky, published in The Lancet that correlates the health of a country’s citizens with the strength of its democracy. Within a decade of throwing off a dictator the life expectancy can increase by more than two years.

Democratic governments are accountable to people, and people like to be healthy. Health care is what economists call a superior good, meaning that as societies get richer they want more of it. Democracies, accordingly, spend more on health than autocracies do, and are likely to preserve access to care even when the economy tanks. Meanwhile, a free press keeps people informed; the rule of law fuels innovation, by curbing corruption and protecting intellectual property; and independent agencies check power and implement regulations to promote clean water, breathable air, and safe food.

So don’t entrust your health to the nasty guy. Josh Clinton of Good Authority discussed how polls are conducted. A big part of a poll is “weighting” the raw data. Those willing to respond to polls will rarely “match the electorate demographically in terms of sex, age, education, race, etc.” this was why 2016 polls didn’t match the actual vote. After that first weighting, pollsters then ask do the respondents match the politics of the electorate? That was the problem in 2020. And the third question is whether the respondents will actually vote. In another pundit roundup Greg Dworkin of Kos also quoted Clinton’s study and included an example. He presents data from 1,718 respondents (where they’re from is not stated) and weighted the data according to different demographics:

Raw data +6.0 Harris Weighted to 2016 demographics +7.3 Weighted to 2020 demographics +9.0 Weighted to 2022 demographics +8.8

No one knows the right weighting for 2024. Down in the comments are a few cartoons showing the nasty guy as the Pied Piper. Kos wrote according to Pew Research there is a big difference in how married and unmarried women vote. The married women are more Republican. “That suggests men might have something to do with women’s voting patterns.”

Now, up front, Pew doesn’t draw a causal link between marriage and changes in a woman’s politics. We don't know whether marriage makes women more Republican or whether Republican women are more likely to get and stay married. On top of that, age matters. Older people are more Republican and more likely to be married. Geography also matters, with people in the conservative states marrying younger than people in liberal states.

There is a campaign in conservative areas, including an ad voiced by Julia Roberts, of women leaving notes to other women in women’s spaces that are variations on “Your vote is secret. Your husband doesn’t have to know.” Commenters disputed the last statement. If a woman votes by mail her husband may demand she fill out the ballot in his presence. And even while voting in person a woman may say she needs “help” to fill out the ballot and the husband may then “help” her. And a husband my threaten her if she doesn’t ask for that “help.” I learned about this through a post on Kos by Walter Einenkel. However, I think a better description is in a post by Andi Ortiz for The Wrap. I’ll work from both. For quite a while now naturalization ceremonies for US immigrants end with the song “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood. When Greenwood found the USCIS is using his song he forced them into paying him $700 a year. Because Greenwood created the Bible the nasty guy sells and because he allowed the same song, with minimal tweaking, be used in Canadian naturalization ceremonies, John Oliver, also an immigrant, decided the USCIS needed a new song. And he got Will Farrell to sing it. Oliver says the USCIS should never use Greenwood’s song and instead use his. He’ll even pay the USCIS $701 a year for the privilege. The song begins:

You studied hard. You did your best. Filled out the forms, and passed the test. Now you’re part of a land that’s so God blessed, and starting today, you’re American.

Since this is Farrell and Oliver the song veers into unexpected directions. Now that you’re an American we’ve got some really big problems we could use your help to solve. Like student debt, metal detectors in schools, private prisons, the war on drugs, fossil fuels, and Ted Cruz. And now they’re your problems too. You did volunteer to join us. Of course, the video of Farrell singing is delightfully over the top. Both articles include the video.

Dogged by an old dismissal

Back in 1970 Richard Baker fell in love with John McConnell. They applied for a marriage license in Minneapolis. Gerald Nelson, the county clerk, denied their request. Baker sued for a license in a case known as Baker v. Nelson. He lost every step of the way through the Minnesota Supremes. In 1972 the federal Supremes responded to the appeal by saying, "The appeal is dismissed for want of a substantial federal question."

In layman's terms that means the Supremes said they didn't have jurisdiction because the issue didn't involve federal law or the Constitution (remember this is 1972). That dismissal has been dogging marriage equality cases ever since, with cases arguing why Baker no longer applies.

Baker and McConnell eventually found a clerk to issue a license and a pastor to perform the ceremony. The two haven't been involved in the recent marriage equality cases because they consider themselves having been married since about 1972.

That brings us to the marriage equality case from Puerto Rico. Ari Ezra Waldman of Towleroad explains the importance. First, since the Supremes haven't ruled on a marriage equality case Baker is still in effect as their last word. Second, Circuit and especially District courts are reluctant to challenge a ruling from above, which is why we didn't get a flurry of rulings until after the DOMA case last year. So the judge in Puerto Rico who denied hearing a marriage equality case could be said to be following the instructions from the Supremes.

Waldman goes on to document the legal progress we've made since 1972 and how that allows many District and Circuit courts to dismiss Baker and its implications.

That Puerto Rico case is headed to the 1st Circuit. All the states in the 1st Circuit already have marriage equality so that Circuit hasn't ruled on the matter. Also, the 1st Circuit upheld Baker just two years ago. Perhaps the 1st Circuit will set up the conflict that will prompt the Supremes to take a marriage equality case – if the 5th or 6th Circuits don't get there first.

Gay marriage makes my marriage yucky

Marriage news of the week...

The governor of Wyoming officially notified the federal district court that he will not appeal the ruling that overturns the state's same-sex marriage ban. Marriages have begun (a few photos here). Some of the first were in Laramie County. That has some significance because that was where Matthew Shepard was murdered for being gay 16 years ago.

Kansas is the only state in the 10th Circuit that doesn't have marriage equality yet. A straight couple has filed a suit at the federal district court level to make sure it stays that way. Their suit claims that allowing same-sex couples to marry somehow defiles their marriage and makes it worthless. They got a lawyer to fill out and submit the motion, but that doesn't mean there is a smidgen of logic to it. I didn't waste my time to read it.

The Utah Supremes have lifted their stay against adoption by same-sex parents. Five months ago adoptions were put on hold by the state. Officials wanted to wait until it was clear same-sex marriage would be legal.

The governor of Idaho has asked the 9th Circuit for an en banc hearing of the state's same-sex marriage ban. The Gov is fuming over the statements that marriage equality would harm nobody. But a wedding chapel in Coeur d'Alene is claiming harm. The owners say their religious freedom would be violated if they must marry same-sex couples but the city's antidiscrimination ordinance doesn't exempt them because they aren't a legitimate nonprofit religious organization.



A federal district judge in Puerto Rico has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the island's same-sex marriage ban. Some of his reasons:

Same-sex marriage isn't mentioned in the Constitution.

Back in the 1970s the Supremes refused to hear a same-sex marriage case. While circuit court judges say times have changed and that refusal no longer applies, this judge says it still does.

Circuit courts have been basing their arguments in favor of same-sex marriage on the big *Windsor* case from a year ago that struck down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act. This judge, reading a lot from the dissents in that case, says states maintain the right to define marriage.

He bought the conservative stories that procreation and tradition apply and that there is that big slippery slope.

All those other judges are just wrong.

The case has been appealed to the 1st Circuit. That is an interesting situation because all the states in the 1st Circuit (Maine, Mass., NH, RI) have equality and none of them got it through a federal ruling. So the 1st Circuit hasn't yet taken up the issue.