Sunday Drive: Mary Chapin Carpenter, I'll Never Fall in Love Again

Dallas Men Plan Wedding after 53 Years Together

Newlyweds Jack Evans and George Harris

As conservative and homophobic as Texas is and has been, the fact of the matter is that we gays are all over the Lone Star state, everywhere you go from big cities to suburbs to tiny hamlets in the middle of nowhere, ranches, farms, bars, churches, schools, stores, and everywhere in between.

From Dallas comes this remarkable story of a couple who have been going strong since 1961;  and today, Jack Evans and George Harris are finally getting the church wedding they've always wanted.  It won't be legal in Texas until the Supreme Court says so, but after 53 years together, they can't wait any longer.



Jack and George are the founders of The Dallas Way, a group devoted to collecting and preserving the historical record of the LGBT community in North Texas. Here, the couple participate in "Outrageous Oral," an ongoing oral history project:




Another video of Jack and George telling their fascinating stories:




Their story is a tribute to the enduring power of love. All good wishes to the happy couple.


Update: Dallas station WFAA reports on the wedding, with video:



The Dallas Morning News reported the story too, highlighting the challenge to Methodist doctrine that "homosexuality is incompatible with Scripture." Nevertheless, hundreds of guests attended, along with a dozen Methodist ministers from around the state.

What you Yankee boys and other furriners need to understand is that here in Texas, the Methodist Church is the natural choice for the better-educated and semi-liberal folks; compared to the Southern Baptists, the Methodists are almost like freethinkers. So this gay wedding - even though it couldn't be held on Methodist property - is really a sign of significant change.

Waitin' for the Weekend

Kentucky Ordered to Recognize Same-Sex Marriages

The hits just keep on comin'.  Yesterday, federal District Judge John Heyburn, like half a dozen other judges around the nation in the last couple of months, ruled in Bourke v. Bashear that gays are human beings, yup, and are thus entitled to the equal protection of the laws. However, his ruling goes only halfway to full marriage equality: it requires Kentucky to recognize all gay couples married out of state, but does not require Kentucky to start issuing marriage licenses to gays.

The ruling was effective immediately, not stayed as the state had requested. The governor and attorney general are considering whether to file an appeal within the next 30 days. Nevertheless, a separate case that does ask for the right to marry in Kentucky is already on the docket of the same federal district court, so perhaps in a couple of months, Judge Heyburn will let the other shoe drop.



Full text of the ruling here. See the last section, pp. 18-23, for Judge Heyburn's beautifully written exposition on constitutional rights and the duty of judges to uphold them even despite popular votes or legislative actions.


Update, 3/1/14: Judge Heyburn yesterday stayed his order until March 20, to give state officials time to implement administrative changes necessary for state agencies to implement the ruling. The case is continuing with another set of plaintiffs who seek an order requiring Kentucky to issue marriage licenses, and has been renamed Love v. Bashear.

Gay Marriage OK in Texas! But Not Just Yet

As fate would have it, your Head Trucker slept through the breaking news stories yesterday.  I reckon all you boys have already heard it, but just for the record I'll summarize.

First, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed that state's antigay "Religious Freedom Restoration" bill, saying she saw no fucking reason for giving anyone a free card to deny service to gays - or anyone else, for that matter - just because "it's against my religion."



Of course, the potential loss of the Super Bowl and the objections of a hundred or so major corporations operating in Arizona just might have had a little something to do with the honorable Guv's decision, ya think?

BTW, your Head Trucker vividly recalls that fifty years ago, the preachers and politicians were all in a lather, pounding their Bibles to denounce racial integration as a sign of the last days, a scheme of the devil, and rebellion against God Almighty, which would surely and quickly cause the destruction of the family and the downfall of the country. Do watch all of this little clip from 2012:



But even more wonderful yesterday was the ruling of U.S. District Court Judge Orlando Garcia striking down the Texas ban same-sex marriage as being unconstitutional on grounds of due process and equal protection.  He also stayed his ruling, pending appeal by Texas to the Fifth Circuit.



The map below from the Dallas Morning News shows the current situation in these United States; click here for the interactive version.

Click to enlarge.
Federal court rulings are stayed pending appeal in 
Nevada, Utah, California, Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia - and now Texas.

His Honor said, in part:

Regulation of marriage has traditionally been the province of the states and remains so today. However, any state law involving marriage or any other protected interest must comply with the United States Constitution. In United States v. Windsor, U.S. -, 133 S. Ct. 2675 (2013), the United States Supreme Court recently held that the federal government cannot refuse to recognize a valid state-sanctioned same-sex marriage. Now, the lower courts must apply the Supreme Court's decision in Windsor and decide whether a state can do what the federal government cannot:  discriminate against same-sex couples.

The issue before this Court is whether Texas' current definition of marriage is permissible under the United States Constitution. After careful consideration, and applying the law as it must, this Court holds that Texas' prohibition on same-sex marriage conflicts with the United States Constitution's guarantees of equal protection and due process. Texas' current marriage laws deny homosexual couples the right to marry, and in doing so, demean their dignity for no legitimate reason. Accordingly, the Court finds these laws are unconstitutional and hereby grants a preliminary injunction enjoining Defendants from enforcing Texas' ban on same-sex marriage.

Thank you, Judge Garcia!

New York University law professor Ari Ezra Waldman analyzes the ruling:

Judge Garcia's decision is notable for several reasons. I will highlight two here at the outset. First, he does not dive into the heart of the level of scrutiny debate. He is content to say that marriage discrimination cannot even pass a low rational basis test. Second, he gives us a law nerd moment that students of gay rights will read for years to come to show how one case leads to the next which leads to the next and so on. Without Windsor, this case would look very different; without Lawrence, we wouldn't have gotten Windsor. And without Romer, we wouldn't have gotten Lawrence. As Judge Garcia writes:

Without a rational relation to a legitimate governmental purpose, state-imposed inequality can find no refuge in our United States Constitution.

And how does he know that and that it applies to the notoriously marginalized LGBT community? Judge Garcia continues:

Supreme Court precedent prohibits states from passing legislation born out of animosity against homosexuals (Romer), has extended constitutional protection to the moral and sexual choices of homosexuals (Lawrence), and prohibits the federal government from treating state-sanctioned opposite-sex marriages and same-sex marriages differently (Windsor).

Given that, the unconstitutionality of Texas's discriminatory statute seems pretty clear.

All I can say is, unfuckingbelievable. And I have lived to see this day. I just wish my husband had too.  Back when we first got together, 15 years ago, we just couldn't imagine we'd ever be able to marry in Texas or anywhere else in the world.

Full text of the ruling in De Leon v. Perry:

De Leon v. Perry - Complaint by FindLaw

Update, 3/1/14:  Texas Attorney General filed notice with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on the 27th that he will appeal Judge Garcia's ruling.

Two Tales of Two Dads

A couple of charming videos of gay dads and their kids. Which would get all concerned life in the slammer in Uganda, stoned to death in Nigeria, kicked in the head in Russia, and fired in Phoenix.

(Caution: may cause assorted hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions in your place of viewing. Fireproof clothing advised. Watch at your own risk. The Blue Truck is not responsible for any damages.)

First, Mark and Tim in North Carolina from Freedom to Marry and the Campaign for Southern Equality:




And in Paul and James in Minnesota from The UpTake:

You Disgusting Homo

Photo:  the Gaily Grind.

The President of Uganda doesn't like you one little bit, you dirty queer, because he has proof from Uganda's top scientists that you weren't born gay - you just choose to be a nasty faggot.  He says so in an interview with CNN's Zain Verjee (watch the whole interview at the link):

After signing the bill that made some homosexual acts punishable by life in prison, Museveni told CNN's Zain Verjee that, in his view, being homosexual is "unnatural" and not a human right.

"They're disgusting. What sort of people are they?" he said. "I never knew what they were doing. I've been told recently that what they do is terrible. Disgusting. But I was ready to ignore that if there was proof that that's how he is born, abnormal. But now the proof is not there."

Museveni had commissioned a group of Ugandan government scientists to study whether homosexuality is "learned," concluding that it is a matter of choice.

"I was regarding it as an inborn problem," he said. "Genetic distortion -- that was my argument. But now our scientists have knocked this one out."

Yesterday, President Museveni signed into law the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014, which means life in prison for homosex, or even getting married to a person of the same sex. So can anyone found to be "promoting" homosexuality in any way.  Ugandans living abroad can also be extradited home for punishment for any offense named in the law. The bill originally specified the death sentence, but the penalty was reduced to life imprisonment in the final version.

Ugandan newspaper front page from 2010; gay activist David Kato was subsequently beaten to death in his home.

The Ugandan tabloid Red Pepper today printed a list of 200 homosexuals. When signing the law, Museveni told the assembled crowd: "One of the cultures that we detest is oral sex. The mouth is for picking food, not for sex. We know the address for sex. That address [the mouth] is not for sex. It is not healthy." 

A similar bill was enacted in Nigeria last month, where judges have sentenced offenders in the Muslim northern part of the country to be whipped, while crowds have rioted in the streets protesting such judicial leniency, and threatened to burn down the courthouse - the frenzied crowds want to exercise their god-given right to stone the devilish homos to death, as prescribed by sharia law.

Thus begins a new Holocaust, which is largely due to the work of American evangelists like Scott Lively, who have spread their message of hate and murder to Uganda, Nigeria, Russia, and other parts of the world. Lively is currently facing a charge of crimes against humanity, but your Head Trucker doesn't think it will stick.

Here's the text of the bill. Read it. Keep our Ugandan brothers and and sisters in your thoughts and prayers, and never forget that this is exactly what the Christianists would do to us right here in the USA - if only they could.

Official trailer for the 2013 documentary God Loves Uganda, detailing the extensive antigay influence of American evangelicals:



New York Times op-doc, The Gospel of Intolerance, using footage from God Loves Uganda:

Marriage News Watch, 2/23/14

Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights reports:




Also, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), one of the last surviving leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, speaks out in this video launching the Southerners for the Freedom to Marry campaign:




Last month Equality Florida filed a lawsuit on behalf of six couples seeking the right to marry in the Sunshine State. The always delightful Sharon Gless, who has a home in Miami Beach, speaks out for marriage equality in Florida:



Cagney & Lacey was the one show in the 1980's I never missed watching; come to think of it, I don't even remember any other shows from that decade at the moment, but I loved that one. Doesn't Sharon look fabulous still?

I don't get the engagement/wedding rings on the right hand, though. Anybody have a clue?

No Gays Allowed - Is That Legal?

Anderson Cooper interviews Arizona state representative John Kavanagh on the expansion of the Arizona Religious Freedom Restoration Act, now awaiting Governor Jan Brewer's signature.



I never heard of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act until now - but it is a law, and the ACLU did indeed support it, on behalf of American Indians.

This will make a big ol' can of worms for the Supreme Court to unpack, if and when the Arizona law ever gets that far. However, after all is said and done and the shouting dies down, I can't believe the Supremes would ever allow carte blanche discrimination against the gays - or anyone else - just because "it's against my religion."

While we're on that note, it's also formally "against the religion" of the straight boys to go running after poontang they haven't put a ring on - but when has that ever stopped them from grabbing all they can get a-holt of?

Sunday Drive: Don't Laugh at Me

Someone hurt my feelings rather badly the other day, for no good reason. The song isn't an exact match to the situation, but it will do.

Is Gay Marriage a Threat to Traditional Marriage?

Dr. John Corvino is chair of the Philosophy Department at Wayne State University in Detroit.