New Mexico Supreme Court: Photographer Cannot Deny Services to Gay Couples

In a unanimous - and completely common sense - opinion, the New Mexico Supreme Court has ruled that a photographer (and by extension, any business that offers services to the general public) cannot refuse to provide goods or services to same sex couples citing "religious belief."  If one is going to market to the public, then one has to provides goods and services to ALL of the public, gays included.  Not surprisingly, the Christofascists who see themselves above the laws governing others are apoplectic that they cannot discriminate at will against those they don't like and screaming that they are being persecuted.  In truth - as is increasingly the case, it is they who are the ones persecuting others.  Metro Weekly looks at the important ruling.  Here are highlights

The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision Thursday that a wedding photographer who refused to provide services to a same-sex couple violated the state's Human Rights Act.

"[W]e conclude that a commercial photography business that offers its services to the public, thereby increasing its visibility to potential clients, is subject to the antidiscrimination provisions of the [New Mexico Human Rights Act] and must serve same-sex couples on the same basis that it serves opposite-sex couples," the state's highest court ruled. "Therefore, when Elane Photography refused to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony, it violated the NMHRA in the same way as if it had refused to photograph a wedding between people of different races."

The ruling comes in the case of Elane Photography v. Vanessa Willock, which was filed after Elaine Huguenin, co-owner of Elane Photography in Albuquerque, turned away Vanessa Willock and her partner in 2006 on the grounds that photographing the ceremony would violate her religious beliefs.
An investigation by the state Human Rights Commission that found the company was guilty of discrimination based on sexual orientation was upheld by the New Mexico Court of Appeals in June of 2012.

In its decision today, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that the state's Human Rights Act, which was amended in 2003 to add "sexual orientation" as a class of people protected from discrimination, does not violate free speech because it does not compel the photographer to either "speak a government-mandated message or to publish the speech of another."

"The purpose of the NMHRA is to ensure that businesses offering services to the general public do not discriminate against protected classes of people, and the United States Supreme Court has made it clear that the First Amendment permits such regulation by states," the decision states. "Businesses that choose to be public accommodations must comply with the NMHRA, although such businesses retain their First Amendment rights to express their religious or political beliefs.

Illustrative of the bullshit coming from the Christofascist is the rant by Bryan Fischer of the hate group, American Family Association, who says the ruling is tantamount to the Jim Crow laws and that Christians are the "new blacks."  Right Wing Watch reports on Fischer's disingenuous screed:

Bryan Fischer is incensed at the New Mexico Supreme Court’s unanimous decision that a wedding photography business violated the state’s anti-discrimination law by refusing its services to a same-sex couple. The American Family Association spokesman called on the business, and others, to file countersuits and “fight fire with fire” by alleging that preventing them from discriminating against customers is religious discrimination.

“Essentially what this court has done and what the Obama administration has done with this abortifacient mandate is that they have turned Christians into Dred Scott,” Fischer claimed, arguing that the New Mexico court “said that Christians have no rights which this court is bound to respect. So to me this looks like Jim Crow is alive and well, we’ve got Jim Crow laws right back in operation, Christians are the new blacks.”

Hate, bigotry, selfishness and, of course endless lies, are the hallmarks of conservative Christians.  Kudos to the New Mexico Supreme Court for making it clear that these vile people are not above the law.

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Chris Christie Signs Ban on "Ex-Gay" Therapy; Christofascists Go Berserk

As noted frequently on this blog, the "ex-gay" myth is critical to the Christofascists' efforts to block gay rights in general and gay marriage in particular because if sexual orientation is immutable and not changeable, then their argument that being gay is a "choice" collapses and their flimsy legal arguments evaporate.  Thankfully, legitimate medical and mental health professionals recognize that the claims of "ex-gay" ministries is to put it politely, bullshit at best and more likely down right harmful.  Now, New Jersey has joined California in banning licensed therapist in that state from subjecting minors to their bogus, witch doctor like therapy regimes.  It goes without saying that the hate merchants and charlatans who promote these programs are beside themselves and the crackpots at Liberty Counsel have vowed to sue New Jersey.  First, these highlights from CNN on Chris Christie's signing the bill banning the practice into law:

New Jersey will become the second state to forbid gay conversion therapy for minors when Gov. Chris Christie signs legislation into law Monday banning the highly controversial practice, CNN has learned.

Gay conversion therapy is an effort championed by people who believe that you can change a person’s sexual orientation through counseling. The American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association and American Psychological Association are just a handful of professional organizations that oppose this practice, saying it is harmful.

New Jersey’s decision to outlaw gay conversion therapy will not only be looked upon as another major step in gay rights, but it will also be viewed through the prism of the 2016 race for the White House.

In explaining his decision to ban gay conversion therapy for minors, Christie is expected to emphasize that while he is wary of the “government limiting parental choice on the care and treatment of their own children,” on this particular issue he sided with the experts. The New Jersey senate passed the legislation in late July, but as with any legislation, it ultimately requires Christie’s final approval.

“The American Psychological Association has found that efforts to change sexual orientations can pose critical health risks including, but not limited to, depression, substance abuse, social withdrawal, decreased self-esteem and suicidal thoughts,” Christie will say in his signing statement, according to an advanced copy provided to CNN. “I believe that exposing children to these health risks without clear evidence of benefits that outweigh these serious risks is not appropriate.”

A Catholic, Christie in the past has stated his opposition to gay conversion therapy and in a June 2011 interview on CNN said he did not think homosexuality is a sin.

“Well, my religion says it's a sin,” Christie said on ‘Piers Morgan Tonight.’ “But for me, I don't. I've always believed that people are born with the predisposition to be homosexual. And so, I think if someone is born that way, it's very difficult to say then that that's a sin. But I understand that my church says that. But for me personally, I don' t look upon someone who is homosexual as a sinner.”

Yep, the spittle must be flying by the bucketful at the offices of the usual hate groups and at the Vatican.  Kudos to Chris Christie.  As noted, the sociopaths at Liberty Counsel - an ongoing blight on the Commonwealth of Virginia -  are big time unhappy and have announced via press release that they are ready to file a lawsuit against the state on New Jersey.  Here is some of the spittle flect drivel from the press release:

If the bill goes into effect, Liberty Counsel will immediately file suit.  . . . A3371 prohibits only one viewpoint regarding change counseling and, therefore, constitutes viewpoint discrimination. No viewpoint-based restriction on private speech has ever been upheld. The Supreme Court ruled that “the First Amendment forbids the government to regulate speech in ways that favor some viewpoints or ideas at the expense of others.”

This bill is so broad that parents would be prohibited from seeking help for their son who developed unwanted same-sex attractions after being molested by the likes of Jerry Sandusky. This law would inflict serious damage to children, parents, and counselors,” said Staver.

The Governor should reject this transparently unconstitutional law. It tramples the fundamental rights of counselors and clients, and it destroys the ability of patients to seek, and counselors to provide, counseling in accordance with their sincere desires and religious beliefs. It also runs roughshod over the fundamental rights of parents.

Memo to Staver: the courts and states regularly override parental religious based decisions which would subject their children to unsafe practices or deprive them of necessary medical care.  This bill does precisely the same thing: it protects minors for  religious based idiocy and extremism that could cause them severe harm.  If anyone is a threat to minors it is Staver and his fellow Christofascists who continue to embrace Bronze Age beliefs that have be refuted by legitimate science.  Inflicting "ex-gay" therapy on minors is nothing less than a form of child abuse.   It should be illegal nationwide.

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Focus on the Family Again Seeks to Censor Gay Inclusive School Books

Offering yet more proof that the Christofascists at Focus on the Family - which seems to be working hard to earn a hate group designation - want gays to literally disappear, a new push has been mounted to stir up "godly" wingnut parents to challenge any curriculum content that might acknowledge the existence of LGBT people.   How this approach prepares children in a diverse culture is, of course, never addressed.  Nor does it face the reality that many of these same parents unknowingly are raising gay children of their own.  All it really shows is the mental healt issues of people like FOTF spokeswoman Candi Cushman (pictured above).   Think Progress looks at this latest batshitery.  Here are highlights:

With the school year set to resume, Focus on the Family is once again encouraging parents to censor any curriculum content that might acknowledge the existence of LGBT people. Focus’s “Empowering Parents” guide teaches families how to navigate all the hurdles they might have to jump in order to remove LGBT-inclusive materials from the classroom. In a conversation with Stuart Shepard set up by the question, “What do you when what your public school is teaching about relationships is out of sync with God’s design for relationships?”, Candi Cushman explained that it’s “Orwellian” to talk to young people about LGBT families:

CUSHMAN: In math class for instance, there is a lesson plan material out there called, “Ready, Set, Respect.” This is created by one of the largest homosexual advocacy groups, called GLSEN, the Gay Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. Let me just give you an example of what they recommend for educators: “Write math problems with contexts that include a variety of family structures and gender expressions.” And so the example they then give is, “Give a math problem about Rosa and her dads going to the grocery store.”

Cushman believes such curriculum is “Orwellian” because her definition of family does not include same-sex couples and their children. The reality is that for many children — an estimated 2 million — their families do include either same-sex parents or at least one gay parent and possibly a same-sex step parent. Cushman would prefer they not see their families represented in class.

What’s truly Orwellian is erasing those families and attempting to use public schools as a form of propaganda to hide the existence of LGBT people. There may well be LGBT students in the classroom, who deserve to see diverse representations that include their own identities. Focus on the Family calls these efforts “true tolerance,” but the first step to tolerance is acknowledging that a group of people exist and beginning to appreciate their life experiences.

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Richmond Councilmen Propose Gay-Marriage Ordinance

Between dogging and weaving from ties to Star Scientific and bribes gifts he received from Jonnie R. Williams, Ken Cuccinelli is finding himself trying to dodge his own past extremism on social issues.  Thankfully, the promised lawsuit to soon be filed by the ACLU challenging the Marshall-Newman Amendment will make that effort all the more difficult.  Now, from an unexpected front, three members of Richmond City Council have proposed that that city adopt an ordinance recognizing gay marriages performed in other states.  Needless to say, the Christofascists at The Family Foundation have gone ballistic and Victoria Cobb has stormed onto the scene in full protest and just shy of being decked out in her full dominatrix regalia to whip Republicans into line.  Here are excerpts from the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Three members of the Richmond City Council have proposed an ordinance to recognize legal same-sex marriages performed in other states and to extend benefits to legally married same-sex partners who work for the city.

Sponsored by City Council President Charles R. Samuels and fellow council members Parker C. Agelasto and Chris A. Hilbert, the ordinance was inspired by the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, Samuels said.


“We wanted to do something that would allow us to recognize same-sex marriage, because equality is something that America is based on,” Samuels said. “But this doesn’t mean we are recognizing gay marriage in the city, because state law doesn’t allow us to do that.”

If council votes in favor of the measure after a public hearing scheduled for Sept. 9, it would not have an immediate impact on gay or lesbian city employees because such a policy could not take effect without General Assembly authorization, Richmond’s City Attorney Allen L. Jackson said.

Cuccinelli spokesman Brian Gottstein declined to comment on the city ordinance Thursday.

In spite of the proposal’s more symbolic than practical nature, local gay-rights activists welcomed the ordinance.   

Others disagree, including Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation of Virginia.  “It’s unfortunate that with all the problems plaguing the city of Richmond, the City Council is wasting time on an action that blatantly violates the Virginia Constitution as adopted by the people of Virginia,” Cobb said, adding that the proposal “is little more than a PR stunt that flies in the face of the law.”

In order to pass, the proposal will need a 5-4 majority of council members voting in favor of it.  “The ordinance has three patrons already, but it’s always nice to have consensus,” said Samuels, who is optimistic.

The measure may be symbolic, but anything that causes Cuccinelli and the always virulently anti-gay Ms. Cobb displeasure is something to celebrate.  If the measure passes, it will also put pressure on other Virginia cities to adopt such ordinances.  All of which will make the Virginia GOP's life more difficult.

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FRC: We Are In The Age Of Pagan Sexuality

Typically, the folks at Family Research Council are railing against modernity and seeking society backward in time.  Now, one of their dubiously titled "scholars" is whining that the nation and society have gone too far back in time to the age of pagan sexuality. Apparently, FRC only wants to go back to the days of slavery - or at least segregation - women not having the vote and being treated as chattel, gays being invisible if not executed, and Christian theocracy.   BuzzFeed looks at this latest hate group batshitery.  Here are  some highlights:

[T]he Family Research Council said Wednesday that America has entered the age of pagan sexuality.  Dr. Patrick F. Fagan, director at the Family Research Council’s Marriage and Religion Research Institute, made the comparison a policy lecture titled “Porn in the Dorm.”

“Basically porn is now everywhere,” Fagan said.

“Particular for Christians, Catholic, evangelicals, and for Jews and Muslims too, the same thing holds. This is almost like our times are a time a bit analogous to pagan Rome, where Christianity first grew up,” Fagan continued. “The sexuality of pagan Rome was pretty similar to what we restored here. So, what we really have outside is a pagan sexuality which is totally different from a Christian sexuality. And I don’t think enough Christians have yet put that way starkly enough to themselves. What you’re really being invited with all this is entry into pagan sexuality.”

Fagan continued, linking homosexuality, abortion, infidelity, pornography, euthanasia to ancient Rome.

“There’s a pagan sexuality which is a pan-sexuality which is the erotic. Abortion, homosexuality, infidelity, pornography, euthanasia, infanticide all of those things were just the common sexual practice of pagan Rome and Christians were not for being very different. Monogamous, faithful, struggling, etc…you know the chastity, purity.”

No one is more obsessed with sex than the "godly Christian" folk - e.g, online porn sites receive high traffic from evangelical Christians in the Bible Belt ; evangelical Christian have the highest divorce rate.  Perhaps rather than trying to police the sex lives of everyone else, this nut cases ought to worry about their own psychoses and, of course, hypocrisy.

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Bill O'Reilly: Telling a Gay Person They're Going to Hell Should Be Illegal

I generally view Billy O'Reilly to be a crazy, mean spirited windbag.  But every now and then he will say something that is dead on target correct.  Such as his statement that telling a gay person "you're going to Hell" should be illegal.   One can just imagine the swoons and flying spittle amongst the Christofascist set at O'Reilly apostasy.   Nothing gives these modern day Pharisees more joy than telling us gays that we are going to Hell, although I suspect that, if there is a Hell, it is mostly peopled by truly horrible people - e.g., Hitler and Stalin - and the modern day Pharisee crowd and conservative religious leaders such as John Paul II.  Towleroad looks at O'Reilly's statement:

[O]n his show last night, the Fox News host expressed a belief that telling a gay person "you're going to Hell" should be illegal--at least, in some instances.

O'Reilly's guest last night was John Stossel--who hosts a weekly show on Fox Business--and the comment came amidst a discussion of American evangelist Tony Miano, who was arrested in London last week after preaching against homosexuality in front of a shopping center in Wimbledon.  According to the Telegraph, Miano was arrested "under the controversial clause of the Public Order Act which bans 'insulting' words or behaviour."

"I think that should be against the law," O'Reilly said of any hypothetical anti-gay preacher who "went up to a homosexual, got in his face and said, 'you're going to hell, you're going to hell.' He’s invading the person’s space. He’s bringing intentional, personal anguish to the person. I think that person should be protected.”

Stossel expressed some agreement with O'Reilly but said that the standard should be based on "fighting words" that were meant to incite violence.

As I said, the Christofascists - think Tony Perkins, Maggie Gallagher, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, et al -  must be livid with O'Reilly since they believe that they can do whatever they want to whoever they want as long as they hide behind the smoke screen of professed "deeply held religious belief."  Here's the video:

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National Organization for Marriage Implies Being Gay Is Incompatible with Being Americanble

For those who have followed the National Organization for Marriage's  ("NOM")always disingenuous claims that the organization's sole concern is to "protect marriage," learning that NOM is now alleging that being gay is incompatible with being a patriotic American  will come as no surprise.  NOM's true agenda has ALWAYS been to denigrate gay citizens and depict us as being "other" and/or a threat to normal society.  Metro Weekly looks at NOM's latest foul anti-gay propaganda campaign which is merely an extension of its campaign to depict us a should be pedophiles and much worse.  Here are excerpts:

 

In a fundraising email sent late Wednesday hours before 4th of July celebrations kick off across the nation, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) implied being an American and being LGBT or pro-LGBT are incompatible.

"We're a republic founded on the principles of religious liberty, freedom and democracy, endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights. We're a nation where citizen rights come from God, not from government, and where the people are sovereign, not politicians or judges," NOM President Brian Brown wrote in an email to supporters. "But those principles are under siege, by the culture, by our federal government and, increasingly, by the US Supreme Court."

Attached to Brown's email was a simple image of an American flag juxtaposed next to an LGBT Pride flag with the caption, "Which Banner Will You Choose?" -- seemingly implying that a choice must be made between being an American and being LGBT or pro-LGBT.

NOM's fundraising email comes one week after another set of losses for the organization, when, on June 26, the Supreme Court ruled in two cases to strike down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act and return marriage equality to California.

"If we do not fight back against these governmental attacks on our fundamental right to act in the public square in support of the truth of marriage as God created it, then none of our cherished liberties and rights are safe," Brown wrote.

Calls to NOM's offices for comment on the implication that being American and LGBT are mutually exclusive[were not returned].

NOM. Brian Brown, Maggie Gallagher and NOM's financiers in the Vatican and the Knights of Columbus are despicable.

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Wingnuts: DOMA Ruling Was As Bad As Pearl Harbor

The hysteria from the far right over the DOMA decision earlier this week continues and provides yet further proof that the Christofascists truly do either (i) live in some warped alternate reality or (ii) need serious mental health interventions.   How else to explain the intense need they display to cling to very selective passages of a book written thousands of years ago by ignorant nomads and which biblical scholars agree contains many forgeries and irregularities that make it more then obvious to sentient individuals that it's anything but the inerrant "word of God."  Illustrative of this batshitery is the ranting and whining of Lisa Van Houten of the American Decency Association (yet another "family values" organization aimed at keeping charlatans employed and living the good life while trampling on the freedoms of others).  Right Wing Watch looks at Van Houten's deranged lament:

The American Decency Association’s Lisa Van Houten is warning that the Supreme Court’s DOMA decision “will live in infamy” just like Pearl Harbor. Van Houten claims that pastors will “be prosecuted for preaching” against homosexuality and refusing to perform same-sex weddings, people will be “charged with discrimination” if they don’t “embrace homosexuality,” anti-gay groups will lose their non-profit status, and, worst of all, America will face divine punishment.

As we look back on history there are dates which we now see were crossroads, turning points for nations and cultures. July 4, 1776; June 6, 1944. December 7, 1941; January 22, 1973. Battles fought, decisions made – some establishing goodness and justice, others are dates that “will live in infamy.” 

I believe today, June 26, 2013, is the latter. A date when the United in favor of same sex marriage, and undermined true marriage – one man and one woman – which States Supreme Court ruled was instituted, not by any government, but by God. 

The homosexual agenda cannot and will not abide peaceably alongside the true, biblical institutions of marriage and family as ordained by God. As the homosexual agenda is legitimized – even by the United States Supreme Court - marriage, family, and our religious liberty will be undermined.

Consider the following short list of what may be in our future :

1. Hate crime laws will be increasingly instituted and enforced. Will pastors be prosecuted for preaching what God’s Word says regarding homosexuality and refusing to perform same sex “marriage” ceremonies?

2. Homosexuality will be a protected class by the government. Christian school teachers and administrators, pastors, business owners, etc. could be charged with discrimination if they speak out against or refuse to embrace homosexuality.

3. Organizations such as our own American Decency could easily lose their (c)3 tax-exempt, non-profit status as we continue to call homosexuality what it is - SIN.

4. God will not bless a nation that puts a stamp of approval upon that which he calls an abomination. The evidences of God’s displeasure are evident and becoming more so with each passing day.

Item No. 3 is probably her biggest worry.  That said, one can only assume that Van Houten hasn't read her Bible lately - especially the Old Testament - or else she'd know that POLYGAMY, not one man, one woman is the biblical norm for marriage.  She also needs to read the Commandment against lying and bearing false witness while she's at it.  One has to wonder what these people would do if they had to get real jobs instead of making a living disseminating lies and shaking down the gullible and ignorant.  Van Houten is little more than a con-artist trying to hide behind a veil of respectability.  She and those like her deserve no respect and certainly no deference of any kind.

P.S. Among the things Van Houten's group rants and raves is the depravity of Glee.  And not surprisingly, it has some ties to anti-gay hate group, AFA. 

Lisa Van Houten

Lisa Van Houten

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