Gay issues have been in the news here in the US lately. A federal district judge in Southern California declared "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" unconstitutional and issued an injunction preventing discharges or investigations of gay or lesbian service members. But our President, who opposes the law and wants it repealed but did little or nothing to get it passed in the Senate, says that he has to appeal the judge's decision - no, you don't, you don't have to defend laws that have been declared unconstitutional that you disagree with. So it could be a long time until DADT is officially over.
The state of Florida's Department of Childrens' Services (I think that I got the name right) has decided not to appeal a state district court's decision that barring all gays and lesbians from adopting is unconstitutional. But the state attorney general might decide on his own to appeal, so that law might still be enforceable.
A federal district judge in Massachusetts declared that the part of the Defense of Marriage Act that prevents the federal government from recognizing valid marriages of same sex couples is unconstitutional. But the Obama administration has decided to appeal those two related decisions as well.
The spate of recent suicides by young gays and a lesbian has gotten press lately, which is a good thing. But is change really happening in middle and high schools were the problems really are?
The Prop 8 trial will be in early December, so again a wait for the legal process to slowly grind toward a conclusion.
I saw a moving speech by Joel Burns, the first gay elected official in the history of Fort Worth, Texas, at a recent city council meeting. He talked about his experiences but became too emotional to read a few sentences talking about his darkest times when he was a gay teen.
So I guess that I would like to see real progress, not potential progress that gets appealed and is in the legal system for years. Lives are being lost now, so I want the lives of gays and lesbians, especially the young ones, to improve now.
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That Joel Burns speech was amazing. He's my new hero.
ReplyDelete-nl
I am also very troubled by the Obama administrations to appeal the DADT and the "Defense" of Marriage Act rulings. Perhaps I am naive but I'm hoping that the rumors are pre-election campaign tactics. I'm really hoping that in a few months we hear, oops, we're not going to appeal those rulings after all.
ReplyDeleteTwoLives, I very much doubt that, as much as I would like it. Maybe if Obama is re-elected, but I doubt even then he will do the right thing. He seems to have forgotten that he is, or should be, a leader and should LEAD instead of being too timid to take a stand.
ReplyDeleteour President . . . opposes the law and wants it repealed
ReplyDeleteI doubt that more with each passing minute, and I didn't believe him when he said it on the campaign trail.
hey mr. president... commander-in-chief much?
ReplyDeletethis stupid country...... fail..