Should U.S. Supreme Court Allow Prop H8 Proponents Standing?

September 6th, 2011 at 10:00am the U.S. Supreme Court heard the arguments from both sides of the Prop 8 trial in effect right now. If you watched it, you saw that the opponents for Prop 8 had a stronger case, so the question is should the U.S. Supreme Court grant the proponents standing?

You may be reading this and thinking, "of course they should not allow them standing, then Californian's can resume marriage equality." There are a few factors you do need to keep in mind though. If you watched the arguments in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that eventually shifted the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, temporarily, to clarify the law on whether or not proponents for any measure are allowed to defend the measure in court once enacted into law if State Officials decline to do so. Here's the deal, if U.S. Supreme Court says no (which they will have an answer by Dec. 3, 2011) then the 9th Circuit is allowed to ask more questions of the U.S. Supreme Court to get more detail on the situation and in the end will most likely result in marriage equality within California.

Now, time and time again the proponents for Prop 8 have not been able to make a legitimate argument to defend the proposition ruled unconstitutional by Judge Vaughn Walker. They have pulled out every stop they could possibly pull in this debate of values, but once again they have failed and continue to fail. Here's the deal though, call me crazy, but it would actually be a GOOD THING if the U.S. Supreme Court grants them standing. You're probably thinking to yourself, "Jon Scott what are you saying, you need to stop." First off I won't stop because the title of the blog says it all, Second proponents gaining standing would be a good thing (slightly risky) because of this reason here... but first a little education on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

There are 11 Circuit Court of Appeals for the United States. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals covers these following districts:

• Alaska
• Arizona
• Central District of California
  
• Eastern District of California
  
• Western District of California
  
• Southern District of California
  
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Montana
• Nevada
• Oregon
• Eastern District of Washington
• Western District of Washington
  

It also has jurisdiction over Guam and Northern Mariana Islands. That's 9 States and 15 Districts.

This means that the 9th circuit is the largest of them all with 19.72% (as of 2009) of the National Population under its jurisdiction. Here is a map of the districts and their jurisdictions.


So, if the U.S. Supreme Court grants the Prop 8 proponents standing, the 9th Circuit will hear this case. If you watched the opening statements in the 9th Circuit on the webcast you saw that proponents had a hard time making their case and were called out on their contradictions. With standing granted, if granted, and the 9th Circuit rules Prop 8 as unconstitutional, ALL territories/districts within the 9th Circuit will have to follow suit. Meaning marriage equality would exist in every district under the 9th Circuit's jurisdiction.

Gay marriage is legal in six states as of right now Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and D.C. (I know D.C. is not a state). With these 6 plus the 9 other states and 2 territories we are looking at a total of 17, yeah 34% of this country, with full marriage equality. This will help us push forward and fight to end DOMA once and for all. This will give equal rights to everyone, and would be the start to take on FEDERAL MARRIAGE EQUALITY... the 9th Circuit case is important for more than just Californian's.

So if the U.S. Supreme Court grants the Prop 8 Proponents standing, its actually a good thing.

Keep the fight going, FEDERAL MARRIAGE EQUALITY FOR 2012

President Obama Addresses the 15th Annual HRC National Dinner

Full GOP Debate in Case you Missed it....

BTW Ron Paul handled it, little air time due to Romney and Perry decided to go at each others throat. Ron Paul walked away crowd favorite and was the only candidate with substance. Here's the entire Debate, watch for yourself.

PROP 8 US SUPREME COURT...

Bet you are wondering what happened in Supreme Court, well you should have watched it or followed AFER on Twitter. This is what happened, proponents really didn't have a strong case and completely ran out of time, so stay tuned for the decision and news in between, they will be announcing their decision by Dec. 6th, or 90 days from the hearing.

Thanks guys... sorry I haven't posted.

Another GOP Signs Anti Gay Marriage Bill... WTF?!

THIS SHIT IS GETTING EXTREMELY OLD AND DISGUSTING!

Rick Perry GOP Candidate for 2012 Presidential nomination has signed a pledge banning gay marriage. This is contrary to what he told Colorado in reference to New York, "That's New York, and that's their business, that's fine with me." He already has claimed he would leave gay marriage up to the states, but when confronted by the National Organization for Marriage to sign the pledge, to gain votes he signed it. Already turning into a politician, says one thing than signs another. Obviously NONE OF HIS CAMPAIGN PROMISES are true. Rick you might as well just shit on our economy, foreign policy, health care, etc. You disgust me to a maximum degree. Yet as you can see by the picture (truly an appropriate one) he can handle a phallic symbol like a champion. Sorry Perry, but I could have been nice about the graphics, but you left me no choice. Take a bite of it you dick, don't deep throat.

GOP candidates to also to sign Anti-Gay pledges include the likes of Minnesota Congress Woman Michele Bachmann, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. While former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. and my personal favorite Ron Paul has not and is not signing any pledges.

I recently posted a video from a debate in which Ron Paul said "to create and amendment against gay marriage is absolutely unnecessary, and if you believe in federalism you will leave it up to the states." He's absolutely right, these anti-gay "pro-family" groups complain they don't want our gay marriages shoved down their throat, much unlike Perry hoping that corn dog was actually Michele Bachmann's husband's penis. Well we don't want to shove our marriages down your throat, but our state might not agree with your state. If our state says let them be married, then we should be allowed to be married. Otherwise, you might as well just kiss the jobs of all Governors and Attorney Generals appointed to each state. They are here to serve as our voices, you are taking away the constitutional responsibilities delegated to them by vote of the people.

I learned about this anti-gay pledge from a tweet I saw leading me to the article at http://www.boston.com/Boston/politicalintelligence/2011/08/perry-signs-anti-gay-marriage-pledge/sGqX6Ir6FL4HZwyOQSzvKN/index.html">Boston.com. This is what the pledge includes...

The pledge commits a candidate to support a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman, defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court, appoint judicial nominees and an attorney general who would reject a constitutional right to gay marriage, establish a commission to investigate harassment of anti-gay marriage donors or organizers, and let the people of Washington, D.C., vote on gay marriage.

Don't let these hateful candidates run our country, next they will be revoking the rights of Non-Whites and Women. Soon if you are not Evangelical Christian you will be breaking the law. This will also appoint Judges that are Partial and will not serve up Justice, instead they will serve up the Personal Vendetta's of these fundamentalists.

Also found in this article Brian Brown, president of NOM, said by signing this pledge, "Perry makes crystal clear that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, Gay Marriage is going to be a bigger issue in 2012 than it was in 2008, because the difference between the GOP nominee and President Obama is going to be large and clear."

So to you Rick Perry I have one thing to say, go fuck yourself (with that corn dog).

FREE THE TAPES!

I want to show you a reenactment of the Prop8 original trial showing the interview of Kristin Matthews Perry. Marisa Tomei and Josh Lucas did a great job on this reenactment. From inside the court today, if you followed AFER online, you saw the live updates from moment to moment inside that courtroom today. This was for the release of the original Prop8 Trial Video tapes being released. Judge James Ware presided over this case today as he did over the trial for Proponents of Prop8 requesting to vacate the decision made my Judge Vaughn Walker because he was gay and in a long term relationship. (Keep in mind unsatisfied with Judge James Ware's decision to not vacate Walker's decision, Proponents of Prop8 then seeked to Vacate Judge James Ware's decision. Once again proving they will stop at nothing to spread hate through our Golden State).


Now before I continue I want to say thank you very much to AFER (American Foundation for Equal Rights), Courage Campaign, the Legal Team (opposing and fighting prop 8), and most of all Kristin Perry and Sandy Steir for fighting not only for themselves but for all of the LGBT community. If it weren't for you two amazing women, we wouldn't be as close as we are to ending PropH8.
The request by Proponents of Prop H8 to seal the video tapes from the original Prop 8 trial Perry vs. Schwarzenegger (now Perry vs. Brown) was to protect the identities of their key "witnesses" in the original trial, fearing that they would be harassed for their support. These two men are Kenneth P. Miller an academic who is used to public speaking, and David Blankenhorn the founder and President of the Institute for American Values (a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting traditional family values).
Obviously this request is that of a lame attempt not to look stupid to the public, if the public were to be granted the right to see the trial that found Prop 8 as unconstitutional. These two guys are strong Proponents for Prop 8, and Blankenhorn I have to say is a complete ass for naming his organization "American Values" first of all, I am an American, and my values and his values are different. I believe every family should be a home. I believe a family's foundation should be strictly based on love and care. I believe every child deserves a strong set of parents no matter what their sex is, as long as the parents provide them with everything that they need from food in their bellies, to close on their back, to a roof over their head. To me that is what Family is.
Before the Prop 8 trial was originally heard the U.S. Supreme Court accepted these arguments and prohibited the LIVE BROADCASTING of the trial. They would not allow it to be broadcast on TV or online. Only to ensure that the witnesses mentioned before would not feel so intimidated that they would not appear before the courts in the future. Judge Vaughn Walker however did record digital copies of the case which was not technically prohibited by the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Vaughn Walkers reason for recording this case was that of a good one, to ensure the faith of the public in the Judicial system. I agree, as a gay man, fighting for marriage, I feel that the case that directly relates to my rights or future rights I should have full access to, so my "rights" aren't left in the dark.
This following quote is from LA Times also posted on the AFER website.

Still, the U.S. District Court should now allow the videos to be broadcast. There has never been any real evidence of potential danger to the witnesses. With the trial over, any procedural issues about last-minute changes are moot. California’s ban on same-sex marriage is a matter of extraordinary public interest, and the discussion that took place during the trial would strengthen public understanding. People would see Blankenhorn, though an opponent of same-sex marriage, testify that the United States would be more American on the day such marriages became legal. They would see Miller, hired by supporters of Proposition 8, say that prejudice played a role in its passage. And whatever viewers chose as the take-home message from the trial, they would be more deeply informed about the debate.

The importance of these videos being released is for all of us to know and be reassured that our Judicial system is providing exactly what it is meant to, Justice! We all have a right to know what is going on behind the scenes in the court room. Thank the Lord for twitter as I was able to follow step by step the trial that took place at 9am today. If you would like to be able to see these behind the scene tweets for this and future cases related to Prop 8 trial, be sure to follow @ AFER on twitter.
Also stay tuned, if you do have the California Channel through your cable provider, you will be able to watch the U.S. Supreme Court hearing on whether or not the Proponents for Prop 8 have any standing in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Or if your service provider does not offer that channel you will be able to watch the live webcast via TheCaliforniaChannel.com .
If you are not gay, ask yourself. If these extremist can go as far as attempting at taking rights away from Gays, who is next? Non-Christians? Teachers? Healthcare Providers? Women? Children? Elderly? No one is safe if we don't fight these people off.

Concerning the previous post...

I know all of you are shocked that I didn't send my support for Republican Candidate Fred Karger, seeing how he is openly gay. I do support what he is doing, yet the chances of him actually obtaining presidency are very very low. About slim to none, actually. He is constantly fighting for gay rights which of course I appreciate a lot. Yet, the fact of the matter is, he has not been and is not being invited to any Republican debate, I'm guessing its primarily because he is gay. I signed the petition to allow him to participate in these debates and I believe he only needs a few more votes. Please get involved with all of the organizations on your top right, sign up with them and you will get daily emails (they are not an annoying abundance) for petitions you can electronically sign to help make a change in this world, by starting with this country.

Again, my support is going for Ron Paul. I was hoping he would take the Republican nom back in 2008, the country wasn't ready for him then. This country has progressed significantly in the last 4 years so we will hopefully see him with a fighting chance. Please everyone visit RonPaul2012.com and show your support. Be sure to check out what his views are so you know if hes the right candidate for you.

One little piece of advice, if you find that one of ten views do not match your own, it doesn't mean they are not the choice for you. They still may be the best of the best for your own needs. He doesn't comment on same-sex marriage on his website because he feels attacking it is not a priority and that their are other priorities to be dealt with first. He does touch on Pro-Life, and I am too to an extent, I don't believe in outlawing abortions but I do believe on limiting them as to not make them a form of birth control (it costs the government a lot of money). It should be prescribed.

Okay ladies and germs, I'm off to work for the day. Its time to go cut/color/style some hair, try to help this world a more beautiful place to the eye, if only it worked to make this world a better place as a whole... peace out boy/girl scouts.