SCOTUS Overturns Ban on Same-Sex Marriage

[Imp_Emissary]

Actually to Filibuster a bill now, apparently all you really have to do is say that you wish to filibuster it, and sit back down on you hands.

People who want to talk during them can like what Rand Paul did a bit ago, but you don't have to actually DO anything to keep it going.

Yes, that is as stupid as it sounds, and no, I have no idea how they allowed that to become a thing.

Texas Filibuster laws are much more strict as listed earlier on in this thread and was set up that way specifically to prevent filibusters (which would have most likely come from democrats. the GOP doesn't like it when their toys are used against them). It's landmark because in the past no one trying to filibuster has gone the distance.

This should be a wake up call for the GOP. In what has to be on of their home base states (largely due to excessive gerrymandering), they still had to lie and cheat to try and get their way and they still lost. Between that and what happened today they need to realize that they need to change or be insignificant in the future.



A large number of state anti-gay marriage laws (and a number of anti-gay laws in general) practically relied on DOMA as their backbone. Without being able to rely on it anymore those laws lose a lot of their bite and can lead to future turnovers.

Really? 0_0 Wha....What is this feeling....Can it be.....Hope for a better functioning government?

Spoiler: .....

It can't be! Don't tease me now!

So they can't do that in Texas? Good to hear. Hope that spreads back to everywhere.

Also, Dx gerrymandering is a dirty word friend!

It's also an accurate word, but my point still stands that people don't like hearing it brought up! ;p

Well, maybe Congress will surprise us all and get the Voting Rights Act back up and running.
And maybe I'll get to ride a dragon next to Einstein riding a unicorn.

Oh well. At least DOMA is dead. That's something.

 

[Hagi]

I know I'm probably a bit late to the party on this, but:

"Signed into law in 1996 by President Bill Clinton, DOMA prevented same-sex couples whose marriage was legally recognized in their home states from receiving federal benefits like Social Security."

So legally binding marriages - not "civil unions" but actual marriages - were not allowed to receive benefits on the sole basis that the relationship is homosexual.

IT TOOK THEM 15 YEARS TO FIGURE OUT THIS MIGHT BE DISCRIMINATION?!

With a 5 to 4 vote.... of what's supposed to be the nine most qualified judges in the country....

But yeah... it's about damn time.

Now will you idiots please hurry up and just make gay marriage legal already. That should've happened ten years ago...

 

[Da Orky Man]

Good job America.

Now you can join the rest of the First World

I still can't quite grasp how this is even an issue, do people really have nothing better to do than concern themselves about which gender other people find attractive?

Oh this ain't all the dumb shit we get to deal with over here:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/25/19140887-texas-abortion-bill-fails-to-pass-after-epic-filibuster
Sen. Wendy Davis managed to keep up the filibuster up until the session expired. Now Pro-lifers know what it feels like to be "late".

Eleven. Freaking. Hours.

I'm a crazy pro-lifer, but that right there is damned impressive. Hats off to you, Ms. Davis... now don't do that ever again. Seriously, wtf...

OT: Yay, I guess!

Conservative Americans should just accept that America is no longer a country under God. Thus, there's no point in trying to enforce religious beliefs in the justice system, particularly on sticky points like this. Focus on churches, not countries. Etc etc.

Bloody fucknuggets, did she do what I think she did? Wearing a back brace, stand up for 11 hours talking non-stop about abortion to a room full of Texas Republicans? Democrats, you need to get this woman a higher position.

 

[Something Amyss]

Idiots generally have the ridiculous notion that if gay marriage is allowed to pass, then "teh gayness" will infect everyone. Allowing gay marriage SEEMS to mean, for some very conservative folks, that we'll start sodomizing puppies and kittens en masse in the near future. The problem is these people can't tell the difference between a historically recorded custom and a paraphilia.

Pedophilia, polygamy (which, honestly seems the odd man out here), bestiality and (this is a new one I just heard today) honour killings. All because two selfish people wanted to be recognised. >.>

Just barely...

5-4?

Really?

It's bad when nearly half your "highest court" is apparently brain damaged.

While the Supreme Court is supposed to be apolitical, the fact is that pretty much every decision is going to come down to party lines.

France just made gay marriage legal this year.

As much crap as America gets not every first world country can be as progressive as the Netherlands, it's just to high a bar

France also has issues with blacks and Muslims. In fact, I don't know why Americans rag on the French so much. We're very similar. Except in BMI.

It's part of the whole separation of church and state, if the church does not get to influence how the state thinks, the state should not have any say in how the church thinks or pronounce a married couple.

Well sure, but is that what this is about? Is anyone actually demanding the government intervene in church marriages and require they marry gays? Because as far as I can tell, the only people demanding that are the straw-liberals in Michelle Bachmann's (and company) head. This is about federal recognition and state laws, neither of which have any impact unless the church is in where it shouldn't be.

Bloody fucknuggets, did she do what I think she did? Wearing a back brace, stand up for 11 hours talking non-stop about abortion to a room full of Texas Republicans? Democrats, you need to get this woman a higher position.

and an army of bodyguards.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Pedophilia, polygamy (which, honestly seems the odd man out here), bestiality and (this is a new one I just heard today) honour killings. All because two selfish people wanted to be recognised. >.>

Yeah, thanks for catching this.

I should have added that out of these recorded customs, homosexuality is the least damaging of them all. The Romans had their "puer delicatus" and the Greeks weren't shy about what was picked up in the gymnasiums by young men in full bloom. Yet wouldn't you know it, we're culturally taught to consider those two as being civil and ordered societies. So honestly, any prescribed "evils" to the concept of two guys or gals doin' it have no solid grounds whatsoever.

As for the other ones... Yeah. Bestiality's definitely a paraphilia, along with pedophilia. Homosexuality might be deviant from a purely anthropological point of view, but at least there's enough sensible folks who aren't trying to "cure" gays and lesbians from something they have no control over.

Then there's honour killings. I'm from Quebec and there's a sizable Moroccan and Algerian diaspora here. I've got nothing against them, of course, but both communities come with their hard-lining Muslims who seem to figure the family man's social standing matters a whole damn much more than his wife's (or wives', in some cases).

Last summer was notable for being a little grody on the local news, first thanks to Luca Rocco Magnotta (the Montreal Slasher), but a father ended up drowning two of his daughters in Ontario because they'd dared to Westernize their clothing and general world views. Freaking nutjob claimed he was in the right to try and "cleanse" his family's honour. Even his own relatives backed him up!

I keep dreaming of the day where a non-denominational or atheist panel will go through a province or state's individual religious confessions point-for-point and basically outlaw anything that's so insane as to potentially jeopardize someone else's life or well-being. It's an Orwellian pipe dream and I should be ashamed of suggesting it, I know, but there ya go.

"Oh, so you figure God's fine with you spraying car battery acid on your daughter's face because she doesn't dress Muslim enough? Mkay, sure. Why don't you go in this nice cell over there for a couple decades, huh? You disgusting pile of nonhuman excrement?"

 

[HellbirdIV]

When it come to marriage, sooner or later it always ends-up being the same sex.

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Ah, but seriously though. This is great. Along with the Texan abortion ban debacle, I'm actually starting to think that the United States might pull itself out of the morass of backwards-ass pseudo-fundamentalist policies and the overbearing influence of rich white dudes and actually become a country I don't feel compelled to openly mock every time I discuss it.

 

[Wereduck]

OT; Good job american justice system.

COMPLETELY off topic tangent; It's something i just noticed looking at the news for this. Does anyone else think SCOTUS looks weird? and saying it out loud, it kinda sound like its a dirty word. Maybe its just to close to scrotum? dunno. i think the abbreviation should be USSC. just me i guess.

You're not the only one and yes; it definitely evokes "scrotum". +1 for USSC and let's hope they don't get too much trouble with people confusing them with the Marine Corp.

On topic: Well done America! Combined with the Texas abortion filibuster I'm feeling much better about the Voting Rights Act taking one in the nads yesterday.

 

[Woodsey]

Good job America.

Now you can join the rest of the First World

I still can't quite grasp how this is even an issue, do people really have nothing better to do than concern themselves about which gender other people find attractive?

If I have a sweet, and my friend has a sweet, then everything's sweet. But then you get a sweet and things become less sweet because you like boys and then we're stuck with them there Gay Cooties. It's very simple.

Now, what I don't get is evolution. One too many fish having retard babies in that old chestnut for it to be true.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Excellent. The irony is that the people who support a ban on same-sex marriage always talk about freedom and how government intrusion into peoples lives is a bad thing.

The four justices that dissented should be impeached for not understanding the definition of "equal protection under the law."

This.

Those individuals hate the government interfering in THEIR lives, but they pass laws to interfere in other people's lives. Were I a vengeful soul, I'd suggest that maybe we should pass some laws that attack THEIR lives and see how they like it.

I believe its largely a religous issue, seeing as much of the US is large Christian, and despite something along the lines of "Seperation of Church and State" being uttered at some point, the church still has quite a bit of sway with the state.

Not entirely true. While the Christian Right is one of the main forces attacking a woman's right to choose, there are others who also do so. There are "pro-life atheists" out there - not for religious issues, but because it is (technically) the ending of a human life. In many ways, abortion is a stickier issue than gay marriage.

As a teacher, I've seen an entire generation of students - including many who are part of the Christian Right - question laws against gay marriage. More and more, even extremely conservative people are seeing that denying a couple - any couple - the right to marry is wrong. I think we will be seeing the end of Gay Marriage as an issue within our lifetimes. I hope this Supreme Court action is part of that.

Meanwhile, I expect that abortion will continue to be an issue long after I've died of old age. THAT has been an issue for the past several thousand years.

 

[Something Amyss]

Basically: At my university, I have several (not bigoted) professors who expressed the legitimate concern that gay marriage could lead to polygamy. Without going into to detail, I can definitely see their point.

While I appreciate the forum can eat your posts and such, the problem here is I CAN'T see it because there's no persuasive argument involved; just "my professors said it." I cannot judge their argument or character.

However, I'm about as worried about polygamy as I am about gay marriage leading to it. That is to say, not at all.

 

[Something Amyss]

Honestly this is bullshit on many many levels. I am disappointed in the Supreme Court.

Also Escapist I'm even more disappointed with you. This news has nothing to do with gaming or geek culture even remotely and has no business being posted as news by one of your writers.

You will probably have to approach them directly and give some personal contact info. You know, so they can reach you for approval before posting things.

 

[Something Amyss]

Excellent. The irony is that the people who support a ban on same-sex marriage always talk about freedom and how government intrusion into peoples lives is a bad thing.

The four justices that dissented should be impeached for not understanding the definition of "equal protection under the law."

Well, that's not a double standard. They want government to be so small it can fit in a gay's bedroom (or a woman's uterus) and leave them alone. And really, what's wrong with that standard??

 

[Something Amyss]

Don't lump everyone into 2 groups. I'd call myself a liberal. But this is one of the 2 things I disagree with them and have to side with the Republicans on.

That doesn't change the fact that the group screaming for personal freedom is the one saying except where gays are involved. and women. and blacks. and mexicans."

Tell me, is this your stance? You seem quick to defend them.