Getting our marriage license!!
This is how our day began, early morning, 2 years ago!
Yet our story began 38 years ago when we met in college!
We met and it was as if we’d known each other forever. Life got in the way and each went along different life paths. Yet, life brought us together again in 1996. Together, inseparable since. Two years ago, our union was legalized! ‘Til death do us part’ .. are the words that rule our lives. Happy anniversary, my love!!
When hatred takes human form, it looks a lot like the founder and chairman of the Liberty Counsel Matthew Staver
You may recognize him as the lawyer for the infamous Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis who refused to do her job because her hatred was too big a burden to bear so she chose prison instead.
She just couldn’t stand the thought of two loving people of the same gender getting married, so she showed us just a taste of what was about come in terms of hating the LGBT community.
And she had Staver as her equally bigoted lawyer.
What’s come since Davis’ hissy fit has been a string of anti-LGBT bills disguised as “religious freedom” laws, and Staver is the man behind the hate nationwide. CBS News investigated and came to find out that it’s been Staver leading this zealous crusade.
From laws prohibiting transgender individuals from using the proper bathroom to allowing businesses the right to refuse service to the LGBT community, Staver has been there through it all.
Yet, he cleverly words his hatred as such:
“It is only about being free to pursue your faith.
We have no interest in discriminating against anyone.”
No, Staver, the First Amendment already guarantees your freedom to pursue your faith, what you’re doing is helping states all across the nation write laws to specifically discriminate against LGBT individuals.
You are making it legal to deny service or evict tenants based on sexual orientation. This legislated hate is taking away the freedom of LGBT citizens to grant the freedom to legally discriminate to religious zealots afraid gay money has gay cooties.
And God forbid a transgender person needs to pee.
Oh, and get this, Staver doesn’t think businesses are really going to pull out of the states that have enacted these laws. He’s supposedly calling their “bluff.” He’s about to be in for a rude awakening, because being on the wrong side of history has never boded well for any bigot. His hatred for the gay community is bizarre. If he wants freedom, live and let live. It really can be that easy.
CBS News investigation finds Kim Davis’ lawyer behind anti-LGBT bills in 20 states
By: David Edwards
After governors in North Carolina and Mississippi recently signed laws limiting the rights of LGBT people, CBS News began investigating why so many anti-LGBT bills were cropping up in state legislatures around the country.
The network found that the conservative group Liberty Counsel had placed lawyers in all 50 states to draft legislation and advise lawmakers on how to rein in the rights of LGBT people in response to a Supreme Court ruling which legalized same-sex marriage in 2015.
CBS determined that bills tied to Liberty Counsel have been filed in at least 20 states so far.
“Well I certainly want to push back against that [same-sex marriage] ruling,” Liberty Counsel founder Matt Staver told CBS News. “It was a wrong ruling. It has no basis in the constitution.”
“The Supreme Court in the 5-4 opinion on marriage in 2015 lit the house on fire,” he added. “All we’re trying to do is control the fire at this point in time.”
Staver insisted that the bills were “about being free to pursue your faith,” and that his group had “no interest in discriminating against anyone.”
He also asserted that companies did not have the guts to go through with boycotts of states that enacted pro-discrimination legislation.
“They’re not gonna follow through,” he declared. “It’s a bluff. They’re not leaving.”
~~Group behind states’ religious freedom laws speaks out~~
~~Published on Apr 13, 2016~~
Lawmakers in several states are passing bills to protect those who cite religious beliefs for refusing to serve or employ people in the LGBT community. These bills began to crop up in state legislatures soon after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage last year. As Dean Reynolds reports, the same group is behind most of the new legislation.
I can not believe that this is going to happen. I had resigned myself to the fact that it wouldn’t be a reality in my lifetime. Still with this ever-changing information flowing, it’s hard to believe. The feeling that there is still a possibility that this won’t happen is still there.
Many do not agree with marriage equality … and have place innumerable obstacles trying to stop it.
Let’s see where this leads.
I do know that I’m getting ready. I’m heading to the County Clerks Office the morning of January 6, 2015.
What happens after that …. you will soon know!!
All of Florida’s 67 counties can comply with a federal judge’s ruling and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples starting next week.
U.S. Judge Robert Hinkle issued a ruling Thursday that clarifies (January 1, 2015) his ruling on the issue
Hinkle originally overturned Florida’s same-sex marriage ban, but there were questions as to whether it affected only Washington County, or all counties.
A stay on the ruling was set to end at midnight Jan. 5, and Hinkle said he would not extend the stay. That means on Jan. 6 counties can begin issuing marriage licences to same-sex couples.
U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle ruled New Years Day that all Florida clerks are bound by the U.S. Constitution not to enforce Florida’s gay marriage ban and that any couple seeking a license on Tuesday, January 6, should receive one.
“The preliminary injunction now in effect thus does not require the Clerk to issue licenses to other applicants,” Hinkle wrote in an order released Thursday afternoon. “But as set out in the order that announced issuance of the preliminary injunction, the Constitution requires the Clerk to issue such licenses.”
~Judge Hinkle said this in his ruling~
“History records no shortage of instances when state officials defied federal court orders on issues of federal constitutional law. Happily, there are many more
instances when responsible officials followed the law, like it or not. Reasonable people can debate whether the ruling in this case was correct and who it binds.
“There should be no debate, however, on the question whether a clerk of court may follow the ruling, even for marriage-license applicants who are not parties to this
case. And a clerk who chooses not to follow the ruling should take note: the governing statutes and rules of procedure allow individuals to intervene as
plaintiffs in pending actions, allow certification of plaintiff and defendant classes, allow issuance of successive preliminary injunctions, and allow successful
plaintiffs to recover costs and attorney’s fees.”
Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida said : “This is a New Years Day present from federal Judge Robert Hinkle — he has given Florida the road map to an orderly transition to being a state that treats all its people equally.”
~~GALLERY~~
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“We are thankful that Judge Hinkle agreed with us that the Constitution does not tolerate discrimination and that, beginning Tuesday Jan. 6, all clerks in Florida have an obligation to issue marriage licenses to couples requesting them.”
Simon said Hinkle’s “injunction has statewide impact because he found the law unconstitutional and therefore as we have been saying, no public official should be acting in accordance with an unconstitutional provision.”
Intervention: Congressman Alan Grayson and Osceola commissioner step in on gay marriage
Posted by Billy Manes on Tue, Dec 23, 2014 at 11:02 AM
THIS AFTERNOON, STATE ATTORNEY JEFF ASHTON RELEASED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT:
“State Attorney Jeffrey L. Ashton informed the Clerks of Courts in Orange and Osceola counties today that his office will not prosecute them for issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples when the ban is lifted on January 6th.”
Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-09) and Osceola County Commissioner Cheryl Grieb have asked Orange-Osceola State Attorney Jeff Ashton to confirm that local Clerks of Circuit Court will not be prosecuted for issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples.
~~GALLERY~~
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Maybe it’s the holiday crunch and the associated number of days people will be drinking outside of the office – or perhaps because it’s a huge and necessary battle about why equality matters in this state and nationwide – but the developments in Florida’s gay marriage conundrum are happening almost every hour on the hour.
Yesterday, we reported that Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin was seeking some clarity from the courts on whether he was actually going to be able to issue marriage licenses on Jan. 6, seeing as, well, the marriage ban is unconstitutional in every way possible, and the U.S. Supreme Court has denied U.S.
Attorney General Pam Bondi a stay on the issuance of licenses next month. Many of the state’s 67 county clerks, though, fear legal retribution, thanks to a discredited report from advisers to the state clerks association. Last night, the same advisers stood their ground, stating that clerks should still avoid being kind to the gays, because, oh no, slaps on wrists or whatever.
This morning (or maybe last night?), U.S. Congressman Alan Grayson, our congressman who actually loves the gays, joined with Osceola County Commissioner Cheryl Grieb in turning up the heat on Orange-Osceola State Attorney Jeff Ashton on the issue of pressing charges against clerks issuing licenses to same sex couples.
Ashton, you see, is characteristically playing the issue safe and down the middle. Yesterday he issued a statement via spokeswoman saying: “The State Attorney does not announce in advance which cases he will prosecute. If he receives a complaint, that complaint will be investigated and evaluated, as other complaints are, and a charging decision will be made at the appropriate time.”
Grayson and Grieb contend that this is all a violation of the Federal Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, because that’s exactly what the U.S. Supreme Court said last year. Grayson, who wrote both myself (Billy Manes) and my deceased partner (Alan Jordan) into the Congressional Record this summer in honor of our work for equality, is once again not parsing words here. The press release is just below, and beneath that, the full letter. Game on, Ashton.
~Grayson: Don’t Prosecute Clerks Who Issue Gay Marriage Licenses~
Congressman and Osceola Commissioner Grieb ask State Attorney Ashton to use “prosecutorial discretion” when legal rulings go into effect
I find this reality to be very interesting. It shows me, a lay person, that the justice system in this country, in any level that you may think of, is discordant, disconnected, dysfunctional and any other “dys” you can think of.
This is a “battle” that has been raging in the USA for a while. It’s been an uphill battle and fora while it looked like there was a momentum going … a literal domino effect.
Yet, in Florida … there is one obstacle after another. The most recent being Attorney General Pam Bondi trying for the nth time to extend the existing ban past January 6 when it expires. That seems to be ironed out. Now the problem is that the clerks who issue marriage licenses are under the threat of fines and even imprisonment if they issue any licenses coming January 6, 2015.
Florida Threat: Arresting Officials Who Let Gays Get Married
Florida’s State Court Clerks Association has begun sending out notices to clerks throughout the state informing them that they may face legal action if they issue marriage licenses to same sex couples this upcoming January.
“Florida’s Court Clerks & Comptrollers’ duty is to act in accordance with Florida law,” warned the association in a statement. “Florida Statutes are unique in regard to prohibiting the issuance of a marriage license to a couple that is not a man and a woman, in that it provides that a Clerk who violates this prohibition is guilty of a criminal act and subject to a fine and/or imprisonment.”
By: Matt Baume
Florida clerks can start issuing marriage licenses to gay couples in January — but if they do, they could risk arrest and jail time. An anti-gay group in Hawaii is still trying — and failing — to stop marriages. And things are still looking bad for the National Organization for Marriage.
Marriage is supposed to start in Florida on January 6th, but that doesn’t mean it will. Back in August, a federal judge ruled against the state’s marriage ban, and after months of waiting, his ruling is scheduled to finally go into effect on January 6. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi asked the US Supreme Court for another delay, but on Friday they said no, the marriages can go ahead.
The situation is complicated because as of January 6th, the ban will be officially unconstitutional, but also still on the books. Florida’s marriage ban includes some really steep penalties, and clerks who obey the judge’s ruling and issue a license could be arrested, and thrown in jail for a year. It would be crazy if that actually happened, but all it would take is a clerk willing to test the law, and a prosecutor willing test it back at them. We don’t know if that’ll going to happen, and we might not find out until the stay expires in January.
Florida clerks can start issuing marriage licenses to gay couples in January — but if they do, they could risk arrest and jail time. An anti-gay group in Hawaii is still trying — and failing — to stop marriages. And things are still looking bad for the National Organization for Marriage.
Get your act together & stop the “dangling people waiting act”!!
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: There are some of us who have been keeping an eye on the marriage equality situation in Florida …. Ms. Bondi’s new antics, etc. However, seems that there is something that has been missed ….
~~In today’s newspaper~~
“Orange County Clerk of Courts Tiffany Moore Russell announced yesterday that she would not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples without a new court order. Her announcement comes one day after the state clerk’s association urged its members not to give marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples, warning that anyone who does so could be prosecuted and sentenced to a year in jail ….
Gay rights advocates have predicted a flood of same-sex applications at courthouses across the state Jan 6, the day after a court-ordered stay expires in a ruling by a Tallahassee federal judge, who found Florida’s ban on same sex marriage unconstitutional.
But Central Florida’s elected clerks have indicated that they will follow the recommendation of the Florida Association of Court Clerks and Comptrollers, which concluded that the Tallahassee ruling applies to no clerks but the one in Washington County, a named defendant in the suit.”
