Civil Rights -- Victories For Equal Rights

May 30, 2008

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Ali Frick, and Benjamin Armbruster

CIVIL RIGHTS

Victories For Equal Rights

Earlier this month, the California Supreme Court, "striking down two state laws that had limited marriages to unions between a man and a woman," ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. The 4-3 decision makes California the second state, after Massachusetts, to allow same-sex marriage. The AP reported yesterday that "California officials are telling county clerks that they can start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on June 17." In another victory for equal rights advocates, New York Governor David Paterson (D) this week "instructed state agencies -- including those governing insurance and health care -- to immediately change policies and regulations to recognize gay marriages." Paterson called it "a strong step toward marriage equality." Once civil marriages are available in California and Massachusetts and recognized in New York, "marriage equality will reach around 60 million Americans," noted gay rights activist Andrew Sullivan. When asked to explain the reasoning behind the decision, California Chief Justice Ronald George, a Republican, said, "I think there are times when doing the right thing means not playing it safe."

CONSERVATIVE REACTION: Conservatives are up in arms in response to the New York and California developments. In California, right-wing groups are attempting to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November stating, "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." Organizations will reportedly spend between $10 and $15 million on the initiative. "The initiative will be asking voters to do two disruptive things: change the state constitution and retroactively impugn these already-existing marriages," Sullivan said. Other reactions to the California ruling were even more extreme, such as from the far-right Campaign for Children and Families, who compared the county clerks issuing same-sex marriage licenses to Nazis during the Holocaust. The New York Times reports today that "opponents of same-sex unions were pondering a range of legal and legislative challenges" to Paterson's directive, including a potential lawsuit "from citizens groups." New York Senate majority leader Joseph Bruno (R) "said he would be consulting with lawyers to study constitutional questions raised by Mr. Paterson's directive, suggesting that legal action was a possibility."

SUPPORT FOR EQUAL RIGHTS: A common right-wing response to the California gay marriage ruling is that the justices defied public opinion in ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. "It's outrageous that the court has overturned not only the historic definition of marriage, but the clear will of the people of California," said Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, for example. Several prominent conservatives also launched similar attacks. Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), former Massachussets governor Mitt Romney, and Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), falsely claimed the California ruling came from "unelected judges." But the justices were "confirmed by the public" after being appointed and "also come before voters at the end of their 12-year terms." In fact, each of the seven justices involved in the ruling were approved by overwhelming margins. A Field poll released this week "found that in recent decades, a growing number of Californians have approved allowing same-sex couples to marry, with 51 percent of those polled now approving, up from 44 percent in 2006 and 30 percent in 1985." The poll is the "first ever majority for same-sex marriage in a California poll," Sullivan noted. Beyond the increasingly popular support for marriage equality, courts have an obligation to protect fundamental rights like marriage for historically unpopular minorities.

BENEFITS OF EQUAL RIGHTS: Earlier this week, Schwarzenegger suggested California's economy could grow because of the gay marriage ruling. "I hope that California's economy is booming because everyone is going to come here and get married," he said. The San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau expects a tourism boom this summer, and its website now "promotes a gay travel section" and explains that same-sex couples are "officially allowed to marry in the state of California." In a landmark decision in 2004, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruling made the state the first to legalize same-sex marriage. A 2006 report from the Williams Institute noted that "gay workers who receive domestic-partnership benefits are more comfortable in their work environment and far happier -- and more productive -- than employees who do not receive them." Furthermore, a report from the University of Massachusetts predicted that the Massachusetts marriage ruling could bring over $150 million in new spending in the state within a year. Furthermore, "if same-sex marriages increase general spending, the state will receive higher sales tax revenues as well," the report noted. "Workers who have an unmarried domestic partner are doubly burdened: Their employers typically do not provide coverage for domestic partners; and even when partners are covered, the partner's coverage is taxed as income to the employee," the Center for American Progress and Williams Institute noted in December.

MILITARY -- VA SECRETARY CALLS VETS' CONCERNS ABOUT PTSD 'OVERBLOWN': Over the weekend, VA Secretary James Peake visited Alaska with Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK). While there, they met with Vietnam veteran John Guinn, who questioned the Secretary about the growing problem of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) amongst veterans. Peake suggested that some concerns about PTSD are "overblown," adding that many of the brain injuries were "akin to what anyone who played football in their youth might have suffered." On Saturday, Peake also said that many vets with PTSD may just need "a little counseling" and shouldn't "need the PTSD label their whole lives." Peake's comments are disturbing, especially in light of new numbers released by the Pentagon this week showing that the number of new PTSD cases "jumped by roughly 50 percent in 2007." Additionally, as Brandon Friedman at VetVoice points out, Peake's comments are undermined by VA psychiatrist Jonathan Shay, who has stressed the seriousness of PSTD: "Combat PTSD is a war injury. Veterans with combat PTSD are war wounded, carrying the burdens of sacrifice for the rest of us as surely as the amputees, the burned, the blind, and the paralyzed carry them."

MILITARY -- WEBB'S GI BILL WOULD ENCOURAGE 30,000 NEW RECRUITS ANNUALLY: The Pentagon, the White House and other conservatives have rallied against Sen. Jim Webb's (D-VA) 21st Century GI Bill, citing a recent CBO report that concluded that Webb's bill would reduce reenlistment rates by 16 percent. In fact, the report says that the drop in reenlistment rate would be offset by a 16 percent increase in recruitment. Slate has taken a closer look at the CBO's numbers and has noted that the military would in fact see several times as many new recruits as drop-outs because "the '16 percents'" in the CBO report "aren't necessarily equal." Slate explains: "the CBO estimate concluded that the 16 percent increase in recruitment would add an additional 30,000 recruits annually, while a 16 percent decline in re-enlistment would result in 7,000 fewer re-enlistments annually. In other words, new recruits would greatly outnumber soldiers who decline to re-enlist."

RADICAL RIGHT -- CONSERVATIVES TRY TO QUASH INTEREST IN MCCLELLAN BOOK: The right wing is trotting out a variety of counter-attacks to deal with the explosive allegations found in former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's new book. On Wednesday morning, allies of President Bush repeated that they were "puzzled" by the book, "as if, the New York Times noted, "Mr. McClellan had undergone some kind of emotional breakdown." By afternoon, attacks were more charged, with White House officials calling McClellan a "traitor" and “Benedict." That night and into yesterday morning, Fox News pundits were insisting the book is the work of a nefarious, left-wing publisher. Finally, several prominent conservatives are dismissing the book by insisting that no one outside of "people who follow Washington issues" really even cares about McClellan's allegations. "Forgive me if I'm bored," declared Fox News's Bill O'Reilly. "I'm more concerned about American Idol than I am about Scott McClellan," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. "I don't care, like Newt," added former Vice President Cheney adviser Mary Matalin. But despite what these pundits suggest, Americans are paying attention. McClellan's book rose rapidly on Wednesday to become Amazon's number one bestseller and his story has dominated news coverage.

Bowing to a court order, the White House released a long-delayed report yesterday on the "mainly harmful, impact of human-caused global warming in the United States." According to new projections in the report, "the poor, elderly and communities with lagging public-health and public-works systems will face outsize health risks from warming."

The U.S. military suspended a Marine yesterday "for distributing coins quoting the Gospel to Sunni Muslims" in Fallujah. The incident has "enraged Iraqis who view it as the latest example of American disrespect for Islam." Residents of the Iraqi city perceived the effort as "a 'humiliating' attempt to convert them to Christianity."

Yesterday, a bipartisan group of 20 former U.S. attorneys -- including two who served under President Bush -- urged a federal judge Thursday to reject the administration's "assertion of blanket immunity for presidential chief of staff Joshua Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers in the congressional investigation."

According to a new report by the Commonwealth Fund, the "number of uninsured U.S. young adults, who already represent a major chunk of the American population without health coverage, rose again in 2006." "Based on census data, 13.7 million people aged 19 to 29 had no health insurance, either public or private, in 2006, up from 13.3 million in 2005."

Three months after a congressional deadline, the White House "named a special inspector general to search for possible fraud and abuse in the funding of Afghanistan's reconstruction yesterday." While Afghanistan has largely escaped the intense scrutiny Congress has given Iraq, one official noted that "a lot of the same problems exist."

CIA Director Michael Hayden said yesterday that al Qaeda is "essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world." "While cautioning that al Qaeda remains a serious threat," Hayden's assessment is "strikingly upbeat" after his agency warned last year of new threats from a resurgent al Qaeda.

The State Department has "withdrawn Fulbright Scholarship grants to Palestinian students in Gaza because they were denied exit visas by Israel." When asked about the development, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she "had not known" about the report and vowed to investigate.

And finally: The Examiner reports, "The Kiss Army fan club has an enthusiastic new recruit: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In a departure from her normally staid diplomatic duties, Rice met the legendary glam rock quartet when they happened to share a hotel in the Swedish capital." Rice said she was "thrilled," adding that her favorite song by the group is "Rock and Roll All Nite."

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FIFA, the world's governing body for soccer, "abruptly lifted the suspension of Iraq's soccer association on Thursday, easing concerns that Iraq's team, a rare symbol of national unity, would be banned from the 2010 World Cup." The organization suspended the team earlier this week after the Iraqi government disbanded Iraq's Olympic Committee.

MINNESOTA: "Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) vetoed a bill that would have deferred some foreclosure sales in the state for up to a year."

ENVIRONMENT: "The number of people who live in coastal areas that are most vulnerable to wind and water has fallen slightly since 2000."

ECONOMY: Transit agencies across the country are paying 44 percent more for fuel this year than last year.

THINK PROGRESS: Fox News meme: Publisher "got to" former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, forced him to "spice it up a little bit."

WONK ROOM: A scholar's influence in Iraq.

EMPTY WHEEL: McClellan: President Bush "secretly declassified" the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq to selectively leak to reporters.

TPM MUCKRAKER: Rep. Duncan Hunter's (R-CA) earmarks benefit donors to his son's political campaign.

"I think his editor wrote a lot of it."
-- Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer on former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's new tell-all book, 5/28/08

VERSUS

"These are very much the views that I hold today after looking back and reflecting on things and learning from it."
-- McClellan, 5/29/08

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