"And marriage equality goes marching on . . . "

 Some recent happenings on the marriage equality front:

1.  A three judge panel of the 6th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati heard arguments in the gay marriage cases each of the four states in its jurisdiction:  Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee.   One of the judges made a comment that is making the internet rounds.   She observed, "it doesn't look like the sky has fallen in" in the states that already allow same-sex marriage.    Sounds like that's at least one vote.

2.  And then there's Texas, whose ban of same-sex marriage was overturned in U. S. District Court last February and is on appeal.   A group of 60 Texas lawmakers signed a brief arguing that gay marriage could lead to the legalization of incest, pedophilia and polygamy.   

Good grief.   Is that all they've got?    Well, no.  In appealing the case, Attorney General Gregg Abbott argues that the ban promotes stable, lasting relationships for child rearing.   Yes, thank you, Mr. AG for making the argument for our side.  You see, it's also good for the children being raised by gay men and lesbian parents to allow their parents to get married and have all those stabilizing benefits.    

Abbott even goes on to cite the article by Mark Regnerus that has been thoroughly debunked in other court hearings;  it's even been withdrawn by the journal that published it.    Either these people are just going through the motions of appeal . . . or else they haven't done any homework at all and are just plain dumb to boot.   In truth, their "defense" is laughable.

3.  The campaign for the Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia, Jason Carter, put out this statement saying he supports marriage equality.   Later, in an interview, Carter was asked if he supports same-sex marriage.  He replied:

"I have, for a very long time, supported marriage equality. . . .  Everybody who knows me knows where I stand on the issue. I haven't had a conversion. My grandfather is 89 and supports marriage equality in part because of the influence we've had on him.

"I do think it's important for people to know that no one in the movement is talking about telling churches what to do. But as far as the government is concerned, marriage equality is something I believe in and have [believed in] for a very, very, very long time since before I got into politics."

Carter also had a good answer to whether, as governor, he would push for protection against anti-gay discrimination for Georgia state employees:

"I'm against discrimination. How we get there with the Republican legislature is a question. But one thing I know for a fact is that, right now, there are state employees who are living double lives because they're not allowed to be who they want to be, and who they are, when they're at work. That's something where if they know that they have someone in the governor's office that is a friend, that will make a big difference in those people's lives. That's important to me. That's important to a huge number of other people.

Well, there you have it.   What a clear choice between this young Democrat and that Nathan Deal, who in his 2010 campaign smeared opponent Karen Handel for having supported Youth Pride, a community support facility and counseling center for gay teenagers. 

He not only smeared Handel, he smeared and possibly endangered the lives of the kids at Youth Pride by demonizing it as a place where they teach and encourage homosexual behavior in 14 year olds.   Despicable man.

Ralph