Obama | The Idaho Agenda

President to Supreme Court: Strike Down DOMA!

February 24, 2013 by jamestidmarsh Leave a comment

After some speculation over whether or not President Obama would address the upcoming Supreme Court showdown over the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, the administration has filed a historic brief arguing that the law is, indeed, unconstitutional.

“Solicitor General Donald Verrilli says that Section 3 of DOMA, which defines “spouse” and “marriage” under federal law as only those marriages between one man and one woman, is unconstitutional, BuzzFeed’s Chris Geidner reported Friday, moments after the brief had been filed.

According to NPR, “The brief formally asks the court to declare unconstitutional a specific part of DOMA called Section 3. That’s the part that bars recognition of same-sex marriages for purposes of federal benefits such as income taxes or federal employee benefits. The brief points out that there are more than 1,000 federal statues and programs that come into play depending on a person’s marital status.”

As for leaving the matter of same-gender marriage up to voters,”The Obama administration’s brief disputes that position, stating several reasons why letting voters decide on the legal status of same-sex marriage is inappropriate. It sites the long history of discrimination gays and lesbians have faced; that sexual orientation bears no relation to the ability to contribute to society; and that sexual orientation is a core part of identity with broad scientific evidence that it is not a voluntary choice,” the radio network says.

Geidner goes on to report,”in addition to Friday’s administration brief on the constitutional merits of DOMA, the administration, BLAG and Windsor’s lawyers all filed briefs Friday regarding jurisdictional questions about whether the Department of Justice’s decision not to defend Section 3 of DOMA means that the court has no controversy to resolve and whether BLAG has the constitutional authority to be a party to the case.”

The court is set to hear the case on March 27th, a day after it hears arguments in the Prop 8 case.

Click HERE to read the full historic brief.

Filed under LGBT, Marriage, Pride Tagged with Arguments, breif, Doma, Gay, Idaho, Obama, supreme court

Pink Swastika Author continues to push “Obama is gay” rumor

February 24, 2013 by jamestidmarsh Leave a comment

Forget about the birth certificate, that seems to be old news. Last fall, the man who helped launch “Swiftboat” into the conservative lexicon, Jerome Corsi, “uncovered” the biggest conspiracy since, well it’s pretty hard to keep up with their conspiracies, but this one seems to have struck a long sloppy note with the guy who blames “the gays” for the holocaust

To get you up to speed, in his column for World Nut Daily last September, Corsi revealed the shocking rumors that-OMG-the-President-MIGHT BE-a-fag.

“A prominent member of Chicago’s homosexual community claims Barack Obama’s participation in the “gay” bar and bathhouse scene was so well known that many who were aware of his lifestyle were shocked when he ran for president and finally won the White House,” wrote Corsi in his typical “hey-I-just-report-the-gossip-whether-it’s-true-or-not” fashion.

The man who is probably most responsible for Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill isn’t about to let the rumor die out either.

Earlier this week, discredited “Pink Swastika” author Scott Lively revived Coris’s rumors by blurbing on his website “Obama Vacations with Reggie Love, Not Michelle.”

Love, for those that don’t know, is the President’s friend and former personal assistant. A man whom Corsi so scandalously wrote about last October, “uncovering” the gossip that Love may have “shocking” gay-like photos from his college years.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Lively has tried to call the President’s sexuality into question. Lively also repeated Corsi’s rumor that the President was once married to his Pakastani college room mate.

For a man who considers himself to be a “scholar”, Lively sure loves the gossip doesn’t he? But than when you’ve been so discredited by real scholars maybe grasping at straws is all you’ve got left.

Now, if they would only prove once and for all that Glenn Beck didn’t rape and murder a girl back in 1990. Of course Beck didn’t, but that’s the rumor mill for you isn’t it?

Filed under Hate Watch, LGBT, Pride, Religion, The Agenda Tagged with Gay, Idaho, Jerome Corsi, Obama, President obama, Scott Lively

Watch: President Obama says Boy Scouts should allow gay members

February 4, 2013 by jamestidmarsh Leave a comment

President Obama, who helped to bring an end to the military’s discriminatory “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy, is weighing on a similar ban within the Boys Scouts of America.

As we reported, the Boy Scouts of America is “considering” striking the ban on gay members from the national organization’s rules, leaving local sponsoring organizations free to decide for themselves whether to admit gay scouts.

The President told CBS News on Sunday,”The Scouts are a great institution that are promoting young people and exposing them to opportunities and leadership that will serve people for the rest of their lives, and I think nobody should be barred from that.”

The proposal isn’t sitting well with many far right extremists however. The New York Times reports on Saturday, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, a conservative christian, who also believes that DADT was a successful policy, told the Texas Scouts’ 64th annual Report to State on Saturday, “the organization should not soften its strict policy barring gay members, and dismissed the idea of bending the organization to the whims of what he calls “popular culture.”

Watch President Obama’s comments below:

Filed under Call To Action, Hate Watch, LGBT, Pride, The Agenda, Transgender Tagged with boy scouts, Gay, Idaho, lgbt, Obama, Perry, policy, scouting

President Obama Delivers Gayest Inaugural speech Ever

January 22, 2013 by jamestidmarsh 1 Comment

President Obama’s second inaugural ceremony was filled was filled with a lot of historic firsts. Monday’s ceremony included the first woman and layperson to deliver an inaugural prayer, the first openly gay Latino poet to recite a work during an inaugural ceremony and the first Hispanic to administer the oath of office.

It also marked the first time that a U.S. president has acknowledged the struggle of millions of gay Americans during the historic speech. In fact, as Politico reports, President Obama is the first president to use the word “gay” in an inaugural address in reference to sexual orientation at all.

The first historic nod to the gay community came in reference to the Declaration of Independence’s mission that all are created equal and all deserve “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The president said that mission wouldn’t be complete until,”our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law— for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.”

The second nod came during a list of historic places in the civil rights struggle,”We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths — that all of us are created equal — is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall,” Obama said.

The fact that the President made the two references just feet away from the same Supreme Court Justices who will soon be deciding the fate of marriage equality in the country was not lost on more than one political commentator.

As historic as the speech is, the President still has some work to do if he hopes to seal his legacy as the “LGBT equality president.” As Chris Geidner over at BuzzFeed points out, service members’ same-sex spouses are still being denied “basic support from their service base communities” and transgender soldiers still can’t openly serve. There’s also the matter of adding sexual orientation and gender identity to federal discrimination laws, so far the President has said little about supporting such a measure. Finally, as Geidner again points out, it isn’t clear just how far Obama will carry his support for marriage equality. Will he, for example, condemn state laws that prohibit same-sex marriage?

At any rate, with the repeal of “Don’t ask, Don’t Tell”, the President’s recent “evolution” on marriage equality and this administration’s work on other LGBT issues, there’s no denying that President Obama has already made a lot of headway when it comes to securing equal rights for ALL Americans. In fact, when you stop and think about it, cliche’ aside, we really are better off then we were four years ago.

Watch the full speech below: