Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Exodus 20:16
(paraphrased by InterstateQ!) Pastor Ric’s News & Views: Marriage Part 1
…what do you really believe about gay marriage? Let me just lay it out for you, my members. My views have not changed in 30 years. I’ve been accused of equating gay partnerships with incest and pedophilia. I believe no such thing. You’ve never heard me in 30 years talk like that.
I’ve in no way ever taught that homosexuality is the same as a forced relationship between an adult and child or between siblings. I’ve never taught that in 30 years. I understand why people think that because of a recent BeliefNet interview. In that interview I named several other relationships such as living together, a man with multiple wives, a brother and a sister relationship, adults with children or common-law relationships. I don’t think any of them should be called marriage. There should only be one definition: one man, one woman.
WARREN: The issue to me, I’m not opposed to that as much as I’m opposed to redefinition of a 5,000 year definition of marriage. I’m opposed to having a brother and sister being together and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.
BELIEFNET: Do you think those are equivalent to gays getting married?
WARREN: Oh, I do! For 5,000 years, marriage has been defined by every single culture and every single religion – this is not a Christian issue. Buddhist, Muslims, Jews – historically, marriage is a man and a woman.
See, Rick, we have this thing called The Internet which allows us to look up what you said in the past. If you did not say these things then there might not be a controversy. Now you have the gall to attack us: AmericaBlog
Merry Christmas from Rick Warren! You’re all hateful, evil, and not even Christian!
Barack Obama’s good buddy Rick Warrenrecorded a video yesterday, talking about the outcry over his being chosen to given the invocation at Obama’s swearing in. And it’s a doozie. Warren’s big mouth, and apparent ego, is pretty much guaranteeing that this controversy will continue all the way up until the inauguration and beyond.
In the new video, Warren accuses gays of “hate speech,” of launching “hateful attacks” against him, and he then says that gay and lesbian Americans have “Christ-ophobia,” a clear effort to mock the term “homophobia.” He goes on to explain that gays are “afraid of any Christian,” suggesting that gay and lesbian Americans – gay and lesbian Obama voters – are not Christians. He then goes on to call gays criticizing him “evil.” All this from a man who compared gay marriage to incest and pedophilia, and who explicitly bans “unrepentant gays” from his church membership.
Now we find out that you haven’t really had a change in heart of welcoming gays and lesbians but you’d rather clarify with more condemning language. What can Barack Obama do to mitigate this situation? Nothing at this point. Either he rescinds his invitation to Pastor Warren and faces the ire of the evangelical community or he keeps Warren and alienates his base supporters.
Yesterday it was reported that Saddleback had taken down it’s unwelcome message to “unrepentant homosexuals” to its church, which some hailed as being a victory.
Today, Saddleback Church clarified for Queerty what was really happening.
“I wanted to make sure you were aware that the Q & A addressing homosexuality on the Saddleback Church Web site has not been permanently removed, but rather repurposed for clarity. I know your readers have noticed the change.
Attached is the audio response from Saddleback Associate Pastor Tom Holladay regarding the question, “What Does the Bible Say About homosexuality – is it a sin?” that will be posted later this morning on the site.
Wanted to make sure you were aware of this. Thanks!” – Kristin Cole, Saddleback PR
Well here we go again. Did we really just vote for “business as usual” in Washington or did we vote for change? I’m starting to think the former.
It was reported today over at Pam’s House Blend that Rick Warren, the mega-pastor at the mega-church who wrote the mega-best-selling book The Purpose Driven Life, has been asked by the Obama transition team to do the invocation at President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration on January 20th, 2009.
This is the same Rick Warren who has, on numerous occasions defended the passage of Proposition 8 in California, and compared gays and lesbians to zoophiles, pedophiles and polygamists.
(listen around the 2:10 mark)
The last time the President-elect was confronted with this sort of situation it was almost forgivable because the person was rather obscure. In particular I’m talking about the Rev. Donnie McClurkin, an ex-gay pastor who would sing at Obama campaign rallies.
Uh oh, more bad news for presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. According to LifeSite News, a new letter sent out by “pro-family” leaders back in December, asked him to repeal a decision he made forcing government officials to perform marriages where parties were of the same sex before he stepped down. He never acted on this and thus acted in a pro-gay manner and should not be supported according to these leaders and LifeSite News.
A letter addressed to Massachusetts’ ex-governor Mitt Romney has just been made public in which 44 conservative, pro-family leaders from across the nation requested that before stepping down from office, Romney would adhere to the Massachusetts Constitution and repeal his order directing public officials to perform ‘same-sex marriages’.
The letter was hand delivered to members of Romney’s staff on December 20th, 2006 at his office. Romney took no action to adhere to the letter’s requests before he left office at the beginning of the New Year.
The letter cited numerous, historical cases and the Massachusetts’ Constitution to assert that Romney’s actions in implementing ‘gay marriage’ were beyond the bounds of his authority as governor. The authors further asserted that his actions were unconstitutional as were the actions of the four initial judges who formulated the official opinion on the matter in the ‘Goodridge’ case, the case that originally brought the matter to national attention.
Mitt can’t catch a break. The left doesn’t like him, and the right doesn’t like him. Pretty much no one likes him.
Americans For Truth (AH?) have a fairly prominent theme or modus operandi for how they get their “truth” out to readers. It’s a fairly simple one. “Don’t refute the message. Attackthemessenger!”
Instead of simply refuting the arguments against them, they attack the very people who express their point of view. While holding the bible in their hands to boost the credibility of AFT, they use personal attacks to insult the sincerity of those making the opposing view points.
If one were to go to their page today or any day really but starting with the post at the bottom ”An Open Letter … ” dated January 5th, 2007 and work our way up to the top to “NEA’s Anti-Bullying Statement …” dated January 10th, one can see this trend of “blame the messenger” very clearly. I’m going to analyze the stories on the page today and then let you, the reader follow along in the preceding days to see how they handle this.
The first post we’ll analyze is “An Open Letter to Peter LaBarbera.” This was written by a person who comments on and reads Pams House Blend. It was an open letter addressed to Peter LaBarbera in which he states as a gay man who has come to Christ he can’t understand why AFT instead of helping people come to Christ as is commanded in the Bible and helping those that are truly needy, they only pick on a small minority of the population and work as hard as is possible to condemn in every way possible. Read the rest of this entry »
Yes on this particularly murky rainy day in Washington DC, the Swamps of the Freepi seem murkier, slimier, and ultimately more dangerous as the nasty claws and teeth gnash and gnarl at their prey.
There’s no other way around it: When you accuse someone of perpetrating “ethnic cleansing” in any way, shape or form, you are accusing them of genocide.
Genocide. Let that word work its way around your mind for an moment. Genocide is the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. Think about that. And then watch the most grotesque public statement made by any elected official in the United States in the last 100 years.
No, I’m not kidding or reaching for the hyperbole. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) in the video below accuses the Bush administration of perpetrating “ethnic cleansing by hurricane” in Louisana after Katrina, in order to make Louisiana more Republican. The video and audio quality aren’t good, but the words are there. Listen a couple of times if you have to.
Well what happens when Chicken Little is right? A slightly humorous story of the sky falling of course.
It would appear that the prediction of the sky falling if Civil Unions were allowed to occur in NJ have actually proven to be true!
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Authorities were trying to identify a mysterious metallic object that crashed through the roof of a house in eastern New Jersey.
Nobody was injured when the golf-ball sized object, weighing nearly as much as a can of soup, struck the home and embedded itself in a wall Tuesday night. Federal officials sent to the scene said it was not from an aircraft.
The rough-surfaced object, with a metallic glint, was displayed Wednesday by police.
“There’s some great interest in what we have here,” said Lt. Robert Brightman. “It’s rather unusual. I haven’t seen anything like it in my career.”
He said he hoped to have the object identified within 72 hours, but declined to name the other agencies whose help he has enlisted
Wesboro Baptist Church has in turn stated “God hates single family homes in eastern New Jersey.”
This writer will watch carefully for falling objects when he goes to lunch this afternoon.
Kevinbegood (a regular patron of Pam’s House Blend) made a very important comment to a post that needs to be seen by all.
It is tyranny – plain and simple.
And we’ve been much too careful for the last two years about calling this situation exactly what it is – tyranny. This heterosupremacist attitude that only married people should be entitled to have control over their lives and relationships is not only against the framework of our own freedom of association, but is obscene in the methods being used to maintain supremacist control over our lives.
There are times when we have to step up to the plate and not be afraid to call these people what they are – and bigots is just the polite form. They are every bit as tyrannical as the very king and Parliament this nation fought to gain independence from – and they are just as determined to maintain some ridiculous sense of special rights for themselves just because some American “Christian” ayatolluh’s business is completely dependent on propagating a caste system.
When Leonard Pitt’s column ran in our local newspaper this morning (and what a shock that our local rightwing rag would even print it) there had to be at least one christo-fascist commenter whining about how we “choose” to be “unnatural”. Typically, I sent an online comment right back, challenging him to talk about how he projects sexuality in terms of his own experience – meaning apparently he chose the more “correct” one. You can’t choose anything unless you have the notion that you can be something else – it’s time to make these supremacists whining this crap to start spilling their tales of conscious selection.
As for third class status, Wisconsin can forget my support. When the people of an entire state are so stupid and so willing to sell out a basic human right to determine my own damned burial arrangements or let a partner make a simple hospital visitation, there isn’t much of a way to put lipstick over the bruises.
But I do blame our own community for much of this defeat. I know we have an uphill battle, but until we are willing to tell our stories – and tell them loudly – and insist our local media give us the right to say something about our OWN experiences, this situation ain’t gonna change too soon. And I’ve read those experiences even here on the Blend – those comments in a thread the other day which talked about how families accepted or rejected our relationships are exactly the kinds of stories that need to be told to everyone.
We shouldn’t have to continue attempting to overcompensate for being gay by trying to be better principled human beings than those lowlife trash who pass themselves off as “religious” people with a “moral” foundation. The only damned foundation these people have is to give themselves as much of a step up in life as possible at the expense of as many other people as possible.
There has never been a real “debate” over marriage, period. Straight people are too insecure to actually examine statutes dealing with such matters as life, property, health and death – and they most certainly don’t wish to discuss their abhorrent behavior when they strip a gay relative’s home of every possession and toss a partner out into the street because the good Lord told them being “gay” was a sin. But it is high time this discussion was handled – not just for gay Americans, but for every single person in this country.
Families are (and have never been) ideal structures where everyone gets along famously, no one abuses anyone or beats their children, and no one abuses their spouse and destroys any love that should naturally be there. And we all know the fundies are at the heart of the perpetration of those dysfunctional homes – there are too many stories of children and spouses abused and neglected by one member of a family joining some nutcase church and hauling home the nose of a meddling minister (or worse, his peepee) into that home environment.
It isn’t rocket science for any American to relate on his or her own experience and understand that there are millions and millions of people in this country who just don’t have the ideal 1950’s television sitcom life. And it sure as hell ain’t rocket science to figure out that in every damned family in this country, a funeral is nothing but the backdrop for the heavy-handed greed ensuing over anything of mortal and monetary value. We’ve all seen it – and so has every single official “family” member. The laws in their present form do not protect the people they are created to serve. And when those who have been awarded the only right to form relationships based on an image (and regularly break their vows without legal/social penalty)are also given absolute control over the lives of all other members in a family, then the “family” associations are promoting nothing but tyranny.
Well now – I’ve just been on a ranting spree lately…hahaha. I might just cross-post this rant on Democratic Underground…
It would appear that our ‘friends’ in Italy who are waging their own battle for equal marriage rights against the Vatican’s desires have gone a little too far. Two Italian leftists have taken it upon themselves to mock a manger scene in probably the most vulgar none-too-subtle way. They added four additional dolls to the official nativity.
The problem is not that they added the 4 dolls as same sex couples.
Bruno Mellano and Donatella Poretti placed the Barbie and Ken-type dolls in the parliamentary nativity scene, each couple lying down embraced among the shepherds witnessing the birth of Jesus.
Granted it was only for a few minutes before ushers came and took the dolls away but this is not how anyone should go about making their point. If anything they could have added a second “Mary” or a second “Joseph” standing next to Mary and Joseph. It would have been very controvercial still but it would have been less so.
This is blasphemous in the highest sense and it offends not only Christians, Christianists, but Athiests, and Agnostics and anyone sensible enough to know better.
Obviosly these two were not sensible and the Italian government, it’s citizens, and the Vatican has every right to be angry.
The GLBT community does not need this kind of help achieving rights. We can do it on our own with respect and dignity as these two “Rose in the Fist” partyliners deserve neither.
Caption: In this image made available by Italy’s Radical Party website, two dolls with signs reading: ‘Also in Italy gay marriages like in Zapatero’s Spain’ which were reportedly placed near the traditional nativity scene at the Italian parliament’s Lower Chamber by two Radical party deputies, in Rome, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2006, in a gesture intended as a show of support for a law that would give unmarried couples, including gays, some of the same rights as married couples. Two deputies with Italy’s small but vocal Radical Party caused an uproar among appalled legislators in this predominantly Catholic country on Wednesday when they placed dolls representing two gay couples next to Parliament’s nativity scene. (AP Photo/Radical Party)
The Veep’s daughter, Mary Cheney is pregnant with a child. She made the announcement yesterday. While this is great news for the couple and apparantly happy news for Dick and Lynn the rest of the right-wing is getting upset.
Here’s what the cretons said in the swamps of the Freepi:
Whose the proud papa?
I don’t know if Mary Cheney ever wanted to be the “poster child” for lesbian parents – but she has the job now.
I hope people here can muster some common decency and show a little of the dignity and class the Cheney family demonstrates.
Aren’t you the dreamer.
smile
Sometimes I actually think that posters here are cognizant of the impact of what they write on the majority of voters here in America. But, as you say, I’m a bit of an optimist
I see no dignity in artifical insemination resulting in pregnancy supported by some anonymous seman donar at the clinic. I certainly see no class in that. Decency? Toward what? Lesbians raising children? How do you later in the child’s life explain to them that they were artificially conceived by some anonymous donor?
I’d rather see someone like Mary Cheney who isn’t out there shoving it down our throats than the openly gay ones who are marching, having parades, carrying signs & wearing t-shirts that you wish your kids weren’t with you & could read, when you see them.
She carries herself with pride & isn’t flaunting anything. I do not approve of gays or lesbians but can accept that they have a right to live as they want, but don’t push it in our faces. We do NOT have to accept it as normal & those are the kind that really bug me.
Heather has two mommies; it’s just wrong.
Not to defend the practice, I think kids, especially boys, need fathers, not two mothers, but how much harder could that be than explaining the usual process?
The same way that all women who have utilized artificial insemination have explained it. I’m not sure it’s too very different than later in life explaining to a child that they have no father because he chose not to be a part of their life.
Btw, the dignity I speak of has to do with the entire Cheney family and the way they have conducted themselves during the last six years.
Hopefully Ronald Reagan [sic]but a tube on ice waiting for a moment just like this.
Heather Cheney-Reagan For President in 2048!
“Whose the proud papa?”
Let’s just pray it isn’t David Crosby
Must be difficult for Dick Cheney sometimes.
I see no dignity in violating the principals set out in the bible on how to procreate a child.
I feel sorry for the Cheney family but Mary is their burden and is not for us to carry.
I believe that God may have a different take on artificially manufacturing a child.
You plea reeks of more feminazi emasculation of the already weak American male.
To save America for the long run we may need to open a “GOP Stud Farm.”
Of course no Rino’s could be introduced but we could find a great breading stock starting with Ann Coulter and Michele Malkin.
On the other side of the fence we could start with Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Rummy, Bush and Cheney.
The concept is to breed the best conservative female minds in our country with with the best conservative male minds. The kids are then provided with a solid conservative education on military tactics, economics and social issues.
Once educated they will be elected to the Presidency and perhaps the Senate. [further proof that insanity is genetic]
The insanity is mind numbing, while Mary may not be helpfull regularly to the gay community, this will undoubtedly help in the long run. While she previously helped sweep gays and lesbians under the bus she now has to step forward somewhat or her family could see what the hatefulness and bigotry of this country have seen. Mind you, Mary is pregnant and so this child is guaranteed the best care even if something happens to her. Her partner is not eligible for the slightest opportunity to raise the child or receive any help.
Will the Cheney’s care? Will the Bush’s? We’ll see.
If the Foley incident is not about pedophilia, it is also not, it seems to me, about homosexuality. It’s fundamentally about the closet. The closet is so psychologically destructive it often produces pathological behavior. When you compartmentalize your life, you sometimes act out in one compartment in ways that you would never condone in another one. Think Clinton-Lewinsky, in a heterosexual context. But closeted gay men are particularly vulnerable to this kind of thing. Your psyche is so split by decades of lies and deceptions and euphemisms that integrity and mental health suffer. No one should excuse Foley’s creepy interactions; they are inexcusable, as is the alleged cover-up (although we shouldn’t jump to conclusions yet about who knew what when). But there’s a reason gay men in homophobic institutions behave in self-destructive ways.
Or think of it another way: what do the Vatican and the RNC have in common? Here’s one potential list: entrenched homophobia, psychologically damaged closet cases, inappropriate behavior toward teens and minors … and cover-ups designed entirely to retain power. The parallels are looking a little creepy. And the source is the same.
Where I don’t agree with Sully is the part about how “closeted gay men are particularly vulnerable.” I don’t think this is entireley true. I beleive that most of us GLBT folk can live in or out of the closet if we like to. After all our personal lives are our personal lives. Foley wasn’t closeted. He was out just not publicly. He went to the gay bars and it’s well noted. Foley was however, a closet case when it came to his fellow gays and lesbians by voting against them. Though I can understand if someone forces him/herself into the closet and denies his or her own truth by trying to become an “ex-gay.” This can lead to more problems down the road. This is why I understand and partially agree with Sully. But I cannot accept that this is what led Foley to his abhorrent online behavior.
Ol’ Porno Pete responds to Sully with this:
The truth is Mark Foley, like the rest of us, is a sinner in need of a Savior. As fallen human beings, our hearts are bent toward sin. God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9, KJV) It’s tough to own up to that truth: each of our hearts is so bent toward “wickedness” [well at least we know where his hatred comes from] (now there’s a word you don’t hear very often) that we can’t even know our own potential for self-deception!
If Foley was molested as a youth as his lawyer states, then he joins the legion of sexually victimized men and women who have gone on to perpetuate their abuse, as adults, on others. But Foley, like all people caught up in the modern cult of homosexuality, IS responsible for his behavior before God. (Besides, why would it follow that his natural “orientation” is “gay” if a major contributing cause to his current state of sexual confusion is that he was abused as a teenager?)
So, Pete why then by your logic aren’t all gay people molesting children? After all your usual claim that ‘most were molested as youth’ isn’t it? Why can’t you understand that pedophilia and pederasty are orientation blind? Yes there are sick twisted groups like NAMBLA who are organized to prey on children and demand a lowered age of consent. But that is such a small fraction of our minority. Foley is not going to ‘convert’ anymore than you are, unless the allegations about you are true. But that would also infer than you are successfully living in the closet, because we haven’t found any nasty info on you yet.
Andrew Sullivan needs to be criticized on this, but by linking his sexual orientation to abuse when he was younger is just a strawman to try to focus the blame of Foley’s actions on gay people in general. Try again petey.
I love debating. It’s no secret. I also want to become a lawyer (accepting donations for tuition now). And I always love a challenge.
The opportunity presented itsself when I came across a conservative blogger’s site and specifically a nonsensically numbered post about his feelings against gay marriage. In his ignorant post he tried to say that gays were demanding “special” rights and not equal rights. But this is not what caught my eye. He proposed a challenge with his assertation that our country was founded on “Godly principles.”
“Despite the bogus claims of some on the Left, the United States was founded on Godly principles. True, the Founders didn’t want a government run by a particular religion, but it wanted a nation whose Lord is God. Check the facades of the buildings in D.C. Check the currency. Check the founding document!”
So, naturally, I checked. The following is my response that I tried to post to his site. Whether or not it shows up, is up to the blogger but hopefully I won’t be censored.
“Check the founding document!”I checked….It mentions “Lord” in the date. As in “Year of our Lord” which in short form roughly translates to AD (Anno Domini). Otherwise, there is no mention of “God” “Deity” “Creator” “Flying Spaghetti Monster” anywhere.
It has this nifty little mention of religion though at one point that says….”Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Which if I understand that correctly the government can’t promote one religion over another, whether that be Atheism, Christianity, Judeism, Muslim, or Snorkism. They also can’t stifle my private practice of Snork worshiping. Pesky little amendment huh?
Oh there is one document, but It’s not really a “founding” document and has no real legal authority, though it does set the stage for our wonderful governmnet and society. It’s called the “Declaration of Independence.” (Did I use the scare quotes right?) Even this document is ambiguous with it’s diety terminology. Terms like “Nature’s God” and “their Creator.”
No, I just can’t seem to find any concrete “Godly” declarations in the founding documents. Oh and that money thing? You do know when “In God We Trust” was added to the currency right? Or when “Under God” was added to the pledge? Well just for grins we’ll say it was added oh around the 1950’s. Almost two centuries afterthe Constitution and the Bill of Rights were ratified, and in the face of that pesky First Amendment by acts of Congress. Oddly, Congress was not the architect of these additions. People weren’t even petitioning for it. In fact it was the CIA who, in an attempt to “bitch slap” the communists by saying our form of economy/government was better because it was not “Godless.” So, in an attempt at feigning patriotism and faith the Congress decided to ignore the First Amendment and write laws declaring that Americans’ trust was in God. They modified The Pledge. By the way did you know The Pledge was written by a foreign girl who came to the country, modified by a Baptist minister to add “of the United States of America,” and not “Under God.” It was then written into law that it was our national pledge. “Under God” was added later at about the same time “In God We Trust” was started appearing on our currency.
The buildings in DC, you know…the ones you mentioned in your post? Well let’s explore the history of those buildings. While DC was created only a couple of decades after the government was created, those building with God all over them were erected many years afterwards. Lets take a favorite one (the one where laws are deemed “Constitutional” or “UnConstitutional.” Though the Supreme Court has for the most part been in DC through out our great country’s history the building has not. In fact, until 1935 the Justices of the Supreme Court had to share space with Congress, mostly in the basement, with a few lower courts including an orphan court. Occaisionally they were “let upstairs” and were able to use chambers that were abandoned by the House or Senate. Needless to say that was a long 157 years. The corner stone was laid on October 13, 1932, and completed in 1935.
Amusingly, on the facade of the building Moses is depicted holding the Ten Commandments, what’s visible (written in Hebrew) are the ends of the commandments, (minus “Thou shalt not”) steal, kill, and commit adultry. Almost encouraging these offenses. Though Moses is depicted, Muhammed and Buddah are as well, but as great law givers. Not as statements of religion. By the way, I also might add that not all of the Ten Commandments are law. As the very first four would be deemed unconstitutional. Only four of the commandments are actually law, six through nine if you weren’t sure.
Did you know the vast majority of Christians violate the second commandment? “Thou shalt not make graven images…” is broken all the time with depictions of Jesus, Angels, and many others.
Hopefully I’ve knocked down enough strawmen for you to re-educate yourself on our Nation’s “Godly” history.
The Highest Court in New York has determined today that Gays and Lesbians do not have a constitutional right to marriage under current law. They have determined that it is up to the legislature to enact such laws. However, there have been laws introduced in NY legislature since 1971 to allow equal marriage rights to gays and lesbians but for 35 years these have never made it out of committee which shows that the knuckle draggers are also dragging their feet on this matter of equality.
Many New Yorkers are saddened by this as well as many conservatives are happy about this ruling. This was a ruling of 4-2 against gay marriage with one judge recusing himself.
It is uniquely the function of the Judicial Branch to safeguard individual liberties guaranteed by the New York State Constitution, and to order redress for their violation. The Court’s duty to protect constitutional rights is an imperative of the separation of powers, not its enemy.
I am confident that future generations will look back on today’s decision as an unfortunate misstep.
Which goes to show that at least someone was thinking.
Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean, is the newest site where gays and lesbians are demanding protection from hate crimes. Even though their constitution does not discriminate they are asking the government to put in clauses that specify what groups are protected.
“Homosexuality is neither legal nor illegal, so if a victim of sexual discrimination complains to the police, they have no legal reference,” he said. “That is why we are insisting that the Equal Opportunity Bill has provisions on discrimination based on sex, race or religion.
“There should be no second-class citizens in this country. It is time discrimination ended in this country.”
Although Mauritian law does not explicitly outlaw homosexuality, gay people here complain of rampant social discrimination despite provisions in the Constitution designed to prevent such bias.
Caught in a legal void the Gay and Lesbian Mauritians must now seek for some sort of protection.
In an unrelated story, Gay Martians, located between Earth and the Asteroid Belt have begun a quest seeking intelligent life outside of their own planet. Determining that their nearest life supporting neighbor was void of any intelligence, Martians have begun looking beyond the Solar System.
Marvin, an accomplished Martian scientist had this to say, “We have looked and looked all over the planet Earth and were surprised to find that there seems to be no intelligent life. We have been monitoring radio and other signals for years now and not once have we heard anything intelligible. Most seems filled with hate and malcontempt.”
“We are quite sure that with a little more time there might be something intelligent to develop but for now we’ll focus our efforts elswhere.”
In a related story, Marvin, is still pondering what he did with the U238 Modulator that was lost when he brought back an Earth Specimen a few months ago.
Americans For Truth 
Well what happens when Chicken Little is right? 
It would appear that our ‘friends’ in Italy who are waging their own battle for equal marriage rights against the Vatican’s desires have gone a little too far. Two Italian leftists have taken it upon themselves to mock a manger scene in probably the most vulgar none-too-subtle way. 
The Highest Court in New York has determined today that Gays and Lesbians do not have a constitutional right to marriage under current law. They have determined that it is up to the legislature to enact such laws. However, there have been laws introduced in NY legislature since 1971 to allow equal marriage rights to gays and lesbians but for 35 years these have never made it out of committee which shows that the knuckle draggers are also dragging their feet on this matter of 
It is uniquely the function of the Judicial Branch to safeguard individual liberties guaranteed by the New York State Constitution, and to order redress for their violation. The Court’s duty to protect constitutional rights is an imperative of the separation of powers, not its enemy.