01/31/2008
Kentucky Senate Passes Bill Banning Benefits for Gay Partners
The Kentucky Senate has passed a bill that would ban universities and state agencies from offering benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian employees:
"The vote on Senate Bill 112 was 30-5, with Democratic Sens. Ernesto Scorsone of Lexington, Denise Harper Angel of Louisville, Gerald Neal of Louisville, R.J. Palmer of Winchester and Tim Shaughnessy of Louisville voting against it. 'The only thing that drives this measure is a gay-bashing effort,' said Scorsone, a homosexual. Proponents of the bill say allowing universities to offer domestic-partner benefits violates the Kentucky Constitution, which was amended in 2004 to ban same-sex marriage. 'I have sympathy for Sen. Scorsone,' said Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville. 'I know it's difficult for him to deal with this issue. Nobody directed any comments at him, nor would we have stood for anyone to say anything disrespectful on the floor.'"
Bunch of bigots. Isn't it great how even the Courier-Journal paints Scorsone as not really a person but: 'a homosexual'.
The bill passed on religious values. Said sponsor Vernie McGaha, R-Russell Springs: "I do not recognize domestic partnerships as being a correct thing. My Bible teaches against it."
The bill now awaits a House vote. Thankfully, a similar bill failed to pass there last year.
Sphere: Related ContentPosted 12:06 PM EST by Andy in Discrimination, Kentucky, News | Permalink
Comments
And just where does your Bible teach against Domestic Partnerships, huh Vernie? I've read the Bible and don't recall that passage. I do recall love thy neighbor. I do recall something about bearing false witness. Maybe they don't teach that at Vernie's church.
Posted by: sam | Jan 31, 2008 12:13:16 PM
Ah...the hate breeding white trash of the Blue Grass State. I can tell you as a former hoosier, we found them offensive, and hoosiers aren't exactly liberal! We were always so grateful for that river that divided us! :)
Posted by: Craig | Jan 31, 2008 12:14:43 PM
It's a job for the Supreme Court. The homosexuals of Kentucky must start a class action law-suite claiming discrimination.
That's the only way these backward idiots are every going to allow us our rights.
Posted by: Bobby | Jan 31, 2008 12:18:56 PM
bastards! as my cleaning lady irma from juarez would say, "chingan su madre!"...
Posted by: the queen | Jan 31, 2008 12:20:32 PM
Let me get this straight, they don't like us to be sluts, but when we try to partner and form meaningful relationships, we are penalized.
They want us to remain pathetic closet cases like Larry Craig.
Posted by: Ty | Jan 31, 2008 12:26:55 PM
Bobby, the only problem with that solution is the Supreme Court, itself. This ain't the O'Connor court anymore. Alito's presence practically assures that this law would be upheld by the conservative justices.
Increasingly, this seems to be where the country is going: "Red States" will discriminate with impunity against GLBT citizens, they will ban abortion, the will roll back any common sense progressive legislation enacted in this country since the New Deal. The "Blue States" will remain a tolerant refuge and might, in fact, push harder to the left in reaction to all of this religious legislation.
The result, over time, will find that Universities in the restrictive states will find it harder to attract good professors. Business will not be able to compete with competitors in progressive states for talented young attorneys, MBA's, etc. The gap in income, education, opportunity between the two parts of the country will widen. The progressive states will flourish while the restrictive states flounder in a self-made ocean of ignorance and poverty.
The restrictive states will get what they want: a practical theocracy. But they will pay the price for it economically. People will flee these states en masse not so much as a political protest but simply for better economic opportunities elsewhere.
This is what happens over time to a theocracy. Look how well it's worked for Iran.
Posted by: Mike | Jan 31, 2008 12:29:31 PM
"Nobody directed any comments at him, nor would we have stood for anyone to say anything disrespectful on the floor"
Yeah, right! Nobody said anything disrespectful, but THIRTY of them made a disrespectful LAW! Isn't that rather worse than just saying something?
There go the language departments at those universities.... (speaking as a language prof). Stupidity, and now they'll only breed more of it by losing smart queer profs.
Posted by: KevinVT | Jan 31, 2008 12:31:33 PM
Yet ANOTHER state to avoid...Never shall I go too,nor visit, nor tour a Bigoted,Discriminatory state...Add that to the list of "FLY OVER,DRIVE THRU NONE STOP" states.
Posted by: Disgusted American | Jan 31, 2008 12:51:52 PM
Well I have to say I'd probably care a little more if:
1) I lived in Kentucky
2) cared about having a partner at some point in my life and
3) worked at a college or university in said state,
but I don't. Best of luck gay Kentuckians.
Posted by: Matt | Jan 31, 2008 1:16:46 PM
What the hell is wrong with me so? I don't even live in the US, and after the last few years, have no intention of living there, and I still care. How can you not care?
Posted by: EireKev | Jan 31, 2008 1:23:41 PM
Gee Matt, too bad about #2 you sound like such a catch.
Best of luck with that.
Posted by: SteveH | Jan 31, 2008 1:24:21 PM
Great post, Mike. Excellent points, all.
Posted by: Jon | Jan 31, 2008 1:27:43 PM
Last night at the Marilyn Manson concert at Hammerstein, he pulled out a bible and set fire to it. He's making a lot more sense than these fucks.
Posted by: JLS | Jan 31, 2008 1:47:48 PM
It's easy not to care. My life is satisfactory and as long as I'm not affected by it, I just turn a blind eye to it.
Posted by: Matt | Jan 31, 2008 1:48:52 PM
Careful about that blind eye, Matt. While you're busy not looking, they might just try and blind the other one.
Posted by: Mike | Jan 31, 2008 1:53:09 PM
"""Vernie McGaha, R-Russell Springs: "I do not recognize domestic partnerships as being a correct thing. My Bible teaches against it." """
Actually the bible teaches for it. It teaches us to love one another. It doesn't specify which sex.
There should be a mandatory IQ test passing score for state legislators, or, why do the dumbest dumbasses end up in politics?
Posted by: Vi Agara | Jan 31, 2008 1:57:31 PM
All the oppressed should bring their gay love and high incomes to the left coast. Why be rated second class citizens and still have to pay taxes to a state that does not like you. Oregon, Washington, and California would welcome you. Each state has openly supported and fought for our rights as humans. Battles are lost and won but progress is being made. I encourage everyone in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, and all other southern states come visit us here. Check things out
cause I'm sure people would love it.
Posted by: Bud | Jan 31, 2008 2:00:48 PM
Mike,
No they won't whomever they are. I'm not a threat to them so they pay me no attention.
Posted by: Matt | Jan 31, 2008 2:01:44 PM
THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE TO HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE WORLD IS RELIGION.
Whether it is gay rights in the U.S. or women's rights in the middle east, where religion is taken seriously, it becomes a major hindrance in the fight for basic human rights.
The bible doesn't teach love, those who have tead this disgusting book they know it is nothing but primitive hate speech. It is time the courts rule such behavior by the states unconstitutional since it violates the secular principles of our republic.
Posted by: God | Jan 31, 2008 2:01:54 PM
Sorry, Matt. I assumed you were gay. Of course I should have remembered that straight people read this blog, too.
Posted by: Mike | Jan 31, 2008 2:06:51 PM
her Bible is a book, and nothing more.
perhaps laws should also be placed based on Lord Of The Rings.
or better yet, Fahrenheit 451.
Posted by: A.J. | Jan 31, 2008 2:16:00 PM
Mike,
I'm gay. Why would you think I was straight? I never said I didn't want you to have your marriages. I just said I didn't care if you had them or not.
Posted by: Matt | Jan 31, 2008 2:22:46 PM
Remember, Mike. Just because somebody is gay doesn't mean that they care about other gay people - or about other people at all.
Some gay people are selfish enough to not care about human rights or discriminatory laws as long as it doesn't affect them right here right now.
I could go on in castigating a person like Matt, but I will instead hope and pray that he one day finds a person he falls in love with that turns around his very ego-centric opinions and worldview.
Posted by: Rey | Jan 31, 2008 2:42:07 PM
Matt,
I and many of my fellow Gays care about the equality of all people. We know that if we don’t care about our bothers and sisters who are like us no one else will. We believe that love is the greatest principle of our humanity and of our community. I hope that you will join us and understand that without this principle we are empty of compassion and blind to justice like the non-gays are.
Posted by: 1♥ | Jan 31, 2008 2:52:24 PM
Matt:
I'm a little confused, then. How can you be a gay person in America (or anywhere, for that matter) and possibly think you are not perceived as a threat to some people. I think it's more than just one eye that's blind.
Rey:
Quite right.
Posted by: Mike | Jan 31, 2008 3:27:33 PM
Ugh. This is humiliating. I'm from Kentucky and lived there until moving to Madison three years ago. It's bad enough Kentucky's home to the creationist museum, and now we have this. What happened to the separation of @#$%ing church and state? "My bible teaches against it." Seriously? Are you kidding? I really wonder how many senators there have mistresses or cheated on their spouses... pretty sure the bible has a few things to say on that subject as well...
Posted by: Sarah | Jan 31, 2008 4:28:39 PM
it's bad enough when slack-jawed bigots proscribe civil rights from citizens who pay taxes just like themselves. but it's even more noisome when they justify their actions with a book they profess to love. it's not for nothing that christians of this sort were once called "cretins".
MATT, go f**k yourself. i can't imagine anyone else would want to.
Posted by: nic | Jan 31, 2008 5:00:48 PM
This is one of those "And who's going to stop us?" moments in politics. Normally a hallmark of conservative thinking, but I suspect everyone is susceptible.
Posted by: anon (gmail.com) | Jan 31, 2008 6:33:33 PM
Boy am I glad I live in Louisville and not Kentucky. The rest of the state won't claim us...and good riddance.
Posted by: Bry | Jan 31, 2008 6:58:54 PM
And, uh, Craig...check the Towleroad main page updates for your own hate breeding white trash of the Hoosier State and their marriage amendment. As an IU grad, I know you've got the bigots just like we've got em.
Posted by: Bry | Jan 31, 2008 7:03:05 PM
Matt is trolling again folks.
Ignore him.
Posted by: ZEKE | Jan 31, 2008 8:44:55 PM
what can you expect from a country that forces creationism as a viable alternative to the theory of evolution and science. it is perverse the way america treats and marginalizes it's citizens. people can make fun of canada but at least we don't have our elected officials trying to kill us. god help all of you!
Posted by: dave | Jan 31, 2008 9:14:57 PM
Dave,
Canada is geogrphically huge, but it doesn't have nearly as many people. You have fewer lunatics to deal with.
And you send most of those folks to Alberta, which is almost like an unofficial penal colony for the right-wing crazies. Unfortunately for the U.S., our Alberta is 3/4 of the country.
Posted by: John | Jan 31, 2008 9:24:52 PM
Hi everyone,
I would just like to note that this happened last year, in which I and hundreds of LGBTQ rights activists across the state lobbied against a similar bill in Frankfort, the state's capital. Thankfully, the bill did not advance in the House Health and Wellness Committee. Hopefully the same thing will happen this year, as we don't have the worry of dealing with an anti-gay mayor. I have hope.
Posted by: Keith | Jan 31, 2008 9:29:54 PM
All that time and money devoted to trying to deny people basic rights. But at least they weren't "disrespectful"! Phew.
P.S. I think Matt and Jordan are meant for each other, they just don't know it yet. Maybe eHarmony can help?
Posted by: Ernie | Feb 1, 2008 12:10:28 AM
KIETH, good luck again, friend.
Posted by: nic | Feb 1, 2008 12:11:21 AM
KEITH, sorry for the typo.
Posted by: nic | Feb 1, 2008 12:35:03 AM
Remember, religion is belief in the supernatural. Challenge any religious person to argue otherwise. Why would we want people basing their policy decisions on the supernatural? The sad thing is, our great saviors, Hilary and Obama are both explicitly religious. Dave, we may be joining you in Canuck country (but not Alberta, for obvious reasons).
Posted by: David R. | Feb 1, 2008 1:07:01 AM
I love Kentucky. I grew up there and se so much of the benefit it has to offer. Something so many people believe in is the right to arms. I would advocate shooting the left leg off of each person that voted against it. then see how they like feeling the pain that gays feel every time they are kicked in the head. Violence against intolerance...it's the new peace. I wonder if the world would change with a few more legless politicians.
Posted by: sfpromo | Feb 1, 2008 2:14:34 AM
Mike, you have a good point, but Alito is still supposed to be impartial, no matter what his religious beliefs are. Supreme Court Judges can be impeached for showing bias. They can't rule on personal feelings, or at least aren't supposed to. So, if we have to fight the Supremes, we can do that too.
As for people like Matt. Fuck him. I know a few gay people that can't be bothered to fight for their rights and the rights of others. I wonder if they'll feel the same when they swing from the gallows with the rest of us?
Posted by: Bobby | Feb 1, 2008 9:54:51 AM
Bobby, I wish what you said about the Supreme Court is true. But, unfortunately, Justices who rule solely on their understanding of the rule of law are on the wane at the court.
Scalia cherry picks his support of states rights when it suits his conservative agenda. (He certainly didn't have a problem restricting states rights in Bush v. Gore.)
Thomas and Alito, I believe, are simply partisan hacks in black robes. The same can primarily be said for Roberts.
On the left, no matter how partisan Ginsberg or Breyer are, they are always much more inclined to follow the rule of law and the concept of stare decisis in their rulings than their conservative counterparts.
To impeach a Supreme Court justice, you need more than just a suspicion that their rulings are politically motivated. If that were the only criteria, there'd be a revolving door at the Supreme Court.
The sad truth is that it is, at its core, as political a branch of government as the Legislature or the Executive. Gone are the days when true moderates like O'Connor and Stevens focused narrowly on the rule of law.
Posted by: Mike | Feb 1, 2008 11:34:51 AM
Well, no disrespect meant Mike, but that's really sad if it's true. I hope one day we can live without the fear of persecution from so called "Christians" and other religious nuts.
Posted by: Bobby | Feb 1, 2008 4:30:46 PM
Thanks, NIC. And no problem about the typo, people do that all the time.
Posted by: Keith | Feb 1, 2008 7:00:59 PM
I live in Kentucky. I am neither backwards nor discriminatory. Those of you who post that you'd never visit Kentucky and grouped all Kentuckians as white-trash, ill educated, rednecks promote the same treatment towards right-minded Kentuckians as my mindless congress did upon GLBT couples in Kentucky. Shame on you.
Posted by: Alena | Feb 5, 2008 5:57:06 PM
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