Towleroad Talking Points: DOMA Before the Supreme Court

 

BY SAM GREISMAN

A look back at today's top stories

DOMA TRIAL

Today it was DOMA (and Edie Windsor's) chance in front of the Supreme Court. Take a look and a listen to the arguments here. Unlike yesterday, reports from inside the courtroom from prognosticators and observers seem to indicate that the court is likely to strike down the law. SCOTUSblog says there is an 80% chance. Our Ari Waldman has another two part analysis of today's events and also remarked on the skepticism the Justices seemed to show toward DOMA. Check out part one here and part two here. 

If you haven't acquainted yourself with the heroine behind the DOMA trial, do yourself a favor and take a moment to listen to 83-year-old Edie Windsor's powerful words as she addresses the media outside of the Supreme Court. 

**

MEDIA ON THE GAYS

MSNBC's Luke Russert had FRC head (and wacko) Tony Perkins on his show today and completely shut him down in a wonderful way. In what was a shocking moment of rational clarity last night, Bill O'Reilly said that he is "fine" with gay marriage and even went so far as to add that the anti-gay marriage side is only "thumping their Bibles". Up is down. Black is white. 

Two interesting moments from Rachel Maddow's show last night: first watch as she talks with California's Attorney General about the Prop 8 hearings. Then take a look as Maddow and a constitutional law professor breakdown yesterday's trial. 

**

ENTERTAINMENT

There was a very sweet moment on the Today Show this morning when weekend anchor Jenna Wolfe came out and announced that she and her wife are expecting. The first full trailer featuring Jean Valjean Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is out! Queen Bey took a moment to show her support for marriage equality with a handwritten note and Channing Tatum wants to bed George Clooney. 

Flashback 1989: Gays Demand Marriage Licenses in Manhattan - VIDEO

in 1989, 20 gay couples backed by ACT UP marched into the marriage bureau in Manhattan demanding marriage licenses in what WCBS-TV New York called a "violent protest".

Says Thomas Stoddard of Lambda Legal Defense in the report: "Within 20 years at least half the states will permit two men or two women to get married."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

NOM President Brian Brown Compares His Hateful March Against Same-Sex Marriage to the Civil Rights Movement

NOM's Brian Brown sees himself as the leader of a movement equivalent to MLK Jr's, Right Wing Watch reports.

Said Brown to Religious Right broadcaster Janet Mefferd:

We were hoping for 5,000 people and we ended up with over 10,000. We filled the whole area in front of the court when we marched. It was a diverse coalition, we had African American leaders, Hispanic leaders, State Sen. Ruben Diaz brought 30 buses from the Bronx; it was just amazing. What I was most happy about, we talked about this before the rally, the way everyone conducted themselves. We were chanting, we were united but when folks tried to get in our way, there were some gay marriage protesters who tried to get in front of the march and stop us even though we had a permit, everyone just knelt down and started praying. I was not alive during the Civil Rights Movement but this is what it must have felt like, people were just so ecstatic to stand up and they did it in a loving, respectful way but they weren’t going to be silenced.

Audio at RWW.

Stephen Colbert on the Supreme Court and the Surge in Support for Marriage Equality: VIDEO

Stephen Colbert warns of the coming 'Gaymaggedon' if the Supreme Court finds in favor of marriage equality:

"Support for gay marriage is surging like Ryan Gosling in my dreams!"

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,Video Archive

News: Hopper Penn, Mary Bonauto, Kansas, Tattooine, Ruben Diaz

Astronomers locate Tattooine.

Six Rhode Island mayors call on legislature to pass marriage equality bill.

Sean Penn's son Hopper spews racist, homophobic slurs at paparazzo. Video.

Kansas bill would allow people with HIV/AIDS to be quarantined: "Kansas banned quarantining those with AIDS back in 1988, but if this law is passed, those in the LGBT community fear health officials — especially those in rural areas — will begin intimidating those with HIV by threatening to quarantine them."

Did Iowa's leading bigot Bob Vander Plaats have a good time at the March for Marriage?

NYT profiles Mary Bonauto, GLAD attorney behind one of the other DOMA cases: "As the top civil rights lawyer for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, or GLAD, based in Boston, Ms. Bonauto has spent more than a decade plotting a careful strategy to advance gay marriage rights. She prompted Vermont to create civil unions in 2000, won the 2003 case that made Massachusetts the first state to legalize same-sex marriage and last year persuaded a federal appeals court that the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal benefits to gay couples, is unconstitutional. Yet in a quirk of fate, Ms. Bonauto is watching her life’s work this week from the court’s spectator seats."

Anti-gay NY state senator Ruben Diaz's son, Ruben Diaz Jr. comes out for marriage equality.

Justin Bieber basically lives without a shirt these days, reportedly spits in neighbor's face.

Bishop Harry Jackson says sexual abuse does not happen in straight marriages: "When a man and a woman are in the house, poverty is lessened. When a man and a woman are in the house, kids don’t go to prison. When a man and a woman are in the house, there’s less domestic violence. When a man and a woman are in the house, sexual abuse does not happen."

Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka attend Elton John's birthday bash.

Anti-trans Arizona lawmaker John Kavanagh targets bathrooms again: "Instead of criminalizing trans people who want to use the correct bathroom, Kavanagh now wants to legally protect those who wish to prevent them from doing so."

Trailer: What would Ryan Lochte Do?

Zac Efron covers Flaunt.

Bryan Fischer to BBC: "There is no right to engage in homosexual behavior."

Under a Rainbow Flag, gay WWII musical, opens in Chicago: "Schwartz has crafted Phillips' stories of the gay men he knew during World War II, and their budding sexuality, wartime fun and terror, and the post-war America they helped shape."

Guardian's Heather Long: Regardless of SCOTUS ruling, life will remain tough for gays. "Even if the best case scenario occurs and the supreme court rules in favor of gay marriage, it won't change attitudes overnight. Recall the continued uproar in parts of America after the 1954 Brown v Board of Education ruling that mandated desegregation of schools. President Dwight Eisenhower had to send the military to Arkansas in 1957 to protect black students at Little Rock High School. It took years to achieve any sort of real acceptance of non-white students, and some say the education system in America still has de facto segregation, since students go to school where their families live and neigbhorhoods are often made up of people from similar backgrounds."

MSNBC's Luke Russert Hammers Tony Perkins on DOMA: 'So You Equate Homosexuality with Polygamy?' - VIDEO

MSNBC's Luke Russert gave Family Research Council's Tony Perkins a delicious grilling today on his opposition to DOMA, calling Perkins out on his misleading talking points, Mediaite reports:

“What do you fear the most about a couple being together – a same-sex couple being together over 60 years like we saw in the Windsor case – what do you fear so much about them getting the same federal benefits for their marriage as an opposite-sex couple would?” Russert asked.

“I don’t fear anything,” Perkins replied.

“Then why do you oppose,” Russert interjected.

“If love becomes a definition of what the boundaries of marriage are, how do we define that going forward?” Perkins asked. He asked, hypothetically, how America would prohibit an individual with multiple spouses from immigrating to the country given that definition of marriage.

“So you equate homosexuality with polygamy?” Russert asked.

“No,” Perkins replied.

“Well, you just said that, sir,” Russert fired back.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...