Flanked by Prop 8 Plaintiffs, Attorney Steve Warren Rails Against Inequality, Antonin Scalia: VIDEO

Flanked by Kris Perry, Sandra Stier, Jeff Zarrillo and Paul Katami, the plaintiffs in the Prop 8 case, attorney Steve Warren spoke passionately at this weekend's GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco about the Supreme Court's consideration of marriage and the coming June ruling on DOMA and Proposition 8.

Warren urged the conservative justices, particularly Scalia, to take a deeper look than he has in the past:

"Picture this image. The nine justices are sitting at an oval table in their conference room, deliberating these cases, deliberating our fate. When one of the justices brings up a line of reasoning used by our opponents that goes like this: marriage is an age-old tradition reserved for opposite sex couples that is needed to encourage society's interest in procreation. So, When Justice Antonin Scalia, a man who has repeatedly debased our families and our community, takes up this line of attack, and looks to one side and sees Justice Thomas and to his other side and sees Chief Justice Roberts, two men who have created their families through the beauty of adoption, just as I have done myself with my daughter Katie, we would all hope that the hypocrisy of this argument would dawn on him and move him."

Watch Warren's speech, AFTER THE JUMP...

Americans React to Obama's Nomination of Judge Judy to the Supreme Court: VIDEO

Jimmy Kimmel solicits reactions from people on the street to Obama's nomination of Judge Judy to the Supreme Court. We agree with this guy.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

DOMA Repeal Legislation to Wait Until Supreme Court Rules

Legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act will not see introduction before the Supreme Court rules this June, the Washington Blade reports:

A number of LGBT advocates familiar with the legislation, which has been known as the Respect for Marriage Act, told the Washington Blade its lead sponsors — Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) in the House and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in the Senate — are delaying introduction until after the expected court ruling in June.

Fred Sainz, HRC’s vice president of communications, said his organization supports the decision to postpone introduction of the bill until after a decision is reached in the DOMA case, known as Windsor v. United States.

“The lead sponsors of the RMA have decided to wait until after the court rules in Windsor,” Sainz said. “We support that decision and look forward to continuing to work with them to advance this important legislation.”

The Boy Scouts Made It Worse

By ARI EZRA WALDMAN

The headline, "Boy Scouts Move to Allow Gay Members," read with such promise. Including gays in the Boy Scouts has been a goal of our community for decades, most notably since James Dale challenged the Scouts' discriminatory policies in the 1990s. A sharply divided Supreme Court rejected Mr. Dale's challenge, but more recently, an avalanche of factors -- demographic shifts; concerted activism from Boy Scouts themselves and their families; rapid change in the acceptance of gays and marriage equality; and, strong pro-equality support from President Obama, his Democratic allies, and even some Republicans, to name just a few -- has forced the Boy Scouts to reconsider its exclusionary policies. Last week, the Scouts did change its policy... for the worse.

"No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone," say the Scouts. This change comes after reminding us that "youth are still developing, learning about themselves and who they are, developing their sense of right and wrong, and understanding their duty to God to live a moral life." The youth proviso means that gay kids are ok, but gay men cannot serve in any leadership positions. So, if you stick around the Scouts for long enough and refuse to "understand [your] duty to God to live a moral life," i.e., stop being gay, you're out of the Scouts. 

Allowing gay scouts seems like a step forward. But the exclusive focus on gay youth proves that this "step forward" is anything but a good thing. In fact, it's the worst possible result and shows the Scouts' true anti-gay colors. Gay kids are being let into the Boy Scouts not because the Scouts recognize the inherent equality of all American youth, but rather to more directly implement the organization's anti-gay dogma. This begs the question: Is the new Boy Scout policy both unjust and unconstitutional? The Scouts' policy was always unconstitutional, despite what the Supreme Court has said. Let's discuss why.

Continued, AFTER THE JUMP...

Follow me at @ariezrawaldman.

RNC to Vote on Resolution Affirming 'One Man One Woman' Marriage and Urging Supreme Court to Do the Same

The Republican National Committee is set to convene tomorrow at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in L.A. for a 3-day spring meeting where they will discuss the party's direction and vote on several motions, one of which would reaffirm party opposition to same-sex marriage, reports Chris Moody at Yahoo's The Ticket:

At the meeting, a group of state party leaders is expected to submit a set of proposals to the RNC's Resolution Committee that aim to "re-affirm conservative principles." One in particular will take the temperature of the party's opposition to same-sex marriage. (The official Republican platform, which was approved at the national convention last August, calls for a constitutional amendment that would effectively ban same-sex marriage.)

According to the text of a marriage resolution, which was acquired by Yahoo News, the RNC panel will vote on a resolution stating, "[T]he Republican National Committee affirms its support for marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and as the optimum environment in which to raise healthy children for the future of America; and be it further resolved, the Republican National Committee implores the U. S. Supreme Court to uphold the sanctity of marriage in its rulings on California’s Proposition 8 and the Federal Defense of Marriage Act."

While the result of the vote could reveal a headline-grabbing schism among party leaders over the issue, the same-sex marriage issue will likely not be the focal point of the conference.

The text of the resolution, via Yahoo! (click to enlarge):

UPDATE:

Zack Ford at Think Progress notes that the six points the resolution attempts to make are backed up by citations from Mark Regnerus's politically-motivated junk science study on the inferiority of same-sex parenting or NOM's talking points.

Bryan Fischer Blasts Bill O'Reilly as a 'Pompous, Arrogant Windbag' for Calling Him a 'Bible Banger': VIDEO

The American Family Association's lead spokeshater Bryan Fischer is outraged at Bill O'Reilly for his remarks that anti-gay activists are losing the marriage battle, particularly his designation of them as "Bible thumpers", Right Wing Watch reports.

O'Reilly made the remarks last week during the Supreme Court arguments on marriage and has been taking flack from it from conservative pundits like Laura Ingraham ever since.

Fischer blasted O'Reilly on his radio program.

"The implication is that we're a bunch of neanderthal, redneck, hillbilly Bible-bangers. That is essentially what he is saying we are ... He's insulting us to our face"

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...