Good News: Kathy Baldock Works To Bridge The Canyon

Last week I posted about an NYT poll I’d seen that said, sometimes, by just talking about LGBT issues to people who might at first glance seem anti-LGBT, we can change their minds; that by just being out and open and our true selves, we can show people their fear and ignorance and intolerance is unnecessary [see that post HERE]

Well, Kath Baldock seems to be a prime example of that and talks about that very idea in her new book, Walking the Bridgeless Canyon. In it, she shares the story of coming into her home one day with her husband as the phone was ringing. Her husband answered and, as she listened to his side of the conversation, she understood that one of his friends had just died of what was then called “The Gay Cancer;” AIDS. And she remembers feeling dispassionate and judgmental; she thought that the way you contracted that cancer was through having gay sex, so death was, as she saw it, “foreseeable” and could therefore be avoided if gay men just stopped having sex. For her it was very black and white: stop being gay and you won’t die.

Shortly thereafter, Kathy went though her own upheaval, a divorce and a new life, though she says her faith, and her beliefs, never changed. But she started to walk, both physically and spiritually, as a result of the changes in her life, and it was while walking that things really began to change for her.

Along the canyon trail that she hiked regularly, Kathy passed the same woman every day walking in the opposite direction; Kathy sensed that this woman was very different than herself; she thought this woman was a lesbian. Out of the blue, Kathy asked the other woman if they could walk together, and as they did, Kathy came to realize that she no longer needed to “save a soul,” that she could just ‘be’ and that some of those souls she thought needed to be saved, did not need it at all.

The walk became an everyday thing with Kathy and her new friend Netto. Through Netto, Kathy met more LGBT community members, and she began to see that those gay faces were just the same as her; and she began to listen … Netto told Kathy that she could never feel safe in the places Kathy frequented, with the people Kathy knew:

“Look Kathy, you don’t understand. In this society, I’m the lowest of the low. I am a Native American. I am a woman of color. I have a Hispanic last name. I am lesbian. Not even God loves me.”

Those last words hit Kathy the hardest. She had broken through the powerful truth that happens when regressive Christian dogma meets an actual living breathing LGBT person — the dogma falls apart.

And so, over the course of the next several years, Kathy wrote Walking the Bridgeless Canyon and began to bring together her LGBT friends and her Christian faith. Her book shares stories of Christians who were led to challenge their prejudices after they got to know The Gays; her book is a kind of history of the culture of the LGBT movement, the political and religious evolutions, the scientific facts of being gay, and of what the Bible really says about homosexuality, which, in reality, is really nothing at all.

One of Kathy’s key objectives is to fling open the closed gates of Christianity and make it accessible to those LGBT people who want it, and make it friendly again to those LGBT people who have endured its abuses.

And because of her own journey, because of that one day when she asked a fellow hiker if they could walk together, Kathy has created ways for Christians to respect their LGBT neighbors, one of which is recognizing that the LGBT person may already have a “journey with Jesus,” and does not need to be saved; she wants Christians to realize that LGBT people need to be respected and heard, and not simply dismissed with a wave of the hand and a, “You couldn’t have been ‘born gay’.”

Today Kathy Baldock is still working to make Christians understand that there is nothing to fear from The Gays, that we are all a lot more alike than we are different, and she has taken on some of the more vehemently anti-gay “preachers” and speakers, like Michael Brown, Robert Gagnon, Anne Paulk, and Scott Lively.

In fact, she recently smuggled a gay man into the church lead by “Pastor” Steven Anderson, who believes gay people should be executed; Anderson had recently declared that there would never be a gay person in his church and yet, courtesy of Kathy Baldock, that statement is just another of Anderson’s lies. Kathy believes that the hold pastors like Anderson have on American Christianity is not a good one:

“Unfortunately the list of Christians with literal, fear-inspired theology seems endless. Aside from the ugly street screamers, I’ve personally experienced interaction/meeting many who, in their zeal, are convinced they are flawless in their biblical interpretations and speak for God while doing significant damage to the emotional, physical and spiritual well-being of the LGBT community.”

Today, Kathy Baldock, who once believed that a gay cancer was your own fault, works to fight against gay reparative therapies. She realizes now that being gay is just another way of being, and she is proving the point, that when people who have some sort of anti-gay bias actually meet a gay person, many times — not all the time, I am no Pollyanna — their views change. But they will never change if we don’t come out; they’ll never change is we sit in silence; they’ll never change if we don’t talk.

Talking is the way Kathy Baldock hopes we can bridge that canyon.

via LGBTQ Nation

Good News: Michael Martin Comes Out

There are all kinds of ways to ‘Come Out;’ one of my personal favorites is the way comedian bob Smith described how he decided to come out in his book, the high-larious, Openly Bob. He wanted to do it in one fell swoop, letting the entire family know he was gay, so one Thanksgiving he returned home and during dinner said, “Can someone please pass the potatoes to the homosexual?”

Problem solved. Of course, that was his comic take on Coming Out, but it is just another way to do it. Some people write letters; some just blurt it out. Some show up at a homecoming dance with their boyfriend, which is how Michael Martin, an all-state high school soccer goalie in West Virginia, did it: slow dancing with the homecoming king at a high school dance.

Michael, an 18-year-old senior at Musselman High School realized it would be near impossible to come out in rural West Virginia and it took him a long time to figure it out, but when he did it, he did for all to see, by attending the homecoming dance with Jem at Jem’s school. They started the dance with their female friends who were their "dates" but when the last song came on Michael and Jem danced with one another. Big sigh, I imagine. And then two weeks later they repeated the dance at Michael’s school where the two young men once again danced all night.

And that was that; out.  

“When I started to talk with Jem I was comfortable with myself and wasn't ashamed like I was in years past. For me to be happy, though, I needed to come out. I didn't want to hide how I really was any more. I didn't want to live every day with a secret hanging over my head. I told my team before my own parents. My family was not accepting at first but is starting to come around and support me. I just had to keep telling them that I can't change who I am and that I am the same teenager that I was before.”

So, enjoy the dance Michael, it only gets better from here on in, because now you’re you, and not some secret, shameful version. You are just another soccer player, just another young man, who happens to be gay.

“I have learned that being gay does not mean you are a lesser of a human being. If I can come out in a small town in West Virginia and be accepted, and dance with the homecoming king, it shows things are changing. I hope my performances and story help inspire other gay teens to show their true colors and not be afraid to play the sport they love.”

And now you can dance with whomever you want, so Welcome Out. And as our gift to you, we here at HOMO HQ would like to send you the Obligatory Coming Out Toaster Oven and a copy of The Gay Agenda.

Welcome out.

OutSports

Photo by Jeremiah Carver

Children ... There Is Hope In Children

A teacher in England, who just happens to be gay, was speaking to his class as a part of the school’s anti-bullying week, and asked his students if any of them had ever heard the word ‘gay’ used as an insult.

Nearly every student raised their hand.

Then he asked who thought that people who were gay or lesbian were bad or wrong in some way.

Again almost every hand went up.

He spoke to the head of the school, and they both agreed that he could, and should, tell his class that he was gay so that they all knew at least one gay person and then begin to stop using that word, and ask others to stop, because when they did they were talking about their teacher.

His students’ reaction was as expected: some gasps, some shocked looks, some questions — Do you have a boyfriend — and then it was over and back to business as usual.

Then he got “the” letter from one of his students, a nine-year old girl:

Dear Mr R

Even though you’re gay, I will always treat you the same way as I do now. I still think about you the same way as I used to. You’re a great teacher and these are just some of the word’s that I would describe you as: great, amazing, fantastic, brilliant, awesome and brave.

The reason why I say brave is because you shared a personal secret which was very brave.

You don’t have to feel scared because I know that everyone in the class feels the same way as I do.

From A x x

He read it, and then wiped the tears from his eyes and thanked her for it. She said something that one of the boys in class had said during the anti-bullying lesson before going back to her seat:

‘It’s just your life.’

Children. There is hope in the children.

via Pink News

SC Taxpayers Billed For Both Sides Of The Same-Sex Marriage Fight

I’ve often claimed that, down here in South Carolina, it’s not the heat, but the stupidity that’ll get you, and, well, my point has been proven yet again.

As has been happening around the good old US of A lately, when a state's same-sex marriage ban is ruled unconstitutional that state’s government officials unleash the hounds, er, lawyers, to defend the ban, to request stays and to file appeals

And those of us who live in those states, like South Carolina, get a little annoyed by that, because since our Attorney General Alan Wilson has refused to admit he’s lost, We The People of South Carolina, through our tax dollars, will pay for those appeals and the stays and the lawsuits. But, what many don’t realize is that it is not just the defense case the taxpayers will fund; we may also be responsible for the legal bills of the gay couples who successfully challenged South Carolina’s marriage ban.

See, federal law requires the losing party in cases involving basic constitutional rights to pay the legal fees of the winning plaintiffs and South Carolina just got its first bill from the seven Charleston attorneys who successfully challenged the state's same-sex marriage ban. Those attorneys have filed a petition in federal court seeking $152,709 in attorneys’ fees, which, if they are successful, will be paid for by, ahem, We The People of South Carolina.

And, since Wilson has vowed to continue defending South Carolina’s same-sex marriage laws in several other cases in both of the state’s federal district courts, those plaintiff's lawyers can ask to be reimbursed for their costs as well. And when Wilson loses those cases, all the way to the Supreme Court if he gets his way, We The People of South Carolina might be on the hook for those costs, too.

Yup, we’re paying to defend the state’s ban on same-sex marriage and we’re paying to have the ban declared unconstitutional; we pay both sides.

But, and this is where I forget about how stupid some in South Carolina can be and a great big grin spreads across my face, any monies these seven attorneys are awarded will not be accepted by them; instead, they have announced plans to donate their fees to the LGBT rights groups that hired them to sue the state, including Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and the South Carolina Equality Coalition.

So, and this is where I smile, because I imagine this will irk Alan Wilson even more, the harder he fights to keep the ban in place, the more money it costs the people of South Carolina, and the more money gets donated to LGBT groups in the state.

Hmmm, maybe not so stupid after all?

via NCRM

A Tale of Two South Carolina's

Boy, there are days when South Carolina surprises me, and days when South Carolina acts like, well, I think it has always acted, and so now I’ll present to you A Tale of Two South Carolina’s.

In the first one, we have Republican — you read that right — State Senator Larry Martin, the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who is pushing new legislation bringing sweeping reform to the state’s domestic violence laws by creating a tiered system of offenses, increasing penalties and barring batterers from possessing guns.

Yes, people, gun control, of a sort, in South Carolina.

The bill, if adopted, would change the state's domestic violence laws for the first time in a decade, and, among other things, it would:

Restructure criminal domestic violence laws into a tiered system of degrees based on the severity of the crime, with escalating penalties ranging from 30 days in jail to 10 years in prison.

Bar those convicted of domestic violence offenses or facing protective orders from possessing firearms or holding a concealed-weapons permit. Batterers would face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000 if caught with a gun.

Require those charged with criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature to attend intervention programs and bar them from having firearms or ammunition as a condition of bail.

Allow courts to grant permanent no-contact orders to prevent abusers from harassing victims. Police could arrest violators without a warrant and the offender would face a felony carrying up to five years in prison.

This bill is in response to state statistics that show over 300 women have been killed in the last decade from domestic violence — one murder every twelve days. South Carolina currently ranks Number Two in the nation for the rate of women killed by men, and has topped the list three times in the past decade, most recently in 2013.

Now, because it’s South Carolina, the gun provision will likely face the stiffest opposition in our GOP-dominated Legislature, with many Republicans saying the issue is already addressed by federal law and a state measure is an unnecessary duplication that could infringe on gun rights.

Or is it just the rights of men who batter women to carry guns? See, while federal law bans those convicted of domestic violence from buying or possessing guns, South Carolina has no legislation to enforce that prohibition, meaning, yes, batterers can keep their guns, and conceal their guns. And let’s keep in mind that the overwhelming weapon of choice in domestic killings is a gun; guns have been used in 65% of all domestic homicides of women. But let’s worry about infringing on the batterers right to bear arms, and not on the rights of victims of domestic violence not to die.

Still, in South Carolina, of all places, it’s nice to see anyone, much less a Republican, put forth any kind of legislation that might be called gun control, even one that makes sense like this one.

On the flip side of Reasonable Republicans in South Carolina, we have Republican State Senator Lee Bright — the name does not suit him at all — who is on a mission to expand the right of South Carolinians to discriminate against LGBT people.

In keeping up his cred as a bigot and hater and, well, a moron, Bright filed a bill last week that would exempt any employee who works for the State of South Carolina … the State of South Carolina … from having to do their job by issuing a marriage license to a same-sex couple.  If Not-So-Bright’s law passes, those state employees, aka Bigots Who I Pay With My Tax Dollars, merely need to say they have a sincerely-held religious belief against same-sex marriage and they can deny the license.

Now, to be fair, that gay couple can simply walk to another window, or wait for a more enlightened, educated, humane, truly Christian person to issue their license, but the point is that a state employee will be allowed to not do their job because they hate The Gays.

That gets me thinking that maybe I’ll get one of those jobs, then declare myself a Satanist and deny issuing licenses to religious couples because of my deeply held, sincere religious belief. Or, better yet, go in as an Atheist and deny licenses because there is no God y’all. Man, watching those Baptists heads explode might be worth it.

But here’s the deal, plain and simple: you people who work in a state licensing department work for the state, which means me, and so if you wanna deny me the right to legally do what I am entitled to do because, you say, your God don’t like no gay marriages, then step out of your office and head to unemployment and get on line looking for new work.

Same-sex marriage is legal, marriage is not a religious institution, and you cannot inflict your religious perversions on me just because you feel like.

Now sit down and keep quiet.

SC Senators Propose GunBan, Stiffer Domestic Violence Laws

SC Senator's Bill Would Legalize Religious Anti-Gay Discrimination

After Their Son's Death, Rob and Linda Robertson Hope To Change Church Views On Homosexuality

Rob and Linda Robertson thought of themselves as Good Christians, and found themselves tested when, at age 12, their son Ryan told them he was gay. Oh, they told him they loved him, but they also told him that he had to change, and entered him into reparative therapy, made him meet regularly with their pastor, put him in Bible study and church youth groups because they believed, as they’d been taught through their church, that homosexuality is a sin and that its wrong.

But nothing changed; six years and nothing changed. Except that Ryan, at age eighteen was still gay, and more miserable than ever. He cut off from his parents and his faith, and started taking drugs, and in 2009, he died of an overdose.

Now, too late for their own child, Rob and Linda Robertson have come to the conclusions that they were “wrongly taught.” Rob Robertson says the church, through its programs of reparative therapies, and its emphasis on homosexuality being wrong and curable, have made a “horrible, horrible mistake.”

But they chose to stay with their faith, though they switched to a non-denominational church, and began working to inspire other Christians with gay children to do the same. The Robertson’s no longer want the church to try and change gay children, they want the churches to change and become more understanding, more tolerant, and more, for lack of a better word, Christ-like.

“Parents don’t have anyone on their journey to reconcile their faith and their love for their child. They either reject their child and hold onto their faith, or they reject their faith and hold onto their child. Rob and I think you can do both: be fully affirming of your faith and fully hold onto your child.” — Linda Robertson

And they know they have a tough road ahead of them; Evangelicals tend to dismiss fellow believers who accept same-sex relationships as no longer being “real” Christians, but the Robertson’s, and other parents of gay children, have begun seeking one another out online and through faith-oriented organizations for the LGBT community, like the Gay Christian Network, The Reformation Project and The Marin Foundation.

Linda Robertson, who blogs about Ryan at JustBecauseHeBreathes, also created a private Facebook page she started for evangelical mothers of gays that has more than 300 members. And others are also following …

• James Brownson — whose own son came out as gay — is a New Testament scholar at Western Theological Seminary and recently published the book “Bible, Gender, Sexuality,” advocating a re-examination of what Scripture says about same-sex relationships.
• Chester Wenger, a retired Mennonite pastor, lost his clergy credentials after officiating at his son’s marriage to another man. Wenger, in a statement urging the church to accept gays and lesbians, told of the pain his family experienced when a church leader excommunicated his son three decades ago without any discussion with Wenger and his wife.
• The Reverend Danny Cortez, pastor of New Heart Community Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in California, was already moving toward recognizing same-sex relationships when his son came out.  And, when Cortez announced his changed outlook to his congregation, they voted to keep him; sadly the national denomination cut ties with the church.
• In the United Methodist Church, two ministers with gay sons drew national attention for separately presiding at their children’s same-sex weddings despite a church prohibition against doing so: the Reverend Thomas Ogletree was not disciplined by the church, but the Reverend Frank Schaefer went through several church court hearings, ultimately winning his case and keeping his clergy credentials.

The good news is that support for these so-called “reparative therapies” is falling; Alan Chambers, the leader of Exodus International, a ministry that tried to “help” Christians repress same-sex attraction, has apologized for the suffering the group caused and then shut the ministry down.

Sadly, though, while some strides have been made, Linda Robertson says some of the mothers who contact her through her Facebook page aren’t ready to completely accept their gay sons and daughters, and instead still believe that sexual orientation can be changed. Still others are moving away from the traditional evangelical view of how parents should respond when their children come out.

“I got a lot of emails from parents who said, ‘I don’t know one other parent of a gay child. I feel like in my community, I don’t have permission to love my child,’ They have a lot of questions. But then they’re going back to their churches and speaking to their pastors, speaking to their elders and speaking to their friends, saying, ‘We have a gay child. We love them and we don’t want to kick them out. How do we go forward?’” — Linda Robertson

I feel for parents like the Robertson’s, so coerced into believing their children are somehow wrong, or less than, or even deviant, by their faith. I feel for those parents who try and force their children to change their orientation, and do it so stridently, and so rabidly, that their children either completely cut them out of their lives, or take their own lives to end the suffering of thinking their parents don’t love them.

I am not a fan of organized religion, for those very reasons, but if there can be a rebirth of sorts, within the churches, and without the churches, by people of faith who choose to believe that God created us all in Hs … or Her … image, and that we are all worthy of loving who we love and being loved by our families, then this is a good thing.

Too bad Ryan had to die before his parents could see what harm religion can do, and before they realized that they, not their son, needed to change.

via LGBTQNation

Photo Credit: Elaine Thompson, AP

A Different Kind Of Birth Announcement

Quite possibly the best birth announcement ever, and definitely the most beautiful.

Kai was born in 1995 as Elizabeth, but at age 19 his parents printed a retraction of that nearly two decades old announcement and replaced it with a new one.

"A retraction - Bogert

In 1995 we announced the arrival of our sprogget, Elizabeth Anne, as a daughter.

He informs us that we were mistaken. Oops!

Our bad. We would now like to present our wonderful son Kai Bogert.

Loving you is the easiest thing in the world.

Tidy your room.”

:::sniff sniff::

via HuffPo

Ty Herndon Comes Out ... Then Billy Gilman Does, Too

After nearly two decades in country music and after nearly twenty years of speculation over his sexual orientation, Ty Herndon has come out as gay:

"I have an awesome relationship that I've been in for a good number of years. I] love him very much and he loves me."

Herndon was married twice in the past and revealed that both is ex-wives knew he was gay when they married him; sounds like marriages of convenience to stave off the rumors of his homosexuality.

"I had a lot of people around me that I trusted at a time and I was like, 'Hey, you know this about me but the world doesn't. So I'm gonna need to call on your services for a little while.' It was unfortunate that I had to do that, but I felt that's what I had to do to have my career. Standing on some pretty solid legs today, so I get to tell my truth today."

Truth. That’s what it means; being able to be yourself, love yourself, and let everyone know exactly who you are, damn the torpedoes.

"I've dreamed about being in country music since I was 6 years old. It's my life, it’s what I do, it's who I am, and I went to great lengths to cover up that fact to be to be a country star."

Rumors began circulating about Herndon's sexuality back in 1995, when an undercover male police officer alleged that Herndon exposed himself in a park where he’d gone to buy crystal meth:

"I wish I had really great recall or memory about that. I think I had been up for like 6 days doing drugs the night and the day was really a huge blur for me."

Now fully clean and sober, Herndon is looking forward to a future with Matt, his partner of five years.

Happiness, truthfulness; it’s all in those two words: I‘m gay.

And then, hours later, it happened again …

On the heels of Ty Herndon’s coming out, fellow country music performer Billy Gilman announced that he, too, is gay.

He had his Coming Out on YouTube, and during the five-and-a-half-minute long video, Gilman credited his friend Ty Herndon for making his road a little easier to follow. But, at the same time, he talked about the mere rumor that he might be gay hurt his career, and likely cost him a record deal:

“I threw a showcase in Nashville, and no major label showed. … It’s difficult for me to make this video, not because I’m ashamed of being a gay male artist, or a gay artist or a gay person, but it’s pretty silly to know that I’m ashamed of doing this knowing that I’m in a genre and an industry that’s ashamed of me for being me.”

Several months ago, a reporter took a picture of Gilman and his partner. He says at that moment he knew what he needed to do.

“It was in that moment that I knew that I’d rather it be from me, than you reading it from somewhere else. I can honestly say I’m scared to death.”

Scared, sure, because you never know what the future holds for you, especially in the country music arena.

I mean, look at it: it appears that Ty Herndon was encouraged to get married twice to maintain a heterosexual image; it seems that just the rumor that Billy Gilman was gay stopped him from signing with a major Nashville record label even though he’d been a very popular child star in country music.

And then there’s Chely Wright.

In the late 90's, after years of singing in Nashville, Chely Wright had her first Number One country hit, "Single White Female".  She followed that up with three other top 10 hits and sold over a million singles in the United States. She made her first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry on September 16th, 1989 and made many subsequent appearances, especially after having that Number One. But, since coming out as gay in 2010, Chely Wright she has not once been invited back to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, even though she was considered a regular, pre-2010.

The good news is, that may be changing, slowly. Ty Herndon notes that he’s seeing increased support for gay country singers, and the LGBT community in Nashville and Country Music:

"Traditionally in country music, we don't see a lot of support for the LGBT community, but that's changing so much. Nashville is changing so much. I mean my goodness… Kacey Musgraves won Song of the Year for [the lyrics] 'follow your arrow, wherever it points' and two amazing songwriters that happened to be gay wrote that song."

So, maybe there is hope that gay country artists can record music, can be openly gay, and can be invited back to the Grand Ole Opry.

Failing that, at least allow the good folks at Homo HQ to offer a big “Howdy” and a “Welcome Out” to Ty and Billy, and to make sure they receive the Obligatory Coming Out Toaster Oven and a copy of The Gay Agenda.

Welcome out, boys, welcome out.

Ty Herndon

Billy Gilman

The Weddings Have Begun ... With More To Come

It’s game, er, wedding on!

A Charleston County judge has issued South Carolina's first same-sex marriage license to Charleston County councilwoman Colleen Condon and her fiancé, Nichols Bleckley; it’s only fitting since they were the first couple to have their application for a marriage license accepted in Charleston County last month.

"I do hope that every parent, teacher takes a moment today to explain to kids what's going on and how historic this moment is."—Nichols Bleckley.

"We knew this was never about just the two of us. We wanted it for us, but we knew that we were a part of hundreds, thousands in South Carolina who were ready to get married right away."—Colleen Condon

And Judge Irvin Condon will be issuing the licenses to the couples who applied before he was ordered to stop by the state Supreme Court. Condon can issue the licenses due to a US district court ruling filed this past Tuesday that ordered South Carolina to legally recognize same-sex marriages that were performed in other states where same-sex marriage is legal; he began issuing the licenses to applicants who met all qualifications yesterday morning.

And it’s already happened for one same-sex couple.  First thing yesterday morning, Kayla Bennett and Kristin Anderson held their marriage ceremony right outside the Charleston County Probate Court and had South Carolina’s first officially recognized same-sex wedding.

South Carolina. Same-sex marriage. Who knew?

Congratulations to all the couples in the state — myself and Carlos included, as well as our good friends Bill and Michael who were married in New York on October 24 — who are now legally married, and best wishes to all those that come after.

source

UPDATE: It's Marriage Equality, Y'all!

It’s a great day in South Carolina.

Barring a stay, or emergency order, from the Supreme Court of the United States, marriage equality has come to the state; twice! A pair of rulings released yesterday by two different federal courts have basically dismantled South Carolina's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage clearing the way for the state to become the 34th state — and the first in the deep South — to legalize marriage equality.

And it all happened so quickly; yesterday afternoon I was not married in South Carolina, and then shortly after dinner I was, when the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s request for an emergency stay on last week’s court ruling that declared the state's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional; the unanimous three-judge ruling said:

"Upon consideration of submissions relative to appellant's motion for stay pending appeal, the court denies the motion and denies the alternate request for a temporary stay."

And that simply means that, starting tomorrow at noon, same-sex marriages in South Carolina can proceed.

Still, Alan Wilson, obviously stomping his feet and twisting his head around in circles, has vowed to fight on; he  says the laws were voted on by the people of South Carolina in 2006 and that a court shouldn't overturn what the people chose.

Ah, Alan, but they did; in South Carolina and elsewhere, because, something you might have learned in law school you don’t let the majority vote on the rights of the minority. We did not let racist white America vote on the Civil Rights of black Americans; we did not let America vote on interracial marriage; we did not let America vote on the rights of women to vote; we should never have allowed Americans to vote of the marriage rights of gay Americans.

Pretty simple. Still, Alan Wilson released a statement after the ruling saying the issue has not been resolved nationally:

"It is still likely the U.S. Supreme Court will address conflicting rulings between federal circuit courts of appeal. Therefore, today's ruling by the Fourth Circuit does not end the constitutional obligation of this Office to defend South Carolina law. We continue to believe the doctrine of federalism and the Tenth Amendment should allow South Carolina's unique laws to be considered at the highest appropriate court of appeal. We will be seeking an application to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay shortly.”

Of course the ruling has not been resolved nationally, though it will, and sooner rather than later, but the issue has been resolved in this state, by the 4thy Circuit Court — twice — and by two separate federal judges.

Alan, honey, build a bridge and get over it. And take Governor Haley with you; she also released a statement saying she has a "responsibility to defend the Constitution of South Carolina and supports the Attorney General."

You mean the Constitution that treats some South Carolinians as second class citizens? That Constitution, Governor? Sit down.

And stay seated because right after the 4th Circuit told Alan Wilson to stop talking, Judge Michelle Childs — presiding over the case of Bradacs v South Carolina, the case for which The Will of the People Fund was created — ruled  that the marriage of Katie Bradacs and her wife, Tracie Goodwin-Bradacs — and all other same-sex couples in South Carolina who married elsewhere — should be recognized in the state because the constitutional ban "impermissibly violate [the] Plaintiffs' fundamental right to have their marriage recognized."

"We believed when we filed this case nearly two years ago that we were right, and Judge Childs agreed with us. It is such a great day for us and our family. It is a great day in South Carolina for marriage equality! Our family unit is complete!"—Tracie Goodwin-Bradacs

It is a great day for South Carolina.

sources:

MSNBC

Salon

WIS

NEWSFLASH!! Love Wins in South Carolina!

I'm a little shocked, a lot happy, and somewhat weepy, so I'll just copy and paste the story ...

via LGBTQNation:

"A federal judge struck down South Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage on Wednesday, though marriage licenses can’t immediately be handed out.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel gave state Attorney General Alan Wilson a delay until Nov. 20.

A spokesman for Wilson said he’s reviewing the ruling.

Last month, Colleen Condon and Nichols Bleckley applied for a same-sex marriage license in Charleston County.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month refused to hear an appeal of a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision allowing same-sex marriage in Virginia. That development opened the way for same-sex marriages in other states in the 4th Circuit. South Carolina was the only state in the circuit refusing to allow such marriages.Meanwhile, the nation’s highest court was considering Wednesday whether to block Kansas from enforcing its ban on gay marriage while federal courts review a legal challenge. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last month on behalf of two lesbian couples who were denied marriage licenses.

A federal judge ordered the state to stop enforcing its ban as of 5 p.m. Tuesday – when county courthouses were closed for Veterans Day. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt appealed to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She put the federal judge’s order on hold and gave the ACLU a chance to respond to the state’s request to maintain the ban for now."

I'm sure the Attorney General won't let this alone, but, yeah, Love Wins in SC!!