What's Up With Marriage Equality In South Carolina?

It was almost a month ago that the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban; and it’s been just a few weeks since other states in that court’s jurisdiction have complied with the ruling, with both West Virginia and North Carolina deciding to let equality stand.

But one state refuses to budge and, well, any guesses which one it is? If you said South Carolina, order some grits and take a seat, you win.

Here’s what’s happening in South Carolina, where it’s not the heat it’s the stupidity.

In Columbia Federal Court, we are awaiting movement on the case of Bradacs v Nikki Haley and Alan Wilson, et al. This is the case for which The Will of the People Fund — on which Carlos and I are board members — was created.

The case is simple: South Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper Katherine Bradacs and her wife, US Air Force retiree Tracie Goodwin-Bradacs want South Carolina to recognize their legal marriage that was performed in Washington DC back in 2012.

Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a filing last month that the couple is suing the wrong people in the wrong court. He argued marriage is an issue for the state courts and that he and Governor Haley, the named defendants, lack the enforcement power over the state’s same-sex marriage ban.

But in a response this week, Carrie Warner and John Nichols, attorneys for the Bradacs, renewed their request that Judge Michelle Childs rule in their favor without a trial. They argued that federal suits are allowed against state officers who enforce unconstitutional laws and since the governor and attorney general are required to enforce the state constitution, they are the proper defendants.

And, down in Charleston, Colleen Condon and Nichols Bleckley applied for a same-sex marriage license last month and are asking that U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel issue a preliminary injunction preventing the state from enforcing its ban, effectively opening the way for same-sex marriages.

In a response to that case filed this past Monday, Attorney General Alan Wilson said he opposes the request and argues that “because this case seeks to decide the core question of two people’s marital status, it belongs in state court rather than federal court.” He also argues that the Charleston court should put a hold on the case until a decision in the Columbia case which is farther along in the legal process, or, in the case that Gergel issues a preliminary injunction, the injunction be put on hold until the state can appeal to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The same court, by the way, that has already ruled same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional.

In addition, the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] and South Carolina Equity are suing South Carolina’s Department of Motor Vehicles in federal court in Greenville on behalf of three people who had same-sex marriages in other states and changed their surnames. The suit alleges that DMV officials refused to allow them to use the names on their licenses.

There’s the update, but let’s break it down very simply: say that Judge Childs rules favorably in the case of Bradacs v Haley, Wilson, et al, which she’ll have to do because a ruling from a higher court has already been given. Well, then Nikki Haley and her Little Lap Dog Alana Wilson will file an appeal and take their case to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who will, and I’ll put this in laymen’s terms and avoid the legalese, look at Haley and say, “Bitch, please! You’re wasting time and tax dollars. This case was decided in October. Take your hate, put it on a shelf and move on."

Undoubtedly, though, Nikki Haley who doesn’t understand when she is wrong — something she is most of the time — will them have Toto, er, Wilson, file an appeal to the US Supreme court and they will say, “Bitch please! We said we would let the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling stand. You have no case. Go home.”

And then she might, after having wasted time she could have spent on governing the state, and tax payer dollars that could have gone to something more important t than the fight against equality.

I said this the other day, but I’ll say it again; back in the 1960s Alabama Governor George Wallace blocked a schoolhouse door to keep Black children from entering the schools. That is his legacy, being on the wrong side of the Civil Rights movement and literally standing in the way of equality.

By comparison, Nikki Haley is figuratively barring the door to marriage for same-sex couples in South Carolina, and that will be her legacy; she will be remembered for a few things, but one of the most prominent will be her fight against marriage equality even after the battle for equality has been won.

It’s time to step aside, Governor Haley; you’ve lost.

Build a bridge … and get over it.

Spilled Milk: I'm Married, I'm Married Not by William Lucas Walker

A friend tipped me off to this piece from The Huffington Post written by William Lucas Walker.

It's about being married in one place, but not in another place; it's about South Carolina; it's about a gay couple and their sick child and not being seen as the parent to your own child; it's about that fiasco of a governor, Nikki Haley trying to appease her base; it's about politics and not legalities.

And it's worth a read ...

For Nikki Haley, one of these is a picture of a married couple
and their children, the other is not.

Spilled Milk: I'm Married, I'm Married Not

by William Lucas Walker 

Most people -- unless their last name is Clinton -- don't think about marriage politically.

Most people experience marriage as a daily series of mundane assurances: there will probably be no sex tonight; siblings fight dirty; if you land in the hospital at least one person has to show up; if you land in jail that same person will bail you out; this hospital/jail person will never learn to properly load a dishwasher; their grooming habits will always strike you as bizarre; dripping faucets are always your fault; there will never be enough money for college; your toddlers are spreading peanut butter on your rug. Right now.

Being happily married means you love all this. It also means you're probably too exhausted to think about marriage, especially in political terms.

Unless you're Nikki Haley, up for re-election next week as governor of South Carolina. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

All this is on my mind because I'm flying to South Carolina this weekend for my high school reunion. My class no longer remotely qualifies as middle-aged, unless the surgeon general raises the average life expectancy to 116. The guided-missile hormones that rocketed us through puberty are gone, girl. Our cheerleaders are fully menopaused, the testosterone that once powered us to two state championships now administered through injection, patch and topical gel.

We've become a reality show no one wants to watch.

It's been 20 years since our last reunion, which means it's taken a lot of effort to locate everyone and pull the whole thing together. But we decided it might be worth the effort once we started reconnecting on Facebook and realized that a lot of us are officially no longer alive. That it might be a good idea to check in before we all check out.

Luckily for me, a reunion date was chosen that coincided with with my annual solo trip home. For five years now, Kelly and the kids have stayed behind in California while I hang up my husband/dad hat for a few days and focus on being a son again. I help out with household chores too strenuous for my folks, Dad and I watch Bonfire of The Vanities, a bad movie rendered excellent because it makes him laugh so much, the three of us drive into the mountains to see the fall colors and buy jelly, have cocktail hour every day at six and laugh a lot. And just as she did when I was a child, on October 29 my mother walks in with a blazing, homemade caramel cake to celebrate my birthday.

This rare time alone together was Kelly's idea. He sensed what it would mean to us all and said, "Go." Going has allowed my parents and me to know each other more quietly and more deeply than we'd ever be able to during our hectic, overstuffed family trips back East at Christmas and spring break. To thank for this I have wonderful Kelly, my unique, kind and selfless husband.

Well, he's my husband in California. Not in South Carolina.

I love South Carolina. Loved growing up there. Love going back. Despite the fact that we're two guys with kids, in 15 years we've never had a bad experience. Our family is welcomed at Sunday services by the same congregation that's known me since I was child. Our kids have been cared for in the same nursery where I used to play. On my October trips, when Kelly and the kids aren't with me, the minister always asks to see pictures. That's the South Carolina I love.

But it doesn't mean we're safe. Not as a family. Not in case of emergency. Every time we go back together we can't avoid the unspoken stress of wondering what might happen to us if there were some sort of accident or medical crisis. Would Kelly be recognized as my spouse? Would I be recognized as his? Would we be seen as our children's parents? Allowed to make medical decisions for each other or for them?

It's not a hypothetical fear.

In 2011, South Carolina State Trooper Katie Bradacs and Tracie Goodwin, a disabled U.S. Air Force veteran, both residents of Lexington, SC, were already raising Bradacs' 10-year-old son Jordan together when they made the choice to expand their family. Using in vitro fertilization, with embryos created from Katie's eggs, Tracie became pregnant. On a family vacation to Washington, D.C., the couple were legally married. They returned to South Carolina and soon after welcomed twins, son Baylie and daughter Colbie.

Within three hours of his birth, Baylie showed signs of severe distress and was rushed to a nearby hospital better equipped to treat him. Tracie, fresh from a C-section, stayed behind with their newborn daughter while Katie accompanied Baylie to the other hospital in an ambulance. Upon arrival, the hospital staff admitted Colbie. Then informed Katie that she had no parental rights. Under South Carolina law, she was told they could recognize neither her marriage nor her status as the biological mother of her newborn son. The hospital staff was legally prohibited from recognizing any connection between Katie and her child, to release any medical information or diagnosis to her, to allow her any medical decision-making rights. Her out-of-state marriage carried no rights or protections in South Carolina. Rights and protections that would have been granted without question had Katie been Tracie's husband.

Under South Carolina law, Katie was a legal stranger to her own son. Only Tracie, as birth mother, would be allowed access to Baylie's doctors, medical records or given any decision-making power.

It turned out that Baylie had suffered a stroke, with significant brain impairment. Information the hospital would not disclose to Katie until Tracie, still groggy from surgery, was cogent enough to call from her hospital bed. It wasn't until Tracie got herself released against her doctors' wishes that she was able to join Katie at their son's bedside, learn the full extent of their Baylie's condition, and begin making medical decisions for his care.

In the aftermath of their ordeal, Tracie and Katie made the decision any couple would who'd suffered such treatment at a time of crisis: they sued the state. Not only to recognize their marriage, but to have South Carolina's ban ruled unconstitutional so no other family would ever have to experience what they did.

Which brings us back to Nikki Haley.

As it turns out, Tracie and Katie are the very couple the Republican governor and SC attorney general Alex Wilson have vowed to continue fighting in federal court. Both are up for re-election next week, and they've promised voters they'll exhaust every legal avenue in their efforts to defend South Carolina's marriage ban. That they'll do all in their power to guarantee that couples like Tracie and Katie continue to have no rights, protections, or legal recourse. In case of emergency, Haley and Wilson want South Carolina's gay taxpayers to know that -- even if they slip out of state to get married -- they can count on exactly the same sort of treatment Tracie, Katie and their newborns received back in 2012.

The only problem with all this is, Haley and Wilson lost their battle weeks ago. Why haven't they figured that out. Could it be... politics?

On October 6 the Supreme Court, by refusing to hear five same-sex marriage cases from around the U.S., allowed those lower court rulings to stand. This decision immediately rendered same-sex marriage bans unconstitutional in 12 states. Including South Carolina.

South Carolina's fate was sealed by the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, when its judge ruled that Virginia's marriage ban violated U.S. equal protection laws. Fourth Circuit Court rulings upheld by the Supreme Court apply to South Carolina cases. LikeBradacs v. Haley.

West Virginia and North Carolina, whose marriage bans were also rendered unlawful by the 4th Circuit ruling, accepted defeat and quickly called a halt to the same-sex marriage litigation advancing in their court. Why pursue a lost cause at taxpayer expense?

Unless you're Nikki Haley. She fights on.

When a Charleston, SC probate judge -- citing the October 6 high court decision -- began issuing marriage license applications, she said not so fast. Ignoring the 4th Circuit ruling, South Carolina's Supreme Court they declared that no licenses could be issued to LGBT citizens until a ruling is issued in Bradacs v. Haley.

Even though 4th Circuit ruling means Haley now no chance of winning her case, it is, after all, election season. She promised SC voters to defend the state's marriage ban until every appeal is exhausted. How would it look if she dropped the case and stopped defending the marriage ban just because it's unconstitutional?

When I spoke with Tracie Goodwin-Bradacs last week, I could hear the fatigue in her voice. She told me that after the Supreme Court decision, she and Katie believed their family's battle for marriage equality had come to an end. That there marriage would be recognized and they could get on with their lives. They were surprised to learn that Haley was exercising her right to run out the legal clock, even though her team had lost. Badly.

It's hard not to be reminded Governor George Wallace. In 1962, he gained national fame for publicly defying a federal ruling ordering Alabama to desegregate its schools. As America watched, Wallace made a show of standing defiantly in the doorway of the University of Alabama, to keep two black students from enrolling. They enrolled anyway. Federal law mandated it. Wallace was forced to concede defeat. But not before hundreds of newsreel cameras caught his stunt on film, endearing him forever to Alabama's segregationist voters, who never forgot, re-electing him for years to come.

Marriage equality is coming to South Carolina. Very soon. It's all over but the paperwork.

Haley knows she's lost. She also knows that in a state where 80 percent of voters passed a constitutional amendment to keep marriage from the queers, she's winning the only game that matters to a politician. In prolonging the Goodwin-Bradacs family's ordeal by dragging it through the court system until the bitter end, she's sending a clear message to voters: when it comes to equality, I'll bar the door for as long as possible.

Or at least until Election Day.

Our daughter is following all this very closely. It's troubling to fly out of California with married parents, only to land in South Carolina a bastard.

"Will you be married by your high school reunion this weekend?" she asked yesterday.

Doubtful, but possible. Judge Michelle Childs could rule in federal court as early as today. Hopefully she'll choose to get this business off her desk quickly so she can move on to more important things. Like Halloween. She's got to be peeved that the case Haley continues to press is busy-work. That however she rules won't matter. The U.S. Supreme Court as ruled. The dog has danced. I'd be peeved. Not inclined to smile the next time a "Re-Elect Governor Haley" ad flashed across my TV screen.

But I'm not Tracie Goodwin-Bradacs. If I were her I'm sure I wouldn't be smiling a lot these days. I'd be pissed and stressed having to wait this thing out. It's a measure of their character that Tracie and Katie are somehow finding the humor in all this.

Despite all their family has been through, last week Tracie laughed when she told me that even if their marriage were recognized tomorrow, there's no getting away from Nikki Haley. Both she and Katie work for state agencies, where every day they have to pass a framed portrait of the governor in the hallway.

I couldn't help wondering what passes through their minds.

Or if they just say, "Boo!"

Haley and Wilson Won't Give Up ... Even When They've Already Lost

First, some back-story: in August 2013, Katie Bradacs and her wife, Tracie Goodwin-Bradacs, filed a lawsuit against Nikki Haley and the state demanding that South Carolina recognize their same-sex marriage — performed legally in Washington DC. Now, since there was already a case in Virginia before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, both sides in South Carolina agreed to wait and see what happened in that case before moving forward.

And what happened was that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the same-sex marriage ban in Virginia was unconstitutional. And when a bunch of folks demanded that the Supreme Court hear their request to appeal that ruling, SCOTUS basically said that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals was right in saying that marriage bans in Virginia, and by association, Maryland — which has already passed marriage equality, North Carolina, West Virginia and South Carolina, are unconstitutional.

So, Nikki Haley, and Attorney General Alan Wilson, stopped their fight, right? Katie and Tracie, as well as any number of same-sex couples married in other states would now see their marriages recognized in South Carolina, right? Well, not if Governor Haley and Alan Wilson have anything to say about it.

See, some people need to be told more than once that the fight is over, that they’ve lost, that they need to put down their protest signs, and their rhetoric, and their out-date — and kind of untrue — arguments, call it a day and go home. And some folks, when being told that by any number of people, from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to the United States Supreme Court, still don’t get it.

But both Haley and Wilson said — as soon as the announcement was made — that they would keep fighting the Bradacs lawsuit, with Alan Wilson saying:

“Our case has not yet been decided. Until the courts rule on the matter, South Carolina will seek to uphold our state constitution.”

For an Attorney General, he seems ignorant of the fact that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, and the Supreme Court stands by that ruling, that marriage bans against same-sex couples are unconstitutional … even the one in South Carolina.

And naturally, Nikki Haley, a darling of the illiterate Teabag set, sent one of her Flying Monkeys out with a statement:

“Governor Haley agrees with Attorney General Wilson – our voter-approved state law should be followed until a court rules on it directly.”

Nikki Haley apparently needs to be hit over the head with the facts before she sees them, but then, as a Republican, she has little use, little need, for facts.

So, for now, Haley and Wilson are digging in their heels, and sealing their fate, all because they don’t want to be seen as the ones who allowed this to happen; instead, they’ll be seen as the ones who don’t know when they’ve lost and continue to cry foul.

Marriage equality is coming to South Carolina; get used to it.

Wilson, for his part, does have a way out of this mess; he could say that to continue this fight would be a waste of taxpayer money and he cannot allow that. As a lawyer, you’d hope he would realize that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, and the subsequent announcement by the Supreme Court, applies to South Carolina; he knows equality is coming, yet he won’t give up. He’ll keep squawking about traditional marriage, and activist judges, and he’ll keep saying the case hasn’t been decided because it hasn’t gone to court yet.

As for Nikki, and why she won’t give up when it’s quite clear she’s lost, it’s because she wants to appease her base of Teabagging loons and Rightwingnut Goosesteppers; but again, how can she say she’s a fiscal conservative, and then allow the lawsuit to continue when it’s clear to everyone with a brain that fires on more than one cylinder, that the fight is over.

Of course, as with politics, it’s all about elections, and the party, and your side, and, sometimes, not at all about what’s right, and fair, and agreeing to abide by what has already been decided.

Haley’s opponents in the upcoming race for governor are also weighing in on the decision, and the Democrat, a local Camden boy, and State Senator, Vincent Sheheen, seems to want to play both sides of the fence, releasing his own statement after the SCOTUS announcement:

“Further litigation on this issue will be a waste of time and precious taxpayer dollars.”

But then he seemed to also suggest that Haley and Wilson should continue the battle in the 4th Circuit Court. See, as a politician, and one who wants to get into the governor’s mansion — and, for the record, I’d prefer him there over Haley … go figure — I wish he’d stop speaking out of both sides of his mouth. You cannot have it both ways; you cannot say it’s a waste of time to continue to fight and then also endorse the fight.

The other  candidate for Governor, a Republican running as an Independent, Tom Erwin, though, has said:

“The Supreme Court has made its decision and further action by the state is a poor use of resources.”

Boom. Done. Simple.

And it is simple, and done; let me make this part clear: the judge in the case of Bradacs v Haley, South Carolina, et al, is Michelle Childs and she is bound by Virginia’s Bostic decision and she must rule against Haley and Wilson. And when she does, Haley and Wilson will most likely take their case, all foot-stomping and head-snapping, to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has already ruled that marriage bans are unconstitutional.

It’s over, and yet only Nikki Haley, Alan Wilson, and rightwingnut, Teabagging, conservatives don’t get it.

It’s over.

via The State

That's Our Nikki: Blackmailing The People For A Vote

I know the election for Governor isn’t until November, but right now the race is a virtual dead-heat between the incumbent, the oh-so-transparent Republican Nikki Haley, and the challenger, Democratic state Senator, and Smallville resident, Vincent Sheheen. And if Nikki keeps pulling stunts like this, well, that may change in a way she won’t like.

This week Haley announced that she has a plan to repair the state’s roads and bridges with what she calls a “road map for future infrastructure funding, and that it won’t include a tax increase” but she isn’t saying what her plan entails until January; after the election.

See, it’s like this: elect me and I’ll tell you my plan to fix the roads and it won’t cost you a dime; or, don’t elect me and my plan goes away and the roads don’t get fixed and you’ll all suffer.

It’s either a giant lie — go figure, it’s Haley — or else she’s blackmailing the people of South Carolina into voting for her. But that’s our Nikki … so transparent.

Sidenote: while Nikki won’t talk of her plan, except to tell us that we won’t be paying for it, Vincent Sheheen has pointed out any number of ways to fund road and bridge repair, including long-term bonds, dedicating general fund surpluses for infrastructure and increasing vehicle registration fees.

And I know some folks will hate this idea, that they actually have to pay to have the roads and bridges upon which they travel, repaired and strengthened, but at least it’s a plan and not some “I have a dream but I won’t tell you unless you vote me” political ploy of a desperate women trying to keep her job.

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