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SB 1062, the Arizona legislation that would have allowed discrimination based on religious beliefs contradicts American’s core values. Religious persecution was what our forefathers sought to leave behind when they founded this country. To parse our religious differences in legislation goes against everything they stood and fought for.

Who’s behind the religious freedom push?

Since tolerance has been such an issue for Republicans among women, minorities, independents and younger voters, GOP strategists were quick to applaud Brewer for a move that shows that Republicans are listening and adapting to changing times — and changing their views on gay rights. But if we have learned anything in recent years, when leading GOP establishment figures say one thing, vocal voices in the tea party and social conservative movement will urge another — and try to punish those who disagree.

There are a lot of conservative Christian groups who believe they are “under attack” by government policies. They are having a difficult time as they watch their “rational” arguments – that children are harmed by same-sex parents, or that their own marriages are being threatened — have, one by one, been weighed in courts and rejected.

So, what will come next?

“Freedom nationally, values personally,’ is where the GOP is going,” said GOP strategist Alex Castellanos. “We are learning that futile gestures that have only symbolic impact do the GOP cause more harm than good.”

Empathy is not their strong point. It’s too bad they couldn’t have foreseen the harm the that would have come to the families of same-sex partners if they had been successful.

It is time for the right wingers to fire their lobbyists and quietly retreat back into to the realm of faith, where there is no obligation to provide argument, but only to demonstrate sincerity of belief. But that’s not likely.

They have tasted power and power is a thirst that can never be quenched.

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said Wednesday that he will boycott the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade unless it agrees to stop excluding gay and lesbian groups from its procession.

He has been trying to broker a deal with parade organizers to allow a gay veteran’s group sponsored by MassEquality to participate.

Walsh, the son of Irish immigrants, met in his City Hall office with organizers John “Wacko” Hurley and Philip J. Wuschke Jr. Walsh said they spoke about the parade, the 1995 Supreme Court case that gave the parade the right to exclude gay and lesbian groups, and the bloody civil rights battles in Northern Ireland between the Protestant majority and the Catholic minority. “We had a nice conversation,” Walsh said. “We had a little Irish history lesson.”

Parade organizers, however, are not changing their policy. Hurley says Walsh “is not in a position” to overturn the court’s decision.

But the mayor seemed resolute in his demand that gay veterans be allowed to march. South Boston has changed tremendously in the past two decades, he said, and popular support has shifted in favor of including everyone.

Kara Coredini, executive director of MassEquality said in the press release. “This is just another version of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’

Walsh is a long time supporter of the gay community. He played a key role in helping defeat an amendment to the state constitution that would have banned same-sex marriage, and says that boycotting the parade in the name of equality is a no-brainer. “I’m not in a tough spot,” he said.

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After an intense public outcry and pressure from political and business interests, Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer announced moments ago that she has vetoed Senate Bill 1062.

The Bill that put Arizona in the national spotlight would have given Arizona businesses and state employes the right to deny service to gays and lesbians based on their religious beliefs.

The state’s Republican U.S. senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, hundreds of protestors and the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee, which is preparing for the 2015 NFL championship game, all urged the governor to veto the bill. Even Mitt Romney weighed in with his disapproval.

Before heading to Brewer’s desk, SB 1062 was approved by both the Republican controlled state House and Senate.

“I can assure you, as always, I will do the right thing for the state of Arizona,” Brewer told reporters awaiting her decision.

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Give Rainbow Law’s legal document preparation service a risk-free try by ordering state-specific advance directives (living wills, medical & financial powers of attorney with hospital visitation & more). Payment can be made via a small donation or you can get them for free in exchange for a Tweet or Facebook post! Just double click on the rainbow banner:

Texas Federal Judge, Orlando Garcia said he was complying with the U.S. Constitution when he struck down the state’s  ban on same-sex marriage today. He decided that Texas’ amendment to the state constitution that defines marriage as only between one man and one woman demeans gay couples their dignity “for no legitimate reason.”

“The Court holds that Texas’ prohibition on same-sex marriage conflicts with the United States Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process,” Garcia said. “Accordingly, the Court finds these laws are unconstitutional and hereby grants a preliminary injunction enjoining Defendants from enforcing Texas’ bans on same-sex marriage.”

Said Garcia, who was nominated to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton in 1994. “Without a rational relation to a legitimate governmental purpose, state-imposed inequality can find no refuge in our United States Constitution.”

The decision will not have an immediate effect. The judge issued a stay on his decision pending as it is likely to be appealed by the state’s lawyers. The appeal would be heard by Fifth Circuit court, in New Orleans, which is known as one of the country’s s most conservative appeals panels.

Under federal court rules, a judge may suspend a law if he or she believes the plaintiffs have a strong case and will suffer if the law is enforced.

Republican Gov. Rick Perry was not happy about the decision. “Texans spoke loud and clear by overwhelmingly voting to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman in our Constitution, and it is not the role of the federal government to overturn the will of our citizens,” he said.

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Give Rainbow Law’s legal document preparation service a risk-free try by ordering state-specific advance directives (living wills, medical & financial powers of attorney with hospital visitation & more). Payment can be made via a small donation or you can get them for free in exchange for a Tweet or Facebook post! Just double click on the rainbow banner:

Two Detroit nurses and life-partners, Jayne Rowse, 49 and April DeBoer, 42, are suing the state of Michigan because they cannot jointly adopt their three special-needs children without being married. At the advice U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman in October, they are also going after the state’s ban on same sex marriage. He suggested that if the ban was overturned, it would overturn the adoption restriction as well. Before ruling on the case in October, he decided to reconvene in February so that he could hear from experts on the matter.

“This is not the road we thought we’d go down,” Rowse said in an interview last October. “We thought the judge would rule one way or the other on second-parent adoption. No one anticipated this. It was out of left field.”

Today, David Brodzinsky, an expert in adoption and foster care and a former Rutgers University professor, told the judge that there are no “discernible differences” in children who are raised by same-sex couples and youth raised by heterosexuals. “It’s not the gender of the parents that’s the key. It’s the quality of the parenting,” he said.

The state’s Republican attorney general, William Duncan “Bill” Schuette is defending the 2004 constitutional amendment, which was approved by 59 percent of voters. To scratch the amendment, the judge would have to find that it’s “inconsequential” to have children raised by a man and a woman, Assistant Attorney General Kristin Heyse said in her opening remarks.

“This case is about one thing: The will of the people,” Heyse said. “This was not the whim of the few but a vote of the majority.”

Rowse has adopted two children and DeBoer another. They consider themselves married. But without a legal marriage in Michigan, if one parent were to die, the other would not have the legal right to the other’s child. The rights and well-being of these children should not be  referred to a “whim” by the state officials.

The trial continues Wednesday at 9 a.m.

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There is hope that someday soon the state of Michigan will it’s grant LGBT residents the dignity of of having the right to marry the person they choose. Until then, LGBT couples living in Michigan (and most other states) remain without any legal protections whatsoever – unless they go to the effort and expense of getting specific legal documents, i.e., living will and medical power of attorney (to empower a partner to make medical decisions and have hospital visitation rights), last will and testaments and/or living trust (to leave property to a partner) and other supporting documents that empower a partner to make decisions about finances, burial and cremation and many other rights denied to same-sex partners who live in non-marriage equality states.

For the most part, couples who can afford these documents will get them. Many LGBT couples are struggling financially because of the economic downturn. For them, Rainbow Law’s state-specific will and trust packages provide an affordable alternative – and their free advance directives are available to any LGBT person who asks.

If you or anyone you know needs legal documents to empower and protect an LGBT relationship, you really ought to give Rainbow Law a try.

The six state attorneys general — all Democrats — who have refused to defend bans on same-sex marriage are being criticized by Republicans who say that they have a duty to uphold their state laws, even when they do not agree with them. But in their defense, U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder has said that when laws touch on core constitutional issues like equal protection, a state attorney general should apply the highest level of scrutiny before reaching a decision on whether to defend it. He said the decision should never be political or based on policy objections.

As an example, Mr. Holder cited the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, which forced public school integration in 1954. “If I were attorney general in Kansas in 1953, I would not have defended a Kansas statute that put in place separate-but-equal facilities,” Mr. Holder said.

Holder also said he had not reviewed a bill passed by Arizona lawmakers this month allowing businesses to refuse to provide goods and services to gays and lesbians on religious grounds. If signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer, it is likely to face swift legal challenges.

Arizona’s Republican attorney general Tom Horne, would have to decide whether to defend it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was blushing with pride as the Sochi Winter Olympics passed the torch to the Winter Games’ next host, Pyeongchang in South Korea. The Games’ polar bear mascot shed a tear as he blew out a cauldron of flames, extinguishing the Olympic torch that burned outside the stadium.

Russia’s $51 billion investment, now dubbed the “Putin Games,” transformed a decaying resort town on the Black Sea into an international household name. But the spectacle didn’t win over critics of the country’s backsliding on democracy and human rights under Putin, and it’s intolerance of gays.

Although there were only a handful of arrests during the games, including the arrest and beating caught on video of punk band, Pussy Riot, the country’s intolerance of dissent was highlighted in media around the world.

Other brave Russian activists came out to protest in Moscow and St. Petersburg because they thought that the eyes of the world were fixed on them that their activist allies in Sochi would support them by word and deed, but the fear of retribution or arrest apparently kept them from speaking out.

Now many of the protestors who were detained will face large fines and possibly, further legal and extralegal persecution.

Lesbian tennis legend Billie Jean King, said that she supported athletes’ decisions to stay clear of public demonstrations that could get them booted from competition, but thinks that the Olympics is definitely a place for politics.

“It is an unbelievable opportunity to exchange ideas and hear each other,” she said, standing on a hotel balcony just outside Olympic Park. “Hopefully, out of all these athletes we will have some teachers.”

To believe the Olympics can remain entirely separate from politics, she says, amounts to “keeping your head in the sand.”

Let’s all call out homophobia for what it really is: a mental disorder – not just a dislike of gay people.

Steven Brodsky, an east coast psychologist who specializes in obsessive-compulsive disorder, is making headlines with what he calls Homosexual OCD. He states that he has several clients who are straight but are obsessed with fear that they are attracted to people of the same sex.

The National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) defines OCD as an an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry. The frequent upsetting thoughts are called obsessions. To try to control them, a person will feel an overwhelming urge to repeat certain rituals or behaviors called compulsions. People with OCD can’t control these obsessions and compulsions. Most of the time, the rituals end up controlling them.

Brodsky said he had one adult patient who was so crippled by obsessive thoughts about being gay that he was unable to live independently and had to move back in with his parents to cope. Brodsky said he is convinced that his patient had OCD associated with homosexuality.

Today’s open acceptance of homosexuality and gay lifestyles can sometimes lead therapists to think that this kind of anxiety in straight men signals that they are struggling to come out of the closet. Brodsky’s patient was sent to reparative therapy by a previous therapist, which he believes was ineffective and potential harmful. He says health professionals need a better understanding of Homosexual OCD so patients receive proper treatment for a mental obsession, rather than counseling for a sexual orientation crisis that he says has nothing to do with mental illness.

Jeff Szymanski, a clinical psychologist and executive director of the International OCD Foundation, agrees and says the obsession is “absolutely common in the OCD world.” And Dr. Jack Drescher, another noted New York City psychiatrist who specializes in gay and lesbian mental health, agrees that “being worried that one might be gay is not the same thing as being gay.”

What this means is not known. If a consensus is reached, will homophobia be used as a defense in a criminal trial? Will people take a closer look at the recent activity by Republican politicians like Ted Cruz who continue to push for anti-gay legislation, ignoring overwhelming public opinion and previous court decisions? Does the GOP have Homosexual OCD?

Maybe.

Some Arizona business leaders are putting pressure on Governor Jan Brewer to veto the discriminatory ‘religious protection’ bill that was passed by the Arizona Legislature.

Some businesses are just starting to recover from the boycotts launched after the state passed the anti-illegal immigration law that she signed in 2010, and they fear another backlash from the new legislation that has the gay community and supporters in an uproar.

Opponents say the bill is unconstitutional, discriminatory and divisive and describe it as yet another black eye for Arizona. If passed, the bill would allow private business owners to turn way gay and lesbian customers in the name of “religious freedom” – an Orwellian-doublespeak term that critics say really means, the “right to discriminate.”

Growing opposition to the bill has now put the Republican governor in a tough spot as she must decide in the next five days whether or not to sign it. Some businesses have taken to social media, saying that even if SB 1062 does become law, they will welcome LGBT customers.

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council urged Gov. Brewer to veto the controversial legislation, saying it could affect Super Bowl XLIX and have “profound, negative” economic effects for years to come.

“The state already is known as being discriminatory,” said Howard Fleischmann, owner of six Community Tire Pros and Auto Repair outlets. “This would muddy the water and give Arizona a more terrible reputation.”

“We’re greatly concerned,” said Kristen Jarnagin, senior vice president of the Arizona Lodging & Tourism Association. “We’ve already received countless phone calls and emails from people canceling trips or threatening not to return.”

In Sonoita in southern Arizona, Shannon Austin Zouzoulas said she was shocked to hear about the measure’s passage Thursday. She and her sister run a winery and brewery called AZ Hops and Vines and her first customers that day were a lesbian couple. They too were shocked, she said, and customers couldn’t stop talking about it.

Zouzoulas called the bill embarrassing and said it does not accurately represent her state. “I think it’s very little about pro-business,” she said. “I think it’s pro-hate.”

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Give Rainbow Law’s legal document preparation service a risk-free try by ordering state-specific advance directives (living wills, medical & financial powers of attorney with hospital visitation & more). Payment can be made via a small donation or you can get them for free in exchange for a Tweet or Facebook post! Just double click on the rainbow banner:

Two major anti-gay groups in the U.S. have merged to form the Coalition for Family Values, a united front to fight what they call the ‘global LGBT agenda.’  The coalition’s aim is to spread Russian-style anti-gay legislation throughout the world. So far, they say, 70 anti-gay activists and religious leaders from the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Brazil have signed on.

Scott Lively of Defend the Family International and Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality unveiled the organization at the National Press Club in Washington. The two men praised the recently enacted Russian law that call for bans on gay “propaganda.

“As the 2014 winter Olympics come to a close in Sochi, Russia, we want to praise the Russian Federation for providing much-needed leadership in restoring family values in public policy, and to encourage the governments of the world to follow the excellent example of what the Russian government has said in 2013 and 2014 by banning LGBT propaganda to children and limiting the adoption of children to natural families only,” said Lively who also co-authored the book,  The Pink Swastika, which argues that homosexuals were the driving force behind the Holocaust.

Not only are they spreading their hateful messages here, they travel the world advocating for the persecution of gays an lesbians. Back in 2007, Lively conducted a 50-city speaking tour of Russia and says the new gay propaganda bill reflects policies that he advocated at that time. He is also being sued in U.S. federal court by a Uganda-based gay-rights group for his meddling in the affairs of that East African country. The suit contends that he was a key figure in consultations that produced tough anti-gay legislation in 2009 which led to the prosecution of Ugandan gays.

Lively believes that most family-values crusaders too timid and said that he believes strong laws, such as the recently-passed Russian measure that criminalizes public support of same-sex relationships, are the only way to keep gay activists from “tearing down the fabric of society.”