A Stitch in Haste

Busy couple of days in this last week of a dismal year for gay rights and gay politics.

ITEM: The ACLU has filed a lawsuit challenging Arkansas’ recently enacted bigot amendment banning adoption by unmarried (especially gay) couples. An interesting, and in my opinion powerful, twist in this litigation is that the plaintiffs include married heterosexual couples who claim that the ban infringes their right to designate gay relatives and friends as custodians of their minor children should they die. That novel argument, coupled with the new reasoning put forth in Florida (i.e., that gay adoption bans discriminate against the children and not just the prospective gay parents) will make for an interesting outcome.

ITEM: The New Jersey Commission on Civil Rights (most recently of “eHarmony lawsuit” notoriety), has ruled against the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a United Methodist organization that had sought to discriminate against gay couples regarding the use of its boardwalk pavilion, claiming a religious exemption from the state’s robust public accommodation “Law Against Discrimination.” Interestingly, a second couple had their complaint against the association dismissed, given that the group has since barred the use of the pavilion for any such ceremonies — straight or gay, religious or secular. The important takeaway here is to remember that the special protections afforded to a church should cease to apply when the church ceases actually being a church and becomes a commercial venue (or any other non-religious enterprise). Previous post here. More thoughts at Leonard Link, Religion Clause.

ITEM: An utterly unsurprising result from a new academic study:

Higher rates of family rejection were significantly associated with poorer health outcomes. On the basis of odds ratios, lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults who reported higher levels of family rejection during adolescence were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide, 5.9 times more likely to report high levels of depression, 3.4 times more likely to use illegal drugs, and 3.4 times more likely to report having engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse compared with peers from families that reported no or low levels of family rejection. Latino men reported the highest number of negative family reactions to their sexual orientation in adolescence.

Being gay isn’t unhealthy; being unloved and surrounded by bigotry is.
Flagship post here; other recent posts here and here.

ITEM: Regarding gay boycotts and public shaming of people who contributed to the proponents of California’s nefarious Proposition 8, I recently said the following:

And don’t forget the added question of whether, in “libertopia,” Christofferson’s $100 contribution would have been a matter of public record in the first place.

Some people are noting the same thing:

Supposedly, the reason for requiring disclosure of campaign contributions is to allow voters to police politicians who might otherwise become beholden to financiers by letting voters know “who is behind the message.” But in a referendum vote such as Prop. 8, there are no office holders to be beholden to big donors.

Does anyone believe that in campaigns costing millions of dollars a donation of $100, or even $1,000 or $10,000 will give the donor “undue” influence? Over whom? Meanwhile, voters learn little by knowing the names and personal information of thousands of small contributors.

It’s not a frivolous observation, even if it’s made by a bigot. Perhaps my fellow libertarians would consider addressing that meta-question rather than mindlessly chanting the (unhelpful) mantra of “government should get out of the marriage business.” (Via JMG.)

ITEM: I tried to highlight, both in this post and in several comments left elsewhere, the pesky fact (first noted by Hitchens) that professional anti-gay bigot Rick Warren is in fact also an anti-Semite who has stated publicly that Jews cannot get into heaven. Apparently that fact is finally getting noticed, after Warren stated, regarding the Inauguration:

I’m a Christian pastor so I will pray the only kind of prayer I know how to pray.

But Jews (among others) shouldn’t dare fret about Warren invoking Christ in his invocation. Remember: he’s “inclusive.” Obama said so!

LATE ADDITION: Lousiana officials have announced that they will appeal a federal district judge’s order to enter both adoptive fathers on a child’s birth certificate. Quick prediction is that the state will lose the appeal; the trial judge’s full faith & credit analysis is unassailable.