Government wants faster review of gay-rights case

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

The Obama administration asked a federal appeals court Monday to speed up its review of a San Francisco gay-rights case and consider tough scrutiny for laws that discriminate based on sexual orientation - a standard that could legalize same-sex marriage.

The Justice Department made the unusual request to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which is considering the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law that denies federal benefits to same-sex spouses.

... Lawyers hired by House Republican leaders, who have defended the law since President Obama switched sides a year ago, have appealed White's ruling to a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit.

But Obama's Justice Department asked the full appeals court Monday to bypass the customary three judges and convene an 11-judge panel.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/26/BAMF1NQIKD.DTL&tsp=1

[lonestarnot]

1. Yeah!

Good.

[rayofreason]

2. Unfortunately....

...I don't think that this will lead to the Administration backing gay marriage, at least not until after the election. 70% of African-Americans are against gay marriage, and they were crucial in the CA vote. I don't see Obama pissing them off now. He'll just toss the LGBT community an occasional bone instead of openly and forthrightly doing the right thing.

[David__77]

3. I don't think Obama backing marriage rights will lead many black people to switch to the other guy.

I cannot see that happening, especially not that Romney character, who is certainly a little far-out to many church-going people.

[rayofreason]

7. They won't vote for the other guy...

...but some may stay home and not vote at all. Therein lies the danger.

[FreeState]

4. The 70% figure is false - please stop repeating it

http://rodonline.typepad.com/rodonline/2009/01/new-study-finds-cnn-exit-polls-exaggerated-black-support-for-prop-8.html

Study Finds Exit Polls Exaggerated Black Support for Prop 8

Surprise, surprise. A comprehensive new study that includes precinct-by-precinct voter analysis in California debunks the myth that black voters overwhelmingly supported Proposition 8, which rescinded marriage equality and banned gay marriage. The new study finds support for Proposition 8 among black and Latino voters "was not significantly different than other groups" and concludes black support was "no more than 59 percent, nowhere close to the 70 percent reported the night of the election."

The report was conducted by political scientists Ken Sherrill of CUNY-Hunter College and Patrick Egan of New York University. The study was commissioned by the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund in San Francisco and released by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute. The results were explained this afternoon in a conference call conducted by The Task Force and Freedom to Marry. Full report in PDF.

The study found four factors—party identification, ideology, frequency of religious service attendance and age—drove the "yes" vote for Proposition 8. For example, "more than 70 percent of voters who were Republican, identified themselves as conservative, or who attended religious services at least weekly supported Proposition 8." On the other hand, "70 percent or more of voters who were Democrat, identified themselves as liberal, or who rarely attended religious services opposed the measure."

The Sherrill-Egan study blasts the much-touted exit polls which sampled "only a few precincts."

The level of support for Proposition 8 among African Americans was nowhere close to the NEP exit poll 70 percent figure. The study looked at pre- and post-election polls and conducted a sophisticated analysis of precinct-level voting data from five California counties with the highest African-American populations (Alameda (Oakland), Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco) Based on this, it concludes that the level of African-American support for Proposition 8 was in the range of 57-59 percent. Its precinct-level analysis also found that many precincts with few black voters supported Proposition 8 at levels just as high or higher than those with many black voters.

The National Organization For Marriage would love you to keep repeating it though:

http://www.hrc.org/nomexposed/entry/must-read#.T3Fp9Xg73VW

BREAKING: Previously Confidential Documents Shed Light on NOM Strategy
March 26, 2012, by Kevin Nix



Today HRC got a hold of internal NOM documents that shed light on the anti-LGBT movement’s overall strategy. These documents were just unsealed in Maine mid-afternoon. The docs are part of the ongoing investigation by the State of Maine into the campaign finance activities of NOM in that state. Much more to come but some high (low) lights from PDF page 13 of the “confidential” 2008-09 report to the NOM Board of Directors:

“The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks—two key Democratic constituencies. Find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage, develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots…”

Another passage:

"The Latino vote in America is a key swing vote, and will be so even more so in the future, both because of demographic growth and inherent uncertainty: Will the process of assimilation to the dominant Anglo culture lead Hispanics to abandon traditional family values? We must interrupt this process of assimilation by making support for marriage a key badge of Latino identity - a symbol of resistance to inappropriate assimilation."

On PDF page 12, it talks about “sideswiping Obama,” painting him as a “social radical” and talking about “side issues” like pornography.

And heres more of the first quote direct from the source -- there goal is to use pit gays and blacks against each other by this very false exit poll.

http://ia601207.us.archive.org/20/items/NationalOrganizationForMarriageDocuments/Nom2.pdf

"The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks - two key democratic constituencies. We aim to find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage; to develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; and to provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots. No politician wants to take up and push an issue that splits the base of the party. Fanning the hostility raised in the wake of Prop 8 is key to raising the costs of pushing gay marriage to its advocates and persuading the movements allies that advocates are unacceptable overreaching on this issue......"

[Bohunk68]

5. thanks, Freestate, for your posting.

I am sooooooo tired of the 70%ers wanting us GLBT persons to STFU and get back under the bus. Goddamnit, I've been waiting 60 freaking years for my full rights. Full rights, not half assed rights or civil unions or any of that crap. Full rights. What the hell is so hard to understand?

[rayofreason]

6. Thanks for the info....

..very interesting.

But even the number quoted here is 59% against - a large majority. And the link between church attendance and opposition to gay marriage is very much aligned with my experience. Almost all of my African-American friends are very religious (including 2 pastors) and I cannot discuss gay marriage with them since they are so strongly opposed.