Mary Cheney, the younger sister of Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Senate candidate, “sharply criticized her sister’s stance on same-sex marriage and urged her own Facebook friends to share the message,” the New York Times reports.

Wrote Mary Cheney: “For the record, I love my sister, but she is dead wrong on the issue of marriage.”

Chicago Tribune:
“Pat Brady, who was forced out as chairman of the state Republican
Party after backing gay marriage legislation, said Tuesday he has been
retained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois to lobby GOP
state legislators to back the bill.”

Washington Post: “County clerks in New Mexico will begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples after a state judge ruled Monday that the state’s marriage law, which uses gender-neutral terms to define domestic relationships, doesn’t specifically prohibit gay marriage.”

Wonk Wire notes the effort to revive California’s ban on same-sex marriage was denied.

A new Gallup Poll finds that if given the opportunity to vote on a law legalizing gay marriage in all 50 states, the slight majority of Americans, 52%, say they would cast their vote in favor, while 43% would vote against it.

“Two gay men who successfully sued to get their out-of-state marriage recognized in Ohio despite a state ban are at the forefront of what supporters and experts believe will be a rush of similar lawsuits aiming to take advantage of an apparent legal loophole,” the AP reports.

Of course, the “apparent legal loophole” is actually the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

A new Human Rights Campaign poll in Virginia finds that 55% of voters favor same-sex marriage in their state while 41% oppose it.

The survey shows how views “have shifted in its favor seven years after voters easily passed an amendment to the state constitution that defines marriage as between one man and one woman.”

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane (D) is expected to announce that her office won’t defend the state in a federal lawsuit that challenges Pennsylvania’s ban on gay marriage, the Philadelphia Daily News reports.

“Pennsylvania is the sole state in the Northeast without same-sex marriage or a civil-union statute.”

David Hawkings: “Three Republicans joined all the Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee as it endorsed legislation that would ban workplace harassment and job discrimination nationwide based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The 15-7 approval vote makes clear that a majority of senators support passage, and that the roster of supporters is no more than a handful short of the 60 necessary to overcome a guaranteed filibuster from Republican cultural conservatives.”

“Nonetheless, the vote is the most significant federal legislative victory of this decade for advocates of gay rights. It also is a signal that, at least at the federal level, the rapidly changing political attitudes are affording them a viable chance for a legislative success before the 2014 midterm elections, something as important as the victories they just won in the courts.”

“A same-sex couple applying for a marriage license in Indiana, where gay marriage is expressly prohibited by law, could face up to three years in prison for submitting the application to their county clerk — even if it’s denied,” the Northwest Indiana Times reports.

“A 1997 state law declares it a Class D felony to submit false information on a marriage license application or lie about the physical condition, including gender, of a marriage license applicant. Two men or two women seeking to marry inevitably would trigger the law, as the state’s electronic marriage license application specifically designates “male applicant” and “female applicant” sections for gathering required background data.”

Pat Robertson said on The 700 Club that Christians shouldn’t use the “Like” button on Facebook for anything the Bible condemns, especially for pictures of same-sex couples.

Said Robertson: “What you’re saying is, ‘Yes, I like this kind of thing.’ You’ve got a couple of same-sex guys kissing. You ‘Like’ that. Well, that makes me want to throw up… To me, I would punch ‘Vomit,’ not ‘Like’… They don’t give you that option on Facebook.”

[Read more…]

Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly “passed a measure – by accident – that could legalize same-sex civil unions as part of a larger bill,” the Tico Times reports.

“Conservative lawmakers voted for the bill’s passage without recognizing the included language that could be interpreted to change the definition of marriage… Lawmakers immediately called for President Laura Chinchilla to veto the bill.”

A new USA Today poll finds that by an unprecedented 55%-40%, Americans say marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized by law as valid, with the same rights of traditional marriage.

“The only major demographic groups in which a majority oppose same-sex marriage are Republicans (68%) and seniors 65 and older (51%). Even in the South, which continues to be the only region that doesn’t show majority support for gay marriage, opposition has slipped below 50%.”

Jeffrey Toobin: “The Supreme Court’s embrace of gay rights last week had an almost serene majesty. The obvious correctness of the Court’s judgment, its curt dismissal of a monstrous injustice, had a grandeur that requires little elaboration. Yet the decision had its roots in something prosaic and largely forgotten: the midterm elections of 1986. Until that point in Ronald Reagan’s Presidency, the loyal opposition was more loyal than opposed to the genial Californian in the White House, but Democrats came roaring back, winning control of the Senate with eight new seats.”

“It took Reagan and his aides some time to recognize the realignment on Capitol Hill. After the resignation of Lewis F. Powell, Jr., from the Court, in 1987, Reagan nominated Robert Bork. He would have been an ideological twin to Antonin Scalia, who had been confirmed with ease the previous year. But the Democrats in the Senate, especially the new chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Joseph Biden, picked a fight over Bork and defeated his nomination by fifty-eight to forty-two. In response, Howard Baker, the former senator turned White House chief of staff, urged Reagan to acknowledge the new political realities and make a more moderate choice. Reagan did; he selected Anthony M. Kennedy.”

Gay-marriage opponents “lost a last-ditch bid to reinstate California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage, when a Supreme Court justice denied a motion to suspend the wedding ceremonies, which resumed in the state last week,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Charles Krauthammer says the Supreme Court is on the verge of “nationalizing gay marriage, the way Roe nationalized abortion. This is certainly why David Boies, the lead attorney in the companion Proposition 8 case, was so jubilant when he came out onto the courthouse steps after the ruling. He understood immediately that once the court finds it unconstitutional to discriminate between gay and straight couples, nationalizing gay marriage is just one step away.”

“I did not believe that as a member of that body that I should allow
someone to make comments such as he was preparing to make that
ultimately were just open rebellion against what the word of God has
said, what God has said, and just open rebellion against God’s law.”

—
Pennsylvania Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R), quoted by WHYY, after using a procedural maneuver to end remarks of openly gay Rep. Brian Sims (D) on the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage.

“The Supreme Court’s invalidation of a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act changed the political and legal landscape for gay marriage across the country. But nowhere will the effects of the ruling be seen more immediately than in New Jersey,” the Washington Post reports.

Wonk Wire: Where the same-sex marriage battle goes from here.