Newark Mayor Corey Booker offered a rejoinder to Gov. Chris Christie’s call for a public referendum on marriage equality that should put an end to the argument once and for all.
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1
The last vestige of a politician who knows he is on the wrong side of a civil rights issue is to ask for a referendum.
Gov. Chris Christie did just that today, as the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state. On the surface, this would seem like a significant concession on his part — polls have shown support in recent years.
But that is not the point. Same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue. Allowing the state to retain an outmoded and religiously based definition of marriage treats gay and lesbian couples as second-class citizens. Pretending to address this issue by offering a public vote on whether gays and lesbians should be treated as equals under the law is cynical and cowardly.
My latest Patch columnhttp://southbrunswick.patch.com/articles/marriage-equality-the-time-is-now is on what I hope is a renewed push for marriage equality in New Jersey.
A frivolous and dangerous challenge to last year’s ruling by a gay federal judge that shot down the state’s ban on gay marriage has been tossed out.
Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware said former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker did not have to divulge whether he wanted to marry his own gay partner before he declared last year that voter-approved Proposition 8 was unconstitutional.
Lawyers for backers of the ban argued at a hearing Monday that Walker should have recused himself or disclosed his relationship because he and his partner stood to personally benefit from the verdict. Walker publicly revealed after he retired in February that he is in a 10-year relationship with a man. Rumors that he was gay had circulated before and after he presided over the trial in early 2010.
Ware said the ruling by Walker, who did not attend Monday’s hearing, raised important questions and called it the first case in which a judge’s same-sex relationship had led to calls for disqualification.
He said there probably were similar struggles when race and gender were the issues.
Just so the issue is clear: This ruling was not about same-sex marriage, but about the attempt to undercut judges. If the challenge had been upheld and Walker’s ruling was overturned, it would have made it impossible for gay judges to rule on gay issues — and opened the door for challenges to decisions made by black judges on racial issues, Latino judges on immigration issues, women judges on gender issues and so on.
http://espn.go.com/videohub/player/embed.swf
“I just got caught up.”
Joakim Noah offered his apology, saying he “just got caught up.” That, of course, is nonsense. We all say things in anger, but not all of use slurs like the one Noah used — or others harmful to other groups.
For a word like that to pop out of Noah’s mouth in anger means it is part of his working vocabulary. He needs to own up to that and not just apologize for saying it.
But this post is not just about Noah’s comments and apology. It also is about the quick shift made by ESPN’s hosts, who focused not on what Noah said but on his possible lack of focus. He shouldn’t have let the fans get to him — which may be true, but it is beside the point here.
Noah — and Bryant and the 358 others who play this kids’ game for a living — need to look at themselves and ask themselves why words like those used last night by Noah come so easily to their lips.
Hank Kalet 