Obama Speaks Out For LGBT Rights In Kenya

"The idea that they are gonna be treated differently or abused because of who they love is wrong, full stop."

President Barack Obama spoke out forcefully in favor of LGBT rights during a press conference with Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi on Saturday, saying that the idea that a "law-abiding citizen" could be treated differently under the law was simply wrong.

Some African leaders had warned Obama not to raise the issue of LGBT rights on the trip. Being gay is illegal in Kenya.

Asked about the status of LGBT Kenyans on Saturday, Obama did not hesitate to speak out in favor of equality.

"I believe in the principle of treating people equally under the law, and that they are deserving of equal protection under the law and that the state should not discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation," Obama said.

"I'm unequivocal on this," he continued. "If somebody is a law-abiding citizen who is going about their business and working in a job and obeying the traffic signs and doing all the other things that all citizens are supposed to do, and not harming anybody, the idea that they are gonna be treated differently or abused because of who they love is wrong, full stop."

President Barack Obama spoke out forcefully in favor of LGBT equality during a press conference with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta (L) in Nairobi on Saturday. | SAUL LOEB via Getty Images

 Obama also warned that when one group is denied equal rights by a government, others can be affected as well.

"When a government gets in the habit of treating people differently, those habits can spread. And as an African-American in the United States, I am painfully aware of what happens when people are treated differently under the law," Obama said. "All sorts of rationalizations that were provided by the power structure for decades in the United States for segregation and Jim Crow and slavery and they were wrong."

Kenyatta seemed unmoved by Obama's comments, saying that LGBT equality was not a priority for most Kenyans right now and that it was not a value shared with the United States.

"There are some things that we must admit we don't share. Our culture, our societies don't accept. So it's very difficult for us to be able to impose that which they themselves do not accept," Kenyatta said. "This is why I repeatedly say that for Kenyans today, the issue of gay rights is really a non-issue. We want to focus on other areas that are day-to-day living for our people."

Among those issues, Kenyatta said, are including women in the economy, health, infrastructure and entrepreneurship.

"Maybe once we overcome some of these challenges, we can begin to look at new ones," Kenyatta said.

Source: The Huffington Post

Mike Huckabee Explains How To Resist Gay Marriage Decision

PHOTO BY: ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Supreme Court may have made marriage equality the law of the land, but that doesn't mean people should go along with it, 2016 Republican presidential candidateMike Huckabee said Sunday, comparing those opponents to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

"I don't think a lot of pastors and Christian schools are going to have a choice" but to resist, Huckabee said on ABC's "This Week." "They either are going to follow God, their conscience and what they truly believe is what the scripture teaches them, or they will follow civil law."

"They will go the path of Dr. Martin Luther King, who in his brilliant essay the 'Letters from a Birmingham Jail' reminded us, based on what St. Augustine said, that an unjust law is no law at all," he continued. "And I do think that we're going to see a lot of pastors who will have to make this tough decision."

After the Supreme Court ruled Fridayagainst bans on same-sex marriage, Huckabee urged his supporters to "resist and reject judicial tyranny, not retreat."

"This Week" host George Stephanopoulos asked Huckabee to explain what that would mean in practice and whether he was calling for civil disobedience.

Along with pastors, Huckabee said that he expects to see Christian business owners, university presidents and school administrators resist. He said county clerks should not be required to issue licenses for same-sex marriages if they do not want to.

Huckabee, like many Republicans, has said that the Supreme Court's ruling will usher in an age of discrimination against Christians who oppose same-sex marriage and may be forced to acknowledge or serve gay and lesbian weddings.

"I'm not sure that every governor and every attorney general should just say, 'Well, it's the law of the land because there's no enabling legislation,'" Huckabee said. "For the states who have a constitutional amendment that affirms marriage, as has been affirmed by the courts for 135 years since the ratification of the 14th Amendment, right up through the first time we've seen same-sex marriage enacted by any state, which was Massachusetts, in many states you have overwhelming majorities of the people who voted to say that they believe marriage is between a man and a woman."

Earlier on the show, Stephanopoulos talked to Jim Obergefell, one of the plaintiffs in the same-sex marriage cases that went before the Supreme Court. Obergefell was fighting to have his name listed on the death certificate of his husband, John Arthur, who died in 2013.

Huckabee said he was "deeply moved" by Obergefell's story, but still convinced the Supreme Court overstepped.

Obergefell had a message during his appearance for Huckabee and others who oppose same-sex marriage.

"I would simply like to say, think about your brother, your son, your sister, your daughter, a dear friend," he said. "If one of them were gay, they would still be the same person. You would still love them. And wouldn't you want them to enjoy the same rights that you do and that everyone else in this country does? We're simply asking to be treated equally and fairly and to enjoy the institution of marriage and to be able to commit to the ones we love."

Source: The Huffington Post

Some States Are Still Trying To Resist Gay Marriage

County clerks in Texas will be able to turn away gay couples seeking marriage licenses, the state's attorney general Ken Paxton (R) announced on Sunday.

Clerks can refuse based on religious objections, Paxton told the Austin American-Statesman, and because the clerks will probably be sued, "numerous lawyers stand ready to assist clerks defending their religious beliefs," he said.

Texas was one of 13 states that banned gay marriage before the Supreme Court ruled on Friday that those bans were unconstitutional, effectively legalizing gay marriage across the country. Therefore, it's not surprising that its lawmakers are trying to resist following the ruling.

Paxton railed against the ruling in an opinion, ordered by Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick (R), who wanted to find a way to legally protect those who were against gay marriage.

"Friday, the United States Supreme Court again ignored the text and spirit of the Constitution to manufacture a right that simply does not exist. In so doing, the court weakened itself and weakened the rule of law, but did nothing to weaken our resolve to protect religious liberty and return to democratic self-government in the face of judicial activists attempting to tell us how to live," Paxton wrote in the opinion.

Lawmakers in Louisiana and Mississippi, which also previously had bans on gay marriage, are actively resisting the ruling by delaying its implementation. Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell (R) claimed that because the Supreme Court's ruling did not include an official order for states to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, "there is not yet a legal requirement for officials to issue marriage licenses or perform marriages for same-sex couples in Louisiana." County clerks were instructed to hold off on issuing licenses for 25 days, the amount of time states are allowed to appeal the Court's ruling.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) said the Supreme Court "usurped" each state's "authority to regulate marriage within their borders." He and other state leaders are considering various legal options, including halting all marriage licenses.

Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi are in the minority: most other states that had same-sex marriage bans in the books are now abiding by the Supreme Court's historic ruling.

In Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal (R) said Friday the state "is subject to the laws of the United States" and a judge at a county court in Atlanta began performing the state's first gay marriages.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) urged compliance with the ruling on Friday, asking the state to "treat everyone with the respect and dignity they deserve."

Alabama's attorney general, Luther Strange (R), issued a statement acknowledging that "the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling is now the law of the land" and pledging to enforce the ruling, though some counties in the state have stopped issuing all marriage licenses in an effort to avoid allowing gay marriages.

Source: The Huffington Post

Supreme Court Legalizes Gay Marriage Nationwide

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Friday that it is legal for all Americans, no matter their gender or sexual orientation, to marry the people they love.

The decision is a historic victory for gay rights activists who have fought for years in the lower courts. Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia already recognize marriage equality. The remaining 13 states ban these unions, even as public support has reached record levels nationwide.

The justices found that, under the 14th Amendment, states must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and recognize same-sex unions that have been legally performed in other states. Justice Anthony Kennedy delivered the majority opinion and was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor. In a rare move, the four dissenting justices each wrote an opinion.

The lead plaintiff in Obergefell v. Hodges is Ohio resident Jim Obergefell, who wanted to be listed as the surviving spouse on his husband's death certificate. In 2013, Obergefell married his partner of two decades, John Arthur, who suffered from ALS. Arthur passed away in October of that year, three months after the couple filed their lawsuit.

Obergefell was joined by several dozen other gay plaintiffs from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee who were fighting to be able to marry and to have their marriage recognized in every state in the country.

In the majority opinion, the justices outlined several reasons same-sex marriage should be allowed. They wrote that the right to marriage is an inherent aspect of individual autonomy, since "decisions about marriage are among the most intimate that an individual can make." They also said gay Americans have a right to "intimate association" beyond merely freedom from laws that ban homosexuality.

Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy. These five justices were in the majority in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. (Photos: Getty)

Extending the right to marry protects families and "without the recognition, stability, and predictability marriage offers, children suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser," the justices wrote.

The majority concluded that the right for same-sex couples to marry is protected under the 14th Amendment, citing the clauses that guarantee equal protection and due process.

In his dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, argued that same-sex marriage is not endorsed by the Constitution. "Celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new benefits," they wrote. "But do not celebrate the Constitution."

Scalia, in his own scathing dissent, complained that the majority opinion lacked "even a thin veneer of law." He quipped, "Who ever thought that intimacy and spirituality [whatever that means] were freedoms? And if intimacy is, one would think Freedom of Intimacy is abridged rather than expanded by marriage. Ask the nearest hippie."

The country's views of same-sex marriage have transformed since 2004, when Massachusetts became the first state to allow gay couples to wed. In 2013, the Supreme Court began chipping away at the country's legacy of discrimination against same-sex couples when it struck down part of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which prevented same-sex couples whose marriages were recognized by their home state from receiving the hundreds of benefits available to other married couples under federal law.

In its opinion, the majority recognized the profound cultural shifts in marriage views, citing both the Chinese educator Confucius and the Roman philosopher Cicero. The justices noted how marriage has been transformed from a union arranged by a couple's parents for financial reasons to a voluntary contract, and from a male-dominated relationship to an agreement where women have "equal dignity." These changes, the majority wrote, have strengthened the institution of marriage.

"Changed understandings of marriage are characteristic of a Nation where new dimensions of freedom become apparent to new generations," the majority wrote.

President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to support marriage equality when he came out in favor of it in 2012, the same year that the Democratic Party made it part of its platform for the first time. On Friday, Obama called the ruling "a victory for America."

The Republican Party and its slate of 2016 presidential aspirants, however, remainopposed to same-sex marriage. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) support a constitutional amendment protecting states that want to ban marriage equality.

Some conservatives have advocated for a civil disobedience effort against a Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex marriage. However, officials in red states told The Huffington Post recently that they are prepared to implement the decision, going so far as to ready gender-neutral marriage licenses and set later office hours. Gerard Rickhoff, who oversees marriage licenses in Bexar County, Texas, said that if same-sex couples are discriminated against elsewhere in the state, "Just get in your car and come on down the highway. You'll be embraced here."

As the majority wrote in its opinion, the petitioners' "hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the

eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."

Read the court's opinion here:

Obergefell v. Hodges

Source: The Huffington Post