Wednesday, October 08, 2014

South Carolina is ready for marriage equality!

Galvanized by SCOTUS decision which will probably sooner or later pave the way for marriage equality in South Carolina, lgbts and their allies in the Palmetto State held a rally at the State House then delivered a petition to Attorney General Alan Wilson. The petition, with over 5,000 names, calls for Wilson and SC Governor Nikki Haley to stop defending the state's marriage equality law, which the two have pledged to do:

Jeff Ayers, chairman of the S.C. Equality board, said Gov. Nikki Haley and Wilson’s decision to defend the ban is being influenced by the fact they are up for re-election. He added said the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community will keep their actions in mind on Nov. 4.

 . . . S.C. Equality supporters at the rally held signs that said: “Nikki + Alan give it up and move on.” And the statue of George Washington, on the north steps of the State House, was adorned with a rainbow flag.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/10/08/3731915_richland-charleston-counties-issuing.html?sp=/99/205/&rh=1#storylink=cpy

The crowd was further galvanized by the news that Richland and Charleston counties are issuing marriage license applications to same-sex couples. Charleston Councilwoman Colleen Condon and Nichols Bleckley (who attended the rally) made history as the first gay couple to receive a marriage license application in the state. According to The State, a probate judge in Greenville rejected three marriage license application. The article also said if the SC Supreme Court does not deliver an injunction, marriage licenses would be given after 24 hours.











Mike Huckabee throws tantrum over lgbt marriage equality victories

Editor's note - Due to the marriage equality rally at the South Carolina State House at noon today, there will be no midday news briefs post

Other than Reince Preibus, Republicans have, for the most part,  been intelligently silent on the  recent marriage equality victories enjoyed by the lgbt community. My guess is that they are attempting to play it cool. Some pundits and experts are claiming that they have a good shot to win the Senate in this upcoming election so they are probably not trying to create a controversy. Unfortunately, for "evangelical Republicans," such as Mike Huckabee, that's not a course of action they agree with. Yesterday, Huckabee had a full bodied tantrum, even invoking the standard right-wing threat of leaving the Republican Party when they can't get their way: