The Massachusetts legislature, meeting as a constitutional convention, on Wednesday rejected an anti-gay-marriage constitutional amendment 157 to 39.
That's good news, although some gay-marriage enemies also opposed the amendment because it would allow civil unions, and they've started petitioning for a stricter amendment that would ban both gay marriage and CUs. But the earliest that amendment could be voted into law is 2008.
Also on Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives unexpectedly backed a measure that would expand the federal hate crime program, adding sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability to a federal hate crime law that provides grants to the states to help prosecute such crimes.
The law does not mandate increased penalties for hate crimes, which some oppose as punishing thoughts rather than actions. Companion legislation awaits action in the Senate.
But some gay media think the big news is that the House-passed bill was "trans-inclusive." You wouldn't know from this headline that gays were also covered!
The comments problem: Sometimes (though, alas, not too often) we
have good discussions in our comments zone, and sometimes (alas,
far too often) those who abhor the center-right/libertarian view of
this blogger are brimming with such antagonism that discussion is
brought to a halt as name-calling is met with counter-name calling.
We haven't tended to interfere, except in cases of obscene
language, but we've been asked more than once to be more active in
moderating the discussion and deleting (or, to the extent we can,
closing the gates) on those who don't wish to engage in civil
discussion, or who so distort the comments of others (and of this
blog) that it makes serious discussion impossible. So, going
forward, we'll give that a try and see if it helps.
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