Court: State lawyer’s ‘bullying’ of gay student not protected by 1st Amendment

A state attorney fired for an anti-gay campaign against a college student can’t collect unemployment benefits, the Michigan appeals court says, rejecting claims that his off-hours activities were protected by the First Amendment.

Andrew Shirvell (left), with a defaced image of gay college student Chris Armstrong that Shirvell posted on his blog in 2010.

The attorney general’s office was justified in firing Andrew Shirvell in 2010 because his posts on Facebook and an anti-gay blog, as well as his campus visits and TV appearances, clearly had an adverse impact on the agency’s credibility, the court said in a 3-0 decision released Friday.

The court overturned a ruling by an Ingham County judge, who said Shirvell was entitled to jobless benefits because he was fired for exercising free speech.

“The department, as the chief law enforcement agency in the state, represents all of the citizens of Michigan irrespective of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or creed. … Shirvell’s conduct reasonably could have created the impression that neither he nor the department enforced the law in a fair, even-handed manner without bias,” the court said.

There’s no dispute that Shirvell targeted Chris Armstrong, an openly gay student government president at the University of Michigan. Shirvell appeared on local and national TV shows to defend his blog and criticize what he called Armstrong’s “radical homosexual agenda.”

In response, Attorney General Mike Cox’s office received more than 20,000 complaints.

“Shirvell’s conduct undermined one of the department’s specific missions — i.e. the integrity of its anti-cyberbullying campaign,” said judges Stephen Borrello, Christopher Murray and Peter O’Connell. “By employing an individual such as Shirvell, whose conduct Cox agreed amounted to bullying, the department undermined its own message.”

Reached for comment, Shirvell of Palm Coast, Florida, said he’ll appeal the case to the Michigan Supreme Court.

“Every public employee, whether liberal or conservative, will now be in fear of what they’re doing on their off hours,” he said.

Armstrong’s attorney, Deborah Gordon, said the decision was “excellent.”

In a separate matter, a federal jury in 2012 ordered Shirvell to pay $4.5 million to Armstrong for defamation and emotional distress. An appeal is pending.

“You cannot expect to behave in such an outrageous, illegal, harmful, menacing manner and think that your employer is going to keep you on board as a government employee and it’s not going to affect how you’re perceived by the public,” Gordon said.

Michigan Governor Ignores History, Signs Welfare Drug Testing Bill Into Law

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder elected on Friday to waste taxpayer dollars in an effort to punish the poor for being poor. Ignoring the lessons learned when similar programs were adopted in Florida, Tennessee, Utah, Oklahoma, and other states that have adopted measures to shame society’s most financially vulnerable through humiliating and unnecessary drug testing procedures, Snyder signed a bill into law forcing those who can’t afford to eat to face the additional humiliation of having to pee in a cup if they are “suspected” of illegal drug use.

The CDC reports that, on average, 9.2% of the population age 12 and older use illegal drugs each month (7.3% of the population uses Marijuana, which is slowly becoming more accepted in society). States that have chosen to drug test the poor have, in the past, unwittingly revealed that poor individuals actually use drugs at a much lower rate than the national average.

Florida, for example, spent $118,140 to drug test 4,086 applicants seeking to receive welfare benefits between July and October 2011. Only 108, or 2.6 percent, failed the tests — with most testing positive for marijuana. About 40 individuals scheduled tests, but canceled them, according to the Department of Children and Families. The reasons for cancellation were unspecified. Ultimately, taxpayers lost $45,780 to this blatant attempt to shame the disadvantaged.

The state of Missouri drug tested 636 applicants, finding only 20 who tested positive for illegal substances. About 200 refused to comply with this unnecessary testing. The cost of the program was a whopping $500,000.

Between November 2012 and May 2013, the state of Oklahoma drug tested 1,890 people. Only 83 of them tested positive for illegal drugs, at a cost of $83,000.

In Utah, only 14 out of 6,007 who were screened between August and October 2012 tested positive at a hefty $32,000 bill to the taxpayers.

“I have not seen any kind of credible data to this point to suggest these kinds of programs help people who are on drugs,” said staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Criminal Law Reform Project Jason Williamson.

The state of Tennessee found a whopping one person who tested positive for illegal drugs.

Despite that drug testing of welfare recipients is, historically, a waste of money, Snyder has approved HB 4118, which will allow drug testing of welfare recipients “suspected” of drug use. No standards for “suspicion” have been detailed, but failure to submit to this humiliation will lead to ineligibility for benefits for a period of six months.

“We want to remove the barriers that are keeping people from getting good jobs, supporting their families and living independently,” Snyder said in a press release. “This pilot program is intended to help ensure recipients get the wrap-around services they need to overcome drug addiction and lead successful lives. We’ll then have opportunity to assess effectiveness and outcomes.”

The cost of the program, which will initially be implemented in three counties, is estimated to cost between $700,000 and $3.4 million. Proponents claim that the program will save $370,000 – $3.7 million.

In the end, not only will this be a gigantic waste of taxpayer dollars — but the measure will only serve to stereotype, stigmatize, and shame the poorest of the poor.

Governor of Michigan voids 300 same-sex marriages, claims they ‘never existed’

The Governor of Michigan has voided the marriages of more than 300 same-sex couples, who wed while marriage equality was briefly legal in the state.

US District Judge Bernard Friedman struck down Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage in March, leading clerks in several counties to immediately start performing marriages.

The ban was put back into place after 300 couples had already married – leaving them in legal limbo pending appeal – until the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban this week.

In new court filings yesterday, the state’s Republican governor Rick Snyder said that his administration will treat the marriages as if they “never existed”.

State lawyers wrote: “The Sixth Circuit’s decision in DeBoer affirmed the validity of Michigan’s Marriage Amendment, which states, ‘[t]o secure and preserve the benefits of marriage for our society and for future generations of children, the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.’

“Now that the Sixth Circuit has reversed the district court’s decision in DeBoer, that condition cannot be met, and Plaintiffs’ marriages are therefore void.

“It is as if the legal premise upon which Plaintiffs’ marriages are based never existed.

“Consequently, from a legal standpoint, because the marriages rested solely on the district court’s erroneous decision, which has now been reversed, it is as if the marriages never existed, and Plaintiffs’ requests for benefits attendant to a legal marriage must be denied.”

The Sixth Circuit ruling is being appealed to the US Supreme Court, who are likely to take up the case as it creates a ‘circuit split’.

Michigan Pastors: We'll Go To Jail Rather Than Obey Proposed LGBT Rights Law

A coalition of anti-gay pastors rallied on the steps of Michigan's capitol building on Friday to declare that they will go to jail before obeying the proposed inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in state anti-discrimination laws. From a press release published by Christian Newswire: 

"We, the undersigned Christian Pastors of the State of Michigan declare our opposition to adding sexual orientation, gender identity or other similar designation to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act." -- Pastor Doug Levesque, Immanuel Baptist Church, Corunna, Michigan, reading a pastor's joint statement. The Pastors said that legislation in other states that were allegedly intended to protect homosexuals actually ended up discriminating against people of faith, citing the recent case in Houston, Texas, where the sermons, notes, and text messages of pastors were subpoenaed by the mayor. 

"The homosexual agenda is an anti-freedom movement which has led to the persecution of pastors and Christian business owners across the nation, whose freedom of speech and freedom of religion are being taken from them, under the guise of so called gay rights. There is nothing civil about that!"-- Minister Stacy Swimp, President, National Christian Leadership Council "Those wanting special rights for sexual orientation are seeking to rewrite the traditional moral fiber of our society." -- Tim Berlin, senior pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Warren. 

"I don't know of another example of pastors' sermons being subpoenaed, except for in Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. I find it ironic that the first example of that happening in America is from the LGBT community." -- Pastor R.B. Ouelette, First Baptist, Bridgeport, Michigan. The pastors asserted that the job of the Michigan Legislature is to affirm and uphold constitutionally protected freedom for everyone – including business owners – not pass laws that grant special favors, give special status or guarantee special protections for some while coercing and punishing others.

Swimp: "Let there be no doubt that, if you should decide to go forward with this grave injustice, I, every born again believer I know, as well as every pastor you see here today, shall disobey your unjust law. Here we stand, Black and White together, ready to go to jail!"

The group has launched a Twitter account, a Facebook page, and the website seen in the screenshot above, where they cite Porno Pete's list of outrages committed by homofacsists. Tony Perkins cheers via press release: 

Despite the obvious moral and religious implications of stigmatizing disapproval of homosexual behavior, the proposed bill contains no religious exemption of any kind. It was bad enough when religious agencies were forced out of the adoption business, and people in the wedding industry were told they must participate in the celebration of same-sex weddings. Now, ordained ministers in Idaho are told they must perform same-sex weddings and pastors in Houston, Texas are being subjected to intrusive, harassing subpoenas in an effort to silence their effort to let the people vote on a SOGI law in that city. I’m heartened, though, that pastors and Christian citizens around the country, like those in Michigan, now see the direct threat to religious liberty that laws like these pose and they are standing up and speaking out in defense of our first freedom. They are clearly counting the cost.

Michigan County Takes Away Home From Injured Mother Because She Missed A Single Tax Payment

The government of Kalamazoo County, Michigan is about to hear one hell of an uproar in defense of a mother they’ve literally stolen a house from.

Deborah Calley paid $146,000 in cash for her dream home in 2010. She didn’t take out a mortgage or borrow money. She paid for it upfront, which means she owns it. There is no dispute over it.

But now the county has foreclosed on her home and is selling it via auction. Why? Because she missed a single tax payment in 2011 because the notices were addressed and mailed to banks Calley is unaffiliated with. She’s the homeowner and the county failed to get the notices to her. And that’s not all.

Calley says that when she paid her taxes in 2012, nobody mentioned anything about the missing tax payment from a year earlier.

“When I paid the taxes in 2012 right there in Richland, no one said, ‘Oh, well you still owe money for 2011,’” Calley told WITI. “So, I didn’t really have a clue. I thought I was right on time.”

Watch: 'Religious Principles' Motivate Restaurant Patron To Tell Gay Man He's A 'F*cking F*ggot

Isiah David Tweedie says that he and his friends went to the Fire Mountain restaurant in Lansing Charter Township, Michigan Wednesday. Upon leaving with his friends, a man he says was also a patron came out and called him a "fucking faggot."

Tweedie filmed the incident with his camera phone and posted the video to his Facebook page. 

"I said, 'fucking faggot.' You want a picture? Take a picture," the man, who approaches Tweedie, says repeatedly. 

"I'm an American, born in America," the unnamed man says. Tweedie replies, "I'm an American too, honey."

"You're a fucking faggot," the man again says. "I am a fucking faggot," Tweedie replies. 

"God's law -- Leviticus, Leviticus -- you should be put to death," the man yells, pointing to Tweedie.

The video is just over a minute, but the sheer hate is immeasurable.

Local TV news station WILX News 10 spoke with the man who yelled the anti-gay slurs. They report the man "did say he reacted because of his religious principles."

"We came in here and spent 50 dollars on a meal, only to leave and be harassed," Tweedie writes on Facebook. He adds:

I'm angry with this man who works for SOETS HANDYMAN AND MAINTENANCE.. But I'm more angry with COLLIN REED, the "manager." No apology, no remorse.. Nothing. Is this acceptable?? Is this how we act?? I know my rights.. I could have cause a SCENE called other "faggots" and it could have REALLY been a scene.. This man spoke SO harshly in front of children, elderly etc.. This is UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!!! What's going to be done now??#StopTheHate SHARE THIS VIDEO!! GET THIS OUT THERE!! THIS CAN NOT AND WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!!!

Several local news stations apparently have already spoken to Tweedie, but his anger extends to the Fire Mountain corporate office.

After contacting them, Tweedie notes that posted a statement to their Facebook page, denying any involvement.

"There was a very unfortunate guest-to-guest encounter in one of our restaurant parking lots," the Fire Mountain Facebook post reads. "We have not and will not ever tolerate such behavior. None of our employees were involved in this issue and our Manager took every and all appropriate actions including calling the police."

The restaurant's Facebook page notes, "Ryan’s Buffet and Fire Mountain Grill provide high quality food at affordable prices in a family friendly atmosphere. Bring your entire family and enjoy our exceptional food and southern hospitality."

To be fair, the patron was not an employee of Fire Mountain. The restaurant claims the manager called the police, and they aren't responsible for the conduct of their patrons. 

Watch:

Michigan Democrat Adam Zemke Introduces Bill To Ban Gay Conversion Therapy in the State

New legislation has been introduced by Michigan Democrat Rep. Adam Zemke which aims to ban gay conversion therapy for minors in the state, reports mlive.com.

Zemke hopes Michigan can join California and New Jersey in banning “ex-gay” therapy for under-18s. Efforts to introduce bans on conversion therapy in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania andNew York state have been blocked or stalled.

Zemke said:

"The evidence shows you cannot change sexual orientation, so the legislation was kind of a no-brainer. We want to make sure children cannot be exposed to situations that are emotionally harmful to them because of their parents' beliefs or desires to try to change their orientation."

In 2009, the American Psychological Association said that attempts to change sexual orientation are ineffective and can have harmful side effects including depression, suicidal thoughts and anxiety.

Zemke has had positive support from some Republicans. However, Republican Rep. Gail Haines, chair of the House Health Policy Committee, said that new laws intervening in the relationship between parents and their children "seems unnecessary."

The “ex-gay” movement has had a number of recent setbacks. Last week, Duane Youngblood was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a teenager. Yesterday, we reported that Yvette Cantu Schneider, one of the most vocal and best known representatives of the ex-gay movement, announced that she no longer wishes to identify with anti-gay groups.

Liberty Counsel Defends Michigan’s Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Because Gay People Have 'Inherent' Diseases

The anti-gay Christian law firm Liberty Counsel has filed an amicus brief urging the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage, which was struck down by U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman back in March. 

Among Liberty Counsel’s arguments made in the brief is the assertion that “not only is there no bodily good or function toward which two same-sex bodies can coordinate, but there are in fact inherent harms associated with same-sex unions."

The brief continues:

The personal, social and financial costs of these homosexual-specific health problems concern not just those who engage in homosexual activity, but also the larger community of citizens who help provide services and who must bear part of the burdens imposed by the health challenges. It would be rational for the voters of Michigan to seek to minimize the deleterious effects of these conditions on public health, safety and welfare by affirming that marriage in Michigan remains the union of one man and one woman.

Think Progress reports that the brief goes on to highlight "a number of health concerns that are unique or specific to the LGBT community, including lower life expectancy, suicide, higher rates of substance abuse, depression, inadequate access to care, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, certain cancers, and eating disorders.”

Notably absent from the brief, however, are the numerous studies directly linking the LGBT health inequities to the “discrimination and stigma against homosexuality” in many parts of the country.

African-American Pastors Join Fight Against Marriage Equality In Michigan

A group of conservative African-American Christian ministers filed legal briefs on Wednesday in support of Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage, joining an even larger coalition of Christians who have also taken legal action to keep bigotry alive in the Great Lakes State, according to USA Today:

Representing potentially millions of worshippers in the state, the Michigan Catholic Conference, the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., and a national coalition of Baptists, Lutherans, Mormons and evangelicals led by Catholic bishops filed three separate briefs Wednesday in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. The briefs back Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette in his efforts to defend the state's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, which was overturned earlier this year by a federal judge in Detroit.

Michigan's constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage was passed in 2004 but struck down in March of this year by Federal Judge Bernard Friedman (a Reagan appointee). 

At a rally held on Wednesday by by African-American ministers at First Baptist World Changers International Church in Detroit, Pastor Roland Caldwell of the Burnette Inspiration Baptist Church of Detroit issued a call to action to opponents of gay marriage:

“We’ve got to tell the preachers that are standing up for homosexuality that either you are with God are you are against Him. And if you are against God you are against me. We cannot promote any more preachers that are promoting sin. We cannot promote any more pastors that are allowing homosexuals to run their church…we must step back and tell them like my cousin told a preacher, ‘You are my enemy!’…and now the fight is on!”

The legal brief filed by the black ministers on Wednesday took issue with comparisons between the battle for LGBT rights and the civil rights movement of the 1960s, in particular comparisons that have been made by judges between the 1967 case of Loving v. Virginia that legalized interracial marriage and the question of marriage equality:

Comparing the gay rights movement to black civil rights is "ignorant and myopic," said Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law center, who attended the rally in Detroit to show support.

Hateful comments were liberally on display at the rally in Detroit, with gay marriage being broadly denounced by the assembled group of ministers:

Gay marriage would "destroy the backbone of our society," said the Rev. Stacey Swimp of Flint, Mich.
"We love everybody, but we don't love the (gay) lifestyle," said the Rev. Rex Evans, pastor of Free Will Baptist Church in Ypsilanti, Mich. He said there's a "small group of people trying to destroy the foundation" of the U.S. "It's time to take our nation back."

Michigan Marriage Equality Supporters Launch Campaign for 2016 Ballot Effort

Marriage equality advocates in Michigan launched a new campaign yesterday to educate voters in order to launch a ballot effort should the federal legal challenge to the state's gay marriage ban fail in court, WZZM reports:

"Our roadmap to victory calls for work on two tracks," said Emily Dievendorf, executive director of Detroit-based Equality Michigan.

The first step is to continue with a court challenge "but if we don't get a favorable ruling, we intend on overturning Michigan's ban by ballot initiative in 2016," said Dievendorf in a news release.

Joining Equality Michigan in the campaign is the ACLU of Michigan and New York City-based Freedom to Marry, which is pushing similar "education campaigns" in a dozen states, said Richard Carlbom, the group's state campaigns director.

"Think of this as a presidential campaign, bringing this to the voters across the country," Carlbom said.

In news related to the legal case, the state of Michigan cited SCOTUS's recent Affirmative Action ruling in a brief filed this week:

"The district court’s decision, to use (U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony) Kennedy’s recent words, demeans democracy," the state asserted, referring to the plurality opinion in the case that Schuette argued in defense of the affirmative action ban.

"It denies each of those voters the dignity of a meaningful vote, labels each with the stigma of irrationality, and treats Michigan’s electorate as incapable of deciding this profound and sensitive issue."

Kennedy wrote in his opinion on Schuette vs. Coalition to defend Affirmative Action:

"It is demeaning to the democratic process to presume that the voters are not capable of deciding an issue of this sensitivity on decent and rational grounds... Freedom embraces the right, indeed the duty, to engage in a rational, civic discourse in order to determine how best to form a consensus to shape the destiny of the Nation and its people. These First Amendment dynamics would be disserved if this Court were to say that the question here at issue is beyond the capacity of the voters to debate and then to determine."

Also of note — in its brief, the attorney general also dropped all reference to the "research" done by discredited UT professor Mark Regnerus.

Michigan GOP Official Wants to ‘Purge’ the Satanic Influence of Homosexuality from the Party

What is it about the Michigan Republican Party that makes it such a breeding pen for anti-gay nutcases?

Mary Helen Sears, Michigan’s 1st district vice-chair of the Schoolcraft County Republican Party, is running for a seat on the Republican National Committee and wants you to know that she’s not one bit happy about the fact that young conservatives are increasingly supportive of marriage equality.

In an article titled "End of the GOP?" Sears writes:

Today, we are seeing those who learned well the lessons of their left leaning teachers and a society who promotes a me-ist mind set. Our young Republicans want us to put away the old thinking of Marriage and Life. Adopt a more open attitude, accept who they are, stop the hate speech, blah, blah, blah. Yes, they have learned their lessons well. The problem is it was the wrong lesson. 

Marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman. It is a reflection of God and his Church. The promise that when this horror show we call life is over, we will once again be reunited with the God of this Universe. The joining of two men or two women is a perversion of this Covenant and a direct affront to God. Satan uses homosexuality to attack the living space of the Holy Spirit, which is the body of the person.

Sears then cites the standard “homosexuality=abomination” Bible verses before continuing:

How then can we as Christians stay in a party that adopts Homosexuality into the fabric of the tent. I say we cannot. Homosexuals make up less than one percent of the total population. They must prey on our children to increase their numbers. Why then, would we, as a party, entertain this perversion? We as a party should be purging this perversion and send them to a party with a much bigger tent.

You can read the vile column in full HERE if you feel so inclined..

Gay Mich. Teen’s House Vandalized With Anti-Gay Slurs

Levi Peabody  (Source:KSN)

A gay high school student’s house was spray-painted with anti-gay slurs this week. The teen’s family says it’s the latest attack by bullies who are targeting him because of his sexuality, KSN.com reports.

Melanie Peabody, the mother of Levi Peabody, 16, of Clio, Mich., pointed out the graffiti to the news station and said that she and her husband tried to wipe off the anti-gay slur, but traces still remain.

"It does hurt," Levi Peabody told KSN. "As much as I don’t want to admit it, it does hurt that someone would dislike me that much to do something to my window."

  (Source:KSN)

The family says they believe their son’s classmates are behind the attack. After the incident, they installed a security camera in their bedrooms in hopes they will find the suspects

"I want the kid that did this to get caught," Melanie said. "I mean it’s disgusting."

According to the Genesee County Sheriff’s department, authorities are working with school officials in Clio to find potential suspects through handwriting samples.

"I don’t think anybody deserves that type of vandalism," Jolaina Walling, a neighbor of the Peabody family, said.

GAY MICHIGAN WOMAN ASSAULTED BY MAN WHO SAW HER MARRY ON THE NEWS

A couple marries in Washtenaw county.

A Michigan woman tells police she was assaulted after appearing on the news for her marriage to a woman in Washtenaw County, one of four counties that began marrying same-sex couples after the state's ban was struck down and before a stay was put in place.

WWJ reports:

A 28-year-old lesbian told authorities she was walking home after getting off a bus, Monday evening in Ypsilanti Township, when she was assaulted by three men — one of whom shouted,“Hey b—. Are you that f— from the news?”
The victim told Sheriff’s officials she’d been on TV talking about how she had recently married her partner in Washtenaw County.
The woman said one of the men punched her in the face, knocking her unconscious. She woke up on the ground, she said, to a second man kicking her in her stomach.

The attack happened in the parking lot of an apartment complex and three suspects are wanted:

One of the suspects is described as a white male in his mid-20s, 5 feet 10 inches to 5 feet 11 inches tall and heavy-set, with a low or husky voice. The victim could not provide a description of the other two suspects.
Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s office confidential tip line at 734-973-7711 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK UP. Tipsters may remain anonymous.

MICHIGAN COUNTY GOP CHAIRMAN REPRESENTS PARTY’S SHIFTING ATTITUDE TOWARDS GAY MARRIAGE

Polls may suggest that the Republican Party is slowly but surely inching its way towards LGBT acceptance, but Dave Worthams is living proof. The Kalamazoo County GOP chairman isn’t gay, but happens to be in an interracial marriage and said he sees the parallels between the anti-miscegenation laws in the 20^th century and laws today that ban same-sex marriage. MLive's Julie Mack reports:

"There were numerous people who marched on the streets, got attacked by dogs, so someone like me could love a white woman, a Hispanic woman," Worthams said, and he's come to think that the same rights should be extended to gay couples.

"At the end of the day, you should be able to love with who you want," Worthams said.

Worthams hopes that, like the 1967 landmark ruling in Loving v. Virginia that invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage, the marriage equality issues will be solved at the U.S. Supreme Court level. Same-sex marriages briefly took place in Michigan last weekend but a stay was granted by the 6^th circuit court of appeals.

While the judicial system battle plays out, Wortham said that as a Republican leader his goals are to minimize gay marriage as a divisive issue in the party and let others outside the party know that there is a diversity of opinion within the GOP.

He singled out fellow Michigan GOP chairman Dave Agema as an example of someone who doesn’t “get the bigger picture about treating people with compassion.” Agema, you'll recall, made headlines a few months ago after making a series of virulently anti-gay statements that eventually led to calls for his resignation from local, state, and national party leaders. (Agema refused)

Worthams said he is frustrated that people see Agema as representing the GOP mainstream as opposed to just a fringe individual.

"Not all Republican leaders are trying to keep people apart," he said. "I think there are allies all around (for the GLBT community.)  There are allies in places that are unexpected."

ERIC HOLDER DECLARES FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WILL RECOGNIZE GAY MARRIAGES PERFORMED IN MICHIGAN

Today US Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government will recognize gay marriages performed in Michigan after the landmark ruling by District Judge Bernard Friedman (a Reagan appointee) which found that state’s ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional, according to Freedom to Marry:

I have determined that the same-sex marriages performed last Saturday in Michigan will be recognized by the federal government. These families will be eligible for all relevant federal benefits on the same terms as other same-sex marriages. The Governor of Michigan has made clear that the marriages that took place on Saturday were lawful and valid when entered into, although Michigan will not extend state rights and benefits tied to these marriages pending further legal proceedings. For purposes of federal law, as I announced in January with respect to similarly situated same-sex couples in Utah, these Michigan couples will not be asked to wait for further resolution in the courts before they may seek federal benefits to which they are entitled.

You’ll recall that earlier this week Michigan Governor Rick Snyder remarked that the state would not “recognize the benefits of the [gay] marriage[s] until there’s a removal of the stay.” The stay in question halted gay marriage in the Great Lakes State and was granted by the 6th circuit court of appeals shortly after Judge Friedman’s ruling was given. That ruling will now be subject to the 6th circuit’s jurisprudence. 

Holder previously announced a similar decision regarding couples married in Utah who found their marriages in legal limbo like their brothers and sisters up north in Michigan now do.

MICHIGAN GOVERNOR SAYS STATE WON'T RECOGNIZE GAY MARRIAGES PERFORMED LAST WEEKEND

Michigan will not recognize the hundreds of gay marriages performed over the weekend even though it sees them as "legal and valid", Governor Rick Snyder told reporters on Wednesday, the Detroit Free Press reports:

 "With respect to the marriages, we believe those are legal and valid marriages...The stay being issued makes it more complicated. Because of the stay, we won’t recognize the benefits of the marriage until there’s a removal of the stay... Hopefully we’ll be able to provide some clarity, at least from our perspective, relatively soon."

The ACLU said that it would sue if the state decided not to offer benefits to the gay couples married in Michigan over the weekend.

The Governor issued this statement:

“After comprehensive legal review of state law and all recent court rulings, we have concluded that same-sex couples were legally married at county clerk offices in the time period between U.S. District Judge Freidman’s ruling and the 6th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporary stay of that ruling. 

“In accordance with the law, the U.S. Circuit Court’s stay has the effect of suspending the benefits of marriage until further court rulings are issued on this matter. The couples with certificates of marriage from Michigan courthouses last Saturday were legally married and the marriage was valid when entered into. Because the stay brings Michigan law on this issue back into effect, the rights tied to these marriages are suspended until the stay is lifted or Judge Friedman’s decision is upheld on appeal.”

In another conversation with reporters, Snyder was asked his personal views about marriage, and refused to say what they were.

"I'm not going to go back and rehash a sentence in one debate from four years ago. I've been focused on jobs, it's my main message, and I'm staying consistent with that."

Attorney General Bill Schuette refused to give his personal opinion either.

Federal Appeals Court Puts Indefinite Stay on Ruling Striking Down Michigan Gay Marriage Ban

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 on Tuesday to place a stay on U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman's ruling last week striking down the state's gay marriage ban, the Detroit Free Press reports.

"When those arguments will be heard is uncertain," the Detroit News adds.

Chris Geidner at Buzzfeed adds:

The three-judge panel to consider the state’s request was split 2-1 on the request, with Circuit Judge John Rogers and U.S. District Court Judge Karen Caldwell ruling in favor of the stay and Circuit Judge Helene White opposing the stay.

Referencing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in January to halt same-sex couples’ marriages in Utah with a stay during the appeal of the marriage case there, the court opinion stated, “There is no apparent basis to distinguish this case or to balance the equities any differently than the Supreme Court did in [the Utah case]. Furthermore, several district courts that have struck down laws prohibiting same-sex marriage similar to the Michigan amendment at issue here have also granted requests for stays made by state defendants.”

White, however, wrote that in her examination of the factors to consider when deciding whether to grant a stay, she concluded that “a stay is not warranted.”

Hundreds of gay couples were married over the weekend following the ruling when four Michigan county clerks opened their offices and began issuing marriage licenses.

Governor: Michigan to Hold Off on Recognizing Gay Marriages Performed Over Weekend

Approximately 300 gay couples married in Michigan on Saturday, one day after a federal judge struck down the state's ban on gay marriage. On Sunday, the Sixth Court Circuit of Appeals issued a temporary stay on the marriage ruling until Wednesday when an emergency appeal could be heard. 

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder said late on Sunday that state agencies would wait to recognize the marriages that have been performed, the AP reports:

“We are extremely sensitive to feelings on this issue and are hoping for a swift resolution for all involved,” said Sara Wurfel, spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Snyder...

...“We are not saying that we aren’t or won’t recognize the marriages that happened on Saturday, but that we’re awaiting further court or legal direction on this complex, unusual situation,” Wurfel told The Associated Press in an email Sunday.

“Either way, this can’t be construed one way or another as not recognizing the validity of the same sex marriages.”

Federal Judge: Regnerus ‘Entirely Unbelievable And Not Worthy Of Serious Consideration’

The decision finding Michigan‘s ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional is of course both correct and wonderful. But an added bonus is judge Bernard Friedman‘s take on Mark Regnerus (image), author of the much-discredited Regnerus anti-gay parenting “study.”

In his findings, the judge writes:

“The Court finds Regnerus’s testimony entirely unbelievable and not worthy of serious consideration. The evidence adduced at trial demonstrated that his 2012 ‘study’ was hastily concocted at the behest of a third-party funder, which found it ‘essential that the necessary data be gathered to settle the question in the forum of public debate about what kinds of family arrangement are best for society’ and which ‘was confident that the traditional understanding of marriage will be vindicated by this study.’ … While Regnerus maintained that the funding source did not affect his impartiality as a researcher, the Court finds this testimony unbelievable. The funder clearly wanted a certain result, and Regnerus obliged.”

 The judge later adds:

“Regnerus’s NFSS study also suffered from another defect in that it failed to measure the adult outcomes of children who were actually raised in same-sex households. In short, the isolated studies cited by the state defendants do not support the argument that children raised by heterosexual couples have better outcomes than children raised by same-sex couples. To the contrary, the overwhelming weight of the scientific evidence supports the “no differences” viewpoint.”

In other words, everything we’ve been saying about the Regnerus study is true.

The New Civil Rights Movement is proud to have been at the forefront of debunking the Regnerus study, of connecting the dots, first to NOM founder Robert George, and then to all Mar Regnerus’ funders and of course, to wholly debunking the study, inch by inch.

You can read the more than 75 articles on or about Regnerus, but at this point, why bother? His study is officially and, — now by court decree — thoroughly disemboweled.

Meanwhile, it’s worth reading the judge’s conclusion:

“In attempting to define this case as a challenge to ‘the will of the people, … state defendants lost sight of what this case is truly about: people. No court record of this proceeding could ever fully convey the personal sacrifice of these two plaintiffs who seek to ensure that the state may no longer impair the rights of their children and the thousands of others now being raised by same-sex couples. It is the Court’s fervent hope that these children will grow up ‘to understand the integrity and closeness of their own family and its concord with other families in their community and in their daily lives.’ … Today’s decision is a step in that direction, and affirms the enduring principle that regardless of whoever finds favor in the eyes of the most recent majority, the guarantee of equal protection must prevail.”

One final note. Judge Bernard Friedman was appointed to the federal bench in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan. That “activist judge” label is getting old, conservatives.

BREAKING NEWS:: Appeals Court halts marriage equality in Michigan until Wednesday

The U.S. Appeals Court for the Sixth Circuit has issued a temporary stay in the DeBoer v. Snyder marriage equality case until Wednesday.

Earlier Saturday, the appeals court issued a one-page order directing the attorneys for the DeBoer-Rowse family to respond to Attorney General Bill Schuette's request for an emergency stay by noon Tuesday.

That means that same-sex marriages in Michigan HAVE BEEN HALTED until the U.S. Appeals Court for the Sixth Circuit issues a final ruling on the motion for a stay after reviewing the response from the DeBoer-Rowse's legal team - probably by close of business on Wednesday.

TAKE ACTION

Equality Michigan is urging our members to utilize this pause in marriage equality to:

• Sign and share this petition asking Michigan's Governor and Attorney General to withdraw their appeal to Judge Friedman's verdict:  http://eqmi.us/EndAppeal
• Share your photos and stories from today, or express why you would like to get married once the courts allow it: marriage@equalitymi.org
• Donate to support the DeBoer-Rowse family's legal efforts fighting the appeal
• Visit Equality Michigan's Marriage Equality Center for the latest: equalitymi.org/marriage
• Help Equality Michigan secure equality for all LGBT people in Michigan in all aspects of their life

Read the stay order (PDF)

Read coverage by the Detroit News