Tag Archives: Kentucky

“We keep making the argument of the importance of marriage, that it takes a man and a woman to make a child and that the state can’t continue to redefine that if civilization’s policy goal is to support families rather than water down marriage to be about any adult relationship. These judges keep saying that’s not what marriage is. Based …

“This new TV channel highlights the growing intolerance towards Christianity in particular, and other religions, with the exception of their own. The new channel brags of having ‘superstition-free programming,’ which implies that religion is just silly superstition but atheism is rational and logical. Where are all their books, websites, and magazines that argue against the mythical Easter Bunny? This is …

In two days the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in five marriage equality cases out of Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Via the Columbus Dispatch: A same-sex marriage showdown happens in Cincinnati on Wednesday as three federal appeals judges, including two Ohioans, hear marriage cases from Ohio and three neighboring states. It will be the single-largest legal …

A poll issued in Kentucky this week reveals that opposition to same-sex marriage has dropped by 20 points in the ten years since that state approved its constitutional ban. Here’s how they try to spin the numbers at the anti-gay Lifesite News: A Bluegrass Poll, released yesterday, found that Kentucky residents support traditional marriage by 13 percentage points, 50-37. “If …

Via the Louisville Courier-Journal: Ark Encounter is applying to participate in a program that allows eligible tourism attractions a rebate of 25 percent of the sales tax they collect on admission tickets, souvenirs, food and other things over 10 years. For this application the rebates would be as much as $18.25 million. The incentive program’s rules say that if preliminary …

A Kentucky woman is suing US Bank for firing her after being repeatedly warned to stop asking customers if they’d accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior.  Polly Neace admitted she was reprimanded and was given multiple warnings, but she continued with the phrase. After complaining about a situation at the bank, Neace claims she jokingly told a manager she …

“As you (Energy & Environment Cabinet official) sit there in your chair with your data, we sit up here in ours with our data and our constituents and stuff behind us. I don’t want to get into the debate about climate change, but I will simply point out that I think in academia we all agree that the temperature on …

Clip recap: This week I’m in Pennsylvania, which gained the freedom to marry just a few months ago. We have big victories this week in Kentucky, and a ton of hearings coming up from one side of the country to the other. There’s a battle of wills and a surprise move in Colorado. And one of the Prop 8 lawyers …

It took NOM more than two days to publicly react to the Kentucky ruling. From their blog: Stunningly, a single judge has decided that his opinion can override the votes of 75 percent of Kentuckians, who approved a constitutional amendment protecting marriage in 2004. According to Heyburn, there is an “utter lack of logical relation between the exclusion of same-sex …

“Judge Heyburn’s contention that ‘serious people’ don’t support the definition of marriage that has existed for millenia, demonstrates a measure of contempt – for tens of millions of citizens – wholly unacceptable from someone on the bench. On the contrary, it is those like Judge Heyburn, who can conceive of no ‘rational basis’ for distinguishing the type of relationship which …

“For all practical purposes, Judge G. Heyburn has declared martial law on marriage policy in Kentucky. This decision is another indication that we are no longer a nation of laws, but a nation of judges. The judge cited ‘doctrinal developments’ by other federal judges that ignored judicial precedent in favor of traditional marriage laws as a reason for invalidating our …

Via Freedom To Marry: Today, July 1, 2014, U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II ruled in favor of the freedom to marry, striking down a constitutional amendment in the state that restricts marriage to different-sex couples. Previously, Judge Heyburn struck down the portion of the marriage ban in Kentucky that denies respect to same-sex couples who legally married in …

Via Chris Johnson at Washington Blade: The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has set August 6 as the single day to hear arguments in the five marriage equality cases pending before the court, setting up a historic day for each of the four states in the circuit. In four separate notices on Monday, the Sixth Circuit, which is located …

Friendly Atheist blogger Hemant Mehta is part of a group that will hand out his book, The Young Atheist’s Survival Guide, at a Kentucky high school. Creation Museum head Ken Ham is ever so pissed. “The reason for handing out this atheist book is to attack the Bible and the Christian faith-and the atheists really just want Bible distribution by …

Last week the outside counsel hired by Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear filed an appeal brief which argued that same-sex marriage must remain illegal otherwise straight people will have fewer babies. The brief is so absurd that some now believe the state is purposely trying to lose the case. Some lawyers in Kentucky say the brief filed May 7 at the …

Via the Associated Press: A federal judge has ordered Kentucky to pay $70,000 in attorney’s fees to the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that resulted in the recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages. U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II on Wednesday immediately put the order on hold, though, pending the result of an appeal of his ruling in the case. Heyburn …

Clip description: AFER heads back to court this week to protect its latest marriage equality win. Kentucky’s Attorney General is running to become the state’s first pro-equality Governor. Oregon surveys look encouraging, but voters could still pass a turn-away-the-gays discrimination bill. And a new public education campaign in puts LGBT family members front and center in Oklahoma.