Civil & Human Rights

Justice Department policy: equal protection to married same-sex couples

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In a speech Saturday night at the Human Rights Campaign’s Greater New York Gala at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. announced a new Justice Department policy. Justice Dept. to give married gay couples equal protection (modified and updated):

EqualThe Justice Department on Monday instructed all of its employees across the country, for the first time, to give lawful same-sex marriages sweeping equal protection under the law in every program it administers, from courthouse proceedings to prison visits to the compensation of surviving spouses of public safety officers.

In a new Policy Memo (.pdf), the department spells out the rights of same-sex couples, including the right to decline to give testimony that might incriminate their spouses, even if their marriages are not recognized in the state where the couple lives.

Uphill Battle: Rep. Victoria Steele Introduces Bill to Extend ERA Ratification Deadline

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PDA econ equalityEquality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
– Equal Rights Amendment

by Pamela Powers Hannley

There is an ideological perfect storm brewing in the Arizona Legislature. A memorandum supporting extension of the ratification deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has been assigned to a committee where five out of seven members have pledged to protect and fight for the rights of fetuses over the rights of women.

Not content with winning the right to vote in 1920, women’s rights advocates proposed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) 91 years ago. The ERA was introduced during every Congressional session between 1923 and 1972 and finally passed nearly 70 years after it was originally proposed. In the 1970s, there was a ground war at the state level to get 38 state legislatures to ratify the ERA in order for it to become a Constitutional Amendment. The ERA fell 3 states short of ratification; Arizona is one of a handful of states that never ratified the ERA.

HCM2006 Sponsors

Fast forward to 2013, the ground war for women’s equality has resumed at the state level with ERA ratification proposals six states– Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Virginia, and now … Arizona.; Nevada and North Carolina plan to hear it in 2014. LD9 Rep. Victoria Steele has introduced HCM2006, a memorandum from the State of Arizona asking the federal government to extend the deadline for ratification of the ERA, and HCR2016, a fill to ratify the ERA.

In addition to Steele, the ERA memorandum has 18 co-sponsors– including two Republican women, Kelly Townsend (LD14) and Karen Fann (LD1). Below is the complete list. Although Southern Arizona is well-represented on this list with Steele, Wheeler, Gabaldon, Saldate, and Pencrazi, where are the rest of the Democrats and the “moderate” Repulbican? (Should I name names, or can you figure out who’s missing here? If you live in LD9, LD10, LD2, or LD3, you might want to ask your representatives and senators why their names are missing from this list.)

Catholic Poll: The flock is not following their shepherds

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Remember this from back in November: Pope Francis Orders Survey Of Catholics On Hot-Button Social Issues:

PopeU.S. bishops are among those the pope is asking to find out from their parishioners how they feel about abortion, same-sex marriage, divorce and birth control.

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The decision is dividing some parishioners, some of whom fear the poll could be the first step in the church changing its stance on hot-button issues.

The results are trickling in and as they would say on the Family Feud, "survey says": Global Poll Finds Most Catholics Actually Support Birth Control And Abortion Rights:

A new global poll surveying the world’s Catholics finds that most of them don’t agree with the Church’s strict positions on issues of reproductive health. Specifically, most Catholics around the world actually support birth control and abortion rights — two “family values” issues that the Catholic hierarchy opposes.

‘Crazy’ Carl Seel wants to return to the dark days of Russell Pearce

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Back in the dark days when disgraced and recalled former Senate President Russell Pearce was at the zenith of his anti-immigrant reign of terror, he and his good buddy Kris Kobach from the Immigration Law Reform Institute and Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) were proposing bills to deny undocumented immigrants access to health care, public education, rental properties, public services. etc. Many of these anti-immigrant measures were first beta-tested by Kris Kobach in the City of Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

SealRussell Pearce, who is now the First Vice Chair of the Arizona Republican Party, still has his loyal acolytes willing to carry out his anti-immigrant hysteria in the Arizona legislature.

"Crazy" Carl Seel — you remember him, one of the sponsors of the "Birther" bills in 2011 and 2012 Arizona's Penis-Free "Birther" Bill Is Back in Action — has filed HB 2192 (.pdf), a bill that would declare it "an unlawful use of public resources if the person uses any public resource while present in this state in violation of any [law] that has determined that the person is not lawfully present in this state…"

Rep. Seel is the only sponsor of this bill, and his bill has not yet been assigned to a committee. Arizona's business community has made it abundently clear in recent years that it does not want to revisit the dark days of Russell Pearce's reign of terror. So will the business community punish Seel for his sin?