Adam Sunny Flanders

Same-sex marriage was recently legalized in DC, and many people consider this to be an indication that Congress will favor equality if and when it comes to their table, assuming the Supreme Court doesn’t “legalize” it nationwide as a result of the current Prop.8 appeals in Federal Court. Today was another victory for advocates of equality in DC and nationwide. 39 members of Congress attempted to overturn the DC Council’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage and they failed for the single reason that the DC Superior Court Judge Judith Macaluso determined that the rights of the minority cannot be voted on by the majority. Finally, someone has set this precedent, and where else but the nation’s capital? Unlike in Maine and California, the rights of gay and lesbian couples will NOT be voted on by the majority in DC. I hope this precedent has a nationwide impact and prevents other states from voting on the basic human rights of minorities via “mob rule.”

This is the debate between the lead attorney for Prop.8 and Geoff Kors of Equality California concerning the new Federal Trial. I think Kors makes an amazing argument in his few minutes.

Our side has offered their opening statements and they are powerful. You can read the entire transcript here: Opening Statement in Prop.8 Trial. The Perry v. Schwarzenegger case will most certainly go down in history, no matter what the outcome, and both sides of the issue have vowed to take it to the US Supreme Court. You can read our basic legal arguments here: Perry v. Schwarzenegger.

The US Supreme Court has overruled Judge Walker’s decision to make the Prop.8 Federal Trial available to the public via YouTube, so it seems we will all be kept in the dark in the next few weeks. Actually it seems the Supreme Court hold will only last for the first 48 hours pending trial circumstances. You can read more about it here:

U.S. Supreme Court blocks video coverage of Prop. 8 trial
Prop.8 trial to include unprecedented testimony

Please take a moment to sign this petition to Obama to urge the courts to declare Prop.8 unconstitutional. Thank-you.

Seldom do I get really excited anymore about a major political or social cause, even when it comes to gay rights, that is, my rights. Social attitudes take time to change, which is why I thought it was ridiculous we ever brought marriage equality to popular vote in Maine or anywhere. The rights of a minority should never be voted on by a majority. The majority has little interest in changing their ways to accomodate a minority and in all of American history, there is not a single example of a minority right being won nationwide by popular vote. When the Supreme Court struck down bans on interracial marriage in 1967, over 70% of Americans were opposed to interracial marriage. Current polls show that slightly more than half of Americans oppose same-sex marriage, so we’re doing pretty good in that respect. However, civil rights come from the high courts and Congress. I laugh every time I think of Americans voting on the rights of others – voting on same-sex marriage is as absurd as a community made up of 90% men voting on whether or not to allow women to vote, or Mainers voting on whether to criminalize interracial marriage.

So it brings me great joy to let you all know that same-sex marriage has its first Federal court hearing this Monday. Even better, it will be the first Federal hearing to be completely televised and published online. It will also be streamed live to other Federal courts. It’s a result of the Prop.8 appeals. I bet the Prop.8 people will really be kicking themselves if their campaign ultimately ends up being the route to nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage! Don’t think the Supreme Court would rule in favor of same-sex couples? Guess what – it already did in 2003. Lookup Lawrence v. Texas. The lawyers opposed to same-sex marriage have already stated that they cannot produce a single example of how same-sex marriage would harm society. Obviously the trial won’t be resolved in one day – it will likely go on for a while. Monday is just the beginning. Our side is arguing that Prop.8 is unconstitutional because it creates a separate class of people, as did the sodomy laws that were oveturned by Lawrence v. Texas. Laws against same-sex marriage violate the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution. There are many other good arguments for same-sex marriage and so far there are no legal or rational arguments against same-sex marriage. The court obviously will not hear religious arguments or the fear-inducing propaganda like that spread in California and Maine during Prop.8 and Question 1. We have a little thing called Separation of Church and State in our country.

CNN has reported that the video of the hearing will become available to the public via YouTube Daily. Those opposed to same-sex marriage (supporters of Prop.8) didn’t want the video aired publicly because they feared retaliation. I say good – their actions represent a direct attack on a minority of people based on how we were born, attempting to strip away our basic human rights and invalidate the real love shared by same-sex couples and their families. They’re trying their best to make us secondclass citizens who are lesser and don’t have basic rights. Last time that happened we called it the Holocaust. In Maine the Christian Civic League, energized by the Question 1 results, is promoting the reintroduction of sodomy laws in Maine, which is impossible because the states cannot violate the US Constitution. Nonetheless, the stupidity continues. *Sigh*. Someday soon we will look back at all of this and wonder why it was ever an issue, just as most of us wonder why interracial marriage was an issue 50 years ago, when the same people and organizations who are now opposed to same-sex marriage were throwing out scripture to argue that God “did not intend the races to mix.”

We will see same-sex marriage legalized nationally in our lifetime. I think it’s a matter of a few years at most. Monday’s trial is the beginning of what will likely end in a Supreme Court or Congressional decision striking down DOMA and all state laws against same-sex marriage. Our side has also subpoenaed documents from the Prop.8 campaign showing that the campaign was fueled by homophobia and religious bigotry (big surprise). However, that’s going to be extremely important for our success in this trial because it shows an additional malice and violation of Due Process as required by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled in Loving: “There is patently no legitimate overriding purpose independent of invidious racial discrimination which justifies this classification. The fact that Virginia prohibits only interracial marriages involving white persons demonstrates that the racial classifications must stand on their own justification, as measures designed to maintain White Supremacy. It takes no stretch of the imagination to replace racial discrimination with homophobia and White Supremacy with heterosexism. In my mind we’ve already won – we’re just waiting for the court to announce it officially. Monday is the first step!!!

FairPoint is a local internet/tv/phone provider and in an attempt to compete with Time Warner’s $100 3-in-1 bundle, they’re offering a better deal for $77/month. They also enlisted the help of Jim Henson Studios to design Bundle, the cutest thing of 2009! There may be a plush for sale soon. You can see the commercial and one of Bundle’s music videos below.

I’ve been playing videogames like crazy. I got Crystal Bearers for Christmas, along with a few other games. My little sister Ash and I have been playing a lot of Super Monkey Ball lately, lol – I uploaded a video of us playing the baseball minigame – we aren’t very good, lol. But there’s not much else to do in these wintry months – I can’t wait to move to someplace warmer next year, then I can scuba dive all year ’round. Anyway, Happy New Year! 2010 is gonna be great!

I just watched this really incredible documentary called The Cove. It’s focused on the Japanese exploitation and slaughter of dolphins in Taiji. It’s very disturbing, but I’m glad I know about this now – I wasn’t aware that dolphins are still being killed for food in Japan, and in such an inhumane way. This documentary exposes the secrets of the Taiji dolphin slaughters that go on every day between September and March. FMI visit http://www.thecovemovie.com/ or http://www.takepart.com/TheCove

I have noticed recently a lot of films have promoted a more humanitarian perspective. I just saw Avatar in 3D with my friend Jay the other day and the message was clearly about the exploitation of other sentient beings. District 9, another scifi film, reminded me of how people treat those they see lesser than them – the real “District 9” in the movie accurately represents real concentration camps existing both in history and modern day. There have been countless environmental films and human rights documentaries in recent years. I hope this means we are moving in a direction of conscious raising, and that many of us will take the steps to actually do something about these issues.

I know most of you reading my blog are from Maine. Right here in Turner, Maine we have an issue with the Quality Egg of New England farm, a farm that is abusing its animals to the extreme. You can watch video below that was captured earlier this year:

Christmas was awesome. I bought so much stuff for my family this year! We got my mom a really nice white wool pea coat from Chadwick’s, and my little sister got an iPod Touch – I helped her sync the music with mine. We also got her a Canon camera now that she’s gotten really into photography like me. My big gift was a new HD camcorder. I’m going to be making some special effects videos soon combining my CG animations with real life video, just for fun.

We dressed up the poocademons, too, with little antlers, though their heads were too small so we had to put them around their little waists, haha! They’re so precious. I also got lots of clothes and some Wii videogames – Final Fantasy Crystal Bearers and Jurassic: The Hunted. And then some money, which I’m thinking about using to take a trip down to Florida during winter break, but maybe I should save it for textbooks this Spring, hehe. I posted a short video taken with my new camcorder, though the lighting was really low. Holiday wishes for everyone!

Having to tend to our gym, my dad didn’t have time to buy a Christmas tree this year, so a few days ago I went into the woods to get one myself. It was pretty fun – being able to go into my backyard and find total silence, just the whistling wind and cracking branches – one of the things I like about Maine. Plus, the pride in finding and cutting down my own tree is something I haven’t experienced since I was little. I got the right kind this time – once I brought home a tree that ended up smelling like cat pee, LOL! I’ve embedded a slideshow below, or you can see the full-size photos in my Flickr account. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas! ^-^

Yesterday Mexico City became the first Latin American city to legalize same-sex marriage! The legislative assembly voted 39 to 20 in favor of same-sex marriage, and 31 to 24 in favor of allowing same-sex couples to adopt children. Go Mexico City!