Federal Court Upholds Ten Commandments Display

It looks like the religious right’s claws are in a little deeper than I thought…and perhaps it’s time for a “tea-party” to build a wall of separation of church and state!

From Atheist News and Views:

Last week the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 decision in ACLU of Kentucky v. Grayson County, Kentucky, overturning a district court’s holding that a Ten Commandments display in a county courthouse violated the Establishment Clause. The Appeals Court’s decision is the latest in a string of judicial opinions effecting a major shift in American church-state jurisprudence.

The majority in Grayson focused on the context of the Ten Commandments display, emphasizing that it appeared alongside eight other documents, purportedly installed in the courthouse to illustrate the documents’ historical legalimportance. Alongside the Ten Commandments, the display included the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Star Spangled Banner, among other documents. The majority concluded that the ACLU had failed to prove that the county had a primarily religious purpose in approving the display, and that an objective observer would not view the display as a government endorsement of religion.

In her lone dissent, Judge Karen Nelson Moore stated that the County’s asserted purpose for posting the display – “that the Display was posted for educational or historical reasons – is a sham and should be rejected.” She concluded that the display, in the context of the record of its adoption by the county, unmistakably sent a message of endorsement of religion. Judge Moore cited the minutes from a Grayson County Fiscal Court meeting, in which a local reverend, Chester Shartzer, asked the county to place “the Ten Commandments” in county buildings; Reverend Shartzer’s statement that “the Civil Liberties [sic] will look more favorable [sic] toward [hanging the Ten Commandments] if they were hanging in a grouping with other historical documents”; and “an extensive commentary by the Reverend Shartzer about the need for the Display,” the contents of which the Fiscal Court failed to record. According to Judge Moore, this record shows that the additional eight documents in the display are mere window dressing, placed to convey the illusion that the county’s predominant purpose in erecting the Ten Commandments display was secular.

More here!

In Kentucky, Jesus Rode Dinosaurs Around While Hating Gays

Oh those crazy Religious Right zealots…you know, the Sarah Palin type who believe you can “pray away the gay” and also believe that Jesus rode around on dinosaurs.

Well, in Kentucky, they’ve opened a “creationism” museum that even claims that Noah brought dinosaurs with him on his ark…now that would be some boat.  How big is a zoo?  And you can fit two of every animal on a boat, built by a guy that didn’t even have power tools?  Oh the power of miracles!

Anyway, there is a great post about this over at Americans United for Separation of Church and State.  Here’s an excerpt:

Washington, D.C., is a great city. In addition to all of the wonderful historical and political landmarks, there are a ton of tourist attractions: we have the Spy Museum, the Museum of Crime and Punishment and our very own Madame Tussaud’s wax museum.

Northern Kentucky, however, may have us beat. Petersburg is the home of the nation’s largest Creation Museum.

Since its grand opening in 2007, 750,000 people have passed through its doors to be welcomed by an animatronics display of a young girl feeding a carrot to a squirrel as two dinosaurs stand behind her looking on.

So, in these times, when we all get frustrated with the lies, mis-information and hate for the LGBT community that is so widely spread by the Religious Right, it’s great to have a laugh ever now and then, and this, this is funny!

Candlelight Vigil Commemorating Stonewall

Courtesy the Fairness Campaign:

The Fairness Campaign joins over ten local organizations co-sponsoring the Kentucky Fairness Alliance’s “Candles Across Our Commonwealth,” a series of candlelight vigils across the state commemorating the 40th anniversary of the New York Stonewall Riots. Aside from Louisville, vigils will be held in Lexington, Danville, Richmond and Owensboro. The Louisville vigil will take place on Sunday, June 28 from 8-9 PM downtown at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, 6th and Chestnut.

Forty years ago this month, a group of African American, Latino and white transgender, gay and lesbian New Yorkers made a stand against raiding police officers at The Stonewall Inn. This pivotal moment in the gay rights movement united the LGBT community and its allies in the fight against anti-gay discrimination, birthing the gay civil rights movement. The following year, thousands marched in commemoration of the Stonewall Riots. Just a decade ago in Louisville, the Fairness Campaign lead the effort to win passage of the first anti-gay discrimination Fairness Ordinances in Louisville and Jefferson County, protecting individuals from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

On Sunday, the Louisville vigil will focus on the need to repeal the federal “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” policy of the military and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), as well as the need to pass a national Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, and a statewide Fairness law.

WHAT: “Candles Across Our Commonwealth” Candlelight Vigil Commemorating Stonewall

WHEN: Sunday, June 28, 8-9 PM

WHERE: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, 6th and Chestnut

WHO: Kentucky Fairness Alliance (Statewide Sponsor/ Organizer)

ACLU of KY

blkout, University of Louisville

Central Presbyterian Church

CFAIR

commonGround, University of Louisville

Douglass Blvd. Christian Church

Fairness Campaign

G3

Health Sciences for Human Rights, University of Louisville

Lamda Law Caucus, University of Louisville

Office for LGBT Services, University of Louisville

Pandora Productions

Transformations, University of Louisville

Kentucky High School Refuses Gay Students Access to Restroom

Outside of Franklin County High School in Kentucky, students protested an email sent to their teachers instructing them not to allow homosexuals to use the restroom during class.

The email sent by Asst. Principal Karen Buzard was in response to an incident where two female students were caught kissing in the school restroom.

Read the rest at Inside Looking Out!

Bill to Ban Gay Adoption in Kentucky Dies

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, issued the following statement with regard to reports that Senate Bill 68, a bill that would prohibit adoption or foster parenting by any person “cohabiting with a sexual partner outside of a marriage that is valid in Kentucky,” has died in the Kentucky legislature. The Kentucky House of Representatives adjourned without voting on the legislation, which had been approved by a Senate committee and was pending in the Senate. Kentucky’s legislative session ends March 30.

“We’re glad to see that this dangerous bill did not advance. Very simply, very plainly, this legislation would have hurt children in Kentucky who are waiting for permanent homes with loving families,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “We congratulate the Fairness Campaign, Kentucky Fairness Alliance, Kentucky Equality Federation, Join the Impact, the ACLU of Kentucky and HRC members who made their voices heard in support of children.”

“The fact that this attack on children was stopped at the Senate Committee level speaks volumes to the broad-based coalition support the Fairness Campaign was able to rally around this issue,” said Chris Hartman, Director of the Louisville-based Fairness Campaign. “We hope this victory is a sign that discriminatory anti-adoption legislation will not be considered in the Commonwealth’s future, and that if it is, the Fairness Campaign will gather and build upon our allies and mobilize them against this bill with even greater fervor.”

Tennessee’s legislature is currently considering a similar bill that would ban adoption by any person “involved in a cohabitating sexual relationship outside of a marriage”. Four states, Florida, Mississippi, Utah, and Arkansas, currently have laws that prohibit adoption by gay or lesbian couples (Florida’s law additionally prohibits adoption by gay or lesbian individuals). For additional information about state adoption laws affecting gay and lesbian people and couples, please visit: www.hrc.org/state_laws.

Kentucky law prohibits gay or lesbian couples from marrying.

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