What Justice Says

James D. Esseks reminded last week:

… two courts reaffirmed that religious beliefs can’t justify discrimination against lesbians and gay men. In the wake of the Supreme Court decision that same-sex couples have the same freedom to marry that straight couples do, a few opponents of marriage equality continue to try to use their religious beliefs as an excuse to discriminate against us and our marriages. In both of these ACLU cases, courts have said nope, that’s not okay.

The rest is worth your time, a reasonable survey of the post-Obergefell legal landscape. No matter how many times we might tell people religious freedom does not include the power to discriminate, they just need to keep trying. Anyone running an office pool on how long it takes these Christian supremacists to get over it?

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Esseks, James D. “Another Day, Another Victory: Courts Are Weighing Religious Claims to Discriminate and Finding Them Wanting”. The Huffington Post. 13 August 2015.

A Lonely Passing

It is our regret to convey such news:

A 22-year-old woman found dead last month in Dallas is the 13th transgender person murdered in the US this year, eclipsing the total from all of 2014.

On Monday, police identified the body of Shade Schuler, which they found July 29 in a vacant field just west of 5600 Riverside Drive, near the Medical District. Schuler’s body was badly decomposed, according to police, and it took them nearly two weeks to identify her.

(Wright)

There is no promise we can make; not if we are honest with ourselves. There is no saying, “No more!” and making it stick.

Look … take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. We must all take care for our friends and neighbors. The point is to live through this. Please.

To wish, Be well … as well as the day affords. As well as life and death allow. It all sounds kind of stupid, rings somewhat hollow. But sometimes it’s all we have.

And, damn it, in the end it’s more than Shade Schuler had. And, come on, that’s just not fucking fair.

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Wright, John. “Black Trans Woman Found Dead in Dallas is 13th Trans Person Murdered in 2015”. 12 August 2015.