In 2009, Nanci Griffith put out an album, The Loving Kind, inspired by the death of Mildred Loving the year before. Nanci and Mildred both saw the clear relationship between the landmark Supreme Court case, Loving v Virginia-- which struck down the miscegenation laws that remained in the South to prohibit marriages of whites and blacks-- to the struggle for LGBT marriage equality. Nanci's title song was an eloquent musical statement of what Judge Arenda Wright Allen did last night in declaring Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. “Our Constitution declares that ‘all men’ are created equal,” wrote Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, in Norfolk. “Surely this means all of us.” At the exact same time that Judge Wright Allen was handing down the ruling in Virginia, reactionary extremists in the Kansas state Senate were trying to pass a shocking-- and clearly unconstitutional-- anti-LGBT bill in their state to shield anyone from refusing to provide service to same-sex couples. Although the Republican leadership is firmly behind it, a bit fewer than half the 32 Senate Republicans support the bill, which means they need Democratic support to pass the 40-member chamber.In Virginia, we saw the leading candidate for the open House seat in VA-08, Patrick Hope, issue a statement of joy over the ruling in his state:
“Today is a great day to be a Virginian. For far too long our LGBT brothers and sisters have been treated like second-class citizens. There’s no place in a civilized society for discrimination of any kind, and as a member of Congress I will work towards nationwide marriage equality and push for sanctions on countries with poor human rights records.”“While marriage equality is certainly a moral and civil rights issue, it’s also an economic issue. State-sanctioned discrimination causes many businesses and talented workers to choose homes in other states. While the appeals process is ongoing, I hope to soon see the day in Virginia where the only requirement for marriage is love.”“On this particularly special day, Kristen and I wish couples all across Virginia a very happy Valentine’s Day. We are proud that we can now say that Virginia is for ALL Lovers.”
And we saw Ted Cruz and his wingman, Mike Lee, just one day before the ruling in Virginia, introduce a bill to prohibit marriage equality for LGBT couples. Do Republicans really want to follow Cruz into another battle against the tide of history? Well, some do and some don't. And that brings us to the MSNBC clip from Chris Hayes' show last night. If you haven't watched it yet, please take a look now. Cruz's ideological fanaticism is wrecking the ability of Republican candidates to win in districts and states where they need independent voters. His across-the-board extremism on issues that are popular only with brainwashed consumers of Fox and Hate Talk Radio, will hurt Republicans trying to deal with the real world.Yesterday it was Cruz's filibuster of the debt ceiling that mandated an embarrassing and politically divisive vote for Republicans who were forced to cross the aisle and vote with Democrats to keep the country from defaulting. Although the bill itself passed 55-43, every Democrat voting YES and every Republican voting NO (including fake blue state "moderates" like Susan Collins, Kelly Ayotte, Dean Heller, and Mark Kirk), the bill to shut down Cruz's divisive-- for Republicans-- filibuster passed 67-31, forcing 6 uncomfortable Republicans to change their votes midway through the count. Barrasso (R-WY), Cornyn (R-TX), Flake (R-AZ), Hatch (R-UT), McCain (R-AZ) and Thune (R-SD) were the switchers who would have preferred, for political purposes, to oppose the debt ceiling increase but were forced to do what's right for America because Cruz is a dick-- and, clearly, the most hated man inside the Senate Republican caucus.
