The Daily Agenda for Thursday, October 9

Jim Burroway

October 9th, 2014

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Nevada Waits For Marriage. It’s been quite a roller coaster ride for Nevada’s same-sex couples the past two days. First, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared Nevada’s ban on marriage equality unconstitutional, and issued a surprise mandate ordering officials in Nevada and Idaho to begin issuing marriage licenses. Then Idaho went to Justice Anthony Kennedy, who oversees the Ninth, and asked him to overturn the mandate. He did, but because the mandate covered Nevada as well, that put a stop to marriages there. Then Kennedy realized what happened and modified his order to overturn the Ninth’s mandate for Idaho only, leaving Nevada free to start marrying. So you’d think Nevada would start handing out marriage licenses, wouldn’t you? Well, not yet, because even though the Governor and Attorney General have said they won’t appeal the Ninth’s ruling, the Nevada group supporting the state’s ban on gay marriage, the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage, filed for a stay and asked that the court’s mandate be rescinded. In response, the Ninth asked all the parties, including state officials, to respond to the coalition’s motion by 5 p.m. Thursday.

This is obviously a Hail Mary that the coalition is trying to put off. Based on the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling that sent Prop 8 back to California because the interveners there didn’t have standing, it’s equally certain that the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage won’t have standing also since the state is no longer contesting the ruling. But procedures are procedures, and the Coalition has a right to put what is likely to be futile arguments before the Circuit court. This will have the effect of pushing out marriage equality for Nevadans until at least Friday.

Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Ashland, OR; Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD (Black Pride); Ft. Meyers, FL; Medford, OR; Oceanside, CA; Orlando, FL; Philadelphia, PA.

AIDS Walks This Weekend: Louisville, KY; Tucson, AZ.

Other Events This Weekend: Iris Prize Film Festival, Cardiff, UK; MIX Copenhagen Film Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark; Octobearfest, Denver, CO; Ft. Lauderdale Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; QCinema LGBT Film Festival, Ft. Worth, TX; Key West Bear Fest, Key West, FL; Black and Blue Festival, Montréal, QC; Castro Street Fair, San Francisco, CA; Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Seattle, WA; Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Tampa, FL.

TODAY’S AGENDA is brought to you by:

From Michael's Thing, April 29, 1974, page 35.

From Michael’s Thing, April 29, 1974, page 35.

Michael Giammetta, publisher of the weekly New York gay bar guide Michael’s Thing, wrote this review of The Alley in 1974:

Just ask anyone in Queens where they go when they want to have a royal time dancing and partying, and they’ll mention The Alley Opened over a year ago, this swinging bar is already a legend. The Alley takes its picturesque name from nearby Vaseline Alley, Queen’s version of Christopher Street where the cruising goes on like crazy. But the action on the streets can’t hold a candle to the sophisticated love-looks exchanged on the dance floor of this exciting bar.

“We never have to go to the city anymore,” a group of attractive boys told me. “We have everything we want right here in Queens. The disc jockeys play the latest and greatest rock hits and everybody is beautiful and together. The boys knew what they were talking about. Unlike many bars out in the boroughs, The Alley was filled with a lot of hip kids in the latest fashions. Here one could find the greased flat-top, rolled up jeans, and muscle shirts of the fifties freak-out movement so popular with flamboyant Manhattanites. But if that’s not your style, enough handsome hippies, glamorous boys, and dapper men frequent this bar to keep everyone happy. …The Alley gets four stars. One for fun. One for flair. One for frivolity. And one for fantabulous!

The Alley appears to have closed sometime in the first half of 1976. The address today is the home of a branch of the Habib American Bank, a subsidiary of prominent Pakistani bank.

TODAY IN HISTORY:
South Africa Strikes Down Sodomy Law: 1998. South Africa’s penal code defined sodomy as a Schedule 1 offense, like murder or rape, and was punishable by life imprisonment. Another law, Section 20A of the Sexual Offenses Act, which outlawed any behavior “at a party” — defined as a gathering of two or more men — that would be an invitation to sexual activity. Under that law, any hint of a proposition or even a glance, could lead to an arrest. The laws had been mostly ignored — South African cities had been host to Gay Pride parades for more than a decade — but that didn’t stop two prisoners in Cape Town from being charged with sodomy after engaging in consensual sex in 1997. But South Africa’s Constitutional Court responded to a suit brought by the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality and struck down the country’s harsh sodomy law along with Section 20A of the Sexual Offenses Act.

The ruling, written by Judge Lori Ackerman with a concurring ruling by Judge Albie Sachs, held that the decision violated South Africa’s new post-Apartheid 1996 constitution which made South Africa one of the first countries in the world to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The justices ruled that the decision was “part of a growing acceptance of difference in an increasingly open and pluralistic South Africa,” which included gays already serving openly in the military and the police force providing domestic partnership benefits for same-sex couples. The ruling African National Congress had earlier decided not to oppose the lawsuit. The ruling was made retroactive to the adoption of an interim constitution of 1994, which also prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Simeon Solomon: 1840-1905. When he was about ten years old, Solomon, the youngest child of a prominent London Jewish family, began to learn to paint from his older brother. A few year later, he attended Carey’s Art Academy, and later, as a student at the Royal Academy, he became a prominent member of the Pre-Raphaelite Circle. He held several acclaimed exhibitions at the Royal Academy between 1858 and 1872, with many of his paintings drawing from his Jewish background with scenes from the Hebrew Bible and ordinary Jewish life. His paintings also explored affections between men. In 1871 Simeon Solomon privately published his erotic poem “A Vision of Love Revealed in Sleep,” and the images he evoked in the poem would re-appear in his paintings for the rest of his career. John Addington Symonds would note that the themes of same-sex love in the poem was “the key to the meaning of his drawings.”

The Sleepers, and the One that Watcheth (1870, click to enlarge)

Solomon’s career though was ruined in 1873 when he was arrested at a public toilet and fined £100 (about £4,600 or UD$7,400 today) for attempted sodomy. He was arrested again the next year in Paris and was sentenced to three months in prison. He never recovered. From then on, he was hobbled by alcoholism and poverty. He would pass his remaining years in and out of the workhouse where he continued to paint, but both the quality and quantity of his work was severely impaired by his drinking. He finally collapsed in central London and died of bronchitis and alcoholism in 1905. Poet and critic Arthur Symons, on learning of Solomon’s death, lamented, “There is nothing in this world so pitiful as a shipwreck of a genius.”

70 YEARS AGO: Nona Hendryx: 1944. The Trenton, New Jersey-born singer, producer, songwriter, author and actress was one third (with Patti LaBelle and Sarah Dash) of the trio Labelle, whose greatest hit was 1974’s “Lady Marmalade.” Beginning in 1977, Hendryx embarked on a solo career, but struggled to repeat the success of LaBelle. She wasn’t without work though, as she provided background vocals for the Talking Heads and became a part of New York’s underground rock, R&B and dance scene. As the eighties progressed, she collaborated with Keith Richards, Peter Gabriel and Prince. In 2001, she came out as bisexual in an interview with The Advocate, and added gay rights to her repertoire.

If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. Don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?

Eric Payne

October 9th, 2014

In re: SCOTUS stays in 9Th Circuit

I’m beginning to get the feeling Kennedy is trying to push the issue in order to achieve a single nation-wide ruling.

The Conservative Four, right now, have enough votes to grant cert in an appeal to SCOTUS, but lack that crucial 5th vote for a ruling favorable to them.

Now.

But how about 3 years from now, when the White House may change parties? The Conservative Four – ranging in age from the 50s to 70s – are the youngsters of the Court; at least one of the four “liberal” Justices is likely to retire or die, after which the Justices could, presumably, take an appeal of a marriage equality case and THEN make a decision, reversing everything the Circuit Courts have been doing.

Seems far fetched, I know, but it is possible, and 2016’s term is only the term after next…

Mike Michaels

October 9th, 2014

Even if bans on same sex marriage are ruled unconstitutional by the SCOTUS, conservatives will keep attacking at every opportunity much like they have for abortion. This will be a forever struggle.

L. C. Burgundy

October 9th, 2014

This is going to resolve more like access to birth control than abortion. “Religious freedom” fights around the fringes, but it remains widely available and completely legal.

Soren456

October 9th, 2014

I’d agree with Burgundy about how this will play out.

It’s the false drama of “slaughter” that keeps abortion opponents holy—and nasty.

But opposition to birth control or marriage equality can’t be revved to the same level.

Opponents can’t really murder anyone to stop them. They can only sit and purse their lips.

And write letters to the editor.

TomTallis

October 9th, 2014

Um… 1944 was 70 years ago.

Jim Burroway

October 9th, 2014

My, how time flies.

Priya Lynn

October 9th, 2014

Eric said “Seems far fetched, I know, but it is possible, and 2016′s term is only the term after next…”.

I don’t think its far fetched at all. I think its very likely the reason why 4 conservative justices didn’t agree to the appeal.

Nathaniel

October 23rd, 2014

OK, I know I am late to the conversation, but let’s say Eric’s idea plays out. Somehow, between now and 2016, the older liberal judges have not yet retired or died, and there are still states allowed to enforce their marriage bans. Then we get a change in the branches of government that allows an ultra-conservative judge to be appointed to SCOTUS, they take up a case, and rule in favor of the bans (wow, just spelling it out makes one realize how many variables have to go just right for this to happen). What then? Bans already struck down wouldn’t suddenly become enforceable again, would they? I would think they would have to be reenacted the same way they were the first time around. Would our opponents have the heart and the resources to pull that off? I find that difficult to believe. By then, same-sex marriages would have been legal in over 30 states for over 2 years. The sky won’t have fallen. Evangelicals will still be getting married and divorced at the same dismal rates. Liberals will no longer be willing to concede or compromise on marriage, dragging the entire Democrat party, and quite a few Republicans, with them. It won’t be the same America for same-sex couples.

Of course, all of this speculation is moot if struck-down bans become enforceable should a case eventually say the bans were constitutional after all. Southern states wouldn’t hesitate to enforce them, even as their constituencies grow more accepting. And once someone takes action to enforce them, only further court cases or repeal will actually deactivate them. More time. The lesson, is, of course, that we shouldn’t be satisfied with striking down these amendments; they must be repealed entirely. But the question of post-approval enforcement still lingers.

Timothy Kincaid

October 23rd, 2014

Nathaniel,

As much as I’d love to see these repealed, there are still some states with the old totally unconstitutional, totally unenforceable sodomy laws on their books. Cuz repealing them would be giving the state’s stamp of approval to sodomy, sin, and degradation, ya know.

Priya Lynn

October 23rd, 2014

Yes, Nathaniel, the bans that were already struck down would become enforceable again if a future supreme court were to overturn lower court rulings finding them unconstitutional.

It is also very likely no older liberal judges will retire or die in time to be replaced by Obama prior to 2016.

Nathaniel

October 24th, 2014

PL, it might depend on how ideologically driven they are; with two years left on the Obama administration, Justices could (and have been known to) decide to retire in the next couple of years, just to ensure a Democrat replaces them. Lame duck sessions are also known for attracting action that wouldn’t have passed during the rest of a term.

Nathaniel

October 24th, 2014

Also, thanks, PL. I understand how it works, in a linear fashion. The problem I find is that there don’t seem to be many historical occasions equivalent to the one we are currently in: laws legally struck down, and appeals supporting them denied, then SCOTUS eventually accepting an appeal (after denying so many, thus striking down the laws via inaction) and reversing course. I just can’t see how, say, Virginia could legally start enforcing its struck-down ban should SCOTUS eventually rule and rule against us. At the same time, I can understand how this is a legitimate fear; without a definitive ruling from SCOTUS, our futures continue to be “up in the air.”

Timothy, I think there are a couple of problems with the sodomy laws. One is that they are purely legislative; as far as I know, none of them are a part of a state’s constitution. That means out-of-touch politicians hold the keys to getting them off the books. It also means that the law is less “in-your-face” (i.e. “out of sight, out of mind”). Which leads to problem number two: it is hard to get an electorate excited about repealing an unenforceable law. In much of the country, we will have the same problem with the marriage laws, but perhaps amendments will attract enough attention to incite an electorate to repeal them.

Priya Lynn

October 24th, 2014

Nathaniel, with the Republicans poised to take back the senate even if a liberal justice were to die or retire in the next couple months it is likely Republicans would block the appointment of a new supreme court justice and drag out the process so the vacancy couldn’t be filled in the next two years. They’ve done this with almost all appointments, for example Obama has been trying to appoint a surgeon general for over a year but Republicans keep blocking it and there’s no sign that one will be appointed anytime soon.

Nathaniel

October 24th, 2014

I’m an optimist, Priya. What can I say? The Senate isn’t set yet. There is still hope.

Priya Lynn

October 24th, 2014

I’m a pessimist, but despite that I still think its more likely than not the future U.S. supreme court isn’t going to reverse lower court rulings striking down the bans on gay marriage. I just think its a long ways from a settled issue yet.

Nathaniel

October 27th, 2014

True, PL. SCOTUS’s inaction may have flipped the numbers, but there are plenty of states that still have their bans in force, and circuits who are not eager to take the cases/rule against the bans.

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