EYEAM4ANARCHY

My third article for Meefers.com, which was entitled "Nevada Passes Domestic Partnership Bill Moving a Step Closer to Equality for All," concerns the recent passage of the state Domestic Partnership bill, the threat of a veto, some of the obvious contradictions involved in the opposition to the bill (in relation to previous stances by opponents of equality), and what the future positive ramifications of those contradictions might be.

Some of these contradictions include the central argument being used against this bill being that it gives domestic partners the same rights as married couples (opponents of gay marriage usually argue that they aren't against equal rights), the encouragement of Governor Gibbons to veto the bill by opponents (in spite of their professed concern for the will of the people being circumvented by some singular "activist"), and the laughable idea that Nevada is concerned about the sanctity of "traditional marriage," among others.

So, go read it and tell your friends to read it and then annoy people you barely know on myspace, facebook, and twitter by insisting they read it and then email the owner of Meefers.com and tell him how much you enjoyed reading it. Once again, I did the writing as well as the photography for the article.

Some of the eight thousand plus people who participated in the AIDS Walk this year. The buildings with all the crazy angles in the background are part of the Wold Market Center, which served as the start/finish point.

The Sin Sity Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were there to entertain the crowd. A really awesome group that does fundraising for AIDS charities and advocacy for queer rights and safe sex awareness while "striving diligently to keep their sense of humor and never taking themselves so seriously that they forget to have fun."

Pictured here is Mother Loosy Lust Bea Lady.

I'm not sure what these guys were fighting about, but it probably had something to do with too much mead and too few wenches. That usually leads to trouble. They are actually from the Empire of Chivalry and Steel, an organization that promotes the culture and traditions of the Middle Ages through historical re-enactments.

This is a really cool drum group, called the Las Vegas J.A.C.L. Kaminari Taiko, that they had set up along the route.

She is one of the finalists for most intense person in the world.

I got a bit of a kick out of everyone climbing up the Clark County government building. Reportedly, there was one cop who tried to stop people at first, but then gave up after he realized that he would have to spend all day shooing thousands of people away. This is actually toward the end of the walk after most of the people had come down.

Hello Kitty.

Hello Elmo.


Between the height and the freakishly giant hands, I don't know how this guy isn't in the NBA. (I'll be here all week folks.)

This is the World Market Center. I just liked the abstract effect all the different colors and angles had when you zoom in real tight on this section of it.

The "Dollhouse" with one of the giant new condo towers being built rising up above it in the background. Due to the current economy, both are pretty much abandoned right now.

The World Market Center parking garage. I liked the abstract effect here too.

It didn't take long for the typical reactions from the religious nuts to the decision by the Iowa Supreme Court overturning the ban on same-sex marriages. The rather tame lamenting of the lack of outlets for conservative anger by a U.S. News and World Report Religious blogger receives a quick answer when one of the first comments declares that "the people are going to take these decisions into their own hands." Followed by the more predictable and expected response that these horrible activist judges are going to destroy America with their evil agenda to do their jobs and uphold the Constitution. Then it took a rather comical turn with a new twist being applied to the old fear-mongering tactic. WorldNetDaily posted this audio of Iowa Congressman Steve King warning that all the scary homosexuals will be booking vacation packages and descending upon Iowa as a result of this decision.

BTW, while you're at the WorldNetDaily site make sure you look over the book "Shocked by the Bible," written by WND news editor Joe Kovacs. In it he "addresses incredible issues many people are simply unaware of" such as:

The practice of decking a tree with silver and gold is actually condemned by God
Animals had meaningful discussions with people.
There's a character in the Bible called a "dumb ass."
Underwear didn't disintegrate despite 40 years of heavy use.
The worst case of hemorrhoids in history is recorded.
Women's breasts are celebrated in the Bible.
Nagging wives are mentioned.
God ran lotteries.
There are magic tricks in Scripture.

Compelling stuff right there.


Update: Now that Vermont has overridden the governor's veto of legislation to legalize same sex-marriage, Republicans confused by the lack of their usual tactical means of dividing people and absent marching orders from their idols, have resorted to asking the readers of their blogs for ideas:

Normally this is where I’d gauge whether a constitutional amendment to overturn the decision is feasible or not, but since Vermont’s gone off-script I’m without an angle here. No reaction yet from prominent social cons either, although Huckabee, Romney, and Palin are all on record as supporting a Federal Marriage Amendment so it’s safe to assume they want this overturned even without the dastardly handiwork of “activist judges.” In lieu of further comment, let’s take the temperature of the Hot Air faithful with a poll.

One of the main excuses that is put up for the reason that same-sex marriage shouldn't be legalized is that gay couples can attain those same rights that other couples have through domestic partnership laws. This crops up quite often in the debates surrounding the prop 8 controversy in California, where there is already a domestic partnership law which allows for almost, but not quite, the same benefits of a marriage. However, it is also used more broadly when people arguing against same-sex marriage try to avoid looking like bigots by claiming that it isn't a matter of wanting to deprive gay couples of the same rights other couples have, but actually a simple desire to "protect" traditional marriage. It's not the rights involved they contend, just the terminology. Setting aside the fact that the Constitution prohibits religion based laws and has no provision for preserving discriminatory policies, regardless of how deep they might be rooted in tradition, let's see if this argument holds up to the scrutiny of reality.

Fortunately, Nevada has provided us a great opportunity to test if same-sex marriage opponents really are so ready to allow gay couples the same rights under a different, less sacred, name. Unfortunately, it's rather obvious that the argument falls far short of being true. Currently, the Nevada legislature is debating two bills sponsored by David Parks, an openly gay assemblyman from Clark County (which includes Las Vegas). One bill proposes the creation of a domestic partnership law and, in essence, gives them the same rights as married couples. The other bill would outlaw discrimination against individuals based on sexual orientation. Both bills involve simply the affording of gay people the same rights as anyone else and neither of them require the tainting of any sacred names. Yet anti-gay groups are up in arms against both bills and the reason is because they oppose the idea that same-sex couples might actually attain the same rights as straight couples. And there's no need for speculation about that motive.

How can we be so sure about their reasons? To put it simply, we know this is the case because they told us it was. The Las Vegas Review Journal had this report from yesterday's session:

Strong opposition to the bill was voiced by Richard Ziser, a Nevada Concerned Citizen lobbyist, who contended the bill was a move to circumvent the Protection of Marriage constitutional amendment.

Under the amendment, marriage in Nevada can be only between a man and woman.

Ziser said the bill gives domestic partners all the rights of married couples and yet says they are not married.

"Simply because you call it something else does not make it so," he said.

Yet, whenever the issue comes up in states in which domestic partnerships are recognized but same-sex marriages aren't, it's always contended that gay couples should be happy with domestic partnerships, because it's just a matter of having a different name applied. The sad truth is that homophobic bigots will use any argument that they can to prevent same-sex people from attaining the same rights as everybody else, even arguments they don't genuinely believe in. This is all the more reason that separate and unequal shouldn't be accepted as a policy and full rights have to be the goal.

That's the equivalent of saying that gay people aren't being discriminated against because they have the same right to marry someone of the opposite sex as you do. You really have to engage in some first class intellectual dishonesty to make that sort of logic work.

Now that I've gotten that out, here's a video of Wanda Sykes when she officially came out of the closet during a visit to the Las Vegas LGBT Center back in November: