Derp, de, derp.
Image by Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
The women were thought to be members of the feminist group Femen, who have protested Putin before.
Image by Jochen Luebke/ / AP
She is certainly not for turning.
Via: giffingthenews.tumblr.com
Via: ukpolitical.info
Via: youtube.com
Via: thedailybeast.com
Matt R. Salmon, the gay son of Republican Rep. Matt Salmon of Arizona, said Sunday that MSNBC and CNN cancelled interviews when he informed producers he wouldn't attack his father on air. The younger Salmon said they expected him to criticize his dad, who doesn't support same-sex marriage. Salmon singled out Lawrence O'Donnell and Piers Morgan's shows as the ones who cancelled. (Via KPNX ) Update : An MSNBC spokeswoman tells BuzzFeed “a producer had initial conversations with Matt, like we do with many potential guests every day, but he was never formally booked for the show.”
Spokespeople for MSNBC and CNN did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed's request for comment.
Jana Winter faces jail over a story on the Aurora massacre.
Image by Doug Pensinger / Getty Images
An ACLU spokesman said forcing Jana Winter, a Fox News reporter facing possible jail time for not revealing a source she used in a story about the alleged Aurora, Colo., shooter, would be "improper," but said the organization would not get involved unless she were actually jailed.
Subpoenaing the press should be "an absolute last resort because of the chilling effect," said Ben Wizner, director of ACLU's Speech, Privacy & Technology Project.
Conservatives have complained that the mainstream media and free speech groups have ignored the plight of a reporter for the conservative network, whom a Colorado judge is pressing to reveal her sources on a story that disclosed detailes of the investigation into shooter James Holmes. When initially contacted, Wizner said he hadn't been following the story, which received no media coverage from cable news channels other than Fox News until Monday, when it was mentioned on MSNBC's Morning Joe and CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper. After looking into the story more, however, Wizner said "you could expect a strong response" from the ACLU if Winter were jailed, although he said he would be "surprised" if she was.
Winter published a story on FoxNews.com July 25 about how the alleged Aurora, Colo., shooter sent to a notebook to a University of Colorado psychologist that was "full of details about how he was going to kill people," according to the story. Her source violated a protective order against disseminating information that could have "a substantial likelihood of prejudicing a criminal proceeding," according to court documents.
"To compel this reporter to reveal her source would be improper," Wizner said. "Even if this reporter's source committed misconduct in speaking to the reporter, compelling her to testify is no solution."
Wizner said the best way for Winter and other reporters to be protected from being jailed for refusing to reveal their sources is raising awareness of the issue, saying it was "the way everyone's rights get accommodated."
The ACLU Colorado office referred media requests to the national office, saying the Colorado office wasn't familiar with this particular "area of law."
"It's just not an area of law we have much expertise with," said John Krieger, an ACLU Colorado spokesman, adding, "There hasn't been a case that mirrors this one," in his state.
“We intend to create an atmosphere of fun, and the spirit and theme were never intended to cause offense or harm,” Flaunt Magazine says.
The Northeast gate marks the end of U.S. soil as the road leads into Cuba at Guantanamo Bay.
Image by Bob Strong / Reuters
WASHINGTON — A magazine hosting a Guantanamo Bay-themed party at the Coachella music festival defended the theme on Monday, saying that the publication "has not shied away from controversy or provocation."
Flaunt Magazine, an Los Angeles-based fashion and lifestyle magazine, sent BuzzFeed the following statement:
In its 15-year history, Flaunt has not shied away from controversy or provocation. We routinely cover topics of social and political contention. At our event, we intend to create an atmosphere of fun, and the spirit and theme were never intended to cause offense or harm. Guantanamo has been controversial from its inception, and that an unresolved human rights issue is again fetching headlines is, in our opinion, true to our aims as a publication. We value and respect the public's concern and are taking action.
The magazine is throwing a "New Guantanamo" party in conjunction with Le Baron, the New York City nightlife brand run by Andre Saraiva. The party has been roundly criticized on Twitter and on fashion blog Refinery 29, which wrote on Monday, "Flaunt Magazine tends to be pretty great when it comes to thinking creatively, but its recent invite to a Guantanamo-themed party (yes, seriously) quickly shifted from fun to completely absurd."
The party invite promises "pleasurable torture" by makeup brand Smashbox Studios, and the poster features models carrying large machine guns.
Flaunt editorial director Matthew Bedard didn't immediately comment about what "taking action" means.
“What's more important?” he asks in Connecticut. “Our children or an A grade from the gun lobby?” Meanwhile, in Washington, another sign of the uphill battle.
Image by Susan Walsh, File / AP
WASHINGTON — Just miles from the site of the Newtown shooting, President Obama called out members of Congress Monday for threatening to block action on gun violence.
But while he was talking, there was yet another sign that passing gun control legislation soon is an uphill climb at best on Capitol Hill.
In a forceful speech delivered in Hartford, Conn., Obama dismissed the suggestion that the desire for gun control has faded in the months since the shooting at the nearby elementary school.
"We're not forgetting," Obama said.
The president called out Republican members of Congress promising to filibuster the Democratic-led gun control bill currently on the table. The bill contains provisions like universal background checks that poll well with the general public but have drawn the strong opposition of the National Rifle Association and its allies.
"They're not just saying they'll vote no," Obama said. "They're saying they won't allow votes...they're saying your opinion doesn't matter."
Obama seemed frustrated by the mounting opposition and, as he often has, called on the American people to pressure their representatives to join the call for new gun laws.
"What's more important?" he said. "Our children or an A grade from the gun lobby?"
Obama has been pushing hard for gun legislation since the Newtown shooting shocked the American public as well as the occupants of the White House. Though there have been signs that some conservative Democrats and some moderate Republicans are willing to cross the NRA and support background checks and other measures, it's appearing less likely that the conservative GOP will join them.
While Obama was speaking, the most powerful Republican in the Senate joined the group of conservatives threatening to shut down the gun bill on the table there.
"While nobody knows yet what Senator Reid's plan is for the gun bill, if he chooses to file cloture on the motion to proceed to the Reid Bill (S. 649), Senator McConnell will oppose cloture on proceeding to that bill," a spokesperson for the Senate Minority Leader told BuzzFeed.
Obama's strategy seems to be to shame members like McConnell into voting for gun control measures powerful forces in their base oppose. Obama repeated his call from the State Of The Union that gun violence proposals "deserve a vote."
The crowd in Hartford began to chant "we want a vote," in a moment that made the speech reminiscent of a campaign rally.
“With no federal employment protections, too many LGBT workers are at risk of losing their jobs and their livelihoods,” HRC president says. HRC and others are urging Obama to issue an executive order banning contractors from LGBT discrimination.
WASHINGTON — Nearly $250 billion in federal contracts given out in the last fiscal year went to contractors operating in states where the companies could fire a worker solely because the person is gay, lesbian or bisexual, a new report has found.
A group of organizations that have been urging President Obama to sign an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers will be releasing the new report Tuesday as a step in increasing pressure on the president to act during tax time.
The report, a copy of which was provided to BuzzFeed Monday night, also has found that nearly $300 billion in federal contracts were given out in states that have no specific state-level protections against anti-transgender discrimination.
Although federal government employees are protected from anti-LGBT discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, there is currently no protection for employees of federal contractors against sexual orientation discrimination and protections against gender identity discrimination are unclear. And while most of the top federal contractors have policies against LGBT discrimination, the report aims to draw attention to the limits employees would have in states without legal protections.
"An executive order requiring federal contractors to adopt policies barring discrimination against LGBT workers would help ensure employment protections for the majority of the American workforce," the report by the Movement Advancement Project, Human Rights Campaign, Center for American Progress, Freedom to Work and Out & Equal concludes.
Such an executive order "would cover more than 20% of American civilian workforce — including extending protections to an additional 16 million workers," the report has found.
In 2008, moreover, then-Sen. Obama told the Houston GLBT Political Caucus that he would support a federal nondiscrimination policy based on sexual orientation or gender identity for federal contractors as president, as reported by Metro Weekly.
Thus far, however, the White House has rebuffed activists' requests, with White House officials saying repeatedly that the president is focused on a legislative solution to workplace discrimination against LGBT employees.
Freedom to Work president Tico Almeida has been strongly critical of that response and told BuzzFeed on Monday night, "As Americans are filling out their tax forms this week, this report provides another reason why President Obama should fulfill this campaign promise right away."
LGBT advocates have sought passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, legislation that would would ban most private employers from discriminating against LGBT workers, but the lack of support from the House Republican leadership makes the bill's passage very unlikely in this Congress. The executive order — modeled after an existing executive order barring contractors from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin — is seen as providing some interim relief.
"With no federal employment protections, too many LGBT workers are at risk of losing their jobs and their livelihoods," said HRC President Chad Griffin in a statement. "The permanent solution is to pass an inclusive ENDA. In the meantime, we hope President Obama will issue an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT Americans."
The transgender protections of the proposed executive order already could be covered under a 2012 decision of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that explicitly banned anti-transgender discrimination against federal employees under the sex discrimination ban in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Because that decision arguably applies to the Department of Labor, which administers the existing executive order that bars federal contractors from discriminating based on sex, anti-transgender discrimination already could be prohibited. Labor officials, however, have made no public announcement that it is applying the EEOC ruling to contractors.
You can thank Stephen Colbert for giving Hillary Clinton's husband a nudge into the 21st century. Update: as of Tuesday, April 9th, @PrezBillyJeff's Twitter feed has yet to be verified and still includes only one Tweet.
Things got personal for the Majority Leader during a speech about gun violence prevention.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has been critical of the power couple's trip to Cuba, questioning on TMZ who from Treasury approved the trip. “Thanks guys, I love your show.”
A new buzzword. After passing bills for gun control, a gas tax, and a death penalty repeal, O'Malley says he's about results, not liberalism.
O'Malley, center, speaks at a news conference on March 15 in Annapolis after the General Assembly approved a measure to ban capital punishment.
Image by Patrick Semansky / AP
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a potential presidential hopeful whose latest round of legislative measures in the state is being cast by political observers as particularly left-leaning, is pushing back against the liberal-hero moniker with what he calls his own "bumper-sticker label."
O'Malley — according to O'Malley — is a "performance-driven progressive."
It's a term he used in an interview this week with Bloomberg, and again during a gaggle with reporters on Monday, the last day of his legislative session, in the halls of the Annapolis State House. Teddy Davis, O'Malley's strategic communications director, tweeted specifically about the descriptor on both occasions.
Senate Democratic leadership discussed the proposal in a meeting Monday. And they're not pleased.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) stands on Capitol Hill in Washington February 28, 2013.
Image by Jason Reed / Reuters
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will propose in his budget that corporate tax reform be revenue-neutral — and Senate Democratic leaders aren't pleased.
"Most Senate Democrats see it as an irrelevant document that reflects poor strategic choices by the administration," a Democratic Senate aide said of the president's forthcoming budget proposal. "That includes the revenue-neutral corporate tax reform suggestion."
Senate Democratic leaders discussed the president's proposal in a meeting Monday, according to a Senate Democratic aide with knowledge of the meeting, in advance of the plan's public release slated for Wednesday.
The senators took issue with the idea of revenue-neutral tax reform and instead plan to push for reforms that increase revenue, particularly because the president's budget proposes that Social Security be cut by shifting the program to a chained CPI.
"And then not have corporations chip in anything additional?" a Senate Democratic aide marveled. "I don't think we really care for that."
Ad claims New Jersey is “falling behind.” The first negative ad campaign ahead of Gov. Christie's reelection and a possible presidential bid in 2016 has six figures behind it.
Via: youtube.com
A liberal nonprofit group, One New Jersey, has purchased a six-figure ad buy in New York City and Philadelphia cable television markets to hit Republican Gov. Chris Christie on the state's 9.3 percent unemployment rate.
The 30-second spot, called "Real," will reach the entire state of New Jersey starting this week, ahead of the governor's reelection campaign this fall, and a possible bid for the presidency in 2016. The television ad is the first major spot this cycle directed against Christie.
"Our first commercial seeks to serve as a wake-up call to Trenton that there's a huge gulf between the rhetoric being espoused and the reality on the ground," Joshua Henne, a spokesman for the group, said in a statement.
One New Jersey — a progressive 501(c)4 group based in New Brunswick that launched a social media campaign this winter to "Unfriend Christie" after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg hosted the governor for a fundraiser in Palo Alto, Calif. — will supplement the television spot with online advertisements in the coming weeks.
Influential conservative leader Jim DeMint bluntly warns, “I’m not going to be an apologist for the Republican Party.”
Image by Alex Brandon, File / AP
WASHINGTON — Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint Tuesday brushed aside conservative criticism of his organization's work on immigration reform, dismissing it as nothing more than inside-the-beltway sniping.
"Sounds like Washington to me" DeMint said of complaints by the CATO Institute and Americans for Tax Reform that Heritage is unfairly inflating the costs of looming immigration legislation in order to rally opposition.
The split highlights a growing division within the broader conservative movement over immigration, with organization's like Grover Norquist's ATR pushing for comprehensive reform while DeMint and others insist it is nothing more than a backdoor into amnesty.
DeMint, who during his time in the Senate made a name for himself by issuing blunt conservative critiques of his own party, flatly warned that as head of Heritage he won't hold water for Republicans on immigration or any other issue.
"I'm not going to be an apologist for the Republican Party," he told a group of bloggers over Chick-fil-A sandwiches and sodas.
"It's really disturbing to me … how many pieces of legislation over the last few years have been developed behind closed doors," DeMint said, arguing that the bill is being drafted by "staff people, big labor and big business. The members who are involved in this haven't seen it."
"Certainly the people in the room … they see an economic benefit. But we need to help separate that for the American taxpayers … Heritage will be the only organization in the country that is looking at the cost of the kind of blanket amnesty they're talking about," he added.
DeMint, who late last year left the Senate to join the conservative think tank, also warned that conservatives should be skeptical of promises to secure the border and better control legal immigration, pointing to a Reagan-era amnesty bill that ultimately did little to stem the flow of undocumented workers.
"All the promises won't be kept. And that's what helped us defeat this bill the last time … you need to read some of the speeches [from the 80s]. They're even better than the ones being made today in terms of the promises that are being made, he said, adding that, "I don't like the process. It's holding hostage fixing the system in return for amnesty."
A modified invite after controversy over a Coachella party.
WASHINGTON — The magazine hosting a Guantanamo-themed party at Coachella has made a new invite with all of the information scribbled out as if it's a classified document that has had details redacted.
Flaunt Magazine, which took a beating online yesterday for its "New Guantanamo"-themed party it is throwing in conjunction with Le Baron at Coachella, sent the new invite to BuzzFeed.
The original one promised "pleasurable torture" by makeup brand Smashbox Studios. Fashion blog Refinery 29 called it "completely absurd" and "completely antithetical to the spirit of Coachella — or fun, or any sort of festival experience, whatsoever." Smashbox told New York Magazine that it is no longer involved in the party after the controversy over the invite.
On Monday, Flaunt sent BuzzFeed a statement about the party idea:
In its 15-year history, Flaunt has not shied away from controversy or provocation. We routinely cover topics of social and political contention. At our event, we intend to create an atmosphere of fun, and the spirit and theme were never intended to cause offense or harm. Guantanamo has been controversial from its inception, and that an unresolved human rights issue is again fetching headlines is, in our opinion, true to our aims as a publication. We value and respect the public's concern and are taking action.
The NRSC is calling on organizations such as the DNC, DSCC, Think Progress, Mother Jones, American Bridge, and others to denounce a secret recording of Sen. Mitch McConnell discussing opposition research on Ashley Judd they described as “Watergate-style tactics.” McConnell's campaign manager said Tuesday they are working with the FBI to investigate how the tape — which was published today by Mother Jones — was recorded.
We are still waiting for Sen. Mitch McConnell to comment on the substance of the story. Before posting this article, we contacted his Senate office and his campaign office—in particular, his campaign manager, Jesse Benton—and no one responded. As the story makes clear, we were recently provided the tape by a source who wished to remain anonymous. We were not involved in the making of the tape, but we published a story on the tape due to its obvious newsworthiness. It is our understanding that the tape was not the product of a Watergate-style bugging operation. We cannot comment beyond that.
Via: motherjones.com
Via: @American_Bridge
Via: @juddlegum
Via: @juddlegum
Lean In 's immediate impact.
Image by Karl Mondon/Contra Costa Times/MCT
It's been less than a month since Sheryl Sandberg published Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead," and I've already had two women bring up her name in salary negotiations.
I'm not alone: Other editors whom I asked this week told me that women who worked for them had brought up the book — its broadly empowering message, and its specific advice on pushing for a raise. It's a concrete, if anecdotal, suggestion that Sandberg's high-profile effort to start a movement is having real consequences on a dynamic that's well known to managers and backed by volumes of research: Women often ask for less money than they could get, and negotiate less aggressively than men.
The new phenomenon of women invoking Sandberg in salary talks "has happened here," New York Times editor Jill Abramson said in an email. "I do think the book and all the attendant publicity have emboldened some women to speak up more directly about compensation, which is, of course, a welcome development."
Some argue that women negotiate less aggressively because they don't get the same treatment as men when they play hardball, and in fact Sandberg suggests in her book that women asking for a raise "suggest that someone more senior encouraged the negotiation." In some of these situations, Sandberg herself seems to fill that role. The first person to bring up the book to me was an senior editor here who had begun work on a new project. After we finished discussing her new role, she got out of her chair, and then stopped and said: "Sheryl Sandberg would be disappointed in me if I didn't ask you about money."
She said invoking Sandberg helped her overcome "the hardest thing for me about asking for a raise — the social awkwardness of it."
"I wasn't worried you'd think I was too aggressive for asking about money, I just felt like I needed to get over the hump of feeling weird about it, and referencing Sandberg gave me kind of a script to follow," she said.
Not long after that, I was talking to another young woman about a job, and made her an offer that amounted to less than she was currently making. She replied that she'd love to consider it, but that "Sheryl Sandberg wouldn't approve." (Both women said I could use the anecdotes here if I didn't mention their names or salary details.)
For the well-educated, ambitious women who work in media and start-ups — Sandberg's first audience, and perhaps the most natural one — at least, Lean In has had a startlingly immediate effect.
"This last week alone I had three coffees with friends and colleagues — all women — to discuss negotiating for a raise and/or promotion," said Stacy-Marie Ishmael, a former Financial Times reporter who works for a technology company in New York City, and hosts events for women in technology and media. She said other factors driving that conversation include the salary information now available on sites like Glassdoor and the Levo League's #ask4more campaign on Twitter.
"The day after I finished Lean In I emailed my boss and asked for a meeting to discuss what other challenges I could take on at work," said an editor in her 20s, who added that the phrase is now ubiquitous. "The phrase 'lean in' is now in constant rotation with my friends and colleagues. We use it as a joke — who wants the last hot dog? lean in! — but also as shorthand for going after what you want, whether it be at work, with a partner, etc. It's a reminder to be confident, to stretch yourself, to take that extra step even if it's scary."
In media, as in other industries, studies have found that women make less than men for the same work. A survey of the magazine industry, for instance, found that women working as managing or senior editors earned an average of $58,200 in 2012, while men in the same positions earned $63,600, though those gaps had narrowed substantially since a similar survey in 2008.
But if the trend is widespread, it's not utterly universal, and there are other reasons — in the media business in particular — that women (and men) might not be asking for raises.
"I think, in these weird days for media, people are just happy to be working — nobody's asking for raises at all," said New York editor Adam Moss.
With additional reporting by Anna North
Grand OLD Party.
April 9, 2003.
May 1, 2003.
Image by Larry Downing / Reuters
December 8, 1961
Via: examiner.com
October 7, 1996
Via: mediaite.com
After a potentially embarrassing tape leaks, a master class in spin. “McConnell took their faux-drama and busted a cap in their ass,” says Wilson.
Image by Susan Walsh / AP
WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell put on a clinic in crisis communications Tuesday, turning a potentially explosive secret recording of his campaign's strategy session into a political bludgeon to beat Democrats — and the campaign cash bushes.
"Last week they were attacking my wife's ethnicity and apparently also bugging my headquarters, much like Nixon and Watergate," McConnell told reporters on Capitol Hill. "That's what the political left does these days."
If the press conference were an episode of the camp-era "Batman" that's where the "biff!" titlecard would show up. McConnell had gone from a man on his heels after a recording of an oppo research session on Ashley Judd was published by Mother Jones to the master politician driving the story to his own benefit.
McConnell's strategy with the tapes, which included calling in the FBI as well as accusing his opponents of illegally bugging his office, has awed Republican political observers.
"McConnell took their faux-drama and busted a cap in their ass. He turned it within minutes into a legal, political and fundraising attack on MoJo, the DSCC, American Bridge and the rest," said Rick Wilson, a GOP consultant based in Florida. "Really, quite impressive. Don't let that softspoken thing fool you. He'll cut a bitch."
While accusing progressives of bugging his campaign office Plumbers-style could come back to haunt him if he's not right, the early indications are McConnell has fired up his base and turned the story into a cash cow for his reelection campaign.
And he's succeeded in quickly turning the discussion away from the substance of the tapes — a task made easier by the fact that there was no smoking gun in the recording.
On the tapes, members of McConnell's campaign can be heard discussing using Judd's mental history, her opposition to coal, and her support of Obama against her in a potential election match up. Although perhaps a bit jarring to anyone who's never witnessed a political campaign, even attacks on Judd's mental problems would hardly have been unprecedented, nor were they a new topic. The actress extensively addressed them in her book, for example.
Democrats on Tuesday tried valiantly to make the tapes into a bad day for McConnell, pointing to those less-than-honorable quips about her mental state. But McConnell and his Republican allies brushed all that off, turning the fight back on to the left. And they think they've got Democrats on the run.
"It's part of a continued pattern behavior that reveals why Main Street hates Washington," said Brad Dayspring, spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "Whether it's Senator Menendez using his office to advocate for a high dollar donor, Leader Reid yucking it up with said donor on a private jet, Senator Baucus using threats and intimidation to push legislation, or now bugs or tapes illegally placed in a Republican campaign office, this 'law be damned' mentality has to stop."
The NRSC used the unproven allegations of illegal bugging to call on every Democrat in town to denounce the tapes and the McConnell campaign instantly turned the Mother Jones story into a fundraising oppurtunity.
Even Democrats are noting the skill of McConnell's spin.
"McConnell is a spin master," tweeted DNC spokesperson Brad Woodhouse. "Was going to go after a woman's decades old mental health issues and now he's just trying to distract from that."
Meanwhile, Mother Jones is spinning McConnell's spin into cash for its own coffers. The non-profit publication relies on reader donations, and when McConnell went on the attack, the Mother Jones fundraising e-mail went out. It's not uncommon for MoJo to do turn its scoops into fundraising pitches — after the magazine broke the infamous 47% tape during the elections, it launched a fundraising drive. But with McConnell and his allies accusing the progressive news site of being something other than a media organization after the tapes were published, it seems the left can benefit from McConnell's spin machine, too.
“Folks have been trying to pull this language from our statute in Montana since 1991, so this has been a long time coming,” state Rep. Bryce Bennett says. Final vote is expected Wednesday, but the second reading passed Tuesday 64-36.
Rep. Bryce Bennett
Via: facebook.com
Montana Rep. Bryce Bennett, the state's sole out gay lawmaker, today saw nearly two-thirds of the state House vote in support of taking the state's sodomy law off the books.
That also, however, meant he saw one-third of the body vote to keep the law — despite it having been ruled unconstitutional on state grounds in 1997 and, implicitly, on federal grounds in 2003.
"It feels like we're entering a new day in the state ... and people are ready to move on from this discussion of whether homosexuality should be legal or not," Bennett told BuzzFeed Tuesday shortly after the second reading of a bill to formally repeal the state's sodomy law.
Bennett had successfully filed a motion Monday to pull the bill from committee, which had tabled the repeal measure.
Although Tuesday's second reading resulted in 64 of the body's 100 members voting in support of repealing the law, 36 members voted to keep the sodomy law.
"It's not by accident that for year after year people have decided to keep this unconstitutional language," Bennett said.
More than one-third of the Montana House voted against repealing a law that has been deemed unconstitutional by both the Montana Supreme Court under the state's constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court under the federal constitution.
The repeal effort, thus, is a formality. Yet, opponents of the repeal spoke out in favor of maintaining the law on Tuesday. Of that opposition, Bennett said, "I think it says in a lot of ways that we still have a lot of work to do. This is still a state that struggles with this issue."
The second reading vote to repeal the Montana sodomy law.
In 1997, the Montana Supreme Court held, "The right of consenting adults, regardless of gender, to engage in private, non-commercial sexual conduct strikes at the very core of Montana's constitutional right of individual privacy."
If that weren't enough, six years later, the U.S. Supreme Court similarly struck down Texas's sodomy law as violating the U.S. Constitution in Lawrence v. Texas. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority of the justices of two men who had been arrested for violating the Texas law, "The State cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime. Their right to liberty under the Due Process Clause [of the U.S. Constitution] gives them the full right to engage in their conduct without intervention of the government."
The courts' actions do not actually take the laws off the books, but rather render them unconstitutional to be enforced.
Montana did not formally repeal its law after the 1997 state court ruling or after the 2003 Supreme Court ruling. Few states have, in fact, repealed the laws since the 2003 ruling that applied nationwide.
Bennett was surprised it happened now. "I was excited and shocked at the same time. Folks have been trying to pull this language from our statute in Montana since 1991, so this has been a long time coming and I almost couldn't believe when I saw we had 60 votes up there," he said.
He expects the third reading of the bill Wednesday, and, assuming passage is successful, the bill — which already been passed the Senate — will go to Montana Gov. Steve Bullock for his signature.
Already, though, Bennett is looking ahead.
"While it's exciting that we got this point ... we've got a number of steps to take forward before we can tackle other issues to make sure everyone in our state is truly equal," he said.
