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Civil Disobedience: Gay Texas Couple Apply For Marriage License, Get Arrested Instead

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Something is up in the great state of Texas, where nothing is in the middle of the road, except a yellow stripe and a dead armadillo.

Gay couple Mark “Major” Jiminez and Beau Chandler of Dallas, Texas applied for a marriage license yesterday afternoon at the Dallas County Clerk’s office marriage bureau, and when refused, engaged in an act of civil disobedience by sitting down on the floor, refusing to leave. They promptly handcuffed themselves to one another and held hands, before they were arrested and taken to jail by Dallas county police. After posting a $500 bond each, they were released last night to freedom and the cheers of Texas LGBT activists.

Jiminez and Chandler have been charged with criminal trespass and could face up to a maximum $2,000 fine and 181 days in jail. They have been scheduled to appear in a Dallas court on August 3.

Jiminez issued a statement early this morning after a late night, reflecting on possible jail time and the penalties he faces for engaging in an conscious act of civil disobedience because marriage equality is not legal in the state of Texas.

“We are each now facing a $2000 fine and a jail sentence of 180 days,” said Jiminez, a bartender at a Dallas gay bar. “But I stand before each and every one of you and tell you that I would spend 181 days in jail as a penalty for trying to marry the man I love and as soon as I got out I would start the process over again. We will be married.”

Jiminez had recently become engaged to Chandler in May, who is a nurse at a local hospital.

“The day after we celebrated our country’s freedom, Mark and Beau stood in courage for their freedom to marry only to be arrested,” Michael Divesti, a leader of  GetEQUAL Texas, who provided support to the couple, told The New Civil Rights Movement. “Shame on our government for putting them through this.”

Major Jiminez approached  Divesti recently to discuss the couple’s desire to marry, but knowing that it was not legally permitted in Texas, wanted to take a stand against marriage inequality. According to Divesti, Jiminez  has been an activist over the course of many years, even having organized with Harvey Milk in San Francisco.

“I wanted to know if Major was the real deal, ” Divesti added. “Major was very convincing that this was something they both really wanted to do and make a statement on behalf of the our community.”

GetEQUAL Texas, led by Daniel Cates, organizer and strategist in Dallas, helped raise bail money for the couple and provided on site support during the arrest and afterwards while the couple remained in jail.  The Jiminez action went viral on Facebook last night, Divesti indicated that nearly 1,00o new likes hit their Facebook page.

There is no doubt that the LGBT community and its allies have become mesmerized by the actions of Major and Beau.

Last night, Major and Beau Jiminez, issued the following statement on Facebook after making bail:

Freedom. I don’t even know where to begin…. from everyone that was there when we got arrested, to our friends and liasons within the Dallas City Police Department and the Dallas County Sheriff’s department, to the brave men and women who stood outside of Lew Sterrett Jail with signs in our support waiting for our release, and were prepared to stand out there all night, to the sympathetic police officer Beau made friends with who personally took us out of holding and made our release happen about 2-3 hours faster than it would have been. Y’all are all amazing. Our bond was set at $500.00 each and when we walked out of jail after posting our bond, we were greeted with money to help defray the cost that was just collected in the past couple of hours. I see that I have 400 emails to go through, and I will read every one. Last but not least, I would like to than the local, state and national organizers from GetEqual Texas who have stood beside us through this entire event. Of course, it is not over. We have to appear in court August 2 at 8:30am. And of course, I will keep you all posted. We love all of you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We are humbled and moved. 


One thing is for sure, there is one more dead armadillo out on a Texas highway today, because of the courageous actions of Major Jiminez and Beau Chandler. Not only did the state of Texas learn about the love of these gay men, but the whole country has tuned in too. For further information about the Jiminez Chandler case visit the GetEQUAL Texas website, where they kill LGBT social inequality “armadillos” on a daily basis.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mVOw_ndFLcI%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US

Editor’s note: Tanya Domi is Chair of the board of directors for GetEQUAL.

Images of Mark Major Jiminez and Beau Chandler were provided by GetEQUAL Texas.

Tanya L. Domi is the Deputy Editor of the New Civil Rights Movement. She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and teaches human rights in East Central Europe and former Yugoslavia.  Prior to teaching at Columbia, Domi was a nationally recognized LGBT civil rights activist who worked for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force during the campaign to lift the military ban in the early 1990s. Domi has also worked internationally in a dozen countries on issues related to democratic transitional development, including political and media development, human rights and gender issues.  She is chair of the board of directors for GetEQUAL. Domi is currently writing a book about the emerging LGBT human rights movement in the Western Balkans.

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News

Fox News Host Suggests Trump ‘Force’ Court to Throw Him in Jail – by Quoting Him

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April 19, 2024

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Jesse Watters came under fire earlier this week for profiling juror number two, sharing possibly identifying information published by a myriad of reporters but then using that information to pass judgment on her ability to serve.

“I’m not so sure about juror number two,” Watters concluded on Fox News.

Jurors, at the judge’s direction, were to remain anonymous, for their protection and the protection of the trial.

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New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan admonished the press for reporting the information, but some news outlets appeared to ignore his warning.

Watters on Wednesday “did a segment with a jury consultant, revealing details about people who had been seated on the jury and questioning whether some were ‘stealth liberals’ who would be out to convict Trump,” the Associated Press reported.

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Trump later posted Watters’ quote on his Truth Social platform, leading some, including New York prosecutors, to ask the judge to cite him for allegedly breaking his gag order.

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New York prosecutors told Juge Merchan Trump has violated the gag order at least ten times.

“Prosecutor Christopher Conroy described the ‘most disturbing’ example as a social media message Trump posted on Wednesday evening quoting a Fox News host as saying, ‘They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury,'” Politico reports.

That host was Jesse Watters.

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Friday afternoon, Watters appeared to egg Trump on, urging the ex-president to violate the gag order.

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Watch Watters’ remark below or at this link.

 

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April 19, 2024

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U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) says some of his fellow House Republicans would “take a bribe” to throw the razor-thin GOP majority to the Democrats if a far-right faction calls up a motion to oust Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, allowing Democrats to hand the gavel to the Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. he warned if that happens, Democrats would immediately declare Trump ineligible to be President, pack the U.S. Supreme Court, and pass numerous laws like the American Rescue Plan.

“I do believe in a one seat majority there could be one or two or three of my colleagues who would take a bribe in one form or another in order to deprive the Republicans of a majority at all,” Gaetz said Friday on his podcast (video below.)

He added, “the risk that one or two of my corrupt Republican colleagues might take a bribe, take a walk, feign an ailment and flip this thing to the Democrats is a risk that is too high for me at this time.”

Gaetz’s fellow far-right Florida Republican member of Congress, Anna Paulina Luna, told listeners, “I heard that when, if and when the motion vacate is introduced, that there will be immediate resignations of a couple of more moderate members of Congress. And in the event that that happens, that ultimately means it does go to a Democrat speaker.”

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U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) last month filed a “motion to vacate,” which she can use at any time to force a vote to oust the GOP Speaker, Mike Johnson. U.S. Rep. Tim Massie (R-KY) and just today, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has signed on as co-sponsors.

Congressman Gaetz told listeners if Democrats do take the House through a force vote to remove Johnson, Democrats would “be declaring Donald Trump an insurrectionist and setting up a barrier to him being able to become the president United States.”

“That’ll be their leadoff hitter, and then the chaser to that shot will be a massive spending package that looks a lot more like the American Rescue Plan. They will blow past every concept of every cap ever imagined. You’ll be looking at Universal Basic Income, you could be looking at packing the Supreme Court.”

Watch a short clip of Gaetz’s remarks below or at this link.

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Jeffries Vows Democrats Will Ensure Ukraine Aid Passes as Johnson Defectors Grow

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April 19, 2024

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Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed Friday the majority of Democrats will support Republicans’ Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and Gaza foreign aid legislation as Republican Speaker Mike Johnson lost support of another member of his conference to a faction determined to oust him.

“Democrats will provide a majority of our majority as it relates to funding Israel, humanitarian assistance, Ukraine, and our allies in the Indo Pacific,” Minority Leader Jeffries said. “It remains to be seen what Republicans will do in terms of meeting the national security needs of the American people, but it was important for House Democrats to ensure that the national security bills are going to be considered.”

Despite Republicans having a one-vote majority, more Democrats on Friday voted to move the critical and long-awaited foreign aid bills forward than did Republicans.

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The 316-94 vote included 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans voting yes, and 55 Republicans and 39 Democrats voting no.

Axios’ Juliegrace Brufke posted the list of Republicans voting against their party’s legislation.

Calling it a “rare” moment in modern congressional history to have to rely on opposition party votes to pass legislation, BBC News reports Speaker Johnson’s “hold on power is tenuous, and the legislators who oppose him – and his bid to provide aid to Ukraine – occupy some key positions within the House’s power structure.”

Amid the procedural vote to move the foreign aid funding bills forward, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, a far-right Republican of Arizona, announced he is joining Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Congressman Tim Massie (R-KY) in formally announcing their will vote to oust Speaker Johnson.

Gosar, like Greene, is reportedly a Christian nationalist. In 2022 CNN reported his “lengthy ties to White nationalists, [a] pro-Nazi blogger and far-right fringe received little pushback for years.”

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“We’ve been very honest in our assessment of the situation from the beginning,” Jeffries on Friday also declared. “At the appropriate time as House Democrats, we will have a conversation about how to deal with any hypothetical motion to vacate.”

“Moscow Marjorie Taylor Greene, Massie, and Gosar are quite a group. But central to our conversation is to make sure that the national security legislation in totality is passed by the House of Representatives.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

 

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