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Open Letter To Judge Allowing Challenge To NY Gay Marriage To Go To Trial

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Scott Rose explores the anti-gay biased  decision by NY Judge Robert B. Wiggins which allows a challenge against New York State’s gay marriage law to go to trial.

 

Hon. Robert B. Wiggins

Multi-Bench Judge for the

County, Family, Surrogate’s and Supreme Courts of the Livingston County Court

2 Court Street

Geneseo, NY 14454

 
 

December 6, 2011

 

In Re: Your Decision and Order, Index No. 807-2011, Challenge to Marriage Equality Act

 
 

Judge Wiggins:

This is to express utmost alarm and dismay over the non-judicial bias and political propaganda that you wrote into your Decision on the challenge to the Marriage Equality Act.

Though a Governor’s certified facts in support of a message of necessity are, as you surely realize, by law not subject to judicial review, you used your Decision document to attack Governor Cuomo for having given – (as his certified facts necessitating an immediate vote on the Marriage Equality Act) — the discrimination suffered by gay couples as a result of marriage discrimination.

You compounded your offense in turning your Decision into a political op-ed by fraudulently accusing governor Cuomo of “arm-twisting” towards the passage of the Marriage Equality Act. It is a fine thing indeed that, although at the end of your Decision, you admitted that you did not have enough facts to determine the separate question of whether there had been a violation of the Open Meetings Law, you found Governor Cuomo guilty of “arm-twisting” in your remarks about his message of necessity, in regard to which the Plaintiffs’ attorney had brought bogus allegations. You did dismiss those bogus allegations, n’est-ce pas?

In your Decision, you exhibited a very definition of bias in a judge, siding with plaintiffs who had brought a legally-invalid allegation and lambasting the Defendants though they had broken no laws. We all know that the U.S. legal system considers people innocent until proven guilty, so why in your Decision did you find our Governor guilty of “arm-twisting,” — if per your own admission you did not have enough facts legally to decide matters? Further on this, you appear to be willfully ignorant of how those Legislators that decided to vote for the Marriage Equality Act — after being undecided — came to support the proposed legislation.

I suggest very strongly that you go to YouTube to view Senator Grisanti’s explanation of how his Catholic upbringing had made him believe same sex marriage was prohibited, but that after meeting over a course of months with people on both sides of the proposed equality law, and reading, and reading legal documents, he concluded that there is no basis in civil law for not giving gay couples their inalienable right to marry. Governor Cuomo did not twist Senator Grisanti’s arm, nor did he twist the arms of the other Senators that decided to vote yes on equality. When you fraudulently declare in a court document that he twisted arms, you are insulting Governor Cuomo, Senator Grisanti and the other Senators that decided to vote yes, and also making clear that you can not be trusted to carry out your judicial duties without political or some other bias. 

An additional irony is that whereas you fraudulently accused Governor Cuomo of arm-twisting to get the Marriage Equality Act passed, two of the Plaintiffs in this case, the theocratic, anti-gay bullying lobbyists Reverends Jason J. McGuire and Duane R. Motley of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, on June 14 sent a violently-worded letter to Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, warning him that if the Marriage Equality Act passed, “the pound of flesh will come from the Republican majority.” How is that for arm-twisting?

Additional aspects of the way you wrote your Decision make it impossible for anybody familiar with the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct to trust you to be professional in exercising your judicial duties. And, because your op-ed in opposition to Governor Cuomo’s certified facts in support of the message of necessity reflects indifference and perhaps even sadistic malice towards gay people that suffer from institutionalized discrimination against them, you can not be trusted – ever — to safeguard the rights of LGBT New Yorkers; and this is true in a heightened sense when, in your rotations as a Multi-Bench Judge, you hear cases in Family Court.

If you want to be able to write political op-ed pieces, then you should excuse yourself from the bench and go find editors that want your op-ed pieces. If I saw that you had included such non-judicial, unprofessional writing in a court document on any case whatsoever, I would be equally convinced that you can not be trusted to carry out your duties in accordance with the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct.

The theocratic, heterosupremacist opponents of marriage equality, thrilled with your Decision, are parroting your fraudulent allegation that Governor Cuomo engaged in “arm-twisting,” but a judge is supposed to exercise his duties impartially, not with an eye to the next judicial nominating process in his county. Shame on you.

Sincerely,

 

Scott Rose

 

cc:

Governor Andrew Cuomo

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos

Senator Thomas Duane

Thomas A. Klonick, Chair, NY Commission on Judicial Conduct

Frank Bruni, The New York Times

Frank Rich, New York Magazine

Evan Wolfson, President, Freedom to Marry

Other community members

 

 

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News

Extremist Group Targets Florida High School’s Yearbook Over Inclusion of LGBTQ Students Section

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24 hours ago

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June 3, 2023

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The publication of a Florida high school yearbook that included an LGBTQ section has drawn rebuke from a conservative group, The Orlando Sentinel reports.

Lyman High School’s 256-page yearbook includes two pages that highlight the school’s LGBTQ students and features gender identity terms such as “genderfluid” and “nonbinary.”

The Seminole County Public Schools in response to the criticism is offering to issue refunds or reprint the yearbook without the LGBTQ section that the conservative Seminole County Moms for Liberty claims is offensive.

“They shouldn’t have any sexual definitions in a yearbook,” the group’s chapter chair Jessica Tillmann told The Sentinel.

“This is a yearbook that goes to every student as young as 14.”

The school’s yearbook is stirring controversy for a second straight year after the district in 2022 considered putting stickers over photos of a student walkout protesting the so-called “don’t say gay” law, the report said.

The Sentinel’s Skyler Swisher reports that “An LGBTQ+ section in this year’s yearbook includes a picture of members of the student’s Gay-Straight Alliance, definitions of key LGBTQ+ terms, a passage on the evolution of pronouns and a profile of a student who advocates for the LGBTQ+ community.”

Danielle Pomeranz, the school yearbook’s faculty advisor, isn’t on board with the district’s decision to remove the LGBTQ content.

“They are definitions,” Pomeranz told The Sentinel.

“They are not teaching anything about sex at all. … Nobody is teaching anybody about sex acts. It is ridiculous.”

Pomeranz has since resigned from her position in the district, citing in part the Sunshine State’s political climate and an unsupportive district, the report said.

“We’ve always had the LGBTQ+ spread in there,” she said.

“Our job as journalists and members of the yearbook staff is to provide coverage of the entire school and that includes all of the communities, including the LGBTQ+ community.”

Read the full article here.

Image via Shutterstock

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

‘No Longer the Lord’s Chicken’: ‘Christian Woman’ Says She’s ‘Grieving’ Over ‘Woke’ Chick-fil-A Hiring a Diversity Officer

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2 days ago

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June 2, 2023

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A self-described “Christian woman” who is a contributor to the far-right wing students organization Turning Point USA, is being widely mocked for posting a video attacking Chick-fil-A over claims the conservative, privately-owned, faith-based fast food restaurant chain recently hired a diversity officer.

“So I’m grieving,” the video, apparently by Morgonn McMichael (below), begins. “It’s lunchtime. I’m here with Aubrey. And we really wanted some Chick-fil-A but because they decided to hire a diversity, equity and inclusion corporate position, and also bow down to the woke lord because their ESG scores, and also I found out do you know their chicken is funded by BlackRock and Vanguard? Yeah their farms, they use Tyson and this other farm, BlackRock and Vanguard funded chicken.”

If you think that’s a mouthful just wait, there’s more.

“Chick-fil-A,” Morgonn continues, “you are no longer the Lord’s chicken. You’re actually the woke chicken and I’m really upset about it as a Christian woman. All we wanted was some good fried chicken so now we’re gonna go to Cane’s, we’re going to try it out.”

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Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers is a Louisiana-based fast food restaurant with 600 locations in the U.S. and Western Asia.

“This is really difficult because there’s a Chick-fil-A is across the street. Now eating chicken fingers instead of chicken nuggets. I know, first world Christian woman problems, but no one will ever understand the love that I had for Chick-fil-A.”

“You know, we’re taking this boycott Chick-fil-A thing seriously, and it’s really difficult.”

The video was posted to Twitter by the anonymous group PatriotTakes, which has been described as a liberal political action committee. It quickly went viral, garnering over 2 million views in just eight hours. Late Friday afternoon Morgonn tweeted, “sarcasm and satire are things the left doesn’t seem to understand.”

For those who don’t know, Turning Point USA, a far-right Christian nationalist organization, was founded by the ultra-MAGA Charlie Kirk, now a member of the highly-secretive Council for National Policy.

CNP’s membership list also includes former Trump attorney, ally, and advisor Cleta Mitchell, and Ginni Thomas.

“CNP members range from the leaders of the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, to the Southern Poverty Law Center designated anti-LGBTQ hate groups Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom,” Documented reported last year.

Turning Point USA was in the news last week after Rolling Stone reported: “Charlie Kirk’s TPUSA Teamed Up With a Registered Sex Offender.”

Meanwhile, over at TPUSA, Morgonn McMichael’s bio says she is “a Gen Z social media influencer from Texas whose effort to empower and inspire America’s next generation of young conservative female leaders through patriotic online video content has amassed over 100,000 unique social media impressions every week on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and more.”

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“Morgonn has dedicated the last year promoting freedom of speech, religious liberty, personal responsibility, and limited government both online and across TPUSA campus chapters. Morgonn has also reached tens of thousands of viewers of all ages with her articles and appearances on Newsmax, Real America’s Voice, OAN, and Breitbart, offering insightful cultural commentary into the most pressing issues concerning young conservatives today.”

Apparently, Chick-fil-A’s diversity officer (more on that next) is one of “the most pressing issues concerning young conservatives today.”

Morgonn did claim Chick-fil-A “decided to hire a diversity, equity and inclusion” officer.

Well, stunningly, the company – long known for its hate-filled attacks on same-sex marriage – did, over a year ago.

A USA Today fact check found Chick-fil-A hired Erick McReynolds, its vice president of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, more than a year and a half ago. The company even has a DEI page featuring him on its corporate website.

PatriotTakes also tweeted, “TPUSA Contributor Morgonn, who is now calling for a boycott of Chick-fil-a, previously said, Cancel culture is toxic’ and ‘needs to be canceled.'”

As some social media users pointed out, Cane’s Chicken Fingers is very pro-LGBTQ.

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“Since its inception in the early 2000s, Raising Cane’s has been a strong supporter of the LGBT community,” San Diego Gay & Lesbian News (SDGLN) reported in November. “The chicken chain was one of the first companies to offer domestic partner benefits to its employees and has been a vocal advocate for LGBT rights. In 2015, Raising Cane’s was named one of the best places to work for LGBT Equality by the Human Rights Campaign.”

In response to Morgonn’s video, Mississippi Free Press editor Ashton Pittman posted this screenshot from a Raising Cane’s tweet:

Over at TPUSA, Morgonn has written content including a piece titled, “Disney’s Male Employee in a Dress Sparks Outrage,” that begins, “At Disney, anyone can be a princess — even a grown man.”

Also, “Disney in Decline: Company Loses Billions Due to Woke Agenda.”

Noted actor and activist George Takei weighed in, tweeting simply, “They’ve lost their goddamned minds.”

Watch Morgonn below or at this link.

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News

Watch Live: President Biden to Deliver Rare Address to the Nation on Bipartisan Debt Ceiling Agreement

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2 days ago

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June 2, 2023

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President Joe Biden will make a rare address to the nation Friday evening, to share with the American people the results of successful negotiations with Republicans to avert what could have been not only a national but global economic disaster had the debt ceiling crisis not been averted.

Biden is being credited for smart and savvy negotiations while keeping out of the public eye and allowing Republicans to control the narrative, while steering the agreement to one best for the American people.

Even Speaker Kevin McCarthy “conceded that he had been impressed with Biden’s negotiating team during the talks, calling them ‘very professional, very smart’ and ‘very tough at the same time,'” HuffPost reported Wednesday.

Many extremist House Republicans were hoping for a default, and over the past several weeks they made clear they did not understand what the consequences would have been.

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Watch President Biden below at 7 PM ET, or at this link.

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