GOP: Gays don't need special legal protections

[n2doc]

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, October 15, 2011

(10-14) 17:51 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- With more than half of Americans in a recent poll accepting same-sex marriage, gays and lesbians need no judicial protection from laws passed by Congress, House Republicans argued Friday in a San Francisco court in defense of a law denying federal benefits to same-sex spouses.

"Homosexuals have a great deal of political power" and are not entitled to the safeguards that courts have established for laws that discriminate against racial minorities or women, attorney Paul Clement said in a filing supporting the Defense of Marriage Act.

The 1996 law bars federal benefits, such as joint tax filings, Social Security survivor payments and immigration sponsorship, to same-sex couples legally married in their states.

House Speaker John Boehner chose Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general, to take over the defense in a series of pending Defense of Marriage Act cases after President Obama announced in February that he considered the law unconstitutional and would no longer defend it.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/14/BANT1LI0F4.DTL

[Firebrand Gary]

1. No we don't, we just need the SAME legal protections.

[baldguy]

2. But corporations do?

[Fresh_Start]

3. But Wall Street corporations and bigwigs do?

I hope they are beginning to feel unsafe in their cocoon's of big money.

[Botany]

4. This crap makes my blood boil

As a straight guy my perspective is that those who are getting "special legal protections" are the
bigots who tell other Americans that their God has promised them an extra comfy couch in heaven
it they are mean to gays during their stay on earth. This bigotry causes many young gay and lesbian
people to think about and even commit suicide, split from their families and friends, and suffer from
depression too. I mean the law and in some cases the tax codes allows for protection of these pieces
of crap sticking their noses into where they have no business being in the first place.

You can codify it and try to talk around the issue but the bottom line is that some people want to keep
being bigots and cruel.

[William769]

5. I never wanted "special legal protections", I just want equal protection.

Oh wait the Constitution guarantees it!

"The Equal Protection Clause, part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, provides that "no state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws". The Equal Protection Clause can be seen as an attempt to secure the promise of the United States' professed commitment to the proposition that "all men are created equal"".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Protection_Clause


NOW DEFEND THAT YOU FUCKING HYPOCRITES! After all you did take a oath to defend the U.S. Constitution.

ON EDIT: Recommended.

[NMMNG]

6. Why are they only called "special protections" when they're for LGBT people?

What's more, religious groups certainly have a lot of power and they have legal protections up the wazoo.

[Smarmie Doofus]

7. Ya. n/t