...ubt that if the measure gets on a ballot, it will pass. In 2004, Missourians gave 71 percent approval to a measure banning same-sex marriage. There is also little doubt that courts will throw it out. Baking a cake or providing flowers for a gay wedding does not impose what the Supreme Court has defined as a “substantial burden” on an individual’s ability to act on his beliefs.
Editorial: A filibuster reveals Missouri in all its prejudiced glory | The Platform | stltoday.com
8 years
The senator is welcome to his beliefs. But the Constitution says he needs to leave them in the parking lot. If he can’t obey the law of the land, maybe his conscience should tell him to resign.
Editorial: A filibuster reveals Missouri in all its prejudiced glory | The Platform | stltoday.com
8 years
Few couples will want to mess up their wedding day by giving their money to people who think they’re second-class citizens. Our guess is that very few vendors feel the tug of conscience so strongly that they’ll pass up a piece of business. Besides, like most Americans, they have adjusted. As gay Americans came out, social norms changed with lightning speed.
Editorial: A filibuster reveals Missouri in all its prejudiced glory | The Platform | stltoday.com
8 years
...rliamentary trick used in the Senate only 15 times since 1970, the Senate voted 23-9 (term-limited Republican Rob Schaaf of St. Joseph voted with the Democrats) to advance Senate Joint Resolution 39. It would ask Missouri voters if they want to give clergy, wedding vendors and religious organizations the right not to take part, however tangentially, in same-sex marriages.
Editorial: A filibuster reveals Missouri in all its prejudiced glory | The Platform | stltoday.com
8 years
... Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, after Republicans shut down the Democrats’ talk-a-thon. That’s true as far as numbers go, but Christians come in many varieties of belief and practice. It’s also irrelevant. Religion cannot and must not intrude on public policy. That is the slipperiest of slopes.
Editorial: A filibuster reveals Missouri in all its prejudiced glory | The Platform | stltoday.com
8 years
“Missouri is a very Christian state,” said Majority Leader Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, after Republicans shut down the Democrats’ talk-a-thon. That’s true as far as numbers go, but Christians come in many varieties of belief and practice. It’s also irrelevant. Religion cannot and must not intrude on public policy. That is the slipperiest of...
Editorial: A filibuster reveals Missouri in all its prejudiced glory | The Platform | stltoday.com
8 years
The extraordinary 36-hour filibuster in the Missouri Senate that ended early Wednesday morning was yet another reminder of the enlightenment of the Founding Fathers, who insisted that matters of state be kept separate from matters of religion. Despite heroic efforts by the Senate’s eight Democrats, the Senate flunked that test.
Editorial: A filibuster reveals Missouri in all its prejudiced glory | The Platform | stltoday.com
8 years
The sponsor, GOP Sen. Bob Onder from St. Charles County, and other supporters frame the measure as a defense of religious freedom.
In fact it is discrimination. Gay marriage is legal throughout the United States. The Missouri Constitution cannot be used to allow business to deny services to same-sex couples or treat them as second-class citizens.
Not to make light of religious concerns, but baking a cake for a same-sex wedding doesn’t make you a party to a union that you might disapprove of. A cake is just a cake. A floral display is just a floral display.
Refusing to bake a cake for a gay marriage doesn’t validate your faith; it just marginalizes the people you’ve denied. Barbara Shelly: Cheers to Missouri Senate Democrats for filibuster of anti-gay resolution | The Kansas City Star
In fact it is discrimination. Gay marriage is legal throughout the United States. The Missouri Constitution cannot be used to allow business to deny services to same-sex couples or treat them as second-class citizens.
Not to make light of religious concerns, but baking a cake for a same-sex wedding doesn’t make you a party to a union that you might disapprove of. A cake is just a cake. A floral display is just a floral display.
Refusing to bake a cake for a gay marriage doesn’t validate your faith; it just marginalizes the people you’ve denied. Barbara Shelly: Cheers to Missouri Senate Democrats for filibuster of anti-gay resolution | The Kansas City Star
8 years
“For me, being on this floor right now, I look at this bill and I read it through their eyes,” Holsman said. “And when I read it through their eyes, I see a mean-spirited attempt to try and make the laws apply differently.
Filibuster against anti-gay wedding measure rolls on in Missouri Senate | Political Fix | stltoday.com
8 years