+ The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday against Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who has refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Davis asked SCOTUS if she could continue to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, even after an appeals court upheld the original Kentucky court decision last week. Davis’s lawyers filed an emergency appeal with SCOTUS on Friday, asking they delay the mandate to issue licenses until her appeal is finished, reports The Associated Press. The court denied the stay without comment, now Davis must issue marriage licenses to all or risk being held in contempt of court, which can carry steep fines or jail time. The Advocate is now reporting that Kim Davis still refused to issue two same-sex marriage licenses this morning, once again citing “God’s authority.” The county sheriff says that Davis will likely be held in contempt of court.
Diana Rivers
+ In 1981, Diana Rivers and 19 other women bought the 280-acre Ozark Land Holding Association in Northwest Arkansas to create an “intentional community” for lesbians. And even though membership has dwindled since then, the organization is looking to replace those who have left and is revamping its land-use agreement. Residents of the intentional community live in separate houses, most of which were built by themselves or by other women, but work cooperatively to maintain the land. “This is lesbian land,” Nancy Vaughn, Rivers partner tells the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. You can read more about the history of the lesbian-only intentional community on the newspaper’s website.
+ A Texas church replaced a rainbow flag outside of their congregation for the fifth time after vandals have ripped it out four other times. Rev. Joanna Crawford, minister of The Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church in Cedar Park outside of Austin, installed the flag. “One of the things that we refuse to whisper is that we are a deliberately welcoming, inclusive place of worship, and we celebrate the lives and loves of those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer,” she said.
Lila Perry, second from the left, with her friends.
+ Seventeen-year-old trans girl Lila Perry told teachers and administrators at Hillsboro High School in Missouri she wanted to use restrooms and locker rooms that match her gender, instead of the unisex ones she was allowed to use.“I wasn’t hurting anyone. I didn’t want to be in something gender-neutral,” she said, referring to the faculty bathroom administrators encouraged her to use. “I am a girl. I am not going to be pushed away to another bathroom.” Her decision spread across the district and on Monday morning students walked out in protest. Lila was locked in the principal’s office when students protested because administrators were worried about her safety. The school’s gay-straight alliance and other supporters held a counterprotest to support Lila. The school administration has also been supportive and have been working to make Lila feel welcome by allowing her to use the girls facilities. The protest comes after a School Board meeting where parents talked about their concerns that Lila was getting special treatment.
+ Earlier this month, two St. Louis police officers shot and killed 18-year-old Mansur Ball-Bey. Police say he fled a home they were searching for weapons and drugs and pointed a gun at them. Police say they shot Ball-Bey in self defense and despite being shot, he continued to run, dropped the gun in the back yard and collapsed in the front of the house. However autopsy results reveal Ball-Bey was shot in the back, which is inconsistent with the police’s testimony of him turning to shoot them. Futhermore medical examiner Michael Graham determined that the shot fatally pierced his heart and severed his spinal cord, making it difficult to believe that he continued to run.
“That’s a clear indication to me that given the initial results they learned from the initial autopsy, it doesn’t support the position the police laid out at first as it relates to Bey being shot and running, so they want to take a second look to modify those findings,” the family’s attorney Jermaine Wooten said. “These things should have been addressed early on and I don’t see why they are taking a second look when it should have been thorough and complete the first time. It makes me a bit suspicious as to what really could be going on here. But until we get the results, it would be premature to give a strong statement either way.”
+ Reporting from Texas television station KSAT News appears to show Bexar County sheriff’s deputies shooting and killing 41-year-old Gilbert Flores as he had his hands raised above his head.
They claimed they were unable to subdue him using non-lethal force. However, two witnesses say Flores never threatened the officers and was surrendering when he was shot. The deputies also allege the suspect was armed with a knife. Both deputies, Robert Sanchez and Greg Vasquez, who opened fire have served on the force for more than 10 years. They have been placed on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of an investigation.
+ American studies professor Duchess Harris wrote a textbook about the Black Lives Matter movement aimed at middle and high schoolers that’s set to debut in November. The book covers politically important shootings of black Americans over the last three years, including those of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. She was inspired to write the book after teaching an intro to African American studies class and realizing her college students were unprepared to have discussions about race because it was the first time they were doing it. She wanted to change that and introduce the topic earlier on in a student’s education.
+ Ireland’s president Michael Higgins signed the country’s same-sex marriage amendment into law on Saturday, following a referendum in May which approved same-sex marriage. Ireland was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage based on popular vote. Legislation is expected to be brought forth in September and marriages could take place later this year.
+ About 500 participants at Nepal’s LGBT Pride parade demanded constitutional rights for LGBT people. The annual event took place at Kathmandu. “Our main demand is that the rights of the sexual minorities should be guaranteed in the new constitution,” said Pinky Gurung of the Blue Diamond Society, a gay rights group in Nepal. The group also called for same-sex marriage, joint property purchasing power, joint bank accounts and inheritance rights.
+ The Kansas City LGBTQ community held a memorial for trans woman Tamara Dominguez, who was killed in August.
+ The University of Tennessee is encouraging tutors to ask students which pronouns they use.
Jade Follett
+ Trans woman prisoner Jade Follett, who was being held in the men’s-only Rimutaka Prison in Upper Hutt, Wellington, has been moved to a women’s jail. The Corrections Department approved the request, just hours after No Pride in Prisons, a prison abolition group, began a hunger strike to demand her transfer to a women’s prison.
+ Another trans inmate, Ashley Diamond, who sued Georgia earlier this year for access to hormone therapy and protection against sexual assault, was unexpectedly paroled on Monday after serving less than a third of her 12-year sentence.
Northwest Arkansas is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Sign me up for this lesbian land.
I just googled it, and it does look lovely. But, question, can bi/pan/queer and other identifying women also go there? What about trans women?
There’s a 99.99% chance, given how long that place has been around, that it’s an “intentional” community intended only for “womyn born womyn.”
we’ll take over and change that.
Well, maybe, but also if they’re serious about growing their membership, they’ll know they have to be inclusive!
The couples’ attorneys in the Kim Davis case just filed a motion that she be held in contempt of court. She’ll have to go to court this Thursday. Considering this is not the first or even second time shes done this, I’m personally rooting for jail time and a loss of her job. Shes made it clear that she’s not going to do it, multiple times. Honestly, I don’t understand why she wasn’t fired on the spot for this nonsense in the first place. This entire thing has been an embarrassment for my state. I cant wait for it to be over.
Hi fellow Kentuckian! Louisville here. I actually just googled this morning “can kim davis be fired” and was informed that since she’s an elected official, there’s no supervisor above her with power to fire her. I think every story should begin with that, haha, because it’s a simple enough answer and I had no idea! And I have a law degree!
A friend proposed this morning that for every picture or story shown/shared about this woman, 5 should be shown/shared about Clooney, Depp, or JLaw so that our state isn’t just trashed!
Thanks for doing the Googling on that one, I too was very confused as to why she hadn’t been fired yet for literally refusing to do her job multiple times.
I’m in Bowling Green so we’re not too far apart. I’ll have to start making regular trips to Louisville soon. I’m kinda intimidated, driving through there is scary! ? I wonder if a recall is possible? Though, with all the support shes getting I doubt that would work. We’ll see Thursday when she goes to court since she refuses to resign.
I think a recall is unlikely, and that any effort to impeach her in the legislature would fail to go anywhere. In the worst case scenario, she’ll be jailed for contempt (eventually, not immediately) and once she’s “absent” the county judge-executive can issue licenses (or instruct the remaining clerk’s office staff to do so). I think it’s more likely that she’ll get tired of paying contempt fines and will eventually resign. But in any scenario, it’s going to take a while, and meantime the whole state is getting seriously trolled.
I wish that weren’t true but it likely is. There are a lot of ways this could be a lose-lose situation. She very easily ends up becoming a sort of martyr in a lot of the possible endings of this. Another issue that concerns me is that some of her staff are her supportive family and friends; if I’m not mistaken, her son. When she’s gone, I worry that they’ll carry this nonsense on in the same fashion. As far as us getting trolled? Well. That’s been happening for years. Sometimes I’m offended and others I just walk away, shaking my head. ?
I wonder which other of “God’s laws” Kim Davis holds up on a regular basis. Does she also refuse to touch anyone for seven days during her period? Does she abstain from wearing clothing woven from two kinds of material? Didn’t think so.
But her FOURTH husband says it’s all good, so it’s totally okay!
I’m sure that Lila at Hillsboro high would love to stop receiving “special treatment”, and just be treated like any other girl there. By everyone.
If she’s sighting G-D’s authority, then does that mean she’s also against divorced people who re-marry, cause I am pretty sure that’s also frowned upon in religious texts.
And she’s been married four times. The only part of the bible she wants to uphold is being discriminatory against the LGBT+ community
Seriously? Has anyone called her out on it, saying the bible frowns upon that too? Did like one of her ex-husbands leave her for another man?
Not only married four times. But I read an article today that said she gave birth to twins after the divorce to her first husband. The father of the twins ended up being her THIRD husband, but the kids were adopted by her SECOND husband. Meanwhile, now she’s on man-marriage number 4.
So she was married to one guy, boning another, then getting another to be the dad before moving on to the last guy?
WTF? So, why did husband 2 adopt them if husband 3, the paternal father, was in the picture? Are we sure none of her exes left her for another dude? Cause maybe this lady needs to get her house in check before trying to ban LGBTQ people from marrying.
That hypocrite has been married four times!
But, she’s a born again Christian so the hypocrisy is non-existent. All this divorce, remarrying, and cheating occurred when she was still a heathen like the rest of us! Now, she gets to sit on her high horse like all the other “God-fearing” hypocrites! What a crock!
The duality and compartmentalization of Christians who believe they can or must get “saved” never ceases to amaze me. One of the women in The L Word: Hate the Sin was getting married to her girlfriend, but still hoped to one day be “saved” before she died so she would not go to hell. I can’t imagine the contradictions people who believe in such rigid ideas of what kind of life is good enough to get into Heaven must have to hold in their heads to make it through every day!
I don’t understand it either. It’s sad that there are people out there with two pieces of their identity are so at odds. In the case of that girl on the L Word, how do you live day to day life with thought that no matter how good of a person you are, you’re still going to Hell. How can you function that way? Sadly, the idea of being ethical and moral are so subjective and essentially of no consequence when it comes to being “saved” or getting into Heaven. The best, most genuine, kind, ethically and morally sound people I know don’t step within 50 feet of a church or are even sure they believe that there is a god, yet I see so many “saved” church going Bible thumpers, who would turn their back on you quicker than anything if it served their purpose. It makes me very, very sad, as a Christian and as a human.
Impeachment doesn’t exist in Kentucky?
This little thing has several options…
http://www.lrc.ky.gov/lrcpubs/ib114.pdf
– County judges/executive, justices of the peace, sheriffs, coroners, surveyors, jailers, property valuation administrators, county attorneys, and constables are subject to indictment or prosecution for misfeasance, malfeasance, or willful neglect of duty during their terms in office.
– Officials can be disqualified from holding public office or lose their office as a result of their conduct.
– All county officials are susceptible to impeachment for any misdemeanors in office.
If I’m not mistaken the State Attorney (??I have no idea how local US government works) had already started some kind of legal procedure to remove her from office. Due to the officially elected stuff, things are a lot more drawn out, though.
Honestly I don’t understand why that is an elected position to begin with…
Kudos to Mrs.Rivers for featuring a legit Labrys axe on her living room wall.
That’s the most subtle and yet intentionally Lesbian
wall decoration I’ve ever seen!
I do hope their place gets some fresh blood and is then revamped into a Lesbian/Queer summer camp for homeless LGBTI youth funded by Miley Cyrus and interior decorated by Ellen. The girls from the Gay Women’s Channel could teach classes in how to YT, Kristen Stewart could teach a wild animal care class,UKotex could teach a workshop in how to make sanitary articles cool by funding a queer vampire teen webshow set in Austria, there would be pantie sewing workshops, bow training (because bows are the new light sabers for the women interested nerd), hair and shirt cutting, angsty stand up poetry and lots and lots of organic farming and cooking and eating.
In the evenings, there would be campfires and songs and discussions on Carbon emissions.
There would be an older generation afraid of the L in LGBTQ dissapearing and a younger explaining the importance of all of the other letters, and while the heated voices would rise until late into the night, the stars would still twinkle above, smiling benignly on this little patch of Earth.
In Marseille, the prosecution just requested 3mo in prison and 1500E fine for discrimination after an public official just left the room when it was time to perform the marriage of a lesbian couple and then came back to do the next one. How has this woman in KY not already been held in contempt? RIDICULOUS.
THANK YOU!
Marseille, France, or is there one in the US?
Um, take me to that lesbian commune now please and thank you. (Although maybe change it to “queer” commune?)
My heart goes out to Lila. Reading comments on articles talking about her wanting to use the girls restroom makes me so angry. How do I combat people irl and on the internet who say she is a “pervert” that makes other girls feel uncomfortable? Because the whole “she is a girl and wants to use the girl’s restroom and locker rooms DUH” thing doesn’t seem to penetrate these ignorant people’s brains…