(08-31-2014 01:45 PM)gdunn Wrote: The talking points Tom keeps bringing up are not state issue. Again the Age museum is ran by the state. The ceremony is not legal in the state, so therefore they wouldn't allow it be held there. But that's not what you think. So I'm done trying to explain things to you rationally. I'll begin addressing you with the same level of respect you show me and others here.
That's a reach by the Agricultural Museum and you know it. They weren't having a wedding in the Museum but a commitment ceremony.
It is absolutely LEGAL for two men to have a commitment ceremony in Mississippi. It is absolutely LEGAL for two women to hold a wedding in Mississippi. Currently, Mississippi doesn't recognize the marriage as valid, but it isn't illegal to conduct it. Nor is there any legal authority to prevent the rental of state property to Gay people that is available to straight people. Regardless of what they wish to call the ceremony they are having.
The laws in Mississippi are bad enough without the state trying to make stuff not in them up. In doing so, they violated the First Amendment (viewpoint discrimination) and the Fourteenth Amendment (disperate treatment).
The AG had to get involved in the case in Mississippi. But no one was fired. And the couple faced delays and expenses in doing so. Of course Mississippi can't bar people from renting out open to rental by the public state owned facilities in Mississippi under any rational reading of Mississippi and/or Federal Law, solely because they are Gay. Its risible on its face. It was just a case of yet another Mississippi official overstepping their boundaries to deliberately attempt to punish Mississippi citizens, because they are Gay.
Your attitude is exactly the point that I'm trying to convey. That Mississippi has far too many people, such as yourself, who believe that Gays should be barred from using the assets of the state on an equal basis as straight persons. Try saying that Gays should be barred from renting open to the public state owned facilities in Missouri and see what people think of you.
I'm sorry, but the Ag Commissioner in Mississippi shows that she holds tremendous malice towards Gay persons.
http://www.wapt.com/news/central-mississ...06#!bNojrm
Apparently the Ag Commissioner and the Lt Governor feel that the First and Fourteenth Amendments do not apply to Gay people. Extremely troubling.