Apparently, according to our spooks, he is dangerous enough to harass, but they have no charges against Saadiq Long. So he can't fly to, within, or over the United States. But he can travel if he can find a way around these restrictions.… he took a bus from Oklahoma City to Mexico, then boarded flights in three different countries to return to Qatar.
Should we forgive Bill Clinton for signing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996? That's the law that denies LGBT people access to many of the legal privileges heterosexual couples enjoy under federal law, even if we can marry in our home states? I'm very conscious of DOMA this time of year -- it immensely complicates my tax preparations! Clinton recently published an oped asking the Supreme Court to overturn DOMA as just "an excuse for discrimination." He is right of course; we'll see how far the judges go.
As for forgiving Bill Clinton, I have little trouble with that on this topic. Gay people then and now are on the rise and capable of pushing back. I don't forgive him for, in the same year, kicking poor women with kids who can't fight back. The "welfare reform" took the federal government out of the business of ensuring that no US child starves for want of a (very) few dollars. The consequences of this policy shift (just the sort of thing contemporary Republicans want to do to adult poor people, the sick and elders, by the way) have taken a long time to work their way through the population. Consider it one of the pillars of our current inequality. Now that's close to unforgivable.
I sure never thought I'd be the occasion of a lot of straight people realizing they've been bowing to the wrong shibboleths. But we do seem to be in that sort of moment in the long struggle to win full, equal rights for gay people. This former Republican law maker wants to apologize.
We can hope and pray that occupying the role of Bishop of Rome will broaden this man's perspective.This is not a mere legislative proposal (that's just it's form), but a move by the father of lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God…
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