42 thoughts on “State Insurance plan reportedly to add coverage for same sex couples.”

  1. But will you issue an order to all state agencies to take no action against any citizen of this state who dissents from the SCOTUS’s unconstitutional enactment of a statute when that citizen is acting out of a sincere adherence to his or her religious belief? This was the very first act of the Governor of Texas today— and it should have been you very first act as well. Get busy.

  2. Governor Daugaard seems to be moving forward, but what does our Congressional Delegation have to say today?

    Noem: “Marriage is a special bond between a man and a woman.”

    Rounds: “Marriage is between a man and a woman…”

    Thune: “I support traditional marriage.”

    I am a Republican but really? Some of your constituents, like me, finally gain a historical right to equal treatment and that’s what you have to say?

    There you have it. Representing the 1950’s…. the entire South Dakota Congressional Delegation.

    1. I know that there are sincere beliefs held by many people that differ from my own. It’s just hard to read comments that completely dismiss me and my rights on a momentous day like this.

      1. A couple things, Mr. James…

        The first natural and political right is conscience. SCOTUS’s proclamation replaces that right with coercion, as the orthodox church — of which I’m a member — has been effectively told that it can no longer teach and preach millennial faith. Any church that does so risks political howling and a mob of lawyers at the door.

        Also, because the precise case for marriage has now been tossed, it will take an astonishingly short time to expand the legal definition to include polygamy, adult incest, a lower age of consent, and on and on. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. This will not end well.

          1. You’re either naive or disingenuous. All of us have to get with the program or face unpleasant consequences.

  3. Jimmy,

    This is an issue that is divisive where one finds joy and another grief.

    My mom told me when I was young at an occasion I was happy but my friend was not that I was to repress my feeling and be sensitive to my friend. I said that wasn’t fair. She said, “Tomorrow you will still have a happy memory. He will not.”

    1. so, Jimmy James, in a very nice way, Troy is saying “shut up gay wad. Me sad gays have due process and equal protection under the law.”

    2. …so your mother instructed you to repress your feelings as a child. That explains so much.

  4. saying that marriage “should be” between one man and one woman is a lot like saying it should be between two adults who really love each, that it should be a lifetime commitment, that it should be like “The Notebook” not “Bridges of Madison County” or “War of the Roses”

    What something “should be” and what it really is can be quite different.
    What our Congressional delegation says marriage should be and what they know it really is can be very different things, but they are not in a position to make wisecracks about how “now same sex couples can be as miserable as everybody else.” Or smirk about how now the spouses of gay politicians will have no excuse to stay off the campaign trails and avoid interviews. Think of the fun we’ll have watching formally smug liberal parents suddenly presented with the bills for their children’s weddings.
    Privately you can have fun with this. Publicly you make statements about ideal situations which don’t actually exist.

  5. It is going to be interesting now that homosexuality is cast fully into the public realm. They might want to start cleaning up their act. It will also be interesting to see how a 2 or 3% minority tries to control a population that at best in most circumstances shows its support by just looking the other way.

  6. For starters, reducing that 50 to 75% non-monogamous rate in their marriages. Surveys have shown that most of the gay marriages in California are open marriages involving three or more people. And, does this mean that some lesbians still have to be super-butch and obnoxious? Does society’s unjust nature still warrant kiss ins and other stupidity? I think we are thoroughly aware of how painfully awkward it to be around such people. I think a lot of homosexuals are going find that the thrill of their gay liberation days has come to an end. Now they need to straighten up. The awareness campaign can come to a close.

    1. My oldest brother was married to a woman. She cheated on my brother with another man. My brother divorced her. Spencer, you can have all the temper tantrums and spread all the disinformation you want but they won’t change the ruling by the Supreme Court. But do carry on.

    2. The conservative movement, to which I subscribe, has as one of its basic tenets the belief that government should stay out of people’s private lives. Government governs best when it governs least — and stays out of the impossible task of legislating morality. But legislating someone’s version of morality is exactly what we do by discrimination against gays. – BG

        1. more than abortion even, THIS issue points up the gulf between fiscal conservatism, and social conservatism on individual liberty. we may never bridge it.

          1. i don’t know why i mentioned abortion. scratch that. it’s clearly evil, and a more troubling supreme court decision than gay marriage could ever be. fiscal and social conservatives are largely on the same page on abortion and pro life issues. the difference is in the areas of morality-enforcement and whether government should or should not engage in it.

  7. Spencer what sources do you have that say 50-75% non-monogamous rate in their marriages and in CA most are open marriages? I’d be very curious to see those sources. There have been a number of gay lesbian couples I met that were in serious long term healthy relationships. Yeah some had their struggles just like any straight couple but there was no cheating. Sure there will be some drama filled unhealthy relationships for those who are gay lesbian but I’ve sure seen it with my friends who are straight too. Relationships require constant work and consideration for each other.

    1. hmmm….I didn’t know that the weekly standard was a medical, sociological, or anthropological magazine. I take its findings as seriously as I find William Dannameyer or Bob Dornan’s findings on homosexuals.

    2. Spencer would you have any additional sources to support your statements above that are more objective? Perhaps a well known and respected public university study or something?

        1. It must be a three year itch for gay couples. Then they go right back to their wayward ways. I guess marriage will never trump the excitement of meeting strange men in a bathhouse for some people.

  9. The numbers and studies referred to by Spencer and Willaim Beal in the two links above plainly refer to local studies and surveys of Bay Area gay couples. While they are interesting, I don’t believe that those numbers can be casually extrapolated to characterize all gay relationships, including marriage, across the United States. Neither study refers to comparative rates of monogamy in heterosexual couples in the same area, or to overall infidelity rates across the US, which are generally estimated to be – you guessed it! – in the 50%-75% range. Google it.

  10. Do greater than 50% of heterosexual couples have sexual relations outside of their marriage with the knowledge of and approval of their spouse? That is not infidelity, it is a polygamous relationship, a sex orgy formalized by a court, and is fundamentally different than what is practiced by any sane straight couple. I would hope these studies on bay area gay couples are the exception, rather than the rule. If further evidence echoes these same studies as there will most certainly be, it would only prove what I have been saying about the nature of the homosexual lifestyle all along.

    1. The conservative movement, to which I subscribe, has as one of its basic tenets the belief that government should stay out of people’s private lives. Government governs best when it governs least — and stays out of the impossible task of legislating morality. But legislating someone’s version of morality is exactly what we do by discrimination against gays. – BG

    2. Let’s just say for those who were raised and are practicing Catholics that the sacrament of marriage is not considered as being sacred as it once was and that is sad. It’s almost with the attitude that if it doesn’t work you can always get a divorce. No biggie! Infidelity has many times been one of the factors and how many incidents did the other spouse not know about that occurred? It seems like a minority that actually are able to celebrate 10,20 or 30 years anymore.

      There is plenty of Infidelity going on secretly among the straight community.

  11. As mentioned, the study is local and lack controls. Also, women are completely being ignored. The rate of infidelity in lesbian couples is below that of heterosexual couples.

  12. Justification offered for banning marriage: biblical tradition says marriage is between one man and one woman

    Cry when such bans are lifted: FREEDOM OF RELIGION

    That’s not intellectually dishonest at all.

    1. You got your 5-4 decision yesterday. Celebrate and wear something nice to the county court house on Monday when you pick up your marriage certificate. Your relationship isn’t any more legitimate in my eyes now than it was on Thursday. I’m sure God reads Supreme Court decisions strictly for comedic effect. After all, this is the same institution that gave us Dred Scott v. Sanford and Roe v. Wade. In case you have not figured it out yet, they are just making it up as they go.

      1. The same institution that is put forth in the Constitution of the United States…. NO one likes the Supreme Court when they don’t interpret the Constitution they way we would,,,But this system has been working for over 200 years and I wouldn’t trade it for any other.

        1. You are right about the Supreme Court. This why we have federalism. I would find gay marriage or abortion far less objectionable if I could vote with my feet. If liberals want to live in their personal hell, they should be allowed to do so. There are a whole host of issues that no one is going to form a consensus on. It would be great if we lived in a country with at least 50 different versions of what we think it means to be free. But, with a runaway Supreme Court, we don’t have that anymore. How are liberals going to feel if the Texas abortion law is forced upon them nationwide in the next session? I don’t think anyone knows how will turn out. Giving an institution like the Supreme Court absolute power over everything that we do diminishes all of our rights.

          1. the texas law establishes hospital-type building standards for abortion clinics, and that providers’ doctors have admitting rights at the nearest hospital. the circuit court that upheld the law has a conservative streak; it is likely that the supreme court will find the texas law to impose an undue burden if it ends up closing most abortion clinics in the state after july 1st.

  13. The larger point I’d make about any comparative analysis of the nature of marriage is this – institutional marriage has been a lifetime assumed choice for heterosexuals, but is a brand new option for most gay Americans. It’s difficult to make any apples-to-apples comparisons between two cultures just beginning to openly occupy the same institutional space. My assumption is that, in a generation, marriage statistics will not differ significantly at all between almost any sets of couples. I don’t think there is anything about variables of sexuality or religion or regional lifestyles that leads to significantly lower rates of divorce, infidelity, open relationships, or anything other than a strictly monogamous, long-term marriage – which I believe is a very rare thing in any demographic. (I’m divorced – her infidelity, primarily. On the other hand, my parents just celebrated their 55th anniversary. Ce la vie)

  14. Springer,

    Exaxtly, we are no longer free because the most powerful people in America are on the SCOTUS and they are accountable to nobody.

    1. It’s time to end judicial supremacy, the notion that the opinion of the Supreme Court must be the last word on the matter, and make the political branches or the people the last word. There are many possible reforms; in Canada, for example, Parliament may overturn a decision of the supreme court, delaying it for five years. (The logic behind the “five years” is that elections must be held at least every five years.) At the end of the five years, Parliament can vote again to delay the court’s ruling or, through inaction, let it take effect. This system creates a good balance between judicial and legislative supremacy.

  15. Troy the way history has driven every chain of command in every great society is once the wealth has been taken from the producers and given to the takers causing shortages of goods and services to occur the producers become too few to keep the power brokers in power and anarchy happens.
    The lusting, drunkenness, debauchery, idol worshipping are really just side shows while pure revolt against the leaders for not providing the main feature. How many years do we have before we look like Greece & France rolled into Rome?!

  16. Same sex marriages aren’t any more or less successful than heterosexual marriages.
    The majority involve adultery and subsequent divorce. If you want to argue that same sex marriages should be unlawful because they are likely to fail, you could say the same thing for heterosexual marriages because they are also likely to fail. So it’s a really dumb argument. Only a minority of marriages last.
    This is why so many people have had it with other people’s weddings. The current generation’s combination of destination weddings and high divorce rates has left a lot of us jaded as far as weddings are concerned.

  17. Anne,

    Much wisdom as I have said heterosexuals screwed up marriage such it became hardly worth protecting (except it’s sacramental nature and ordination by God).

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