January 21, 2015
Judge schedules Arpaio trial to consider contempt of court OBSERVER STAFF
the order and left them to operate illegally for 18 months.
PHOENIX -- According to the Arizona Republic, a federal judge says he’s “fed up with Arpaio’s defiance of the court’s orders” and will initiate a civil contempt-of-court proceeding against the 82-year-old sixterm sheriff. U.S. District Judge Murray Snow has scheduled a four-day April mini-trial for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio because of Arpaio’s refusal to take it seriously when the court ordered him to stop his discriminatory and unconstitutional sweeps against Latinos through traffic stops and immigration patrols. Snow has said that when he issued a pretrial injunction in 2011 ordering that deputies stop harassing Hispanics, Arpaio didn’t tell his staff about
Inside Tucson group seeks release of abused trans immigrant Page 11
Mixing politics and religion Commentary Page 3
Bisbee’s inaugural Winter Pridefest just around the corner a little farther south Page 7
TIHAN Programs and Services – Part 1 Page 5 ‘Opportunity for All’ doesn’t include women Page 11 Local LGBT organization marched, held vigil for transgender teen Page 6
Arpaio’s lawyers say it’s all really a mistake, and Arpaio wants to cooperate. That’s probably why he refused to turn over evidence that Snow requested and refused to cooperate with a departmental monitor Snow appointed to enforce his original order. It’s obviously true there have been some mistakes made, and some of them involve the voters continuing to re-elect this gaseous Tea Bagger. With Snow on his trail, Arpaio can’t even do his usual squealing about liberal persecution. The judge is from one of Arizona’s pioneer Mormon families.
Anti-gay group says two justices are not fit for LGBT cases The anti-gay American Family Association has asserted that Supreme Court justices Elena Kagan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg should recuse themselves from marriage equality decisions because they both have conducted same-sex marriage ceremonies. "Both of these justices' personal and private actions that actively endorse gay marriage indicate how they would vote on same-sex marriage cases before the Supreme Court," the group's president, Donald Wildmon, said. Of course, Wildmon forgot to address Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Clarence Thomas, who have both been outspoken on how they feel about marriage equality -- and LGBT people in general, for that matter.
Issue 1565
U.S. Supreme Court accepts marriage cases OBSERVER STAFF WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Supreme Court agreed last week to accept four same-sex marriage cases that are expected to decide the issue once and for all. No hearing date was announced, but it’s expected the cases will be heard during the last week of April, with a decision being announced by the end of the court’s term in June. The stage for the showdown was set when the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati became the only federal court to uphold bans on same-sex marriage. Cases that ended up in that court involve bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The decision involving those four states Continued on page 13
Photo: Yoshikazu Tsuno
At this point, 36 states allow same-sex marriage, with more than 70 percent of Americans living in those states.
Billy Crystal’s tolerance of gays on TV has its limits OBSERVER STAFF Since we got to the oughts, television writers have exploded with gushing rainbow glitter throwing gay and lesbian characters into just about every sort of show – “Glee,” “American Horror Story,” “How to Get Away with Murder,” “Modern Family,” etc. Of course it’s not exactly new; before even
the seminal “Will and Grace” blasted blushing viewers with representations of homosexuals as humans with character traits, flaws, ambitions, and subplots, a deliciously dated soap opera called “Soap” employed a young Billy Crystal as a full-on gay from 1977 to 1981. But before you get proud of Crystal, consider this gem the comedic actor unearthed while giving his opinion on the gay
“Sometimes I think, ‘Ah that’s too much for me,’ “ Crystal said. “Sometimes, it’s just pushing it a little too far for my taste and I’m not going to reveal to you which ones they are.” Continued on page 11
House GOP threatens funding for deportations, border enforcement -- their own pet projects By R.D. Smith GUEST COLUMNIST House Republicans so far appear to be way out in front among nominees in the Oscar category for asshat performance of the year.
Oh wait . . . Partisanship is OK with Wildmon as long as it's pro-Wildmon.
If there’s a working brain cell among this whole group, would somebody please find it and put it to use?
Shouldn't be a surprise to the LGBT community, which has endured 200 years of decisions by judges who were openly anti-gay. Understandably, Wildmon is butt-hurt that things are changing.
storylines being portrayed today at a panel for the Television Critics Association Sunday in Pasadena:
No doubt you’ve heard that they voted to block President Obama’s executive order on immigration by passing a 2015 prediction by political cartoonist Pat Bagley.
Continued on page 13