LGBT News Republicans Strip Their Anti-LGBTQ Provision From Defense Bill

This is good though. I guess things won't be as bad as the world imagined

 

I hope this is a good sign, but I won't count on it to mark the end of hostility.

At least a few more steps back were avoided.

 

It's a step in the right direction, but I'm still scared shitless. Boys marrying boys and girls marrying girls is one thing. Boys becoming girls, and girls becoming boys is an entirely different monster to most people. I hope no one takes my transition away from me before it even starts....

 

That's good right?

 

In this case, yes.

There's a particularly insidious concept in our legislature called "riders." They are clauses or provisions that have nothing to do with the topic of the proposed bill, but are included in its content. Because a bill can only be passed or rejected, not revised while being voted on, this is how a lot of shit gets through. Because it's one thing to submit a bill for whatever hyperpartisan practice and hope it passes. It's another to stick its wording to something really important, like the budget or defense measures, and either hope no one notices or dare the opposition to reject it. You open them up to criticism for being "do nothing" or unwilling to help people by passing needed legislation. But really it is a scummy way of forcing through laws that would never have passed on their own.

This time, the GOP might have either been to split on the issue before submitting it, or thought that the rider was too much to be carried by the main provisions.

 

This is my fear but with same-sex marriage in Australia... I feel like the world has taken a turn and we might not be able to get that across the line anytime soon... I'm starting to doubt the people in my country even more now. A hop over to New Zealand has indeed become more tempting.

 

Of course, this removed Obama's veto threat and would pass this bill without a hitch in the lame duck Congress. But we still have to wait and see how the new Congress and President handle things.