Today’s post is courtesy of The Obama Foundation’s website …
JUSTICE LIKE A THUNDERBOLT
Five years ago marked an unforgettable day in the Obama Presidency. The Supreme Court ruled on marriage equality, President Obama paid tribute to Reverend Pinckney and his eight parishioners in Charleston, and the White House shone with pride for all to see.
To mark the anniversary of that fateful day, June 26, 2015, we created a retrospective video and collected reflections of many who experienced it firsthand.
June 26, 2015, also marked the end of a unique ten-day stretch in American history. After the murder of nine parishioners at Mother Emanuel AME Church by a white supremacist, organizers held protests in South Carolina that led to the removal of the Confederate flag from the State house grounds. The Supreme Court upheld a critical piece of the Affordable Care Act in King v. Burwell, guaranteeing that millions of Americans would not lose their health insurance. And on the morning of June 26, millions of Americans were waiting to hear how those same justices would rule on the question of whether same-sex couples had the right to marry, in Obergefell v. Hodges.
As so many who lived through that day will tell you, that morning’s decision was decades in the making. It was a moment made possible by the work of activists who demanded justice, government leaders who took action, and millions of ordinary Americans who dared to live openly and challenge their government to honor their commitment.
The path to progress rarely runs in a straight line. Broader cultural support for gay rights was routinely met with legal resistance. The path to racial progress has long been punctuated by horrific acts of white supremacist violence. And through the long arc of history, it can be difficult to see how an individual act—a cry of grief, a protest, a phone call to a representative, a ballot cast—can lead to justice.
But once in a while, that work adds up to days like June 26, 2015, where justice arrives, “like a thunderbolt.”
At any rate, this is justice as it should be, and for once, fairness won the day.
This nation was founded in part on religious freedom, and yet now, some 230 years later, the current regime is attempting to force this entire nation to believe as a mere 25% of the population believe. What is wrong with this picture???
In Alberta I am told that over 100,000 people are out of work because the Oil Sands production has been reduced. This is partly because of Paris Accord commitments to cleaner air, but that partly is too small. The biggest reason is because we are producing more oil than we can move to places whose people are willing to process our oil into usable form. The province’s population is crying for pipelines to move our oil, not caring whose land the pipelines might cross or what ecologies might be damaged. Mostly the land they want to use is owned by First Nations people, and government-protected wildlife areas. 
Notice especially the differences between Republicans and Democrats — and the republicans wonder why the GOP has become known as the party of racists? The survey was conducted January 22nd to February 5th, mostly before the revelation of Virginia Governor Northam in blackface in his med school yearbook.
I wonder, if this survey had been taken three years ago, when we had an African-American president, a man of conscience and compassion, and before the ‘man’ in the Oval Office gave off racist vibes, would the results have been the same? For the record, it isn’t really a matter of opinion, but a matter of what’s right and what’s wrong. Wearing blackface is a form of mockery, a form of denigration, and it is NEVER acceptable. Period. Not for a costume party, not for a small gathering of close friends, and not for a med school yearbook picture. NEVER.
“The LGBTQ is a modern-day version of the Ku Klux Klan, without wearing hoods with their antics of hate. The LGBT is the most socialist group in this country. They do not protect gays. There are many gays they persecute if they do not line up with their social ideology. I am terrified of these people. They represent a socialist activist agenda. They are opponents of freedom.”
Amyx quietly removed the sign a short time later and replaced it with one that read:
Amyx claims to be a Baptist minister, but frankly, I think he falls far short of having the qualifications for the job. He claims that “Christianity is under attack”, but from where I stand, he is the one doing the attacking – attacking peaceful people who only want to be left alone to love whomever they choose.
I visited the Yelp page for Amyx’ hardware store and despite the ‘thinning out’, there were hundreds of reviews urging consumers to boycott this business. Take heart, folks … people like Amyx are in the minority, though a loud and obnoxious minority they are. A recent Reuters/lpsos poll found that 72% of the people in this nation believe that businesses should not have the right on religious grounds to deny services to customers based on their sexual orientation. Granted, it should be 99%, but 72% is still a significant majority of people who are scratching their heads and wondering, as I am, just what rock Jeff Amyx crawled out from under.
And he takes the transgender bathroom issue to a new level …
I hope the 72% of us who are without prejudice against the LGBT community will boycott his business and by this time next year, Mr. Amyx will be seeking a job in the local grocery store or service station. Why am I telling you about this homophobic jerk? Because the best way to send these slugs back under the rock is to shine a bright light on them. Pouring boiling water on them would work as well, but I’m not in the mood to travel to Tennessee just to get thrown in jail!
