POLL: Even Republican Primary Voters Support Mariage Equality

Joe Jervis today blogged about a Washington Post poll that shows that even among Republican primary voters, who are more conservative than the country as a whole, more of them think opposition to marriage equality is an unacceptable position for their presidential nominee than think it is an acceptable position.

There is some question as to whether Republican voters were too dumb to even realize that the question was asking about support for marriage equality, since the way the question is asked it in the form of a double negative.

It should also be noted that for Democratic voters in those same states the number of respondents who found a presidential candidate who opposed marriage equality acceptable were: 26% (Iowa), 18% (New Hampshire) and 32% (South Carolina).

Hat/tip to Joe Jervis

Now There Are 35! South Carolina Joins Marriage Equality States!

The Supreme Court today denied South Carolina's request for a stay on the implementation of a federal judge's ruling in Condon v. Wilson declaring the Palmetto State's ban on marriage equality unconstitutional.

As Freedom to Marry notes, today's actions means that 35 states in total, including all states in the 4th, 9th and 10th Circuits are currently issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. There are pending hearings in federal court the 5th Circuit (very conservative) and the 6th Circuit recently ruled against marriage equality, with all of the plaintiffs in those four states (Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee) now petitioning the Supreme Court to hear their appeal of that decision. The  Arkansas Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in the appeal of  a state court ruling in favor of marriage equality.

Hat/tip to Joe Jervis

2014 CHARLESTON: Serena Upset By World #78 Cepelova

Just a few days after winning her 7th title in her "hometown tournament" at the Sony Open, Serena Williams suffered a shock loss to World #78 Jana Cepelova in the 2nd round (her first match) at the 2014 Family Circle Cup. Despite being the 2-time defending champion, Serena lost 4-6 4-6 (and initially trailed 0-5 in the first set before rallying) and never looked herself against an opponent she had never played before. It was her first loss on clay in 28 matches, as she is also the defending Roland Garros champion.

Sports Illustrated reports

Williams, the two-time defending champion, chalked up her poor form to the cumulative effect of two incredible years of nearly nonstop play. Since the start of 2012, Williams has played 149 matches and won 20 titles, including 12 in the last 12 months. That’s an unprecedented amount of play for the 32-year-old Williams, who was known for keeping a fairly limited schedule in her younger years, but increased her workload after she started working with coach Patrick Mouratoglou following the French Open loss two years ago. 

“I’m really just dead,” Williams said. “I need some weeks off where I don’t think about tennis and kind of regroup. I’ve had a long couple of years, and I’m really a little fatigued.”

Let's hope Serena takes some time off and come back refreshed for the Madrid-Rome swing lead-up to Paris!

CHARLESTON 2013: Serena Wins 49th WTA Title (Over Jankovic)

AP/Mic Smith

As I predicted, Serena Williams won her 3rd consecutive Family Circle Cup title by defeating Jelena Jankovic, 3-6 6-0 6-2, in Charleston, S.C. Jankovic played fearlessly and well, and deserved to win the first set. Serena failed to convert 5 break points in the 4th game of the 1st set and was promptly broken at love in her service game and went on to lose the first set 3-6 after getting broken again. In her win over sister Venus Williams on Saturday, Serena had had zero unforced errors in the first set but against Jankovic she had 12. Serena was able to break early in the 2nd set and consolidated the break.

The key moment in the match was the 3rd game of the second set with Jankovic serving when Serena put up her racquet saying she wasn't ready. Jankovic has a habit of not looking at the receiver when she serves and has been accused of "quick serving" opponents on multiple occasions. According to Sports Illustrated, here's what happened:

Jankovic: “How long do I have to wait?”Serena: “Until I’m ready. I don’t play slow.”Jankovic: “But you go like this [crouching in return position]Serena: “Honestly, you got a problem? I’m not the one.”

It was quite an extraordinarily dramatic moment for a tennis match (watch it yourself here). Unfortunately for Jankovic, the end result was that she lost the next 4 games and the set after the verbal exchange. It appeared to lower the level of her play and raise Serena's. Serena ended the match by winning 12 of the last 14 games. Her first clay court win over Jankovic improved her career head-to-head to 6-4.

In the end, Serena finished the match with 39 winners to 25 unforced errors. The 2013 Family Circle Cup was her 2nd consecutive title in as many weeks, on two different surfaces. It was her 49th career title and her 3rd of the year (Brisbane, Miami and Charleston).

According to the WTA:

Only nine women have won 50 or more WTA titles, namely Martina Navratilova (167), Chris Evert (154), Steffi Graf (107), Margaret Court (92), Evonne Goolagong (68),Billie Jean King (67), Lindsay Davenport (55), Virginia Wade (55) and Monica Seles (53).

Serena will almost certainly exceed Lindsay Davenport's career title haul of 55 but I doubt she will get to Billie Jean King's gaudy total of 67. The most titles she has won in a year was in 2002, when she won 8, but last year she won 7 and this year to date she has already won 3 titles before her best part of the year has arrived (summer hard court and grass). This augurs well for Serena's 2013.

Black Republican Appointed To US Senate Seat

Black Republican congressman Tim Scott of South Carolina's 1st Congressional district is being appointed by Governor Nikki Haley to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate caused by the retirement of Jim DeMint who is becoming the chairman of the right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation.

Scott will become only the 7th African American to serve in the United States Senate, EVER. He is the first Black Republican to be in the Senate since Edward Brooke of Massachusetts in the 1970s. The other Black people to serve in the United States Senate are: Roland Burris (Illinois, 2008-2010), Barack Obama (Illinois, 2005-2008), Carole Mosely Braun (Illinois, 1993-1999), Brooke (1967-1979), Blanch Kelso Bruce (Mississippi, 1875-1881) and Hiram Rhodes Revel (Mississippi, 1870-1871).

Scott is a Tea Party Republican, espousing both financially conservative and socially conservative beliefs. He will serve until 2014 where he will be up for election for the remainder of DeMint's term, and if he wins will be up for re-election in 2016. Scott was first elected to the U.S.House of Representatives in 2010.

In 2014, South Carolina will have two Senators up for election, Scott and(the totally not gay) Lindsey Graham, who is 57 years old and never married.

The Flyer Mitt Romney Doesn't Want SC Voters To See

This flyer is from Mitt Romney's 2002 campaign for Governor of Massachusetts. Back in those days, Romney was portraying himself as a typical Northeastern liberal Republican, i.e. pro-choice and pro-gay.

Now that Romney has won Iowa* and New Hampshire it should be interesting to see how South Carolina voters react to Romney when they learn more about his past positions.

(*The Iowa results were essentially a tie.)

WATCH: 5 Men Arrested In SC Alleged Hate Crime

There's an update on the horrible violent attack on a gay man caught on video in South Carolina two weeks ago.
Thanks to tips from the public who saw the video, 5 men have been arrested.

WATCH: South Carolina Gay Bashing Caught On Video

Hat/tip to Wonder Man

Mike Rogers Outs South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer (R-SC)

Mike Rogers is a blogger and citizen journalist who has a 100% accurate record in outing closeted gay men. He appears in Kirby Dick's documentary Outrage (see MadProfessah's review) which includes footage of Rogers largest scalp, U.S. Senator Larry Craig (R-Wyoming).

Yesterday, Rogers outed South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer as a closeted gay man on his blog, blogactive.com:

And for those reasons I am now able to confirm a rumor that has circulated in South Carolina for years. South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer is a closeted anti-gay politician who stands to replace Mark Sanford should Sanford resign or be impeached (a real possibility as Sanford is caught in his own sex scandal.)

[...]

I was led on a path to chatting with acquaintances of the source and two former employees of Bauer who served on his staff between 2004 and 2007. They reported to me that on a total of three occasions Bauer spent hours alone with men in hotel rooms. Each of them explained that the visits were with younger men who were not on the staff of the Lt. Governor nor had any official reason to be with him. The two men each confirmed that they had not known each other and each described similar circumstances under which these interactions occurred. One of them confirmed that he was told by the Lt. Governor's visitor he had a sexual encounter with Bauer.

[...]

His record? The bachelor is a right wing Christian conservative. He's done everything from defend the state issuing "I believe" license plates (complete with a cross on them) to defending the right of schools to use corporal punishment. In the presidential election he supported Mike Huckabee.

It will be interesting to see what impact whether South Carolina Republicans will want to replace their adulterous Governor for a closeted homosexual one!