GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments Today in Church-State Separation Case

Today the United States Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in an important case involving the separation of church and state. The case is The American Legion v. American Humanist Association and involves a 93-year-old World War 1 memorial called the Bladensburg Peace Cross erected on public lands and maintained using public funds in Bladensburg, Maryland.

The questions before the Court are:

(1) Whether a 93-year-old memorial to the fallen of World War I is unconstitutional merely because it is shaped like a cross; (2) whether the constitutionality of a passive display incorporating religious symbolism should be assessed under the tests articulated in Lemon v. Kurtzman, Van Orden v. Perry, Town of Greece v. Galloway or some other test; and (3) whether, if the test from Lemon v. Kurtzman applies, the expenditure of funds for the routine upkeep and maintenance of a cross-shaped war memorial, without more, amounts to an excessive entanglement with religion in violation of the First Amendment.

NPR's Nina Totenberg claims that the Court is expected to reverse the 4th Circuit's holding that the monument has the "primary effect of endorsing religion and excessively entangles the government in religion." The real question is how far will the Court's conservative majority go in dismantling the wall between church and state in this case?

Hat/tip to SCOTUSblog

Maryland Becomes 17th State With Transgender-Specific Non-Discrimination Law

Good news! Maryland became the 17th state with an LGBT rights law that explicitly includes gender identity and gender expression to cover transgender and cisgender individuals from discrimination when Governor Martin O'Malley signed the measure today.

The Washington Blade reports:

O’Malley signing SB 212 into law caps off an eight-year effort to add gender identity and expression to Maryland’s anti-discrimination act. The measure is also the latest in a series of progressive bills that include the extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples, raising the state’s minimum wage and decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana that the governor has signed during his two terms in office. 

“It is always an amazing moment to be present when something that so many people have worked on for so many years comes to fruition,” said [Equality Maryland Executive Director Carrie] Evans. “We thank Gov. O’Malley for his continuing leadership on ensuring equality for LGBT Marylanders.” 

[...] 

Maryland will join 17 other states, D.C. and Puerto Rico that have added gender identity and expression to their anti-discrimination laws once the law takes effect on Oct. 1. The state’s hate crimes statute also include trans-specific protections.

Congratulations to Maryland!

Hat/tip to GLAAD Blog

GRAPHIC: LGBT Workplace Equality Across The United States

The map of where state law protects against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is shown in the above graphic provided by Lambda Legal.

All government employees are protected by the U.S. Constitution against irrational discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. In addition, some measure of protection already exists under Title VII based on gender, which has been held to include gender identity and expression. The U.s. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and several courts have interpreted Title VII to protect transgender employees, and the EEOC has interpreted Title VII to cover sexual orientation discrimination. The Supreme Court has held that the EEOC's interpretation of Title VII are entitled to "great deference."

Maryland will be joining the states that have gender identity discrimination in a few days when Governor Martin O'Malley signs SB 212 into law. The measure passed the Maryland legislature last week and waits the Governor's signature.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Same-Sex Marriage Now Legal In Utah After Federal Judge Strikes Down Marriage Ban

Well, well, well! While I was incommunicado watching The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug this afternoon apparently there was some amazing breaking news. Federal judge Robert Shelby issued a ruling which struck down Utah's voter-passed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and refused to issue a stay of his decision, which means that same-sex couples can now get married in the Beehive state. There is a keen sense of irony that this is occurring in Utah, which is the location of the Mormon Church, one of the most virulent opponents of marriage equality and LGBT rights throughout the country.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints issued a statement:

 The Church has been consistent in its support of traditional marriage while teaching that all people should be treated with respect. This ruling by a district court will work its way through the judicial process. We continue to believe that voters in Utah did the right thing by providing clear direction in the state constitution that marriage should be between a man and a woman and we are hopeful that this view will be validated by a higher court.

The Governor of Utah, Republican Gary Hebert said:

"I am very disappointed an activist federal judge is attempting to override the will of the people of Utah. I am working with my legal counsel and the acting Attorney General to determine the best course to defend traditional marriage within the borders of Utah."

The full text of the decision can be accessed here.

Ian Milhiser analyzed the ruling at Think Progress:

Beyond Judge Shelby’s conclusion that marriage is a question of constitutional rights, not one of states’ rights — as he explains, “the Fourteenth Amendment requires that individual rights take precedence over states’ rights where these two interests are in conflict” — Shelby’s opinion appears designed to tear down whatever intellectual infrastructure remains supporting marriage discrimination.

The leading argument advanced by supporters of discrimination in same-sex marriage cases is that marriage is necessarily tied to procreation, so same-sex couples can be excluded because they cannot produce biological offspring. Yet, as Shelby points out, the ability to procreate is not “a defining characteristic of conjugal relationships from a legal and constitutional point of view.” Such an argument does not simply “demean[] the dignity” of same-sex couples, it also degenerates “the many opposite-sex couples who are unable to reproduce or who choose not to have children.” Indeed, under Utah’s argument for maintaining marriage discrimination, “a post-menopausal woman or infertile man does not have a fundamental right to marry because she or he does not have the capacity to procreate.”

Additionally, opponents of marriage equality who cheered Justice Antonin Scalia’s sharply worded dissent in Lawrence v. Texas — another landmark gay rights opinion — may come to regret Scalia’s words after reading Judge Shelby’s opinion. Scalia wrote in Lawrence that “[t]oday’s opinion dismantles the structure of constitutional law that has permitted a distinction to be made between heterosexual and homosexual unions, insofar as formal recognition in marriage is concerned.” Shelby’s opinion proclaims that Scalia was right.

Oh the delicious irony. Will noted homophobe Justice Antonin Scalia disavow his dissent in Lawrence in order to deny a fundamental right to marry that he announced the Supreme Court would be powerless to prevent from being articulated if private sexual relations were removed from governmental regulation? It will be fascinating to see what happens when this decision goes to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court in the future.

But right now, astonishingly, Utah is the 18th state in the union to have enacted marriage equality, and the first very red state to do so. Presumably, same-sex couples will be able to get civil marriage licenses and get married in Utah (no waiting period!) until a stay is issued by a higher court, which could happen as early as Monday.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

TENNIS TUESDAY: Francis Tiafoe, 15, Wins 2013 Orange Bowl

Francis Tiafoe, a 15-year-old African American who last year was the subject of a front page New York Times profile, won the 2013 Orange Bowl Boys' 18 and Under Singles title this weekend. Tiafoe defeated another American, Stefan Kozlov (who is also 15), in the championship match 7-6(3) 0-6 6-3. By winning, Tiafoe became the youngest 18-and-Under Boys Singles champion of the Dunlop Orange Bowl, the most prestigious junior tournament in the world. Previous winners of this title include Jim Courier (1987), Roger Federer (1998), Andy Roddick (1999), Robin Soderling (2001), and Marcos Baghdatis (2003). However, there are also many previous winners of the 67-year-old tournament who never went on to win a professional tennis tournament.

The all-American final of the Orange Bowl was the first time since 2004, when Timothy Neilly (who??) won the title.

Could Tiafoe become the future face of American men's tennis? I should note that Donald Young won the Under-16 Orange Bowl title in 2003.

Interestingly, Francis has a twin brother named Franklin who also plays tennis. The family lives in College Park, Maryland.

GRAPHIC: The Flag of Equal Marriage

This is what the flag of the United States would look like if you only included the states where marriage equality is currently law. This ongoing online protest is a project of MakeItEqual.org.

Hat/tip to LGBT Think Progress.

Same-Sex Marriages Begin In Hawaii, Becoming 15th Marriage Equality State

And then there were 15! Hawaii is now the 15th state in the United States where all resident couples who want to get married will be issued marriage licenses.

The Honolulu Star-Tribune reports:

Hawaii's marriage laws allow couples to register for a license and be married the same day, a process conducive for tourists only in the state a short time.

Couples can sign up for a license online then be verified by any license agent throughout the state. Agents have set up shop throughout the islands, from resorts on Maui and the Big Island to hard-to-reach places on Kauai.

Saralyn and Isajah Morales began filling out license applications a few minutes after midnight along with other couples. Several license agents huddled around four laptops in a tiny conference room, refreshing their web browsers to coax a state-run website to load. A few feet away, wedding guests sipped champagne, dined on curried shrimp and portabella mushroom sliders, listened to piano music and took pictures with each of seven cakes on display for the occasion.

[...]

Hawaii is often credited with starting the national gay marriage discussion, when couples applying for a marriage license led to a court fight that eventually helped prompt Congress to pass the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. Part of the law was struck down earlier this year by the U.S. Supreme Court.

I have been involved in the fight for marriage equality since the early 1990s when we thought Hawaii would be the first state where gay couples would be able to get married. That state turned out to be Massachusetts, in 2004.

Amazingly, just in 2013 the following states have enacted marriage equality: Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island, Minnesota, California and New Jersey. Illinois has already enacted marriage equality, but same-sex couples will not be able to get married until July 1. The next states that are expected to be marriage quality states are New Mexico and Oregon, probably sometime later in 2014.

33% Of U.S. Population (100+ Million People) Living With Marriage Equality

One decade ago there were exactly zero states that had marriage equality, even though the Defense of Marriage Act had been federal law for seven years. In November 2003 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state constitution required equal marriage rights for same-sex couples under the law and issued an order to go in effect on May 17, 2004. Note that the second state, Connecticut did not have marriage equality until November 2008 (and for a brief 173 days starting in June 2008 Californians had access to same-sex marriage prior to the passage of Proposition 8). So, really in a little over 5 years marriage equality has increased from roughly 10 million to another order of magnitude.

With New Jersey becoming the 14th state to enact marriage equality this week there are now well over 100 million people who live in states with marriage equality, about 33% of the entire U.S. population.

The American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) summaries the astonishingly rapid progress:

State	Date Effective	Population	Percent
Massachusetts	May 2004	6,547,629	2.12%
Connecticut	Nov. 2008	3,574,097	1.16%
Iowa	Apr. 2009	3,046,355	0.99%
Vermont	Jun. 2009	625,741	0.20%
New Hampshire	Jan. 2010	1,316,470	0.43%
Washington, D.C.	Mar. 2010	601,723	0.19%
New York	Jun. 2011	19,378,361	6.28%
Washington	Dec. 2012	6,724,540	2.18%
Maine	Dec. 2012	1,328,361	0.43%
Maryland	Jan. 2013	5,773,552	1.87%
Delaware	Jun. 2013	897,934	0.29%
California	Jun. 2013	37,253,956	12.07%
Minnesota	Aug. 2013	5,303,925	1.72%
Rhode Island	Aug. 2013	1,052,567	0.34%
New Jersey	Oct. 2013	8,791,894	2.84%
	Total	102,216,846	33.11%

Any predictions for when the United States will hit 50%? Remember Illinois, Hawaii, New Mexico and Oregon are widely expected to legalize civil marriage for same-sex couples sooner rather than later.

Battle Over Marriage Equality in Pennsylvania Heats Up

One of the latest fronts in the nationwide battle for marriage equality is the 6th largest state in the country, Pennsylvania. Openly gay legislator Brian Sims has introduced a bill to legalize marriage equality in the state. And the state is being sued by a number of same-sex couples who wish to marry but can not do so because of a homophobic marriage statute. The Attorney General has refused to defend the statute, and one particular county, Montgomery County, started issuing marriage licenses about a week ago.

Today comes word that the state Department of Public Health is suing Montgomery County to prevent it from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Apparently, marriage licenses have been issued to 31 same-sex couples so far.

However, Montgomery County says that it is not going to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, according to Philly.com:

"While it comes as no surprise that the Corbett Administration has filed an action seeking to enjoin marriage equality in Montgomery County, the petition filed today in Commonwealth Court by the state Department of Health has serious flaws," county Solicitor Ray McGarry said. "Montgomery County will be filing a response shortly. In the meantime, the Register of Wills office will continue to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples."

[...]

The lawsuit against [Mongtomery County Registrar] Hanes and the letter to Kane's office signal the first blows by the Corbett administration to subdue what could become growing challenges to Pennsylvania's version of the federal DOMA law. The Health Department lawsuit could become an important precedent to determine whether public officials have the right to interpret the legality of the state's Marriage Law on their own.

[...]

The Health Department lawsuit claims he is not only derelict in his duty to uphold state and local laws, but also is misleading those couples he issued licenses to. "It appears that same-sex couples are proceeding with the marriage ceremonies that are not permitted by Pennsylvania law, marriage certificates are being illegally filed, and the same-sex couples are left to believe erroneously that they have entered into a valid marriage," the suit said.

Unfortunately, I think that the Pennsylvania Department of Public Health is probably going to win this battle (but lose the war). A very similar thing happened in California nearly a decade ago, and the 4,000 marriages that occurred when San Francisco County started issuing marriage licenses were eventually invalidated and nullified. However, Pennsylvania's statute does violate the federal constitution guarantees of equal protection and substantive due process and sooner rather than later the Pennsylvania Department of Health will be registering marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples.

Until that day, though, it is useful to raise awareness about the issue and I agree that local officials who believe that their state's marriage law is unconstitutional should speak out about it, but the correct legal action is to join the lawsuit striking it down, not ignoring the law on the books, regardless of how odious it is.

WATCH: History Of Marriage Equality Laws In United States

With Delaware's dramatic movement yesterday to become the 11th state to enact marriage equality since 2003 (and the second state this year after Rhode Island) it's a good time to look back at how far the issue of marriage equality has come in the last four decades. The cool graphic created by The Atlantic (shown above) does just that.

For the record these are the years and states that have enacted marriage equality:

• 2013: Delaware, Rhode Island
• 2012: Maine, Maryland, Washington
• 2011: New York
• 2009: New Hampshire, Vermont, Iowa, District of Columbia
• 2008: Connecticut (and California*)
• 2003: Massachusetts

*California had marriage equality from June 15, 2008 to November 5, 2008. California is the only state where same-sex couples have had the right to marry and then have had that right revoked by the passage of Proposition 8. Whether Proposition 8 is constitutional is a question the United States Supreme Court is currently considering, in the case Hollingsworth v Perry. 

As I reviewed the 11 states that have enacted marriage equality I noticed that the only Republican governor to sign a marriage equality bill into law was Jodi Rell of Connecticut, and she did so after the state Supreme Court had already enacted marriage equality and the legislature passed a bill codifying the Kerrigan decision. Republican governors in California (2005 and 2007), New Jersey (2011) and Vermont (2009) have all vetoed marriage equality bills. Only Governor Jim Douglas's veto has been over-ridden. Chris Christie's veto is subject to override until January 2014 and may happen.

All 11 states that have passed marriage equality are "blue states," i.e. states that consistently vote for Democratic candidates for president. Iowa is probably the least blue of these states, and is primarily a red state at the state level. New Hampshire is probably purplish-blue, and has had a Republican legislature since marriage equality was enacted. These are probably the two states where marriage equality is the most vulnerable to repeal efforts. However, in the last few years the movement has been in the direction of more marriage equality. In fact, since 2004 every year has ended with more people living in jurisdictions that allow same-sex couples than the year before. Does anyone think that process is going to be reversed? Only bigoted heterosexual supremacists, but they are quickly receding into a vortex of delusion, denial and demagoguery.

All eyes are now looking at Illinois and Minnesota where there are Democratic majorities in the legislature and Democratic governors eager to sign marriage equality bills into law. And California may have marriage equality after June's Supreme Court decision. In 2014, there will be ballot measures on marriage equality in Oregon, Nevada (and possibly California).

New sources say that Minnesota may enact marriage equality as soon as next week!

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Maryland Becomes 18th State To End Death Penalty!

A little more than one year after passing a bill to enact marriage equality, Maryland has now enacted a law ending the death penalty in the state, becoming the 18th in the country, and more importantly the 6th in 6 years, to do so. Last year, Connecticut ended the death penalty in that blue state (which also has marriage equality).

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the 18 states without the death penalty are:

Alaska (1957) Connecticut** (2012) Hawaii (1957) Illinois (2011) Iowa (1965) Maine (1887) Maryland*** (2013) Massachusetts (1984)

Michigan (1846) Minnesota (1911) New Jersey (2007) New Mexico* (2009) New York (2007)# North Dakota (1973) Rhode Island (1984)^ Vermont (1964)

West Virginia (1965) Wisconsin (1853) ALSO Dist. of Columbia (1981)

It's interesting that 8 of the 10 states that have enacted marriage equality are on this list, with only Washington and New Hampshire missing.

There was a bill to repeal Delaware's death penalty that died in committee recently. DPIC reports that there are seven states that do have the death penalty which have not executed a person within the last 10 years. The federal government, which does have the death penalty, has not executed anyone since March 18, 2003.

GRAPHIC: Current Map Of Marriage Equality

USA Today published an update on the current state of marriage equality and published the above graphic so that readers could visualize the changes.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

The Future of Marriage Equality: Nate Silver Predicts

Poll guru and data cruncher extraordinaire Nate Silver has decided to use the occasion of the recent Gaytterdämmerung (oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court of not one but two caes involving gay rights and marriage equality) to analyze recent polls about marriage equality, finally reveal what his predictions were for the 2012 marriage equality ballot measures and make some future predictions about how marriage equality would fare at the ballot box in 2016 and beyond.

Silver's model predicts that the four states (Maine, Maryland, Washington and Minnesota) which voted on the side of marriage equality in November 2012 would have done so, including 16 others. More interestingly, the model also has predictions for 2016. If one assumes a linear relationship between the 2012 and 2016 results one can interpolate a 2014 prediction as well.

Note that Silver's predictions for the results in 2012 are greater than the actual results that occurred at the ballot box for Maryland (55.0% predicted versus 52.4% actual; +2.6), Minnesota (52.3% predicted versus 51.2% actual; +1.1), Washington (55.7% predicted versus 53.7% actual; +2.0) but not Maine (51.1% predicted versus 51.5% actual; -0.4).

But his model also has good news for LGBT activists who may want to move forward with a pro-marriage equality measures in California and Oregon in 2014. A linear interpolation would indicate that California's measure would pass with approximately 57.5% of the vote while Oregon's would pass with 56.8%. Oregon's measure is much more likely to actually appear on the 2014 ballot than California's.

Another thing to notice about the list of states is that Rhode Island is at the top of the list, yet that state has not enacted marriage equality yet. Other states, like Illinois and Delaware, which are considering marriage equality legislation this year are also well into the blue territory of majority support for marriage equality.

The future of marriage equality is blue skies ahead!

Maryland Is 18th State To Abolish Death Penalty!

IT'S OFFICIAL!! Maryland House of Delegates has just voted to END the death penalty! The legislation was... fb.me/H2kn2Bq4
— DPFocus (@DPFocus) March 15, 2013

Great news! The Maryland legislature has just completed passage of a bill that will end the death penalty in the state.

By a vote of 82 to 56, the House agreed to replace capital punishment with a sentence of life without parole. It approved the measure a week after the Senate passed the bill.

Governor Martin O'Malley, who has pledged to sign the bill into law, will decide the fate of the five men currently on Maryland's death row.

The bill was O'Malley's second attempt to overturn capital punishment since 2009. When he introduced the legislation in January, he said the death penalty was expensive and did not work.

"Year after year, states which have a death penalty have actually had a higher murder rate than states which do not have a death penalty," he said.

Maryland will become the 18th state in the United States to abolish the death penalty.

And Now There Are 10! Maryland Marriages Begin

Yesterday, on January 1, 2013 same-sex couples were able to get married in the state of Maryland, making it the 10th jurisdiction in the United States where civil marriages between same-sex couples is legal (9 states and the District of Columbia).

Maryland legalized the practice as a result of the passage of Question 6 during the November 2012 presidential election; Question 6 was a referendum on a marriage equality bill that had been passed and signed into law last Spring.

Maryland is significant because it is the first state below the Mason-Dixon line to enact marriage equality, and it is also the first marriage equality state with a significant African American population (nearly 30% of the state's population).

Congratulations, Maryland! Next up are Illinois and Rhode Island very very soon.

Obama Lobbies For Illinois Marriage Equality Bill

The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that President Obama has been in personal communication with legislators in Illinois to lobby them in support of marriage equality legislation which is expected to be considered during a lame-duck session in January.

"While the president does not weigh in on every measure being considered by state legislatures, he believes in treating everyone fairly and equally, with dignity and respect," White House spokesman Shin Inouye told the Chicago Sun-Times on Saturday.

"As he has said, his personal view is that it's wrong to prevent couples who are in loving, committed relationships, and want to marry, from doing so. Were the President still in the Illinois State Legislature, he would support this measure that would treat all Illinois couples equally," Inouye said.

The lead sponsors of the "Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act," state Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and state Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), intend to put the measure up for a vote during the upcoming January lame-duck session.

The toughest challenge for gay marriage backers will be winning passage in the Illinois House. Prospects for approval in the Illinois Senate--where Obama once served--are brighter.

The practical impact of Obama urging his home state to legalize gay marriage is to prod--and give political cover to--reluctant Democrats from conservative suburban and Downstate districts.

Illinois has a civil union law that went into effect on June 1, 2011. Governor Pat Quinn (D) is one of the most unpopular governors in the country but has stated his support for marriage equality. Illinois's current discriminatory marriage law is being challenged in court and the governor and attorney general are refusing to defend it, since they support marriage equality as well.

Obama announced publicly in May 2012 that he supports marriage equality and released statements in support of marriage equality ballot measures in Maryland, Maine, Minnesota and Washington during the 2012 presidential election campaign. This is the first state marriage equality bill that Obama has lobbied for, but since he started his political career as a member of the Illinois legislature, it is expected that he has a personal stake and interest in his home state enacting marriage equality.

Hat/tip to Talking Points Memo

Marriage Equality Begins in Maine

Same-sex couples in Maine were able to start getting civil marriage licences at 12:01am Saturday night and legally married soon afterwards. Above is a picture of the very first couple to get married in Portland, Maine: Michael Snell and Steven Bridges (right).

Maine becomes the 8th state in the country where marriage equality is legal, and the first to do through passage of a citizen-initiated ballot measure. Seems like the world is not ending even though literally hundreds of thousands of more citizens are getting access to marriage equality in the next few days (Maryland's marriage equality law goes into effect on Tuesday January 1st).

WA Ref. 74 Near 54-46 Win For Marriage Equality

The passage of Washington's Referendum 74 was known sometime last week when the heterosexual supremacists conceded and preliminary election results showed a decisive 52%-48% victory for marriage equality.

Washington is now a 100% vote-by-mail state now so their election results take a little bit longer to be finalized. The very latest results (from November 21) show that Referendum 74 is being approved by over 225,000 out of well over 3 million votes, with 1,652,306 in favor of marriage equality and 1,426,742 against it, which in percentages is 53.66% to 46.34%.

The other states where marriage equality also passed currently indicate that in Maine Question 1 passed 52.59% to 47.41% (369,220 to 332,904 although bizarrely the Maine Secretary of State does not have easily accessible online election results in 2012? #FAIL!). In Maryland Question 6 passed 52.4% to 47.6% (1,373,504 to 1,246,045).

In Minnesota, the attempt to amend the state constitution to prohibit marriage equality failed when only 47.44% of the total votes cast were in favor of the measure, with 1,510,434 No votes and 1,399,916 Yes votes.

I find it fascinating that there are millions and millions of people who voted for marriage equality this year. (Of course in 2008, there were even more people who voted for marriage equality by voting No on Proposition 8 but there were even more millions who voted against it.)

Obama's Vote % of White People and Uneducated

There are some interesting analyses of the presidential vote which illustrate the contours of President Obama's re-election victory and the characteristics of the coalition he brought together to carry him to 332 electoral votes and nearly 51% of the popular vote.

Previously I had blogged about the crucial role of the LGB population (5% of the electorate) voting 76% to 22% for Obama-Biden 2012 but today I want to talk about the people who did NOT vote for the President.

The graphic at the top of this post indicates that all of the top 10 states that have the highest percentages of people with college degrees (MA, MD, CO, CT, VT, NJ, VA, NY, MN) voted for Obama, while 9 of the bottom 10 (WV, MS, AR, KY, LA, AL, IN, TN, OK) voted for Romney-Ryan 2012.

Additionally, Charles Blow in The New York Times noted some other interesting features of the election results:

 This year was the first presidential election in which there were more Asian-American voters (11 percent) in California than African-American ones (8 percent). In 2008, 6 percent were Asian-American and 10 percent were African-American. In fact, there were more Asian-American voters than African-American voters in Washington and Oregon, the other two Pacific Coast states, this year, too. 

[...] 

In fact, Obama won the white vote only in states with small minority voting populations. The others Obama won were Iowa (93 percent white), New Hampshire (93 percent white), Oregon (88 percent white), Connecticut (79 percent white) and Washington State (76 percent white). 

[...] 

 Obama won all four states that begin with “New” (New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York), but he lost all five that begin with a direction (North Carolina, South Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia).

It's interesting that conservatives have been focussing on how how people of color voted for the first Black president but they haven't noticed how places (in)famous for unapologetic racial prejudice voted overwhelmingly for Mitt Romney. For example, Obama won a mere 10% of the white vote in Mississippi.

Hat/tip to Wonder Man and Sentient Meat.

Queer Quote: Legalizing Gay Marriage & Marijuana

This funny comment is going viral on the interwebs:

It all makes sense now: Gay marriage legalized on the same day as marijuana makes perfect biblical sense. Leviticus 20:13 "A man who lays with another man should be stoned". Our interpretation has just been wrong for all these years.

The quote is attributed to Katie Stephens and appeared on George Takei's Facebook stream.