First amendment, schmirst amendment…

Philadelphia Republican Daryl Metcalfe is a deeply religious man. So deeply religious that he believes his God hates gays and so deeply religious that he believes his version of God’s Word allows him to prevent gay people from exercising the right to free speech.

Yesterday, during a state House session, Democrat Brian Sims, an openly gay man, rose to give comments on the floor of the House regarding the Supreme Court’s rulings striking down the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s anti-gay Prop 8. Metcalfe used a parliamentary procedure to prevent him from speaking. Why? Because “there’s no free speech on the floor”. Not for gays anyway.

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Using financial crises to disenfranchise citizens Last year, faced by over $300 million in debt from a failed trash-to-energy incinerator, Pennsylvania’s capital city Harrisburg attempted to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. They were, however, rebuffed. A law passed in earlier in the year specifically to prevent Harrisburg from filing for bankruptcy prohibits them from doing so until July 2012. In […]