SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
March, 27 2013, 05:04pm EDT
Contact:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
Debate on Gay Marriage
WASHINGTON
ANGELA DALLARA [email]
Dallara is communications associate with Freedom to Marry. The group's goal is "to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage once and for all. Drawing on the history of other social justice movements in the United States, we know that victory will ultimately come from persuading either Congress or the Supreme Court to end marriage discrimination. To achieve that victory, we must secure the freedom to marry in a critical mass of states and grow majority support across the country." Resources, including live blogging of the Supreme Court proceedings are available at: freedomtomarry.org.
MATTILDA BERNSTEIN SYCAMORE [email]
Author of The End of San Francisco, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore said today: "Here we go again -- as the powers-that-be in the United States devise new ways to stifle dissent, destroy the environment, privatize public resources, and continue the path of never-ending war, another debate about gay marriage between straight homophobes who think that all queers deserve to burn in hell and self-hating gays who think that all gay people deserve marriage -- really, what's the difference? The mainstream gay movement is now obsessed with obtaining straight privilege at any cost -- marriage and military inclusion instead of ending these fundamental institutions of oppression; hate crimes legislation instead of abolishing the prison industrial complex; and maybe even ordination into the priesthood, such lovely icing on the wedding cake. What a nightmare -- we need to get back to fighting for gender, sexual, social, and political self-determination for everyone, as a start."
She is also editor of That's Revolting! Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation. In 2008, she wrote the piece "Why One Queer Person Is Not Celebrating California's Historic Gay Marriage Decision."
BRAD REGA [email]
Rega has been camped out in front of the Supreme Court. He's a grad student in anthropology at American University and an intern with the Institute for Public Accuracy. He said today: "Same-sex marriage is something new and for the most part has a relatively lesser sense of urgency compared to other gay rights and protections such as employment discrimination. For decades, it has been perfectly legal in many states to fire a person or deny promotion due to one's sexuality. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which has been introduced in nearly every Congress for almost 20 years, includes protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation. ... As one person in line at the Supreme Court mentioned to me 'is it the MRC (Marriage Rights Campaign) or the HRC (Human Rights Campaign)?'"
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
LATEST NEWS
'Exploiting Religious Faith for Personal Profit,' Trump Pockets $1.5 Million From Branded Bible
“Trump wraps himself in Christianity, wraps the Constitution inside a Bible, and is persuading supporters to finance his political brand while enriching himself," said one critic.
Jul 07, 2026
President Donald Trump has provided "a stunning example of political pandering and exploiting religious faith for personal profit," said a religious freedom advocate on Tuesday after financial disclosure forms revealed one of the latest ways in which the president has profited from the presidency: this time, by licensing his name to the "God Bless the USA" Bible sold by supporter and country music star Lee Greenwood.
The Bible bearing the president's name is being sold for $99.99—as are the "First Lady Edition" and the "Vice Presidential Edition."
According to his latest financial disclosures, the president has earned a total of $1,514,521 from placing his name on the religious text in a package that also includes copies of the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the handwritten chorus of Greenwood's 1984 song "Good Bless the USA."
About $1.3 million was earned while the president was campaigning ahead of the 2024 election, while about $208,000 flowed to the president in 2025.
Anna Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), said that "Trump wraps himself in Christianity, wraps the Constitution inside a Bible, and is persuading supporters to finance his political brand while enriching himself to the tune of more than $1.5 million."
“As all things are with Trump, this has always been about money,” said Gaylor. "It is a stunning example of political pandering and exploiting religious faith for personal profit.”
Hemant Mehta of The Friendly Atheist noted that the disclosure also showed about $1.4 billion that the president made last year from "crypto-related schemes" and $80 million from lawsuits against media companies including CBS and ABC.
Trump has suggested the Bible venture is closest to his heart, saying in a video promoting the basic version of the "God Bless the USA Bible"—which retails at $59.99—that the religious text is his "favorite book."
"Christians are under siege," he added in the video. "We must protect content that is pro-God. We love God, and we have to protect anything that is pro-God… Our Founding Fathers did a tremendous thing when they built America on Judeo-Christian values."
The notion that the country was founded as a Christian nation has long been a fixation of the far right and has been deeply embedded in the president's celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence—but historians say there is no evidence for the claim.
“The only rules they wrote about religion were ones that keep religion at arm’s length," Princeton University professor Kevin Kruse told The Washington Post as the White House planned an all-day prayer event on National Mall in May. "There’s a difference between saying America is a nation with many Christians in it and that America is a nation dedicated to Christianity and defined by it.”
Both Mehta and FFRF noted that Trump has "struggled to discuss even the most basic aspects of the Bible, declining on multiple occasions to identify a favorite verse or even express a preference between the Old and New Testaments."
"Trump’s Bible enterprise demonstrates how easily religious symbolism can be weaponized to enrich politicians while undermining the constitutional principle of state/church separation that protects believers and nonbelievers alike," said FFRF.
Gaylor added that "religion should never be a marketing strategy."
“Nor should the office of the presidency become a platform for selling religious merchandise," she said. "Americans deserve leaders who respect both religion and government enough to keep them separate—not presidents who see faith as another licensing opportunity.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Troy Jackson Files to Explore Senate Bid as Graham Platner Faces Growing Calls to Exit
"If Graham’s stepping away, I am very, very interested and think I’m the best person to replace him," said Jackson, the former Maine Senate president.
Jul 07, 2026
Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson filed federal paperwork on Tuesday to explore a US Senate bid after a sexual assault allegation against current Democratic nominee Graham Platner prompted a torrent of calls for him to drop out of the race.
Jackson, a fifth-generation logger who lost Maine's Democratic gubernatorial primary last month, was among those urging Platner to end his Senate campaign following Politico's reporting late Monday, writing on social media that "there is no place in our politics for sexual violence."
In an interview with the Bangor Daily News, which first reported the news of Jackson's filing, the former gubernatorial candidate said that "if Graham’s stepping away, I am very, very interested and think I’m the best person to replace him.”
Platner denied the sexual assault allegation and, as of this writing, has yet to drop out of the race, though his departure is widely seen as a foregone conclusion as his most prominent supporters—including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—push him to exit. One unnamed source told The New York Times that Platner is seeking a "guarantee" that he "would be replaced by someone in agreement with 'the values and vision and policy agenda'" that he articulated throughout his campaign.
Jackson, like Platner, was endorsed by Sanders and has expressed support for Medicare for All, stronger union protections, wage increases, and other progressive priorities. In recent months, Jackson has joined Sanders and Platner at "Fighting Oligarchy" rallies where the former Maine Senate leader said American workers are being robbed by a billionaire class bent on enriching itself no matter the societal costs.
"I am running for the people who worked their entire lives and still can’t afford to retire because the economic system in this country is rigged against them," Jackson said during a Labor Day rally last year. "And I’m running for all the workers... who’ve been told that they’re replaceable and that their lives are disposable.”
Platner, who backed Jackson's gubernatorial bid, can be replaced as the Democratic nominee in the US Senate race against Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins if he withdraws by July 13. By a process yet to be determined, the Maine Democratic Party would have until July 27 to select a replacement.
The New York Times reported that "the options under discussion include a convention or a statewide caucus in late July."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Refuting Trump Claims of Fraud, Analysis Shows Millions Dropped Health Insurance Due to GOP Cuts
"They didn’t cheat their way in. They simply can’t afford to stay in the program."
Jul 07, 2026
President Donald Trump's administration has tried spinning government data showing millions of people have dropped their health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act by claiming these people were defrauding the program.
However, an analysis published Tuesday by Public Citizen refutes this claim, finding that most people who lost their ACA coverage did so because they could not afford to keep it after congressional Republicans let enhanced health insurance subsidies expire last year.
Data released last month showed that nationwide ACA enrollment fell from 22.3 million people in 2025 to just 17.5 million in 2026, a drop of nearly five million people over the span of just a year.
US Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz have both said this drop is due to the administration's efforts to root out fraud, with Oz even saying that current enrollment in the program is at "too high of a number."
The Public Citizen report, however, finds that "the decline in... enrollment this year has nothing to do with removing deceitful enrollees," as what "the numbers show is that American families are being priced out of coverage."
According to Public Citizen's analysis, the best way for a fraudster to game the system created by the ACA would be to falsely claim to have an income right around the poverty line, which would ensure the fraudulent enrollee would get a higher subsidy to purchase coverage.
In other words, if the administration were really pursuing fraud on a mass scale, it would likely mean a drop in enrollees who are claiming incomes near the poverty line.
"But that’s not what is happening," the report explains. "The people losing coverage are concentrated at incomes well above the poverty line. They are low- and middle-income families whose premiums doubled after subsidies were cut. They didn’t cheat their way in. They simply can’t afford to stay in the program."
In fact, the report finds that enrollment is actually growing among people who claim income right at the poverty line, which could suggest there is more prospective fraud in the program than before.
However, the report authors do not think that this increase is due to fraud, but rather to "people living just below the poverty line in states that refused to expand Medicaid" and whose income is not low enough to qualify for Medicaid, but too high to qualify for ACA subsidies.
"To escape the coverage gap, some have reported incomes just above the poverty line," states the report, "enough to be eligible for the ACA marketplace."
The ACA isn't the only federal healthcare program under pressure from Trump administration and GOP policies, as cuts to Medicaid included in Republicans' 2025 budget law are projected by the Congressional Budget Office to leave more than 10 million fewer people enrolled in the program by 2034.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular