Brian Sandoval's "Moderate" Support for Marriage Discrimination

Oh, yes. This must be a top priority for Governor Sandoval. He's now throwing a temper tantrum and demanding that the federal court taking the historic law suit challenging Nevada's Question 2 marriage equality ban throw out this suit.

Gov. Brian Sandoval is asking a federal court to toss a lawsuit challenging Nevada's ban on same-sex marriage.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the governor says marriage is a state issue, not a federal one, and the challenge shouldn't be pursued in federal court.

His written response came from Wayne Howle of the state attorney
general's office.

The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund filed the lawsuit April 10 on behalf of eight same-sex couples. The suit claims the couples are being discriminated against because they can't call their partnerships a marriage.

What. A. FAIL!

Brian Sandoval is a lawyer, so he's supposed to know the law. Why can't he see what I see and what many other lawyers and lay folk clearly see?

So the Sevcik case here in Nevada will come down to whether domestic partnership actually provides "equal protection under the law", and if we can ever have true equal protection as long as the Question 2 marriage ban remains on the books. Unlike AFER's argument for a broad, nationwide fundamental right to marry that's being made in the Perry case in California, Lambda Legal is making a narrower argument based on the inequality present in Nevada family law and how that can not make federal Constitutional muster. It looks like Lambda Legal is confident that even if some federal judges are hesitant to use one stroke to knock down all the state marriage bans at once, they have to closely examine situations like ours and realize that we're experiencing clear and illegal discrimination.

Marriage actually becomes a federal issue when a state's marriage law violates Americans' federal constitutional rights. And last I checked, when federal constitutional problems emerges, plaintiffs go to federal court to seek a remedy. That's why we have federal courts!

Oh, and why didn't Governor Sandoval see the episode of "Face to Face" when Jon Ralston invited two of the plaintiffs on his show to discuss the impact Question 2 has on their lives?



For someone supposedly so "moderate" and "open minded", Brian Sandoval seems to be awfully closed minded when it comes to supporting discrimination against LGBTQ Nevadans. Why is that? Question 2 was enacted a decade ago, and most Nevadans have been evolving on marriage equality alongside the likes of President Obama and Harry Reid.

So remember this next time some right-wing pundit blabbers on about how "moderate" Brian Sandoval supposedly is.