Bye, Felicia.

It doesn't get any better than this. When a few vocal curmudgeons howled in protest over this Reno Gazette Journal cover, RGJ editor Brian Duggan responded with this:

Dear people complaining about today's front page: I chose that photo to run on the cover and I'd do it again. Kthxbye pic.twitter.com/dWGttCFNoO

Overall, that was quite the good read. But because we're awfully shady b-tchez, we thought of the perfect response.



Look, hunties. We get it. Not everyone is happy about marriage equality coming to Nevada. But come on, grrl. Just because they want a temper tantrum doesn't mean they have the right to spoil the party for all the rest of us.

News flash: They're not the only people in the world. Hell, they're not even the majority any more. Who do they think they are? Beyonce? Oh, hellz to the no!



Now that the usual H8 filled suspects no longer have a law suit to fight, they have to find something else to fill their time with. So now, they're trolling.

This isn't the first time they trolled. They've just become far more pathetic in doing so over the past five years.

And all we have to say about it is...



#ByeFelicia

Legal Issues

They were hoping to catapult him into headline news yesterday. And hey, it's mission accomplished in that department. However, this probably wasn't the kind of headline news Nevada Republicans were hoping for.

Yesterday morning, they sent a "gift box to Ross Miller (D) in hopes of amplifying Adam Laxalt's (R) "gifted" attacks on Miller's tenure as Nevada Secretary of State. And surely enough, the Attorney General's race made headlines by the end of the day.



However, it was ultimately Jon Ralston's gift of knowledge to the public that had tongues wagging. While Adam Laxalt gave himself top honors at Lewis & Roca, the law firm where he's been employed since relocating to Nevada in 2011, most of his colleagues didn't agree. Rather, they were concerned about Laxalt's "misconstrued" language, "unacceptable" typing skills, "inadequately structured" writing, and "questionable" judgment.

And that's not all. Here's what may the the most damning peer review in the Laxalt dossier: "He doesn’t understand the legal issues or how they relate to the facts involved, so his written analysis does not make sense." Yikes! And Laxalt wanted to boast about his "Of Counsel" status at Lewis & Roca?

There's already been plenty of speculation about Nevada Republicans replacing Laxalt with someone else as their Attorney General nominee. But so far, Laxalt's campaign spokespeople insist he's staying in the race. They've also questioned the authenticity of the documents Ralston obtained.

Frankly, this comes as no surprise to us. And we certainly don't doubt the authenticity of the documents Ralston has. After all, Adam Laxalt has constantly struggled to comprehend the "legal issues" of LGBTQ civil rights. And who can forget his "most flawed" legal analysis on the Affordable Care Act? While he has every right to oppose policies like civil marriage equality and universal health care, he can't say they're illegal just because he opposes them.

We've always sensed Adam Laxalt has "issues". But now, his more serious issues have burst out of the closet. And unfortunately for him, they strike at the heart of his case for election as Nevada's Attorney General.

So Big, Yet So Personal

Last night was definitely a night to remember in Carson City. And not only was the Nevada Senate's approval of SJR 13 something to behold here in our state, but its approval is attracting national attention as well. For one, Senator Kelvin Atkinson (D-North Las Vegas) coming out on the Senate floor caused many jaws to drop.



Here's what happened when The Los Angeles Times called Senator Atkinson's office.

“I’m black. I’m gay,” he said in a shaky voice. “I know this is the first time many of you have heard me say that I am a black, gay male.”

Atkinson argued that gay marriage does not threaten any legal or moral definition of the union.

“If this hurts your marriage,” he said, “then your marriage was in trouble in the first place.”

The measue still has a way to to before gay marriage is a reality in Nevada. The idea still must pass the Assembly, where the Democrats have a 27-15 edge. It also must be passed by lawmakers next year and approved by voters in 2016.

A woman who answered the phone in Atkinson’s Carson City office told the Los Angeles Times that the legislator was deluged with interview requests and was trying to accommodate them while tending to his Senate duties.

The Huffington Post put Atkinson on the front page of its LGBT site. This story has also been picked up by MSNBC. So has ABC News. So has the International Business Times. And so have many other national media outlets.



However, perhaps one story that's really weighing on me today is the one posted earlier today by Nevada's own Jon Ralston. Read and weep.

Steven is my brother. Steven is the most wonderful, loving person I know. He has two incandescent children and a perfectly matched life partner.

Steven also happens to be gay. And as senator after senator rose last night, as if they were feeding off each other’s energy and humanity, to support repealing the state’s gay marriage law, I thought of Steven.

I hope I would feel the way I do even if my brother weren’t gay, even if I couldn’t imagine depriving him of the opportunity to marry Rob, as he did in 2011. But every time I see them and their two adopted children together, I am reminded of how their family is no different than any happy family, while (with homage, Leo) for so many different reasons, there are so many unhappy heterosexual marriages out there.

It makes the issue real to me, just as it does for Sen. Justin Jones, who spoke movingly of his gay brother-in-law and voted to repeal the ban even though his LDS church friends might not understand or it might threaten his re-election chances. "I would rather lose an election than look my brother-in-law in the eye every Sunday and tell him he doesn’t have the same rights as I do,” Jones said, his voice soft but affecting.

On a night when I had to holster my usual snark and cynicism as I listened and watched these politicians transmogrify into human beings, allowing the personal to be the political, letting the emotions most elected officials reflexively hold in check pour forth into the public eye.

Yep, there's been a whole lot of coming out since last night. And that's a good thing.

Senator Kelvin Atkinson came out on the Senate floor... Then came out to the national media. He talked about his own life, his own struggle, and his own loves. And that's been serving as a reminder of just how personal this issue is for so many of us.

It's also had more people think about their own experiences. And we've been seeing more "coming out" experiences since last night. And we've all had to confront the reality of what happens when we condone discrimination against people based on who they are and who they love.

This story has been going national. It's been getting big. Yet at the same time, it's hitting home. And it's very personal.

This certainly is a story to remember.

Another Reminder of Why Marriage Matters

[Joe] Edson said that, as a couple, [he and registered domestic partner Mike Hardie] have "jumped through all the legal hoops backwards" to get many of the same rights and protections that come to opposite-sex couples. That includes legal powers of attorney for health issues and revocable trusts. Edson said he had to be treated for colon cancer in 2004 and that helped propel the decision to get family rights.

"Any drunk heterosexual couple can wander into an Elvis chapel in Las Vegas and get all of these rights automatically," Edson said. "We have the education and the financial wherewithal to get those kinds of rights documented. A lot of our friends do not."

I've yet to see truer words printed on the front page of The Reno Gazette-Journal. It actually had an interesting story today on the long and tortuous journey to equality that Nevada's LGBTQ families are still making. And yes, we still have more to do.

But again, we must stress that DPs under SB 283 are not marriage and will not be treated by the federal government as such. Even if you and your partner file for a DP this fall, you will still not be able to file a joint federal tax return. You won't be able to receive any spousal benefits from the military or the VA. You won't be able to sponsor your partner for US citizenship or permanent residency if he/she is a foreign national. Unfortunately, DOMA still applies here as it does across the nation. This is why it's crucial that not only Nevada law change to give our families full equality, but that federal law change as well.

And that's our dilemma. Now DP couples get all the federal burdens of marriage without any of the federal benefits.

Hardie and Edson registered as a domestic couple in Nevada. But that led to an unexpected legal entanglement. The Internal Revenue Service ruled that in community property states like Nevada, California and Washington, people who are registered as domestic partners have to file under community property laws, so they got those tax liabilities. But the federal Defense of Marriage Act prohibits them from filing joint returns, so they do not get any of the benefits of filing as a married couple.

There are at least 1,138 federal marriage benefits that Nevada domestic partners can not access. And until Nevada allows for full civil marriage equality and federal law recognizes all civil marriages as equal, we won't have full legal equality in our relationships. Hopefully as more Nevadans see more of their fellow LGBTQ Nevadans being a vital part in their communities, we'll see change happen in our lifetime.