The Girl Scouts and Esperanto

What's Esperanto for "Girl Scouts"?

On Wednesday, February 20, 1918 the Evening Public Ledger of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania reported on the plans for the upcoming Washington’s Birthday celebration, scheduled for the following Friday. As there were no further reports, we can only assume it went off without a hitch. One of the highlights of the event was going to be a celebration of Esperanto by the Girl Scouts.

It’s not clear how one goes from “Washington’s Birthday” to “Esperanto,” but the article notes that the Philadelphia girl scouts had taken up Esperanto with something of a passion, and they were going to use this celebration as an excuse to display their skills. The Girl Scouts were a new organization at the time, only having the name since 1913.[1] The Universal Esperanto Association was somewhat older, as it had been founded in 1908. Esperanto was just past its thirtieth birthday, and its creator, Dr. Ludovik Zamenhof, had died the year previously.

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Nineteen Solid - No Appeal of Pennsylvania Ruling

This is what I miss when I'm busy writing:

Governor Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania has announced that he will not be appealing yesterday's ruling that found the state's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Governor Corbett said the appeal would be "extremely unlikely to succeed."

Okay, now I'm ready for state #20!

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Marriage Equality - Now in Nineteen States

Utah, Arkansas, you guys blew it. After your brief glories of being the eighteenth state with marriage equality (before ceding that position to Oregon), now you might have lost the chance to be the nineteenth state.

A federal judge has struck down Pennsylvania's ban on same-sex marriage, stating that the ban violates the constitution.  Judge John Jones III wrote

that same sex marriage causes discomfort in some does not make its prohibition constitutional. Nor can past tradition trump the bedrock constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection.

Ironically, on the Reuters article, the first comment is from someone who feels that same-sex marriage should remain banned, because it makes her uncomfortable. Maybe she should read the decision.

Although the judge did not issue a stay, and Kathleen Kane, the Attorney General for Pennsylvania, did not defend the case, it seems likely that Tom Corbett, Pennsylvania's governor, will seek an appeal.

We've got a nineteenth state, for now. The next few days we'll see if this fundamental liberty is preserved in the Keystone State.

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Two (bad) ways to argue against marriage equality

It's been a big week for marriage equality (and I just haven't had time to write about it), but I saw two stories on Slate this morning that I really wanted to address. The first is piece by David S. Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University School of Law, called "The Worst Argument Ever Made Against Gay Marriage." Over the last twenty years, I have heard a lot of arguments against same-sex marriage. Not just unconvincing, but ones so devoid of any coherence that you wonder why a sane person would ever make one.

My favorite bad argument against same-sex marriage is the "bisexuals argument." I see it a lot in comment threads on the Internet. It goes something like this:

If gay men are allowed to marry other men, then bisexuals should be allowed to marry one person of each sex.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And by "a lot" I mean "not a single bit." Are we even assuming that straight men are incapable of finding more than one woman attractive at a time? Nah.

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