How Much Longer Do We Have to Put Up With This Nonsense?

Kansas Senator Sam Brownback is blocking the nomination of a federal judge because she "once attended a commitment ceremony for a lesbian couple." From a WaPo editorial:

Mr. Brownback has said he wants to satisfy himself that the judge was not presiding over an "illegal marriage ceremony" in Pittsfield, Mass., in 2002. . . .

A commitment ceremony is not a marriage; it has no legal force whatsoever but is a private expression of the love and devotion of two people. The idea that such a ceremony could be "illegal" is deeply offensive; Americans are entitled to gather, speak, celebrate and worship as they see fit. An administration official says Judge Neff has told Mr. Brownback that she didn't preside. But even if she did, that would say nothing about her jurisprudential views -- merely that she wished to help a couple recognize their relationship informally in the absence of state sanction for it. Keeping Judge Neff off the federal bench over such a matter is perilously close to declaring her unfit to serve because she has lesbian friends.

In related news, the Religious Right is upset with Condoleeza Rice because she referred to the mother of the partner of openly gay global AIDS coordinator Mark Dybul as Dybul's "mother-in-law."

So, to those who are calling for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation, your best strategy might be to offer evidence that the Secretary of Defense once caught an episode of Will and Grace or passed a gay couple on the street without informing them of their depravity.