Marriage Wins Again!

US District Judge Bernard Freeman late yesterday ruled Michigan's 2004 Ban on Marriage Equality to be unconstitutional.  In his ruling, Judge Friedman said "Many Michigan residents have religious convictions whose principles govern the conduct of their daily lives and inform their own viewpoints about marriage.  Nonetheless, these views cannot strip other citizens of the guarantees of equal protection under the law."  As a bonus, Judge Friedman invalidated the testimony of Mark Regnerus, whose bought and paid for bogus study with a preordained result has been roundly debunked, who was supposedly an 'expert' witness.  Judge Friedman had this to say about Regnerus and his testimony “The Court finds Regnerus’ testimony entirely unbelievable and not worthy of serious consideration. The evidence adduced at trial demonstrated that his 2012 ‘study’ was hastily concocted at the behest of a third-party funder, which found it ‘essential that the necessary data be gathered to settle the question in the forum of public debate about what kinds of family arrangement are best for society’ and which ‘was confident that the traditional understanding of marriage will be vindicated by this study.’ … While Regnerus maintained that the funding source did not affect his impartiality as a researcher, the Court finds this testimony unbelievable. The funder clearly wanted a certain result, and Regnerus obliged.”

With this ruling, not only can same sex couples get married, but Regnerus' study or testimony will not be able to be used in further court cases due to it being "entirely unbelievable and not worthy of serious consideration".  Judge Friedman's ruling taken together with the University of Texas' statement refuting his study and methodology prior to Regnerus' testimony, has discredited Regnerus as a Social Scientist.  Unfortunately, Regnerus is a tenured professor and I doubt he has the integrity to resign.  However he joins the ranks of quacks like Paul Cameron and his ilk whose opinions will never be considered anything other than misrepresentation of valid works or out right lies.  In effect, Judge Friedman called bullshit on Regnerus and his bogus study.  This is a win/win for both Michigan and Marriage Equality.  Congratulations to all loving same sex couples in Michigan who wish to marry the person whom they love! 

This week Saturday at the Symphony continues with the exploration of the complete Symphony cycle of Ludwig von Beethoven through the classic recordings of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Hans Schmidt Isserstedt.  Today's recording was made in 1968 an features one of my two favorites among Beethoven's symphonies, Number 5, Opus 67.  You may also hear the 1967 recording of Symphony Number 6, Opus 68 over on my tumblr.  

The for a little visual inspiration to go along with the marvelous music is this studly selection of muscly men who are Naked or Nearly So on display below the video.  There is also the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr for further inspiration and admiration.   Thanks for sharing a part of your weekend with me, see you again on Monday for another week of Music, Men and More!.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!