REPEALING SEXUAL MISCONDUCT LAW WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO!
All righty then! I have a huge problem with this! NOT so much that Speaker Jetton is now crying fowl because he "was not aware the change was in the bill" but because our dear friend Mr. Jetton was apparently forced to live under a very dark and cold rock during some part of 2006! With all due respect Mr. Speaker, this was all over the news! How on your God’s earth could you have missed it?My issue with you and your comrades is simply that for most of you - our tax dollars funded a very expensive education and you were taught how to read in the third grade!
DO NOT cry foul now because you failed your constituents and DID NOT DO YOUR JOB! Yes - Mr. Speaker I'm sorry but that is one of the actual job duties the people of the State of Missouri have entrusted you with! YOU MUST ACTUALLY READ WHAT YOU ARE VOTING ON OR FOR! So brush up on your reading skills and since you are speaker – If necessary, you can require all house bills be written in large print (with pictures if you like!) and on a sixth grade reading level. BUT YOU MUST ACTUALLY READ THEM! If this poses that big of a problem for you, have someone read them to you, or have them made into a “book on tape”, but for your constituent’s sake as well as the citizens of State of Missouri – For God’s sake I’m begging you at least KNOW what you’re voting on!
No - I don't agree with your position on this issue nor do I like it, but I'm more troubled by the fact that our elected officials do not read the very bills they vote on and that for the most part become State law!
Your position on this issue is wrong Mr. Speaker (The Supreme Court said so!) but shame on you for failing to do your job and then placing blame onto someone else who was only doing the right thing! (I’ll bet he read the bill)
My advice: You should have voiced your concern when the law was being considered - by whining about it now, you merely look at best - aloof or at the worst...illiterate. Perhaps we better go back to the drawing board on the school funding formula huh?
DO NOT cry foul now because you failed your constituents and DID NOT DO YOUR JOB! Yes - Mr. Speaker I'm sorry but that is one of the actual job duties the people of the State of Missouri have entrusted you with! YOU MUST ACTUALLY READ WHAT YOU ARE VOTING ON OR FOR! So brush up on your reading skills and since you are speaker – If necessary, you can require all house bills be written in large print (with pictures if you like!) and on a sixth grade reading level. BUT YOU MUST ACTUALLY READ THEM! If this poses that big of a problem for you, have someone read them to you, or have them made into a “book on tape”, but for your constituent’s sake as well as the citizens of State of Missouri – For God’s sake I’m begging you at least KNOW what you’re voting on!
No - I don't agree with your position on this issue nor do I like it, but I'm more troubled by the fact that our elected officials do not read the very bills they vote on and that for the most part become State law!
Your position on this issue is wrong Mr. Speaker (The Supreme Court said so!) but shame on you for failing to do your job and then placing blame onto someone else who was only doing the right thing! (I’ll bet he read the bill)
My advice: You should have voiced your concern when the law was being considered - by whining about it now, you merely look at best - aloof or at the worst...illiterate. Perhaps we better go back to the drawing board on the school funding formula huh?
LOCAL GROUPS REACT TO SPEAKER JETTON’S ACCUSATIONSMISSOURI -
Nearly three years after Missouri’s sexual misconduct law was rendered unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, the Missouri General Assembly passed House Bill 1698 in 2006, that removed the provision from the books. The bill, known as Jessica’s Law, passed unanimously in both chambers and was signed by Governor Blunt last June.
Now Missouri House Speaker Rod Jetton is crying foul, claiming that he was not aware that the change was in the bill. “That is absolutely untrue,” states Julie Brueggemann, Executive Director for PROMO, Missouri’s statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality organization. “Speaker Jetton should have been fully aware of the change, as well as the other members of the Missouri House.” During the 2006 legislative session, LGBT and allied Missourians were encouraged to communicate with their elected officials regarding this legislation and PROMO has records of constituents who contacted Speaker Jetton and others.
On June 26, 2003 the United States Supreme Court struck down the Texas Homosexual Misconduct Law and subsequently invalidated the Missouri Sexual Misconduct Law. In the majority opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, Justice Kennedy wrote that these laws "demean the lives of homosexual persons" and that "the state cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime." "We applaud Representative Lipke for sponsoring this legislation last session. Removing this language from Missouri law and complying with the Supreme Court’s decision was the right thing to do," said Tony Rothert, Legal Director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri.
Contacts: Julie BrueggemannExecutive Director, PROMO
314.862.4900
Tony RothertLegal Director, ACLU-EM
314.652.3144
Jim MacDonaldPresident, Four Freedoms Democratic Club
816.210.7133
Rob MorganVice President, Gateway Stonewall Democrats
314.580.8687
posted by Shane at 8:03 PM
<< Home