Tag Archives: SCI

March 27, 2014 – A day of reflection

Reflections from Oakridge High School….On Thursday Kelly Snow (OHS c/o 2014) invited

IMG_1280Reverend Bill Freeman into our classroom. Reverend Freeman married 58 same sex couples in Muskegon on Saturday March 23. He spoke with us intimately about last Saturday, about those couples whom he joined together, he talked of his calling to the ministry, his stay in jail, and his life’s work to fight non-violently for peace and justice. The setting and exchange was soft. Bill perched on a chair in front of the room. He didn’t preach about religion or politics. He shied away from no question. And he opened up his heart to all; a couple times it got a little emotional. He stayed overtime and talked with two classes. We all laughed a lot Continue reading

Comments Off on March 27, 2014 – A day of reflection

Filed under 1 Senior Current Issues, Uncategorized

Reverend Bill Freeman – Harbor Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church

Reverend Bill Freeman, who performed 58 same sex marriages at the Unitarian Universalist Congregational 14547724-largeChurch on Saturday, the single day in Michigan’s history that same sex marriage was legal under law, will be speaking in Mr. Wood’s room on Thursday, March 27 during first hour.

This is a Senior Current Issues discussion, however many of you have  shown significant interest in the subject and are welcomed to attend.   If you would like to attend Google Docs Mr. Wood that request and share it with him at bobwoodmsu@gmail.com.  Treat it like an assignment – put some effort into it. Convince me that you need to be in my classroom on Thursday during first hour.  Make sure to note who your first hour teacher is and have it posted to me ASAP.  Preferably by 7:00 PM Wednesday so that I can forward the google docs onto your first hour teacher, and request your release.

Finally, go here for a thorough news article on Reverend Freeman.

Comments Off on Reverend Bill Freeman – Harbor Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church

Filed under 1 Senior Current Issues, 2 Government

More on Gapminder.org – Africa Assignment #1

GapMinder and Africa… OK, lets get familiar with each.  Go to  Gapminder.org.  Get familiar with the website.  Explore it.  The information is based on reliable sources.   Go to the Data Page.  519 entries compare nation states around the world on all sorts of situations.  Browse through the list of indicators.  Next check out  visualize graphs at the end of the  line.  This is where I would like you to land.  Go to one (anyone) it loads a graph.  Above the graph is a little light bulb that tells you “how to use.”   Please watch three minute video.   Continue reading

Comments Off on More on Gapminder.org – Africa Assignment #1

Filed under 1 Senior Current Issues

Gay Marriage, Adoption, Science, and the Law

Things are happening fast on the struggle for Marriage Equality in the United States.  Michigan is bildecurrently in the nation spotlight, as its own marriage laws are being challenged by two lesbian Michigan citizens in Federal Court.  Concurrently, many reflections of the Civil Rights Movement can be found in the Marriage Equality Movement.  Each finds its Constitutional grounding in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.  Each is caught in a struggle between the Federal Government and States Rights.

For this assignment – for three days – I want to you read, write, inform yourself on the legal arguments surrounding the Marriage Equality Movement in the United States.  Particularly, I’d like you to look at the current court case playing out in Detroit as well as Arizona’s SB 1062, which allows private businesses to refuse service to homosexuals, based on personal religious views.

I have created a Blendspace below that deals with these issues, and adoption and science in regard to homosexuality.

Continue reading

Comments Off on Gay Marriage, Adoption, Science, and the Law

Filed under 1 Senior Current Issues, Uncategorized

Michigan’s – Defense of Marriage Amendment (2004) in Federal Court

Go here for more information on DeBoer v Snyder.  Go here for coverage at the national level.

This week (DeBoer v Snyder), a lawsuit will commence in  Federal Court brought by April DeBoer and her longtime partner bildeJayne Rowse residents of Michigan challenging the state’s DOMA law.  The two women, both nurses in Oakland County, seek to adopt the three special-needs children they have been raising together since 2010. Each has already exercised her right to adopt as a single parent. But under a Michigan law that forbids unmarried couples from jointly adopting, neither is legally recognized as the legal parent of her partner’s children.  The case challenges the constitutionality of Michigan’s law  passed in 2004 which defines marriage as only between and a woman.

The state of Michigan is defending the law based on its 10th Amendment rights of the state to determine its own sovereignty  on the issue.  The 2004 Constitutional Amendment was passed by a majority of Michigan citizens.  April and Jayne claim that their 14th Amendment rights of equal protection are being violated.

By the time a new law permitting gay marriage in Illinois takes effect June 1, same-sex couples will be free to marry in at least 17 states (contact the Yampolsky & Margolis Criminal Defense in Las Vegas for legal help).  Four more states either recognize civil unions between gay couples or honor same-sex marriages consecrated elsewhere.

In Michigan and 32 other states where state laws or constitutional amendments bar same-sex partners from marrying, elected officials defending the status quo are under siege. Freedom to Marry, a nationwide advocacy group, counts more than 40 pending lawsuits in which LGBT plaintiffs seek to invalidate restrictions on same-sex marriage.

Stay tuned….

Comments Off on Michigan’s – Defense of Marriage Amendment (2004) in Federal Court

Filed under 1 Senior Current Issues, 2 Government