Tag Archives: Ken Starr

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Is Ken Starr Hurting Pepperdine University?

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According to many of the university’s alumni, he is.

With the infamous lawyer’s long track record, ranging from being the prosecutor that impeached President Bill Clinton to Solicitor General, and now his position as lead counsel for the supporters of Proposition 8, many who attended Pepperdine are not comfortable having Ken Starr as the current dean of the university.  They feel his stance on Proposition 8 is “a disgrace.”

So they’ve decided to take action.  They’ve formed a Faceebook group, Pepperdine Law Alums in Support of Repealing Prop 8 and have addressed a letter to be sent to the dean.

In the letter, they urge the school to underscore the difference between the university’s beliefs and that of its figurehead.  “. . . you and the school have a responsibility to clarify where the line between your personal beliefs and the school’s position differ regarding the issue of equality.”

Holding degrees from a university that does not support equal rights threatens not only the school’s reputation, but also their reputation and the respect that said degrees may hold.

“We believe that your representation of supporters of Proposition 8 has the potential to irrevocably damage much of the good work those who have gone before you have done in building equity in the Pepperdine University School of Law reputation unless the School of Law clearly and unequivocally states its commitment to history’s move toward diversity and equality regardless of your personal position on these issues.”  The alumni also acknowledge that in fact LGBT students do exist at the conservative university and empathize what they must be feeling.

“Not only does your public position and active support of Proposition 8 offend and embarrass many alumni, one must imagine that the LGBT students at the School of Law are feeling even more marginalized being subjected to their dean’s public support for discrimination against them. Moreover, you are sending a very clear message about Pepperdine’s culture to prospective students, not only LGBT students, but also their straight allies, and all other minority groups. Unless the School of Law clearly states its commitment to equality, prospective students will no doubt view the school as having an environment where contrasting opinions are suppressed and anyone who supports diversity and equality will be ostracized.”

The school’s paper, the Pepperdine University Graphic, has confirmed that Starr has received the letter but doesn’t know how to respond.  Until the alumni are satisfied with the university, they plan to withhold donations and instead, give to organizations that actually support equal rights.

Not surprisingly, many of the alumni that have signed the letter have only recently graduated from the school, underlining the generation gap on this issue.   Salted throughout are very few who graduated more than just a few years ago.

However, one can feel encouraged that the younger generation, despite having been schooled in Ken Starr’s thought and philosophy, still believe in equality for all, and in very little time, will soon be the majority.

H/T Gay Rights Change.org

Marriage Equality

Fidelity: This video will break your heart

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(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

News broke Tuesday that the California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on March 5, and will then make a decision within 90 days on the validity of Prop 8 and the 18,000 marriages that took place last year before the election.

When Ken Starr’s legal brief, on behalf of the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund went public in December, the Courage Campaign immediately launched the “Don’t Divorce…” campaign, asking our members to send us pictures with a simple message for Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund.

Those pictures, and the heartfelt messages on them, inspired Calitician and all around great guy Paul Delehanty (kid oakland) to send us a suggestion: Would Regina Spektor allow us to put your pictures to the words and music of her hit song “Fidelity”? So, we asked her and she very enthusiastically said yes.

Regina Spektor’s song, in concert with the pictures, shines a beautiful light on the 18,000 couples that Ken Starr wants to forcibly divorce.

Watch “Fidelity” and then tell the Supreme Court not to divorce 18,000 California couples. Tell the Court to invalidate Prop 8, reject Ken Starr’s case, and let loving, committed couples marry.

Sign the letter to the Supreme Court here.

Marriage Equality

Ken Starr Is Coming After Your Marriage

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The Yes on 8 campaign wants to invalidate 18,000 same sex marriages – they’ve filed a brief with the California Supreme Court to that effect today.

With Ken Starr – yes, that Ken Starr – as their lead counsel:

The sponsors of Proposition 8 asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to nullify the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who exchanged vows before voters approved the ballot initiative that outlawed gay unions.

The Yes on 8 campaign filed a brief arguing that because the new law holds that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized or valid in California, the state can no longer recognize the existing same-sex unions.

“Proposition 8’s brevity is matched by its clarity. There are no conditional clauses, exceptions, exemptions or exclusions,” reads the brief co-written by Pepperdine University law school dean Kenneth Starr, the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton….

The measure’s backers announced Friday that Starr, a former federal judge and U.S. solicitor general, had signed on as their lead counsel and would argue the cases.

Aside from the horrific nature of this, and the irony in Ken Starr’s involvement, it’s also a pretty important opportunity to communicate to California just what Prop 8 does. It divorces 18,000 couples. Many Yes on 8 supporters lied to themselves and their families, saying that they weren’t hurting anyone, just trying to protect families from teh gays. Well now the mask comes off, and this really is about making a whole lot of people suffer.

UPDATE by Brian: As Be_Devine pointed out in November, Jerry Brown is not bound to defend Prop 8.  Back then, Brown was saying that he was going to defend it in the courts. Today, the AG announced that he submitted a brief opposing Prop 8, saying that it should be struck down on the amendment/revision grounds. (h/t to AmericanRiverCanyon in the comments)

UPDATE 2 by jsw:  We are also hearing reports that the Yes on 8 campaign is saying that the court made them attack current marriages in this brief.  That’s not true.  The sum total of the language demanding briefing on this issue in the Supreme Court’s show cause order of November 19 is this:

If Proposition 8 is not unconstitutional, what is its effect, if any, on the marriages of same-sex couples performed before the adoption of Proposition 8?

Nothing in that question required the Yes on 8 campaign to argue that the state should forcibly void the marriages of people who are currently married.  Ken Starr, now the primary legal representative of the anti-justice forces behind Yes on 8, is merely making public the true agenda of the leaders of the Yes on 8 campaign:  gay people should not have equal rights before the law, and the rights they do have should be taken away.  It’s just that simple, and everything else they said during the campaign was basically a lie.