Three Wins Today: Nov 16, 2025

Gay Marriage Is Not Marriage Equality, but This Is

I’m at a loss. I use these intros to give my opinion on topics that need more than 1000 characters to express. But every day it becomes harder and harder to include sources for my assertions.

Today I wanted to talk about leadership and how Progressive Dems who become leaders always moderate their public views once joining leadership. My best example is Ted Lieu, who is still a Progressive, but is far less progressive than he was before he became Caucus Vice Chair. Can I tell you anything about that but what I know in my gut from following his career for years? No, I can’t, because Google is useless. The best I can do is use the progressive scorecard.

So I deleted a literal essay and went back to the drawing board. Next I was like, okay, let’s talk about Marjorie Taylor Greene and how she’s not actually moderating her opinions, just trying to piss Trump off. Would you believe I can’t even find a quote from her Jewish space laser tirade in 2018?

It doesn’t matter if I put in a custom year, the quote isn’t there.

And it’s not just that. I had five wins, that absolutely happened, but from Democracy Docket to New York Times, no one provided any type of source. No link to an actual ruling or a press release of any kind.

I don’t post anything without a source. Even if it’s my own opinion, I need to back it up, show my work, cause I didn’t come to the conclusion alone. And it’s getting harder and harder to do. And part of that is, I seem to be the only one hell bent on doing it.

AP is not a source, but most widely trusted people would treat it like one. When you see a quote in AP, for instance, the vast majority of the time it’s from a larger context that may or may not be accurately presented in the article. Be it a statement or a ruling. And, that’s fine. No one would read the full quote. I do the same thing.

But I also include a link to full quote, so that anyone can check my work. I don’t want you to just trust my opinion on the meaning of a quote because you trust me. I want you to be able to verify it yourself.

“Trust me, bro,” is one of the most dangerous concepts, and it’s becoming the norm across all trusted resources.

I will never post something I can’t verify intentionally (though we all make mistakes, and I have definitely done it on accident and rectified it as soon as I realized). But, if you see a story you think I should cover and you can’t figure out why I didn’t, chances are, I can’t verify the information on my own. And no matter how much a story is “public knowledge” if I can’t cross check it with my own research, I’m not talking about it.

I wish other people would do the same, maybe then AP would learn that hyperlinks can be to more than just their own articles.

Now, for three stories I did find sources for.

Illustration by the incredibly talented liberaljane on IG

Vatican City

Tue, Nov 4 - I feel like every week I have at least one win related to the Catholic Church and Pope Leo, and this week I may just have more. But we’ll start with this one. The Los Angeles Archdioceses had an audience with Pope Leo, and part of their delegation included tech entrepreneur, Alex Capecelatro and his husband, Catholic philanthropist Brian Stevens.

Alex posted about their experience meeting the Pope on Instagram:

I was not raised Catholic, so it was especially heartwarming to experience this moment with Brian, who is a devout Catholic. When Brian mentioned to the pope that we are married, we both felt received with warmth and kindness, which made the encounter even more meaningful. We also shared how meaningful James Martin and his Outreach ministry is, which the pope received well.

It seems like the more anti-woke the US becomes, the more accepting the church is becoming. Maybe one day soon there will be a big queer win involving the Catholic Church that will get so much attention I won’t even post about it, but for now, these smaller wins add up, and this is just another one in an ever growing list.

Oklahoma

Thu, Nov 13 - Governor Kevin Stitt granted clemency to Tremane Wood mere hours before he was supposed to be executed. He will, instead, spend the rest of his life in prison.

Governor Stitt said:

After a thorough review of the facts and prayerful consideration, I have chosen to accept the Pardon and Parole Board’s recommendation to commute Tremane Wood’s sentence to life without parole,. This action reflects the same punishment his brother received for their murder of an innocent young man and ensures a severe punishment that keeps a violent offender off the streets forever. In Oklahoma, we will continue to hold accountable those who commit violent crimes, delivering justice, safeguarding our communities, and respecting the rule of law. I pray for the family of Ronnie Wipf and for the surviving victim, Arnie; they are models of Christian forgiveness and love.

Wood has been on death row for over 20 years, following his alleged murder of Ronnie Wipf back in 2002. Wood still insists he’s innocent to this day. And the parole board seemed skeptical too when they recommended clemency last week, saying his trial was neither fair nor just.

I doubt there will be any updates on this going forward, but here’s hoping that decision leads to this case being looked at again.

British Columbia

Thu, Nov 13 - Gay marriage is often called “marriage equality,” but the reality is, the lack of gay marriage wasn’t the only marriage inequality, disabled people are still unable to get married in many places, including the US and Canada, without losing their disability benefits. Well, in British Columbia, that’s changing. Starting on Dec 1, two people with disabilities, who get married will now receive the same amount of support as if they were two single people, and, starting next year, that will also be the case for couples with only one disabled spouse.

Sheila Malcolmson, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction said:

We want people to have the supports they need to live with dignity and independence, so we’re making a change for couples on disability assistance. To make people feel safe, welcome and included, we’re changing the spousal rule so that couples receiving disability assistance will receive the same support allowance as they would if they were two single people. I’m grateful to the self-advocates who led this call for change.

Hopefully this leads to changes across Canada and the US very soon. We can’t celebrate marriage equality until it is truly equal. And it’s headed that way in British Columbia.

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So those are three wins for today. I hope this post makes you think twice about reposting something without a source and making sure to amplify anything that actually has one.

Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!