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Matt Orr

Couple denied a marriage license in Alabama.

This article originally appeared on 02.14.15


On Feb. 10, 2015, same-sex marriage became legal in Alabama. Gay couples started going to the courthouse, and straight couples showed up as well. Straight couples like these folks.

But the folks at the courthouse wouldn't give ANY of the couples licenses — gay or straight.

Because Alabama's chief justice doesn't think same-sex marriage should be legal, he told all the probate judges not to issue ANY licenses to any couples.

It sounds like they might not have ever thought about what it feels like to be denied a constitutional right.

Alyssa Newton/YouTube

The interviewer basically asks how they feel as taxpayers not being able to conduct a regular state function like getting married.

Alyssa Newton/YouTube

I watched this GIF a few times because I think it's so fascinating to see the exact moment someone comes to the realization that denying gay people the right to marry is unfair.

At this point, though, he still doesn't "get it."

He pauses to think, he looks away, and then the lightbulb goes off.

Alyssa Newton/YouTube

What it seems like he's about to say is "It's not fair. I mean, everyone [meaning straight people] should be able to get a license even if Alabama is fighting this fight with gay people."

Mid-sentence, he seemed to switch what he was going to say.

He's right. Denying gay couples the right to marriage, especially once it's been declared legal in the state, wouldn't be fair. That's the point. And for some people, this is obvious. But for many people, maybe it isn't. But now it is. That's progress. That's why empathy is such a powerful thing.

These lovebirds almost do a better job arguing this case than lawyers before the Supreme Court. Almost. I hope they have a wonderful, love-filled life with each other. And I hope they can get married soon.

Watch the video here:


Heroes

The shocking footage these filmmakers captured reveals why the Earth is in serious trouble.

It's fast-paced, action-packed, and visually stunning. It's better than "The Avengers!" (Or so I say.) In any case, this is not your average save-the-whales video.

Louie Psihoyos isn't your average filmmaker.

He's best known for his 2009 documentary "The Cove," which took home an Oscar for its investigation into dolphin hunting practices in Japan.


Whale and dolphin meat on sale in Tokyo. Image by Stefan Powell/Wikimedia Commons.

Even if you haven't heard of the film, you still may have heard about its infamous, gut-wrenching scene depicting a brutal dolphin massacre in the waters of Taiji, Wakayama.

How did Psihoyos get so close to the action without tipping off the fishermen?

"The first time I saw a slaughter, I was hiding across the cove, hanging from a rope on a cliff in full camouflage and face paint," he told The Humane Society of the United States.

So, yeah. Not your average filmmaker.

Now, six years later, he's back with a new film. And he has his sights set on an even bigger target than the dolphin-meat industry.

He's taking on the world's next mass extinction.

Science says there have been five big mass extinction events, or periods when abnormally large numbers of species die out simultaneously. Psihoyos and many others say we're on the verge of the sixth.

When he decided to explore the issue through film, though, he wanted it to be something everyone would want to watch — not just environmentalists. So he and his team, as they've done before, went undercover.

Using technology straight out of a James Bond movie, Psihoyos and his crew conducted covert operations to take us inside the back rooms of the endangered animal trade, to the front lines of carbon dioxide emissions, and underwater to witness the destruction of the world's oceans — giving us an unprecedented look at how humanity is driving entire species to extinction.

And, more importantly, what we can do about it.

While the film hasn't seen a wide release yet, early word says the effect is powerful.

Ecowatch is calling "Racing Extinction" a "must-see documentary." And it's not hard to see why. It's got everything.

High-tech gadgetry.

Stunning images of nature's beauty.

High-octane explosions.

And a message meant to inspire the next generation to change the world.

Trust me, if you care about the fate of the world at all, you aren't going to want to miss "Racing Extinction." And if you're just in it for the spy missions and the daring getaways, that's cool too.

To find out when the film is coming to your town, check the film's official website.

And here's the trailer to get your blood pumping!

P.S. If you think nothing can ever be better than "The Avengers" (and that is a great movie, BTW), you can still feel OK about thinking this is awesome (and important) too.

Tristan Broussard grew up in a little town named Hathaway, Louisiana.

It's a town with lots of crawfish fields, soothing Southern accents, and one caution light. In the video below, Tristan seems like a confident, likable, and a hardworking guy.


Eventually, he left his small town to pursue work opportunities.

He moved to a big city — Lake Charles, Louisiana — and found a job with Tower Loans. In an interview with the Southern Poverty Law Center, he recalls his first conversation with Miss Leah, his boss, during his initial interview:

"We sat in a little cubicle, and she was like, 'I really like you. I'll give you a call and let you know how it goes.' I said, 'All right.' She said, 'In the next few days.' Well, as soon as I left and got on the road, I was maybe five minutes down the road, and she called me and said, 'You know what? You got the job.'"

Tristan was hired and liked his job — until one rule slowed him down.

From Tristan's perspective, he had success with his job, was well liked in the office, and followed all the rules ... except one. Tristan says his bosses wanted him to "dress like a woman" at work. Yeah, you read that right. They wanted him to put on (I assume) a dress or skirt and come to work because when Tristan was born, the doctor assigned him female.

“Rather than being treated like any other male employee, my employer told me I would be fired unless I dressed and acted as if I were female. The treatment I went through was inexcusable. It was wrong to be fired for who I am."

How does dressing "like a woman" or dressing "like a man" help a loan company do their job better?

Dress codes are fair within a business, but gender-based dress codes are not. They continue a cycle of discrimination that the trans community knows all too well.

Tristan explains how far back his experience with discrimination goes in his interview. At 2:34, he recalls an incident when he went through the Catholic tradition of confirmation as a child. The parallels are heartbreaking:

"I'm trying to be who I am," Tristan says. "Nobody should have that taken away from them."

Tristan has sued Tower Loans for discrimination. If you're interested in learning more about this case, you can check out how it's going through the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Check out this letter from a teacher to her students. She wrote it to remind them that a test does not determine their self worth.

Every spring, students across America take standardized tests to determine if they are ready to move on to the next grade. Of course, you and I know that one test can't actually determine the full scope of someone's intellectual strength or creative talent — and thankfully this teacher knows it, too.



For a moment, let's put aside our opinions of standardized testing (and the fact this is written in Comic Sans font) and celebrate the teachers who "get it."

Many tests celebrate only one type of learning: how to take a test well. There are a lot of pros and cons to consider when it comes to standardized testing, especially during our national debate of Common Core techniques. Although these tests can tell us some things, they don't give the full holistic picture of kids' aptitude — and certainly not their worth.

Regardless of how we all feel about tests, the one thing that unites us is the commitment to bringing out the best in our kids and finding the hidden talents in each of them. As educators, mentors, and parents, our job may be to teach, but more importantly, it's also to find the thing that inspires a student to want to learn on their own.