Marriage Equality

IMPORTANT UPDATE BELOW. Patrick Strudwick reports at Buzzfeed: Marco Bulmer-Rizzi’s voice is quiet and steady on the phone from Australia as he tries to stay composed – to explain what has happened, the magnitude of what he has lost, and the sense of injustice he feels. Last Saturday, while on honeymoon in Adelaide, South Australia, his new husband, David Bulmer-Rizzi, …

Taiwan has elected Tsai Ing-wen, its first female president. She also backs same-sex marriage. From the New York Times: Taiwan has some of the most progressive policies on LGBT rights in Asia, and Tsai has vocally supported expanding them to include same sex marriage. A campaign video that she released on Cixi, Chinese Valentine’s Day, last August, included three same …

Wow! Via Gay Star News: A group of Evangelicals controlling 719 parishes in Germany have said they will start marrying gay and lesbian couples. The Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, Germany’s second-biggest territorial church, voted on the decision during their synod today (15 January). It is also the second territorial church area out of 20 to open marriage ceremonies to …

The Associated Press reports: Anglican leaders on Thursday temporarily restricted the role of the U.S. Episcopal Church in their global fellowship as a sanction over the American church’s acceptance of gay marriage. Episcopalians have been barred for three years from any policy-setting positions in the Anglican Communion while a task force is formed that will try to reconcile conflicting views …

Yesterday all of Teabagistan went insane over South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s swipe at Donald Trump during her GOP-vetted response to Obama’s final State Of The Union address. Largely lost in the renewed GOP-Trump civil war, however, was Haley’s promise that the next Republican president will “respect differences in modern families” – a fairly clear reference to gay marriage. The …

Last year former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear threw a hissy fit over the “unreasonable” legal fees demanded by the good guys in his state’s losing battle against same-sex marriage. Beshear left office last month, tossing that hefty bill in the lap of incoming wingnut Gov. Matt Bevin, who now has to eat a $1.1M shit sandwich courtesy of a ruling …

L to the O to the L. Via press release: The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today sharply condemned President Obama for inviting Jim Obergefell, one of the plaintiffs whose case was used by the US Supreme Court to impose same-sex ‘marriage’ on the nation, to attend the State of the Union speech and called for the Republican leadership to …

The Associated Press reports: A Republican lawmaker in Virginia is pushing legislation that would allow clerks to refuse to issue licenses for marriages they object to on moral or religious grounds. Republican Sen. Charles Carrico of Galax said many of his constituents were concerned about what happened to Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who spent five days in jail last …

This morning the White House announced that Jim Obergefell will be among the guests seated with the First Lady during President Obama’s final State Of The Union address. From their bio on Obergefell: Jim Obergefell was the named plaintiff in the landmark marriage equality case Obergefell v. Hodges, which ruled same-sex couples nationwide have the Constitutional right to marry. In …

From the editorial board of the Birmingham News: Roy Moore is delusional about Roy Moore. The only bad thing that has happened since Alabama acquiesced to the ruling of America’s Supreme Court is that Moore hasn’t got enough attention, so once again he has “ordered” probate judges to not issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Over the past several months, …

Alaska GOP state Sen. Peter Micciche today pre-filed a bill which would allow businesses to refuse “services, accommodations, facilities, goods, or privileges” to any married or engaged same-sex couple. A companion bill has also been pre-filed in the Alaska House by GOP Rep. Dave Talerico. Via Alaska Commons: Rather than fix the unenforceable and obsolete provisions rendered unconstitutional by the …

Brian Brown surely knows, as even fellow hate group leader Tony Perkins has admitted, that Roy Moore is just spinning his talibangelical wheels in an attempt to screw with Alabama’s gay couples. But hey – here’s yet another desperate shot at getting a few more idiots on NOM’s money beg list. From the petition: Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has …

Same-sex marriage bans are still on the books in some states. In Utah, Republican state Rep. Kraig Powell wants to do something about that. Ben Winslow reports for Salt Lake City’s Fox affiliate: “My proposal is simply to remove that from the Utah Constitution so that it is no longer on the books,” he said in an interview Wednesday. In …

Federal prosecutors are telling Alabama’s probate judges that they are not free to defy the US Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage despite the order issued yesterday by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. AL.com reports: “The Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court has issued an administrative order, directing probate judges that they may not issue marriage licenses …

You’ll really enjoy this. Via Mediaite: On the heels of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore‘s order to halt same-sex marriage licenses in the state, an emboldened National Organization for Marriage decided to send a history major to do a lawyer’s job. Fox News anchor and experienced lawyer Megyn Kelly hosted Brian Brown (the NOM president, not the Australian guy from …

“Marriage equality is now the law of the land—including in Alabama. Today’s unconstitutional order reminds us that, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that all Americans have the right to marry the person they love, our work is far from over. “There are still judges who are determined to stand in the way of people’s rights. There are still politicians who …

Huntsville’s NBC affiliate is live-streaming a protest against Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, who earlier today ordered a halt to same-sex marriage. The small group of protesters are outside the Madison County Courthouse where they are chanting “love already won.” Hit the link and watch.

And here we go again. AL.com reports: Chief Justice Roy Moore issued an order today saying that a ruling issued last March by the Alabama Supreme Court remains in effect and that probate judges “have a ministerial duty not to issue any marriage license contrary” to Alabama’s law and constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. In a four-page administrative order, Moore …

Voice Of America reports: A Chinese court has accepted the country’s first same-sex marriage case, filed by a gay man in Hunan province against the government for refusing his application to marry his male partner. The decision is being hailed as a step forward for gay rights and as a major test case for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) …

The Associated Press reports: Clark County partnered with the Las Vegas business community to mark a local gay marriage milestone on New Year’s Eve. According to the county, Phoenix residents Ronald Bauman and Dumitru Alexeev received the 5,000th same-sex marriage license issued in Clark County since the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of gay marriage in the …