Marriage Equality

SHE SAID YES: Girlfriend Of Brazilian Olympic Rugby Player Isadora Cerullo Proposes As Team Cheers

Roughly translated from ABC España: The gold medal-winning Australian female rugby delegation isn’t alone in celebrating. Isadora Cerullo, who plays for Brazil, tonight received a marriage proposal from her partner, who works as a volunteer for the Rio Games. The proposal was accepted and sealed with a kiss in front of journalists from around the world. The proposal took place …

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NORTH CAROLINA: Court Hearing Begins On Lawsuit To Overturn Magistrates’ Same-Sex Marriage Opt-Out Law

The Associated Press reports: Roughly 5 percent of North Carolina’s magistrates are refusing to marry same-sex couples for religious reasons, and lawyers for the state say people suing in federal court have no standing to challenge these opt-outs as unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn scheduled a hearing for Monday in Asheville in part to consider a motion by the …

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ALABAMA: Liberty Counsel Loses Yet Again, Federal Court Rejects Lawsuit Over Roy Moore’s Suspension

The Associated Press reports: A federal judge has refused to overturn the suspension of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, ruling Thursday that doing so would improperly interfere with the state judicial proceeding that could result in Moore’s ouster for an order he issued about same-sex marriage. U.S. District Judge Harold Albritton threw out Moore’s lawsuit against the Alabama Judicial Inquiry …

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Joe Biden Officiates Same-Sex Wedding

ABC News reports: Vice President Joe Biden officiated his first wedding ever — and it was for a same sex couple. Biden officiated over the wedding of two longtime White House staffers, Brian Mosteller and Joe Mahshie, at the Naval Observatory on Monday, his office said. Posting a photo of the ceremony on Twitter, Biden wrote, “Proud to marry Brian …

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UTAH: Anti-Gay Troll Sues To Marry His Laptop, State Tells Him To Get Lost Because Gay Marriage Is Legal

Remember the nutcase who sued Apple in 2013 because his computer didn’t block him from accessing the porn which ruined his marriage? And then in 2014 when he attempted to intervene in one of Florida’s same-sex marriage cases so that he could marry that porn-filled laptop? And then in April of this year when he tried the same thing in …

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Dem Rep. Mark Takai Dies Of Cancer At Age 49

While still a Hawaii state rep, Takai played a critical part in the 2013 passage of his state’s same-sex marriage bill. He was elected to the US House in 2014. NBC News reports: U.S. Congressman Mark Takai, who served as the representative for Hawaii’s first district, has died, NBC News has confirmed. Takai, 49, announced in May he would not …

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ROMANIA: Haters Win Court Ruling Allowing Parliament To Place Same-Sex Marriage Ban In Constitution

From the Associated Press: Romania’s Constitutional Court has ruled that a request from an anti-gay group to change the constitution to state that marriage is a union between a man and a woman is constitutional. The court’s ruling Wednesday paves the way for Romania’s Parliament to vote to change the constitution, last revised in 2003, which now says marriage is …

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Florida Gov. Rick Scott On The Anti-Gay GOP Platform: Same-Sex Marriage Is The Law Of The Land [VIDEO]

Politico reports: When it comes to Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s opinion on the Republican Party’s platform opposition to same-sex marriage, the Republican governor had just three words Tuesday night, despite his own state’s previous opposition to the law: The Supreme Court. “The Supreme Court has already made a decision,” Scott told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, referring to the shooting …

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Alabama Ethics Panel: Boot Roy Moore Immediately

AL.com reports: The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission on Friday responded to suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s efforts to have the judicial ethics charges against him dismissed. Instead of dismissing the charges, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary should issue a summary judgment in its favor and remove Moore now from the bench, the JIC states in its response. “This …

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KENTUCKY: Appeals Court Upholds Contempt Ruling Against Kim Davis For Refusing Marriage Licenses

Via press release from the ACLU: A federal appeals court today dismissed Kim Davis’s appeals in the Rowan County marriage licensing case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Miller v. Davis left in place the order that found Davis in contempt. ACLU LGBT Project Staff Attorney Ria Tabacco Mar has this comment: “Kentucky’s new marriage law …

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TRAILER: Loving

Vanity Fair recaps: Sick of the summer box-office doldrums? Focus Features is here to bolster your belief in important, non-franchise filmmaking with the first trailer for Loving, a powerful biopic about Richard and Mildred Loving—the interracial couple who changed the course of American history by fighting for their right to be married in the 1960s. From filmmaker Jeff Nichols, Loving …

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CANADA: Anglican Church Vote Against Allowing Same-Sex Marriage Reversed Due To Voting Error

The CBC reports: Questions about the integrity of the voting process in which Anglicans narrowly rejected a resolution to allow same-sex marriage emerged Tuesday, leading to a stunning reversal of the result. Some members stood up to say their votes had not been recorded during voting late Monday — when passage of the resolution failed by a single vote. “That …

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Potential Trump Running Mate Gen. Michael Flynn Shrugs Off Social Issues Like Gay Marriage [VIDEO]

This won’t make the evangelicals happy. Via Politico: Issues like abortion and same-sex marriage are not at the top of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s list of priorities, the former intelligence official and registered Democrat who is reportedly being vetted as Donald Trump’s running mate said Sunday. “What people do in their private lives, these are not big issues that …

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BRITAIN: Tory Candidate For Prime Minister Says Marriage Should Just Be For Christians [VIDEO]

The Independent reports: Andrea Leadsom has admitted that she “didn’t really like” the gay marriage law passed in 2013 because of the “clear hurt” it caused to Christians. In an interview after her speech in Westminster, Ms Leadsom, a Conservative leadership contender, said that she did not like the same-sex marriage legislation and would have preferred for it to include …

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Marriage Equality Availability Hits Global Landmark

According to figures compiled by an Australian activist, over one billion people worldwide now live in jurisdictions with legal same-sex marriage. Frontiers reports: The analysis comes from Melbourne-based LGBT activist Tony Pitman, and reveals that the world crossed the billion-mark just a few weeks ago. “The turning point came a few weeks ago when Colombia and then several Mexican states …

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AUSTRALIA: No Clear Winner In National Election, Planned Marriage Equality Referendum Imperiled

Euronews reports: Australia woke up on Sunday (July 3) to the headache of a hung parliament and a minority government, after a general election that was too close to call. Vote counting has been paused and was so tight that Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull’s Liberal Party-led coalition may need the support of independents and smaller parties to remain in power. …

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MISSISSIPPI: Dem Attorney General Jim Hood Might Not Appeal Anti-LGBT Laws Struck Down By Court

Mississippi News Now reports: Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says he doesn’t know if his office will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that blocked a state law dealing with religious objections to gay marriage. Hood is the only Democrat in statewide office, and his staff had defended the law that was passed by the Republican-majority Legislature and signed by a …

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MISSISSIPPI: Federal Court Strikes Down Entire Bill Which Legalized Anti-LGBT Discrimination

All hail Roberta Kaplan! From the Washington Post: U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves late Thursday night issued an injunction blocking a bill by the Mississippi legislature that would have allowed private citizens and some public officials professing a “sincere religious belief” to deny services to gays and lesbians. Just minutes before House Bill 1523 was to take effect at …

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Roy Moore’s Next Court Date: August 8th

From the Liberty Counsel: The Court of the Judiciary (COJ) has set an August 8 hearing for oral arguments regarding Chief Justice Moore’s motion to dismiss charges brought by the Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC). The order states that the court would treat the motion to dismiss as a motion for summary judgment, meaning that the hearing could dispose of the …

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Brian Brown: Our Hate March Was A Great Success

After three days of relentless mocking on social media, hate group leader Brian Brown has finally surfaced to declare that Saturday’s hate march was a huge success. This, despite a physical head-count by ThinkProgress showing that only 237 people turned out. And that count included babies, passersby, counter-protesters, and the media. Brown writes: I’m writing with great news — the …

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