Recent Posts

Vietnam Drops Gay Wedding Fines

Same-sex marriage remains banned in Vietnam, but the government this week announced that couples who hold ceremonies will no longer be fined. Under the draft decree that would have taken effect this July, homosexual couples that get married would have been fined VND200,000-1 million (US$9.55), twice the current fine introduced in 2000. Gay rights activists lambasted the proposal, dismissing it …

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Sequester Threatens NYC Fleet Week

Thanks to the sequester, it appears that this year’s Fleet Week will be a bust for New York City. How can there be a Fleet Week without the fleet? Organizers are still looking for ways to salvage the 29-year-old event, which was scheduled to start on May 23. But it seems certain that it will be without some key ingredients: …

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NBC Poll: 53% Back Marriage

Here’s yet another poll for the right wing to denounce: Fifty-three percent of respondents favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry, which is up 2 points since the NBC/WSJ survey last asked this question in December, though that increase is within the poll’s margin of error. Forty-two percent oppose gay marriage – also up 2 points since late last …

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French Senate Approves Full Marriage Bill

Today the French Senate finalized its vote on same-sex marriage! The French Senate has voted to legalize same-sex marriage in France, putting a landmark bill on track to become law by summer. The vote in the upper house of parliament — led by President Francois Hollande’s Socialists — comes despite boisterous protests. Opponents — mostly conservatives and fervent Roman Catholics …

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NOM On The Florist Suit

Posted to NOM’s blog yesterday: When issues of consequence like this were raised during the campaign against same-sex marriage, the backers of same-sex marriage said things like this would never happen. They went so far as to claim we were lying and that religious freedom was fully protected. That so-called “protection” didn’t even last a matter of weeks. This is …

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And Still They Danced

At tonight’s gala fundraiser marking the 30th anniversary of the NYC LGBT Community Center, the headlining honoree was DOMA plaintiff Edie Windsor. Upon taking the stage, Edie led us through her 42-year relationship with her late wife, Thea Spyer, starting with their closeted courtship and through the decades until their 2007 wedding in Toronto. During her speech, Edie spoke of …

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Number Five And Rising

On Monday I reported about the Facebook campaign to send Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead to the top of the British pop chart. At this writing the tune is #5 and rising, but it’s not yet clear if the BBC will include the track in its weekly countdown. In a statement it said: “The Official Chart Show on Sunday …

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