Tag Archives: Arizona

But thanks anyway to the hundred JMG readers who sent it to me. (Seriously – don’t stop sending me your tips.)

Phoenix City Council candidate Austin Head, who is openly gay and openly HIV+, is raising eyebrows with the above campaign sign.  Hit the link, he tells quite the life story. (Via JMG reader Mich)

Back in April the small town of Bisbee, Arizona legalized civil unions for same-sex couples over the loud protests of the state Attorney General.  On Friday a lesbian couple became the first to file. Kathy Sowden and Deborah Grier went to Bisbee City Hall to file the papers to recognize their 21 year relationship as a formal civil union. The …

The Supreme Court today refused to review the appeal of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who wants to strip state employees of domestic partner benefits. The Human Rights Campaign reacts via press release: After the landmark decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued orders today declining to review the remaining LGBT equality …

Laurie Roberts writes for Arizona Central: This afternoon, Gov. Jan Brewer signed an elections bill that basically wipes out Libertarian and other third-party candidates, boosting their signature requirements to unattainable levels. Green Party candidates would actually have to collect more signatures than they have party members. Wasn’t it just a few months ago that our leaders were oh so concerned …

Last night the Tucson City Council unanimously approved civil unions for same-sex couples. No state law should be violated as long as the city does not include rights that are reserved for married couples, said City Attorney Mike Rankin. Since 2003, when the city established a domestic-partnership registry, it has had an increased number of domestic partnership applications. Councilman Paul …

Equal Marriage Arizona yesterday filed the paperwork to begin raising the petition signatures required to place same-sex marriage on the 2014 ballot. The initiative also includes a clause stating that religious organizations or individuals cannot be required to officiate at a marriage if they have religious objections. The filing Monday allows the group to begin collecting the required 259,213 signatures …

Joe Arpaio, self-proclaimed “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” is selling his sling.

From the just-released Rocky Mountain Poll: After years of beating the drums against same-sex marriage, opponents of the idea in Arizona appear to be losing their grip on public attitudes toward the issue. By a ratio of 55 percent to 35percent, Arizonans say they favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry. Majorities in the following groups appear to have locked …

Campus preacher Brother Dean Saxton displayed the above sign at the University of Arizona, telling the student newspaper, “If you dress like a whore, act like a whore, you’re probably going to get raped. I think that girls that dress and act like it, they should realize that they do have partial responsibility, because I believe that they’re pretty much …

Encouraged by the actions of the small town of Bisbee, the Phoenix suburb of Tempe last night began considering civil unions. Tempe Councilman Kolby Granville called the Bisbee vote momentous. On Wednesday, Granville, a Democrat, told The Arizona Republic that he asked for the council executive session on civil unions. He wants Tempe to be the first Valley city to …

Yesterday I reported that the city council of the small town of Bisbee, Arizona had legalized civil unions over the objections of and a threatened lawsuit from the state Attorney General Tom Horne. Here’s some video from the public comments that preceded that vote. (Via JMG reader Homer)

A bill pending in the Arizona legislature would make it a crime punishable by six months in jail if a transgender person uses a public restroom that doesn’t match the gender on their birth certificate. Masen Davis, executive director of the Transgender Law Center, appeared on MSNBC to discuss it.

The small Arizona town of Bisbee (population 6000) legalized civil unions last night. At least, they say they did. The City Council pushed aside legal warnings from the state’s attorney general and a conservative advocacy group and voted 5-2 to become first city in the state to offer civil-union certificates for all couples that would extend to same-sex partners some …

By a vote of 5-3, last night the Phoenix City Council broadened anti-bias protections to include LGBT residents. As usual, opponents lined up to scream that men in dresses were going to invade the city’s restrooms. The Human Relations Ordinance revolves around adding three phrases to the city’s anti-discrimination policies when it comes to employment, housing, city contracts and public …

Sen. John McCain got into quite a heated battle with constituents during a town hall meeting about immigration reform. Watch this.

The above Arizona Republican representatives have introduced a bill requiring that public high school seniors swear loyalty to the Constitution and to God in order to graduate. The wording of the oath is familiar: I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear …

What could possibly go wrong? Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s armed volunteer posses are set to begin patrolling areas around Phoenix, Ariz. schools on Monday, more than a week after the plan drew national attention in the wake of the deadly mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. Arizona’s 3TV reports that Arpaio’s volunteer force is comprised of …

SF Weekly reports: You can count on San Francisco to keep things real, and last night the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence didn’t just keep it real, they kept it really entertaining. Was it a coincidence that the sisters had dinner reservations next to the very conservative Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio (aka “America’s Toughest Sheriff”) last night at John’s Grill in …

An Arizona high school principal has punished two fighting boys by forcing them to hold hands in front of the entire school and thereby allow fellow students to cruelly mock them as homosexuals. The boys were so humiliated, they shielded their faces rather than face their taunters. Earlier this week, the two students at Westwood High School in Mesa, Ariz., …