Tag Archives: domestic partners

House Committee Approves Bill Granting Partner Benefits To Federal Employees

Yesterday the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted 23-12 to approve Rep. Tammy Baldwin’s bill granting benefits for the partners of federal employees. The bill is now likely to move to a full House floor vote, which many anticipate could take place before the end of the year. “Last I talked to the majority leader who sets the floor …

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Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri: I’m Open To Domestic Partnerships

Just days after he vetoed a bill that would have allowed same-sex couples to make burial decisions about each other, Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri now says he’s “open” to considering a domestic partnership law. “Maybe it’s something we should consider,” said Carcieri, after meeting privately Thursday for more than an hour in his office with a half-dozen members of …

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RI Gov. Don Carcieri: Dirty Queers Do Not Have The Right To Bury Their Partners

Saying it was a “disturbing erosion” of the “principles surrounding traditional marriage,” today Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri vetoed a bill that would allow same-sex couples to make burial decisions about each other. Carcieri added that if the legislature didn’t like that, he would welcome a statewide ballot vote on how to bury queers. (I’m paraphrasing.) The bill, also sponsored …

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Washington: Referendum 71 APPROVED

Washington state’s battle to preserve their new domestic partnerships law has been won. The tally Thursday afternoon saw the vote to approve R-71 widening its lead 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent. That lead now appears insurmountable. The Secretary of State’s Office estimates another 500,000 to 600,000 ballots statewide are still outstanding, with about half expected from King County, where the …

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Wisconsin Supreme Court Rejects Challege To Domestic Partners Law

A Christian family group in Wisconsin has lost its bid to skip the lowest court trial process and take their objection about the state’s domestic partners law directly to the state supreme court. The court offered no explanation in an order issued Tuesday. The registry offers gay couples legal benefits. More than 900 couples have signed up since it went …

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Approve 71 Leading By 2 Points

Final results have not yet been certified, but things continue to look good, if very close, for the Approve R-71 side in Washington state. In fact, the other side has all but conceded. As tends to go with these things, the green, more urban counties above are where the support for domestic partnerships is in the majority. Don’t exhale yet, …

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PhoboQuotable – Anthony Apuron

“The culture of homosexuality is a culture of self-absorption because it does not value self-sacrifice. It is a glaring example of what John Paul II has called the culture of death. Islamic fundamentalists clearly understand the damage that homosexual behavior inflicts on a culture. That is why they repress such behavior by death. Their culture is anything but one of …

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New Ad For Approve R-71

A very strong new ad has just been released by Washington Families Standing Together.

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R-71 Names Battle Referred To Full Supreme Court

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has referred the R-71 names battle to the full Court for review. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on Tuesday referred to the full Supreme Court a request t0 block the release of names of people who signed petitions seeking to overturn Washington’s new “everything but marriage” same-sex domestic partner law. David Ammons, spokesman for Secretary …

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Washington Haters Take R-71 Names Issue To SCOTUS

Backers of Washington’s Referendum 71 have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn last week’s judgment that they must reveal the names of those who signed the petition to get the issue on the ballot. Justice Anthony Kennedy has ordered Washington state to file a response. In September, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle temporarily barred state officials from releasing …

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R-71 Names To Go Public

The 9th U.S. District Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court’s ruling, saying that the names of those who signed the petition to put the anti-gay Referendum 71 on the ballot can be made public. A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a previous decision by U.S. District Judge Ben Settle in Tacoma to block …

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New Ad From Approve R-71

Another good one.

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Seattle: Hundreds Rally Against R-71

Several hundred anti-gay protesters, including many Slavic Eastern Europeans, rallied in Seattle yesterday to urge the defeat of Referendum 71, which would uphold Washington state’s new domestic partners law. From children to families to the elderly, a couple of hundred demonstrators, speaking both English and Russian, gathered in Lynnwood on Saturday, carrying signs saying “Protect Children” and “Reject R-71.” “It’s …

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Protect Marriage’s R-71 Ad

Protect Marriage Washington’s ad against Referendum 71 is one of the most bombastic we’ve seen yet, and that’s saying something. Over on Pam’s House Blend, commenter Abraxas Bear notes: The intro pic of Adam and Eve is a painting by Lowell Bruce Bennett, and the painting happens to be the intellectual property of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day …

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Survey: R-71 With Slight Lead

A new SurveyUSA poll shows Referendum 71 with a slim 3-point lead in Washington state. Voters are divided on Referendum 71, which would expand the rights, responsibilities, and obligations of registered domestic partners and their families. The referendum asks voters to approve or reject a state law, signed by Governor Christine Gregoire in May 2009, which expanded the state’s domestic …

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New Referendum 71 Ad

From the Equal Rights Washington Education Fund comes Am I Protected, a new clip and website urging the approval of Referendum 71. Charlene Strong lost her partner Kate Fleming after a tragic flooding incident in Seattle in late 2006, and was nearly barred from seeing Fleming in her last moments of life. Strongs heart-wrenching testimony about the hospital ordeal helped …

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Microsoft Donates $100K To Approve R-71 Effort In Washington State

According to a report filed (PDF) with Washington state’s Public Disclosure Commission, Microsoft has donated $100,000 to the Approve Referendum 71 campaign. Dominic Holden at Slog: This took guts. Microsoft’s brazen role in R-71 will outrage the Ken Hutchersons of the world, who pressured Microsoft for years to back off from supporting gay-rights legislation. And it could also summon conservative …

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Approve Referendum 71 Ad

Too long and way too wordy, I think this ad from Seattle OUT Protest might be web-only. Anybody know?

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Approve Referendum 71 Ad

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Poll: Approve R-71 Winning 51-44, Voter Turnout Will Be Crucial

A just-released poll shows that support for maintaining Washington state’s domestic partners law is ahead by 51-44. But gay organizers are concerned. When voters are read the exact ballot language, 51 percent approve referendum 71 and 44 percent reject referendum 71. The discrepancy may because this new poll looks only at voters likely to cast ballots in the 2009 off …

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