Tag Archives: gay marriage

Pennsylvania Tries To Hate Again

The Pennsylvania Senate is trying one more time to pass a constitutional amendment banning marriage equality. Constitutional amendment legislation failed in the last legislative session but is being considered anew in the current session. During a Senate committee hearing, Maggie Gallagher, President of the National Organization for Marriage, said an amendment to the state constitution would protect against a judge’s …

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Norway Considers Marriage Equality

After complaints from gays that civil unions create a second-class citizenship, Norway’s parliament is moving to make its civil marriage laws gender-neutral. The new legislation also would make a woman who is married to another woman the automatic legal parent of any child conceived in vitro during the marriage. In cases of adoption, both partners would be legal parents. The …

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Spitzer May Resign, Face Criminal Charges

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is reportedly mulling resignation amid calls for his impeachment. His first order of business, however, will be to address the potential criminal charges. The news was met with disbelief and shock in Albany, a capital accustomed to scandal. Some legislative assistants said they were too stunned to speak, and lawmakers gathered around television sets in …

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Haters Fail In Iowa

Yesterday the appropriately named Iowa House Minority Leader Christopher Rants failed in his attempt to force the state legislature to vote on a proposed amendment banning same-sex marriage. Rants tried a procedural vote that would have moved the measure, House Joint Resolution 8, out of committee and before the full House for a possible debate. Rants’ maneuver failed on a …

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CA Supes Seem Split On Gay Marriage,
Loss For Gay Side Predicted

With anti and pro-gay demonstrators outside, in yesterday’s arguments the California Supreme Court seemed to be split in their opinions on marriage equality, with some legal experts predicting a loss for our side. Dale Carpenter, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, issued this opinion: [T]the most likely result is that the gay-marriage litigants will lose 4-3 or …

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CA Supes Hear Gay Marriage Case Today

The California Supreme Court will hear the long-awaited gay marriage case today. Locals can watch live on the California Channel from 9am – 12pm Pacific. For the rest of us, there will be a live webcast. In briefs submitted to the court, same-sex marriage supporters argue that California’s Constitution leaves no room for denying gay men and lesbians the right …

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Brokeback Mount

Barack Obama told a crowd of supporters yesterday that his support for gay civil unions is based on the Bible’s “Sermon On The Mount.” “I don’t think it [a same-sex union] should be called marriage, but I think that it is a legal right that they should have that is recognized by the state,” said Obama. “If people find that …

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Money Talks For Puerto Rico’s Gays

Today Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives will vote whether to move forward a ban on gay marriage. U.S. Congressman Jose Serrano (D-NY) notes that such a move may imperil federal funding there. Serrano says that passage of such an amendment would put Puerto Rico among those groups that promote hateful and discriminatory measures which might not be seen in a …

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NY State Senate Closer To Dem Control

Via Famous Author Rob Byrnes: [I]t looks like today’s special election for a vacant New York State Senate seat is flipping the district from Republican to Democrat. [JMG: It did.] Which means that a 40-plus-year Republican hold on the State Senate is down to one seat in the 62-member body. (Democratic Lieutenant Governor David Paterson would vote in the case …

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HomoQuotable – Leland Traiman

“Many lesbian/gay organizations claim that state-enacted same-sex marriage is ‘marriage equality’ even though it has no federal marriage rights. They claim that a federal civil union policy, which would include these rights, would not be ‘marriage equality’ because it would not contain the word ‘marriage.’ This places rhetoric over reality. The opposite is true: federal civil unions would be marriage …

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New Jersey’s Civil Unions “Don’t Work”

On the one-year anniversary of civil unions becoming legal in New Jersey, a state commission has released a report saying that civil unions don’t work and that gay couples in Massachusetts don’t have the same legal difficulties faced by those in New Jersey. The commission found that many companies in the state that are self-insured, and thus regulated by federal …

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Charles Barkley’s Got Your Back

Retired NBA star Charles Barkley announced on CNN that he was sick of “fake Christians” and that he fully supports gay marriage. Barkley plans on running for governor of Alabama after he satisfies their seven-year residency requirement in 2014. The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission is demanding an apology from Barkely, saying, “Ironically, Barkley engaged in the very activity of judging others …

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Maryland AG Endorses Gay Marriage

Saying acceptance of gay marriage was “inevitable,” Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler has become the first statewide-elected official there to endorse marriage equality legislation. Gansler accuses lawmakers of lacking the “political courage” to approve the legislation this year, saying “It’s wrong to discriminate against people, particularly because they think differently or because of their sexuality or because of their gender. …

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HomoQuotable – Evan Wolfson

“Phrases such as “gay marriage” or “same-sex marriage” imply that same-sex couples are asking for something other than marriage. They imply that same-sex couples deserve something different or lesser than the security, protections, safety-net, and respect that married couples cherish. And they play into the right-wing’s fear-mongering that gay people are a threat to marriage, that equality and inclusion would …

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Arizona Marriage Fight Reignites

In 2006, Arizona became the first state to ever vote down a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. But yesterday, 16 out of 30 of Arizona’s state senators backed a new bill to put the issue back on the ballot yet again. The bill was also introduced in the state house. With both chambers’ approval, the bill will be on …

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California Supreme Court To Hear Gay Marriage Suit On March 4th

The California Supreme Court announced today that they will hear arguments over the state’s ban on gay marriage on March 4th in San Francisco. The three-hour hearing will consider a 2004 lawsuit filed on behalf of Equality California, the Our Family Coalition, and 15 same-sex couples denied marriage under the ballot measure approved by voters in 2000. Oral arguments will …

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Gay Couples Advance In NY, Oregon
Florida Haters Make Ballot

A state appellate court has ruled that all public and private employers in New York must now recognize same-sex couples legally married elsewhere. A New York appellate court ruled Friday that valid out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples must be legally recognized in New York, just as the law recognizes those of heterosexual couples solemnized elsewhere. Lawyers for both sides said …

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Kucinich Quits

Dennis Kucinich will announce tomorrow that he is ending his presidential bid. No big surprise here, other than his word that he will not endorse another candidate. This, after throwing his caucus support to Obama in Iowa. Interesting. Kucinich says that it’s hard for him to continue to compete when he no longer is allowed into the debates. He will …

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Maryland Marriage Equality Bill
To Be Introduced Tomorrow

Maryland legislators will introduce a marriage equality bill tomorrow. Two state senators, including one who is openly gay, will lead efforts to pass the Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Protection Act in Maryland. Sens. Rich Madaleno and Jamie Raskin, two Democrats from Montgomery County, were to be named as lead sponsors on the bill when it’s introduced. The bill was …

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Al Gore For Gay Marriage

Once again, I must express my regret that Gore isn’t running this time.

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