Tag Archives: marriage equality

Via the Tico Times: A Costa Rican judge has granted the first openly gay common-law marriage in Central America, said Francisco Madrigal, political affairs director for the Center for Research and Promotion of Human Rights in Central America (CIPAC). On Tuesday morning, news broke that Gerald Castro and Cristian Zamora, a gay couple in the city of Goicoechea, north of …

Via the BBC: Belfast City Council has voted in favour of same-sex marriage at a meeting on Monday. A total of 38 councillors voted for, 13 voted against and there were two abstentions, so the motion was carried. It had been moved by Alliance councillor Emmet McDonough-Brown. Councillors from Sinn Féin, the SDLP, Green Party, PUP, People Before Profit and …

Great piece on Politico. An excerpt: Negative national headlines on religious freedom continue to fuel a negative image of the entire party. Both in my private conversations with and in public (and private) polling, conservatives are moving ever closer to supporting full equity for LGBT Americans. Gallup’s Values and Beliefs poll released last month showed a more than 20 percentage-point …

From the website: Alabama! Be a voice for truth: Marriage = One Man + One Woman. God created it. Nature reveals it. Societies thrive on it. Children are nurtured by it. History affirms it. The Gospel is exemplified by it. Man doesn’t change it. Calling all pastors, churches, families and individuals to join thousands in Montgomery on June 6th, to …

Via the Associated Press: The state Senate voted Monday night to cancel Gov. Pat McCrory’s veto of a bill that would allow some North Carolina court officials to refuse to perform gay marriage activities because of religious objections. The 32-16 vote was above the three-fifths threshold necessary to override a veto. The bill still must clear the House again for …

LGBT groups are spiking the ball. A fringe element in the Legislature certainly had its sights set squarely on the LGBT community this session. But we are very happy, after more than 10,000 office visits in the Pink Dome by Equality Texas staff, that all these blatantly discriminatory bills failed to pass. We’re also happy that we were actually able …

Clip recap: “An NBC station in Tennessee is refusing to broadcast footage of a gay soldier who wants to get married. The governor of North Carolina vetoed a bill that would let state officials turn gay couples away from marriage counters — but the bill’s not dead yet. And Alabama is actually going through with a threat to stop issuing …

Via the Sydney Morning Herald: Labor leader Bill Shorten has introduced a bill to legislate same-sex marriage to near-empty government benches. Telling fellow MPs the “opportunity of a generation” was before them, Mr Shorten also drew on former prime minister Gough Whitlam’s famous line, “it’s time”. “Let this law reflect the nation we all want to see in the mirror,” …

Via NBC News: When asked whether he would accept the Supreme Court’s ruling if they legalize same-sex marriage later this year, he said he would “fight it.” “I think it’s important to understand that the Supreme Court doesn’t have the final word. It has its word. Its word has validity. But it’s important for Congress and the president, frankly, to …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed: “It’s just a very controversial and personal issue, and we just choose to not air a commercial on either side of that debate,” Tom Tolar, the president and general manager of Chatanooga-based WRCB, told BuzzFeed News in a phone interview. The ad crossed the station’s lines, he explained, because “people probably have really strong opinions …

From the Movement Advancement Project: If the United States Supreme Court grants same-sex couples the freedom to marry, the majority of those couples will still face significant legal discrimination. According to a new report released today by the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), 61 percent of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population in the U.S. will continue to live …

Via ABC News Australia: Some of Australia’s biggest businesses have thrown their weight behind the push for gay marriage, with a full-page newspaper advertisement today. Corporations including Google, Qantas, Optus and the ANZ and Commonwealth banks have put their names to a list of Australian businesses backing marriage equality. Others supporters include law firms Slater and Gordon and Gilbert and …

“I mean, this is a defiance of God. It’s just incredible. Pagans may have tolerated homosexual behaviours, they never dared to say this was marriage.” – Cardinal Raymond Burke, speaking Wednesday at Oxford University’s Newman Society. More from The Tablet: Though the talk consisted primarily in an overview of Pope Benedict XVI’s chiefest intellectual contributions, Cardinal Burke adopted a more …

“I recognize that for many North Carolinians, including myself, opinions on same-sex marriage come from sincerely held religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman. However, we are a nation and a state of laws. Whether it is the president, governor, mayor, a law enforcement officer, or magistrate, no public official who voluntarily swears to support and …

Nearly two dozen anti-LGBT bills failed in the Texas legislature in recent months. Now that the hate clock has run out, Texas Values head Jonathan Saenz is blaming the Texas Chamber of Commerce, which came out against several of the bills.

The Campaign For Southern Equality reacts: “It is shameful that this bill has passed our legislature. It is nothing more than state sanctioned discrimination and a naked attempt to make a political statement without much care for how it hurts and demeans others. To be certain, if this bill becomes law, it will invite a new round of court challenges. …