Gay Marriage for All - the Week in Review, Jan 11-17, 2007

In our weekly feature, we recap the stories making headlines during the last week in the fight for marriage equality, + for positive, - for negative:

January 11th:

+ ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND, USA: Maryland lawmakers define who's eligible for Domestic Partner status for health insurance purposes.

+ SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, USA: Salt Lake City Mayor Ron Becker wasted no time making good on a campaign pledge to create a domestic partner registry, sending it to the city council for a vote on January 22nd.  

January 12th:

- BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, USA: Gay rights supporter and former Sixties Freedom Rider Gwendolyn T. Britt passed away after being admitted to a hospital.  Britt had planned to introduce gay marriage legislation this session, and will be greatly missed.

January 13th:

+ CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE, USA: In the two weeks since New Hampshire enacted a new civil unions law, more than 100 couples have taken advantage of it.

January 14th:

+ TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA: Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity bucks the Anglican Church and vows to continue blessing gay weddings.

+ MADRID, SPAIN: Conservative Popular Party Leader Mariano Rajoy promises not to repeal gay marriage in Spain if elected Prime Minister in early March.

- NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA: Pioneering lesbian couple whose test case on gay marriage reached the NS Supreme Court files for divorce.

+ CARSON CITY, NEVADA, CANADA: The board of the Nevada Public Employees Benefits Program votes to expand coverage to unmarried couples and their dependents.

January 15th:

+ SERBIA: Serbian Presidential Candidate Cedomir Jovanovic says he would remove all discriminatory provisions against GLBT folks from Serbian law if elected.

+ SWEDEN: The Swedish Legislature, with the support of the Church of Sweden, announces its intention to legalize gay marriage there, upgrading the current civil union laws established in 1995, and overturning laws dating back to 1987 that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.

- MIAMI, FLORIDA, USA: the anti-gay Florida for Marriage Coalition falls 21,000 signatures short of 611,009 needed to get an anti-gay-marriage initiative on the fall ballot.  The group has until 1/29 to try to collect the additional signatures

- DES MOINES, IOWA, USA: Republicans try to force the Democratic-controlled legislature to add an anti-gay-marriage amendment to the Iowa constitution, an effort to pre-empt a pending Iowa State Supreme Court ruling on the state's Defense of Marriage law that's already suffered one defeat in Iowa courts.

- WARREN, MICHIGAN, USA: Mike Huckabee tells supporters he wants to change the US Constitution to match the Bible - "it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God.

January 16th:

- RABAT, MOROCCO: A Moroccan appeals court upheld prison sentences for six men arrested on "homosexuality" charges at what the local press has called a "gay marriage".

- SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, USA: Republican Mayoral candidate Steve Francis says he would have vetoed s city council vote in support of gay marriage if he had been Mayor. The current Mayor, Republican Jerry Sanders, tearfully announced his support for the measure in a moving speech last year.

+ MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, USA: David Dillon, CEO of a Twin Cities printing company, announced he'll run for congress in Minnesota's 3rd District as an Independent, a seat formerly held by Republican Jim Ramstad, who is retiring.  Dillon is pro-gay-marriage.

- LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, USA: Huckabee supporters using infamous Republican robo-call tactic to slime opponents for supposed support on gay issues and gay marriage - 546K calls planned to Nevada residents.

January 17th

+ AUSTIN, TEXAS, USA: University of Texas lecturer Uri Horesh entered the third day of his hunger strike to protest UT's lack of health care fopr domestic partners.  UT has a non-discrimination policy, but claims Texas's constitutional amendment banning gay marriage prevents it from providing any domestic partner benefits.

Mixed bag this week.  More next time!

--Scott