Gay Marriage for All - the Week in Review, Jan 3-10, 2008

In a new weekly feature, we'll recap the stories making headlines during the last week in the fight for marriage equality:

January 3rd:

OREGON, USA: Same sex couples hold vigils throughout the state to protest a court ruling delaying the implementation of a domestic partner registry.

January 4th:

MARYLAND, USA: The Maryland state legislature gets the gay marriage ball punted to them from the Maryland courts - will they pass gay marriage or civil unions legislation this year?

ISRAEL: Tel Aviv announces a plan to recognize same sex couples for all muncipal services, including taxes, making it the third Israeli city to do so, after Lod and Mevaserat Zion.

January 5th:

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA: A gay couple gets married along with two straight couples at the opening of the Sydney Festival in front of 20,000 people.  Though their union is not legally recognized, newlyweds Greg Small and Avan Tiong hope the new government will take steps to recognize same sex unions.

January 7th:

IRELAND: Equality Minister Seam Power announces that Ireland will pass legislation in the spring to allow civil unions, and to recognize same sex marriages and civil unions performed elsewhere, to be in place by this summer.

SOUTH AFRICA: HIV/AIDS activist and Nobel Prize nominee Zackie Achmat married his partner, Dalli Weyers, at a ceremony near Cape Town.  Same sex marriage has been legal in South Africa since 2005. 

USA: Threesome star (ok, we use that term lightly) Stephen Baldwin comes out against gay marriage and for Mike Huckabee - and says "what I think doesn't matter."

January 8th:

FLORIDA, USA: The head of the NAACP came out against the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment, a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage that is being readied for the November ballot.

INDIANA, USA: In Indiana, state senator Brandt Hershman pushed for a constitutional ban on same sex marriage in that state, even though Indiana already has a version of the Defense of Marriage act on its books.

VERMONT, USA: The Vermont Marriage Advisory Council announces a plan to "educate" Vermonters about the evils of gay marriage.

January 9th:

ENGLAND, UK: A wedding registrar in Islington is suing the city council for forcing her to perform gay marriages, which she says is against her religious beliefs. 

CONNECTICUT, USA: Rumors surface that the Connecticut Supreme Court may hand down their decision on January 11th in favor of gay marriage in the constitution state.

January 10th:

ONTARIO, CANADA: Anglican Bishop John Chapman to decide soon whether to allow blessings of same sex unions in the Ottawa Diocese.

FLORIDA, USA: Secretary of State Kurt Browning requires submission of signature counts for ballot initiatives on paper, after an audit reveals overcounts in electronically submitted numbers, including a 400% over-count on signatures for an anti-gay-marriage amendment from Lee County in 2005.

Mostly good news this week, with the glaring exception of the Florida amendment.

More next time!

--Scott