Gay Marriage For All - The Week in Review, January 18th-24th

Here's our weekly recap of news from the gay marriage front:

January 19th:

+INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA: State Rep. Scott Pelath, chairman if the Indiana House Rules and Legislative Procedure Committee, refused to bring up a bill to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage, saying the House has much more urgent matters, including property tax relief.

January 21st

+ BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA: Two of Argentina's gay rights leaders got married in Madrid in defiance of their country's ban on gay marriage.  Congratulations to Cesar Cigliutti and Marcelo Suntheim!

+ BOISE, IDAHO: Idaho took a small step toward gay rights, proposing a bill that would make discrimination based on sexual orientation illegal for employers with 5 or more employees.  Churches would be exempted.

- INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, USA: Gay marriage opponents, frustrated in the Indiana House, are taking their case to the Indiana senate, hoping to pass a measure to amend the Indiana state constitution to ban gay marriage.

+ SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO: The New Mexico House Judiciary Committee passed a domestic partnership bill, which would give gay and lesbian couples in New Mexico the same legal protections and benefits as married couples.  Governor Bill Richardson supports the bill, which will go to the full House for a vote later this week.

January 22nd

+ SWEDEN: A new poll shows that 70% of Swedes support gay marriage.  Sweden has offered civil partnerships since 1995, and is currently studying the possibility of offering full marriage rigts to GLBT couples.

- SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO: Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila plans to sign a bill authorizing a May vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in Puerto Rico.

- DES MOINES, IOWA: Governor Chet Culver asked the state Supreme Court to hurry up its ruling on Iowa's ban on gay marriage, and promised to rush through a constitutional amendment should the court strike down the defense of marriage law in the state.  Shame on Governor Culver, a Democrat, for betraying his gay and lesbian constituency.

+ SEATTLE, WASHINGTON: The Washington state legislature is considering legislation that would provide for end of life rights, nursing home visitation, and te dissolution of gay relationships in the state.

January 23rd

+ MARYLAND: Two state senators, Rich Madaleno and Jamie Raskin, have taken up sponsorship of the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act in Maryland, which would legalize gay marriage there while allowing churches to continue to decide whom they would marry.  The two take over for Gwendolyn Britt, the outspoken former sponsor of the bill who tragically passed away last week.

+ NEW YORK, NEW YORK: Former Vice president Al Gore has come out in favor of gay marriage in a blog posting on the current.com website.

January 24th

+ AUSTRALIA: Greens MP Lee Riannon promises to introduce a civil unions bill in State Parliament later this year.

+ PHOENIX, ARIZONA: Governor Janet Napolitano has proposed extending benefits available to state workers to their same- and opposite-sex domestic partners.

- DES MOINES, IOWA: Gay marriage foes here delivered 6,000 signatures to the Iowa Legislature demanding impeachment of Polk County Judge Robert Hanson, the judge who ruled that the anti-gay-marriage law there was unconstitutional last summer.

- WAVE, KENTUCKY: A state senate committee has approved legislation that would amend Indiana's constitution to prohibit gay marriage.  The bill appears to have little chance of passage through the full house and senate this year.

That's it for this week - more next week.

--Scott