Gay Marriage for All: The Week in Review January 25th-31st

Time once again to review the previous week in gay marriage:

January 25th:

+ LONDON, ENGLAND, UK: Labour MP Emily Thornberry told an Islington registrar who is suing her town council to avoid presiding over gay marriage to "Get on with your job."

+ ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND, USA: More than a quarter of Maryland's state lawmakers have signed up to sponsor a bill legalizing gay marriage in Maryland.

January 26th:

+ LONDON, ENGLAND, UK: The British soap Emmerdale will feature a gay wedding between two of the show's characters, Paul Lambert and Jonny Foster.

January 28th:

- INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, USA: The GOP controlled state senate passed a constitutional gay marriage ban, but there's little chance that the Democratically controlled house will follow suit.

January 29th:

- FLORIDA, USA: John McCain fans the flames of anti-gay bigotry in Robo Calls against his chief rival, Mitt Romney.

+ SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, USA: State Senator Ed Murray introduced legislation to extend domestic partner benefits to gay and lesbian couples.

January 30th:

+ PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC: A year after gay partnerships were recognized by the Czech parliament, nearly 500 couples have tied the knot there with the blessing of the state.

+ MADRID, SPAIN: New poll shows 75% of Spaniards approve of gay marriage law passed two years ago, and only 18% disapprove.

+ HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA, USA: Colin Farrell to be the best man at his brother, Eamon Ferrell's wedding to his partner, Steve Mannion.

January 31st:

- SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, USA: After several months of inactivity, two groups appear to be gathering signatures again to put an anti gay marriage amendment on the California ballot in November.  The groups would need 700,000 valid signatures by April 21st to qualify.

- WASHINGTON, DC, USA: The Chief of staff of the Democratic National Committee, Leah Daughtry, is against gay marriage, helping to explain why the DNC has done little to fight anti gay marriage initiatives around the country.

- TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA, USA: The anti gay marriage group Florida4Marriage, bankrolled by the state GOP, has turned in 92,000 additional signatures to get their anti gay marriage amendment on the November ballot.  Only 22,000 additional signatures were needed.  The state elections division should release the results between Saturday and Monday.

- DES MOINES, IOWA, USA: Five conservative state lawmakers file papers with the state Supreme Court urging the court to overturn a Polk County judge's decision that struck down the state's anti-gay marriage law.

+ FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY, USA: Governor Steve Beshear vows to veto a bill working its way through the Kentucky legislature that would ban domestic partner benefits in that state.

+ DETROIT, MICHIGAN, USA: Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a staunch opponent of gay marriage, was caught in an extra-marital affair.

= WOODBURY, NEW JERSEY, USA: In the first dissolution of a domestic partnership to come before the courts in NJ, a judge ruled that property must be divided between each partner.

+ PORTLAND, OREGON, USA: Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples gathered in Portland to protest a court-ordered delay in the domestic partner law there that was supposed to go into effect on January 1st.

- TENNESSEE, USA: State Representative John Deberry (DINO) and Senator Paul Stanley (R) filed companion bills to ban gay and lesbian couples from adopting.  It would also ban straight couples from adopting if they are not married.

That's it for this week - more next Thursday!

:)

--Scott