GAY MARRIAGE FOR ALL: Weekly Recap February 15th-21st

Hey all,

Here's the gay marriage week in review, including the good, the bad, and everything inbetween.

First, the good:

A bill that would have outlawed domestic partner registries in Salt Lake City and throughout Utah has stalled in the state Senate.  Good news for now, but it may be back, if the aptly named Senator Buttars has his way.

In Ireland, a gay couple held hands and discussed their relationship and gay marriage, a first in this heavily Catholic country.

In New Jersey, Democratic Governor Jon Corzine has indicated he would sign a bill legalizing gay marriage, but wants to wait until after the 2008 elections.

In State College, Pennsylvania, the town's Mayor, Bill Welch, is taking a stand and presiding over a civil union ceremony for six couples.

In Spain, with an election pending, the Government told the Vatican to stop meddling in the election process.  The church's bishops have been urging voters to vote out the current government because of its secular stands on gay marriage and other issues.

In Indiana, House leaders have decided not to pursue an anti-gay-marriage amendment this year, even though a majority of House members have said they support such a ban.  To become law, the amendment has to pass in two consecutive sessions of the legislature, so if it fails this year, amendment supporters will have to start all over again in the next sesson.

On CNN, basketball star Charles Barkley came out in support of gay marriage during an interview with Wolf Blitzer.

In Maryland, hundreds of people showed up in below-freezing weather in support of gay marriage at a rally outside the state house in Annapolis.

In Louisiana, the student Senate at LSU is debating a measure to University's ticket office to provide spousal privileges to domestic partners of students - allowing them to buy tickets

Now the bad:

In Monroe County, New York, where a judge recently ruled that the county had to recognize same sex marriages performed outside of the state, the county announced plans to appeal the judge's decision.

In New Jersey, as the civil unions law there reaches its one year anniversary, some couples are finding that the law is doing more harm than good.

In Washington State, Pastor Ken Hutcherson, who has led the fight to strip Microsoft's GLBT employees of benefits, is quoted as saying during a sermon "If I was in a drugstore and some guy opened the door for me, I'd rip his arm off and beat him with the wet end."  Love thy neighbor, and all that???

Also in New Jersey, John Tomicki of the New Jersey Coalition to Preserve and Protect Marriage won Gaywired's hypocrite of the week award for trying to make gay marriage illegal while answering the question "how would gay marriage affect your marriage" with the three words "Why would it?"

In Arizona, it appears that a bill to put a constitutional ban on gay marriage on the November ballot may pass both houses in the legislature next week.

In Nigeria, 18 men accused of attending a gay wedding may be put to death for the crime of being gay.

That's it for this week!

--Scott

GAY MARRIAGE FOR ALL: THE WEEK IN REVIEW February 8th-14th

In the good column this week:

In Maryland, the state's Attorney General, Douglas F. Gansler, came out in favor of a gay marriage law, saying that the current ban in the state amounts to discrimination.  Debate on the law begins today on the state legislature.

In Colorado, a lesbian couple from Englewood is suing to overturn the state's ban on gay marriage, established by a 2006 ballot initiative.

In California, Let California Ring is airing a new ad showing a bride being prevented from getting to the altar by a series of mishaps, with the tagline "What if you couldn't marry the one you love?" in advance of the California Supreme Court hearing on gay marriage on March 4th.

In Rhode Island, House Majority Leader Gordon Fox plans to introduce a bill that would let gay and lesbian couples who married elsewhere file for divorce in Rhode Island, addressing a problem brought to light by a lesbian couple who married in Massachusetts and now seeks to get divorced.

In Detroit, Michigan, Julian Bond, the National Chair of the NAACP, says "I believe gay rights are civil rights."

In Ireland, Lesbian Gay Transgender Bisexual Noise, a new activist group, submitted 1,000 signatures to Ireland's Prime Minister in support of gay marriage.

In the current issue of W Magazine, Sacrlett Johansson and Natalie Portman came out strongly in favor of gay marriage: "Why are they making rules that say my lover can stay in the United States if they're foreign or share my health care benefits because I'm straight, but if you're gay, you can't have that?" Portman said.

Now for the bad.

In Arizona, where voters narrowly turned back an anti gay marriage measure last year, the republican legislature is at their election year tricks again, planning to put a new initiative before voters in the fall to add a gay marriage ban to the state constitution.

In Utah, State Senator Chris Buttars, offended by a Salt Lake City domestic partner registry, is pushing a bill that would prohibit city and county officials from starting such a registry.

In Romania, the Parliament is considering an amendment to the Family Code to define marriage as between a man and a woman only.

Scorecard:

States & Territories with gay marriage bans being considered in the fall election or later: AZ, CA, FL, IA, IN, PA, PR, WV

States considering marriage or civil unions: CA, MD, VT, WA

States where the Democratic Party is fighting for us: zero

GAY MARRIAGE FOR ALL: WEEK IN REVIEW FEB 1-FEB 7

Hey all,

A little something different this week.  Instead of the usual state by state format, I'm gonna break it down by the good, the bad, and the other.

Let's start with the good.

In San Francisco, the State Supreme Court announced that they would finally hear arguments in the gay marriage case brought by the City of San Francisco in 2004, after the court shut down the weddings there on 3/11/04.  It's gonna happen on March 4th, and by June 4th, the court will hand down a ruling.  All we have to say is that, after four years, it's about time.

In Cuba, a member of the ruling Politburo came out (pardon the pun) in support of gay marriage.  Even the communist countries are getting there before us.

In New York, a judge ruled that the state had to recognize gay marriages performed in other jurisdictions, so even though gay and lesbian couples can't legally marry within the state, they can now have their marriages performed in Canada and Massachusetts recognized in New York.

In Florida, a pro-gay-marriage group has set up a searchable database where you can see if your neighbors signed the anti-gay marriage amendment petition - you can find it here.

In Oregon, the hold was finally lifted on the domestic partner law there, and couples lined up at courthouses across the state this week to register.

In a profile in courage, Ball State University faculty voted to stand up against the proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage in Indiana - our sincere thanks to these brave folks who are willing to take a stand against prejudice in the Heartland.

And in Utah, a group of gay Mormons is seeking a meeting with the new leader of the church, hoping to begin a conversation and help end the church's historic, active opposition to the gay and lesbian community.  We wish them Godspeed.

Now the bad.

In Senegal, the editor of the magazine Icone published an article about a gay wedding and received death threats, and five men who attended the wedding and were pictured in the article were arrested by authorities.  All five were just released, but may still face charges.

In Spain, the Catholic Church is once again making trouble, trying to unseat Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodrigo Zapatero in an effort to overturn Spain's recent legalization of gay marriage.  We commend the Church on this great example of Christ-like behavior.

In Florida again, the anti gay marriage amendment that would also strip away insurance coverage and hospital visitation rights is likely headed to the November ballot as organizers gathered many more signatures than the 22,000 shortfall reported in January.  This mean-spirited measure requires a 60% vote to pass, so there's still hope.

In Pennsylvania, lawmakers with lots of time on their hands and no other pressing issues to address are cooking up a plan to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage there.  To make the change, the bill will have to be passed in two consecutive sessions, and then be put before the people of Pennsylvania for a vote - the earliest this could happen will be in 2011.  Let's hope these legislators find some more important work that needs doing before then.

In Maryland, where a quarter of legislators recently announced plans to sponsor gay marriage legislation, a member of the House of Delegates, Donald H. Dwyer Jr., announced plans to try to put an anti gay marriage measure on the November ballot.

In West Virginia, legislators are proposing an amendment to the state constitution to ban gay marriage, and half the sponsors are Democrats - DINO's.  Sickening.

What all this bellyaching in US state houses boils down to is yet another tired attempt by Republicans around the country, scared out of their minds by the massive wreckage left by the Bush Presidency, to play the gay card to drive frightened Republicans to the polls in November.  If it wasn't so disgusting and transparent, it might almost be comical.

And what's really sad are the so called democrats lining up to support them.  Can't these idiots see they're being used?  We'd be better off without these "democrats" who believe in discrimination against their own gay and lesbian constituents.

And finally the other.

Word of a 2004 incident involving Barack Obama and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom resurfaced this week.  Supposedly, Obama declined to be photographed with Newsom during a fundraiser there, not wanting to appear to be involved in the gay marriage issue.  Former SF Mayoe Willie Brown confirmed the story, whole the Obama camp downplayed it.

And cheers to Stephen Colbert for shooting holes in the conservative arguments on gay marriage in a two part interview with Joe Solomnese, the head of the HRC.

That's it for this week!

--Scott

THE CALIFORNIA SUPREMES TO RULE ON GAY MARRIAGE - AND THAT'S A GOOD THING... RIGHT?

Just heard the news - after four long years (remember when Gavin Newsom opened the gay marriage floodgates in California on Valentines Day, 2004?), the California Supreme Court has finally set a date to hear arguments in the case brought by the City of San Francisco - March 4th, 2008.

It's been a long road.  Mark and I went to city hall on March 11th, 2004, and got married, just hours before the Supreme Court pulled the plug on the almost month-long parade of gay weddings in San Francisco.

A couple months later, our marriage license was revoked by the same court.

Then one appeals court ruled that we were entitled to marriage.  And then another said we weren't.

The state legislature got it together and passed a bill that would have legalized gay marriage by a single vote - it was a total cliffhanger, with the last vote taking an agonizing two minutes to finally come through when the vote was taken.

And of course, Arnold vetoed it, citing the will of the people.

The bill passed once again late last year, and of course, Arnold vetoed it once again.

Now we're here once again, with our rights in the balance, and I have to wonder, is it better to know or not to know?  Right now, I can hold on to all my hopes for gay marriage in California - I can dream that someday in the near future, my partner and I can walk down the aisle with the full blessing of the state.

But what if they say no?

What if they buy into the Governator's argument that "discrimination based on sexual orientation should be judged less strictly than bias based on race or sex"?

What if they, like many others in our society, think I'm a second class citizen, and don't deserve to have any rights like the real people?

Think I'm exaggerating?  Then check out the petitions that are being circulated for the November ballot here in California.  One only writes discrimination into the state Constitution.

I say only, because the other is an even nastier piece of work.  Sponsored by several "Christian" organizations, the second initiative one would not only change the state constitution, but it would also strip away all the domestic partner rights the state has already granted to us.

If it passed, I would no longer have the right to visit Mark in the hospital.  If I died first, Mark would no longer be entitled to our Prop 13 tax rate.  And if these people had their way, I'm sure we'd eventually lose our job protections as well.

It's sad that folks who call themselves Christians carry so much hatred in their hearts.

My Grandfather was a Christian Minister, and he knew what Christ was about - not hatred, but love.

He told me a story once, about a parishoner who came to him and said his church shouldn't let gay people attend services.  My grandfather asked her to imagine she was in a world where everyone else was gay and she was the only straight person.  And then he asked her how she would feel.

These "Christians" could learn a lot about morality and true Christian faith from a man like my Grandfather.

So I'm looking ahead to the rest of 2008 with a strange mix of hope and trepidation.

2008 could be the year that sets us back a decade or more, as Mark and I find ourselves stripped of the rights we thought we had by a mean-spirited ballot measure and an uncaring electorate.

Or maybe, just maybe if we're lucky, it could be the year, finally, when we step into the light, when we dance that first dance together under the bright lights amid the circle of our friends and family, knowing, at last, that we're just as good and just as worthy of respect as John and Jane, as Michelle and Dan, and as Brittney and Kevin.  If not more.

Because we want to get married.  We grew up in the same households as straight folks did, watching the same movies, feeling the same emotions, wanting the same things.  We dreamed, when we were little kids, of growing up and marrying that special someone.  And then we grew up to find that the door was barred.

So for now, I'll let go of my fears and hold onto my hope for 2008.

And if the worst comes to pass, so be it - we'll survive it.

We always have.

--Scott