Everything Gay Marriage Happening Anywhere - March 11th, 2008

Hi all,

Sorry for the long delay on the weekly updates.

We've been busy reformatting the week in review blog - we're gonna carry a lot more information forward each week, so you'll be able to see a running history in each area, and see what's going on all around the world at a glance. New information is posted at the top of each area's section.

Each region also now has information about the current legal status - if gay marriage or some form of civil union/domestic partnership is offered. We hope to soon also add info about the anti gay marriage laws in each section.

For any LGBT couples getting married, congratulations! You'll find links in many regions to gay friendly wedding vendors in that area.

At the very end of the blog, you'll find our People section - celebrities, politicians, and others who have made gay marriage news recently.

If you have any thoughts about how we can make this feature better or easier to use, or any updates on the issues covered here, let me know at info@purpleunions.com.

This has taken a lot of work to put it together, and we hope it's helpful for anyone who wants to keep tabs on this issue, and for LGBT couples who plan to get married and want to know what the laws are in their area. We aren't lawyers, so please verify any information about legality given here with your attorney.

Enjoy!

--Scott

ANDORRA: Legal Status: Civil Unions

ARGENTINA Legal Status: Civil Unions (some areas) WEEK OF 3/6: New Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner supports legalization of same-sex marriage. WEEK OF 1/18: Two of Argentina's gay rights leaders got married in Madrid in defiance of their country's ban on gay marriage.

AUSTRALIA Legal Status: Civil Unions Australia Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 1/18: Greens MP Lee Riannon promises to introduce a civil unions bill in State Parliament later this year. WEEK OF 1/3: A gay couple gets married along with two straight couples at the opening of the Sydney Festival in front of 20,000 people.  Greg Small and Avan Tiong hope the new government will take steps to recognize same sex unions.

BELGIUM Legal Status: Gay Marriage

BRAZIL Legal Status: Civil Unions (some areas) Brazil Gay Wedding Vendors

CZECH REPUBLIC WEEK OF 1/25: 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.

CANADA Legal Status: Gay Marriage Canada Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 1/11: Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity bucks the Anglican Church and vows to continue blessing gay weddings. WEEK OF 1/11: Pioneering lesbian couple in Nova Scotia whose test case on gay marriage reached the NS Supreme Court files for divorce. WEEK OF 1/3: Anglican Bishop John Chapman to decide soon whether to allow blessings of same sex unions in the Ottawa Diocese.

COLUMBIA Legal Status: Civil Unions

CROATIA Legal Status: Civil Unions

CUBA WEEK OF 2/1: In Cuba, a member of the ruling Politburo came out (pardon the pun) in support of gay marriage.

CZECH REPUBLIC Legal Status: Civil Unions

DENMARK Legal Status: Civil Unions

FINLAND Legal Status: Civil Unions

FRANCE Legal Status: Civil Unions France Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 3/6: A Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) hearing on the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships will take place in Paris on 3/7/08. Source

GERMANY Legal Status: Civil Unions

HUNGARY Legal Status: Civil Unions

ICELAND Legal Status: Civil Unions

IRELAND 3/11/08: The Irish government has started to work on a civil partnership law that would recognize same sex couples and offer some legal recognition for the first time. Source WEEK OF 2/15: A gay couple held hands and discussed their relationship and gay marriage. WEEK OF 2/8: Lesbian Gay Transgender Bisexual Noise, a new activist group, submitted 1,000 signatures to Ireland's Prime Minister in support of gay marriage. WEEK OF 1/3: 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, by summer.

ISRAEL Legal Status: Civil Unions (recognizes marriages performed elsewhere) WEEK OF 1/3: 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.

LUXEMBORG Legal Status: Civil Unions

MEXICO Legal Status: Civil Unions (some areas) Mexico Gay Wedding Vendors

MOROCCO WEEK OF 1/11: A Moroccan appeals court upheld prison sentences for six men arrested on "homosexuality" charges at what the local press has called a "gay marriage".

MOZAMBIQUE WEEK OF 2/22: A conference organized by the Coalition of African Lesbians brings together 75 people from LGBT groups across Africa to try to end anti gay laws across the continent.

NETHERLANDS Legal Status: Gay Marriage

NEW ZEALAND Legal Status: Civil Unions New Zealand Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 2/22: Christchurch’s new Anglican Bishop is a supporter of gay marriage.

NIGERIA WEEK OF 2/15: 18 men accused of attending a gay wedding for the crime of being gay.

NORWAY Legal Status: Civil Unions

PORTUGAL Legal Status: Civil Unions

ROMANIA WEEK OF 2/8: Parliament is considering an amendment to the Family Code to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

SERBIA WEEK OF 1/11: Serbian Presidential Candidate Cedomir Jovanovic says he would remove all discriminatory provisions against GLBT folks from Serbian law if elected.

SENEGAL WEEK OF 2/22: Dozens of Senegalese gays have fled to neighboring Gambia and Mali following a wave of arrests and violent anti-gay street protests. Sebegal is hosting a major international Islamic summit on March 12 WEEK OF 2/1: 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 released, but may still face charges.

SLOVENIA Legal Status: Civil Unions

SOUTH AFRICA Legal Status: Civil Unions WEEK OF 1/3/08: 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.

SPAIN Legal Status: Gay Marriage Spain Gay Wedding Vendors 3/10/08: Pro-gay-marriage Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero wins the election, despite conservative attempts to use the issue to bring down the Socialists. WEEK OF 3/6: Elections here on 3/9, may turn on issues of gay marriage and abortion. WEEK OF 2/22: Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the leader of Spain's Socialist party, has promised to fight any attempt to remove or weaken gay rights laws he has introduced as Prime Minister. WEEK OF 2/15: With an election pending, the Government told the Vatican to stop meddling in the election process. WEEK OF 2/1: The Catholic Church is trying to unseat Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodrigo Zapatero in an effort to overturn Spain's recent legalization of gay marriage. WEEK OF 1/25: New poll shows 75% of Spaniards approve of gay marriage law passed two years ago, 18% disapprove. WEEK OF 1/11: Conservative Popular Party Leader Mariano Rajoy promises not to repeal gay marriage in Spain if elected Prime Minister in early March.

SWEDEN Legal Status: Civil Unions WEEK OF 1/18: 70% of Swedes now support gay marriage. WEEK OF 1/11: 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.

SWITZERLAND Legal Status: Civil Unions

UNITED KINGDOM Legal Status: Civil Unions England Gay Wedding Vendors Wales Gay Wedding Vendors 3/11/08: A Catholic couple in Scotland is suing the Strathclyde police over the change of status from "married" to "married/civil partnership in their civil employee records. Source WEEK OF 1/25: Labour MP Emily Thornberry tells Islington registrar to "Get on with your job." WEEK OF 1/3: 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.

URUGUAY Legal Status: Civil Unions

UNITED STATES:

ARIZONA Arizona Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 2/15: A bill to put a constitutional ban on gay marriage on the November ballot may pass both houses in the legislature next week. WEEK OF 2/8: The republican legislature plans to put a new initiative before voters in the fall to add a gay marriage ban to the state constitution. WEEK OF 1/18: Governor Janet Napolitano has proposed extending benefits available to state workers to their same- and opposite-sex domestic partners.

CALIFORNIA Legal Status: Domestic Partnership California Gay Wedding Vendors 3/9/08: A new UCLA study finds that same sex coulples across the country earn less than their married straight counterparts. 3/9/08: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who kicked off the month of gay marriages there in 2004, is exploring a possible Gubenatorial run in 2010. 3/9/08: State Senator Carole Migden proposes a bill to allow heterosexual couples to form domesti partnerships under the state law, which is currently only available to gay/lesbian couples and heterosexual couples where at least one partner is 62 or older. WEEK OF 2/29: The California Supreme Court holds a 3 1⁄2 hour hearing on gay marriage, in which Justices harshly questioned opponents’ claims of harm to children and the insitution of marriage.  Ruling is due within 90 days. WEEK OF 2/22: Equality for All announces a campaign to track progress of the signature gathering for the anti gay marriage amendments, and plans to talk to voters to educate them about these measures. WEEK OF 2/8: 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?" WEEK OF 2/1: 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 on March 3^rd.  By June 4th, the court will hand down a ruling. WEEK OF 1/25: 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 need 700K valid signatures by April 21st to qualify. WEEK OF 1/11: Republican Mayoral candidate Steve Francis says he would have vetoed a 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.

COLORADO Colorado Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 2/8: A lesbian couple from Englewood is suing to overturn the state's ban on gay marriage, established by a 2006 ballot initiative.

CONNECTICUT Legal Status: Civil Unions Connecticut Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 1/3: The Connecticut Supreme Court may hand down their decision on January 11th in favor of gay marriage in the constitution state.

FLORIDA Florida Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 2/1: 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. WEEK OF 2/1: 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. WEEK OF 1/25: 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. WEEK OF 1/11: 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 WEEK OF 1/3: 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. WEEK OF 1/3: 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.

HAWAII Legal Status: Civil Unions Hawaii Gay Wedding Vendors 3/11/08: A gay couple is suing the University of Hawaii after being denied on campus housing together because the State of Hawaii does not recognize same sex marriage.

IDAHO WEEK OF 1/18: 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.

ILLINOIS Illinois Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 2/29: Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, introduces a civil unions bill in the Illinois House.

INDIANA Indiana Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 2/29: Sixty Indiana House members sign a petition to bring the anti gay marriage constitutional amendment to the floor for a vote. WEEK OF 2/15: 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.  If it fails this year, amendment supporters will have to start all over again in the next session. WEEK OF 2/1: Ball State University faculty voted to stand up against the proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage in Indiana. WEEK OF 1/25: The GOP controlled state senate passed a constitutional gay marriage ban, but there's little chance that the Democratically controlled house will follow suit. WEEK OF 1/18: 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. WEEK OF 1/18: 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. WEEK OF 1/3: 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.

IOWA 3/6/08: Today passed without movement on a state constitutional marriage amendment, one of two such “funnel” days this session… chances are the bill will not pass this year. 3/5/08: State House Republican Christopher Rants tried to force a vote to move the gay marriage ban out of committee and to the full House, but was blocked by House Democrats. Source WEEK OF 2/29: Iowa Democrats in the state House defeated a measure that would have added a gay marriage ban to the Iowa constitution. WEEK OF 1/25: 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. WEEK OF 1/18: Democratic 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. WEEK OF 1/18: Gay marriage foes here delivered 6K 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. WEEK OF 1/11: 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.

KENTUCKY Kentucky Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 1/25: Governor Steve Beshear vows to veto a bill working its way through the Kentucky legislature that would ban domestic partner benefits in that state. WEEK OF 1/18: 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.

LOUISIANA Louisiana Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 2/15: 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

MARYLAND Maryland Gay Wedding Vendors 3/6/08: Maryland lawmakers may not be able to pass a civil unions law this year, so they're considering a new approach, a package that would grant a number of rights to GLBT couples, hoping to add to it in future sessions. Source WEEK OF 2/29: More than a dozen styate lawmakers testified in support of gay marriage. WEEK OF 2/29: State Senator C. Anthony Muse, an African American Democrat  and the swing vote on the gay marriage issue there, has trouble reconciling civil rights with church teaching, and suggests passing the issue off to state voters. WEEK OF 2/15: Hundreds of people showed up in below-freezing weather in support of gay marriage at a rally outside the state house in Annapolis. WEEK OF 2/8: 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. WEEK OF 2/1: 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. WEEK OF 1/25: More than a quarter of Maryland's state lawmakers have signed up to sponsor a bill legalizing gay marriage in Maryland. WEEK OF 1/18: 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. WEEK OF 1/11: Maryland lawmakers define who's eligible for Domestic Partner status for health insurance purposes. WEEK OF 1/11: 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. WEEK OF 1/3: The Maryland state legislature gets the gay marriage ball punted to them from the Maryland courts.

MAINE Legal Status: Domestic Partnership Maine Gay Wedding Vendors

MASSACHUSETTS Legal Status: Gay Marriage Massachusetts Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 2/29: A new study from the Boston Business Journal shows that the state is benefiting from an influx of gay professionals moving to the state because of Massachusetts’ gay marriage law, helping to reverse a decades-long “brain drain”. Source

MICHIGAN Michigan Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 1/25: Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a staunch opponent of gay marriage, was caught in an extra-marital affair.

MINNESOTA Minnesota Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 1/11: 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.

NEVADA Nevada Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 1/11: The board of the Nevada Public Employees Benefits Program votes to expand coverage to unmarried couples and their dependents. WEEK OF 1/11: 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.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Legal Status: Civil Unions New Hampshire Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 1/11: In the two weeks since New Hampshire enacted a new civil unions law, more than 100 couples have taken advantage of it.

NEW JERSEY Legal Status: Civil Unions New Jersey Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 2/15: Democratic Governor Jon Corzine has indicated he would sign a bill legalizing gay marriage, but wants to wait until after the 2008 elections.  As the civil unions law there reaches its one year anniversary, some couples are finding that the law is doing more harm than good, as a new legislative report is released that finds that civil unions have created a second class citizenship for gay and lesbian couples. WEEK OF 2/15: 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?" WEEK OF 1/25: 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.

NEW MEXICO New Mexico Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 1/25: 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.

NEW YORK New York Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 2/22: Monroe county files its appeal of a Judge’s decision that NY must recognize gay marriages performed out of state. WEEK OF 2/22: A New York judge rules that one partner can sue another for divorce from a marriage conduced in Canada between a lesbian couple from New York. WEEK OF 2/9: In Monroe County, the county announced plans to appeal the judge's decision. WEEK OF 2/1: In Monroe County, 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.

OREGON Oregon Gay Wedding Vendors Legal Status: Civil Unions WEEK OF 2/1: The hold is finally lifted on the domestic partner law there, and couples line up at courthouses across the state this week to register. WEEK OF 1/25: 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. WEEK OF 1/3: Same sex couples hold vigils throughout the state to protest a court ruling delaying the implementation of a domestic partner registry.

PENNSYLVANIA Pennsylvania Gay Wedding Vendors 3/10/08: Several dozen people protested against the proposed amendment, which would also ban civil unions in Pennsylvania. 3/9/08: The Coalition of LGBTA Graduate Students has organized a public commitment ceremony on 3/29 to allow same sex couples in Pennsylvania to publicly express their commitment to each other. Anti gay groupe plan to protest. WEEK OF 2/15: In State College, the town's Mayor, Bill Welch, is taking a stand and presiding over a civil union ceremony for six couples. WEEK OF 2/1: Lawmakers 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.

PUERTO RICO Puerto Rico Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 1/18: Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila plans to sign a bill authorizing a May vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in Puerto Rico.

RHODE ISLAND Rhode Island Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 2/8: 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.

TENNESSEE 3/8/08: Opposition to gay marriage in Tennessee pegged at 66%, with 91% of strong evangelicals against it, according to a new MTSU poll. WEEK OF 1/25: 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.

TEXAS Texas Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 1/11: University of Texas lecturer Uri Horesh entered the third day of his hunger strike to protest UT's lack of health care for 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.

UTAH Utah Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 2/15: The bill to outlaw domestic partner registries has stalled in the state Senate. WEEK OF 2/8: 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. WEEK OF 2/1: A group of gay Mormons is seeking a meeting with the new leader of the church, hoping to begin a conversation. WEEK OF 1/11/08: 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. 

VERMONT Legal Status: Civil Unions Vermont Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 1/3: The Vermont Marriage Advisory Council announces a plan to "educate" Vermonters about the evils of gay marriage.

WASHINGTON DC Washington DC Gay Wedding Vendors Legal Status: Civil Unions

WASHINGTON STATE Legal Status: Civil Unions Washington State Gay Wedding Vendors 3/10/08: House Bill 3104, expanding the state's Domestic Partnership law by granting same sex couples 170+rights and responsibilities also given to married couples, is sent to the Governor's desk. Source WEEK OF 2/29: Domestic partner legislation is working its way thru the state Senate after having passed the House with a 62-32 vote. WEEK OF 2/15: 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.” WEEK OF 1/25: State Senator Ed Murray introduced legislation to extend domestic partner benefits to gay and lesbian couples. WEEK OF 1/18: The Washington state legislature is considering legislation that would provide for end of life rights, nursing home visitation, and the dissolution of gay relationships in the state.

WEST VIRGINIA West Virginia Gay Wedding Vendors WEEK OF 2/1: legislators are proposing an amendment to the state constitution to ban gay marriage, and half the sponsors are Democrats - DINO's.

PEOPLE 2/28/08: Asked about her position on gay marriage by ACDNews.com, Janet Jackson replied: "I'm all for it. Why not? It's two people that are in love with one another. What's the issue?" WEEK OF 2/29: In an open letter to the LGBT community, presidential candidate Barack Obama stated his support for full same-sex marriage in states that choose to go that route. WEEK OF 2/29: Alec Baldwin condemns his brother Stephen’s attack on gay marriage. WEEK OF 2/15: On CNN, basketball star Charles Barkley came out in support of gay marriage during an interview with Wolf Blitzer. WEEK OF 2/8: In Detroit, Michigan, Julian Bond, the National Chair of the NAACP, says "I believe gay rights are civil rights." WEEK OF 2/8: In the current issue of W Magazine, Scarlett 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. WEEK OF 2/1: 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. WEEK OF 1/25: The British soap Emmerdale will feature a gay wedding between two of the show's characters, Paul Lambert and Jonny Foster. WEEK OF 1/25: John McCain fans the flames of anti-gay bigotry in Robo Calls against his chief rival, Mitt Romney. WEEK OF 1/25: Colin Farrell to be the best man at his brother, Eamon Ferrell's wedding to his partner, Steve Mannion. WEEK OF 1/25: 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. WEEK OF 1/18: Former Vice president Al Gore has come out in favor of gay marriage in a blog posting on the current.com website. WEEK OF 1/11: 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. WEEK OF 1/3: 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."