Results tagged “marriage”

Unless you're a godless whore who uses contempt for a group of people to make a cheap buck, most young people are in support of gay marriage. Which means, after most of the bigots finally -- finally! -- die off, marriage equality stands a chance.

A dimwitted justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, recently denied an interracial couple a marriage license. Why? Like we need to tell you why. But we will: said justice of peace, Keith Bardwell, explained to Associated Press his reasoning, "'I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way ... I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

The people who sponsored last year's gay marriage ban must hand over certain internal campaign records to lawyers looking to overturn Prop 8. Turning down a request to block their super-special information from being made public, U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker, KTVU reports, "said the Protect Marriage campaign had failed to show that providing private e-mails, memos and reports would inhibit the political activities of gay marriage opponents or subject them to unbridled harassment."

       

A relatively new site called STFU, Marrieds -- created by a presumably very bitter homosexual, one we would love to have a long liquid lunch with one day -- slams married couples and the loveydovey bile they spew on the internet. Pretty mean, right? But also amusing. As the anonymous creator simply puts it:

As some of you know, Marc Leno's pushing a bill that wouldn't change any same-sex marriage laws, just clarify existing ones. See, Leno wants the state of California to recognize gay marriages taking place in other states. It didn't sound too controversial when we first heard about it, but sure enough, some people, like whimsical hate-group the California Catholic Daily, found a reason to object.

"New Hampshire legislators," according to AP, "have approved a measure that would make the state the sixth to allow gay marriage." And Gov. John Lynch will, most likely, sign the legislation sometime this afternoon. The Senate passed the civil rights triumph on Wednesday, with the House approving it later in the day. (The House vote, by the way, was 198-176.) New Hampshire joins Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, and Iowa as the only U.S. state that legally recognize and allow gay marriage. Kudos to you, NH. (An aside: Maine? Vermont? Connectichusetts? Technically, these aren't even real states, California State Supreme Court. So, you know, something to think about.)

At least somebody's using newsstands for something.

After filing for divorce iin 2007, then deciding not to, then filing again in late April on 2009, Bay Area residents Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn have decided not to file for divorce. Again. Just why, exactly, Penn has twice has rescinded divorce papers isn't know. But how DARE you pry into the lives of super famous Hollywood celebrities?! People asked L.A. divorce lawyer Lynn Soodik, who is not remotely involved with the case or the Penns, just what it this means. "This appears to imply that they're reconciling again," Soodik says. "It's unlikely Sean Penn would request a dismissal for any other reason." Way to earn your paycheck, Lynn. Anyway, feel free to make wild assumptions and hurtful reasons as to why in the comments.

Take note, California: the Governor of New York introducing legislation to legalize same-sex marriage. "There is clearly a problem in that those individuals who are gay or lesbian who would live in a civil union are still not entitled to somewhere between 1,250 and 1,300 civil protections" that are afforded to married couples, Paterson said yesterday.

Civil rights have really taken center stage today, yes? First, Vermont legalized gay marriage after Governor Jim Douglas vetoed it on Monday. (An aside: will there be some sort of Ben & Jerry's party today in the Castro?) Then, just this afternoon, Washington D.C. says it will recognize same-sex marriage from other states. According to the Washington Post:

The Vermont legislature overrode the Governor's veto of same sex marriage today, making the state that produces Chubby Hubby the fourth state to legalize gay marriage. Just days after Iowa (unlike California) surprised the country by legalizing same-sex marriage, the first state in the U.S. to adopt civil unions is now the very first to legalize marriage for queer couples via legislative action.

Iowa became the third state in the U.S. (and the first in the heartland!) to legalize gay marriage today.The Iowa State Supreme Court "upheld a lower court's ruling that found a state law restricting marriage to between a man and woman only violated Iowa's constitution." According to Richard Socarides, former adviser on gay rights during the Clinton administration, "It's a big win because, coming from Iowa, it represents the mainstreaming of gay marriage. And it shows that despite attempts stop gay marriage through right-wing ballot initiatives, like in California, the courts will continue to support the case for equal rights for gays." LGBT community will have to wait a few weeks before they can obtain marriage licenses. Way to go, Iowa. Hopefully, California will follow your lead (did we really just say that?) when the State Supreme Court makes its final ruling on Prop. 8.

According to a Field Poll of 761 registered voters, "48 percent of those surveyed would support a new ballot initiative repealing Proposition 8, while 47 percent would favor keeping the ban in place," according to reports." That is to say, almost of the state of California is complicit in allowing discrimination into the state constitution. Unnerving.

Check out the above-embedded video -- it's fantastic stuff, produced a few months ago by Causecast. It elicits goosebumps. It's inspiring. It's upbeat without being sugary; and it's intense without being angry. It is a "fuck yeah" video. It's the kind of thing that makes you want to run down to Harvey Milk Plaza tonight at 5:30 to participate in the Eve of Justice protest.

"Everyone has to be ready to have difficult conversations NOW," said Kate Kendall (Exective Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and one of the architects of the No On Prop 8 campaign) at an event last night that was a hybrid of town hall, panel discussion, and mass-group-therapy. She was talking about having challenging talks with potential allies who still need some winning-over, but she might as well have been referring to the event itself. It was, by the standards of consensus-happy San Francisco, a pretty tough room.

Next Wednesday, March 4, vigils all over the country will take place the day before the California Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the validity of Prop 8, the same-sex marriage ban that passed in November. The love of couples and families across California, for lack of a better cliche, hang in the balance. And while many of you are too indie-rock to care about something as jejune marriage or faggotry, this ban, if allowed into the state constitution, splits open Pandora's Box to even more constitutional discrimination in the future.

California is one step closer to getting Prop 8, the same-sex marriage ban that passed in November, overturned. Hopefully. A judiciary committee passed House Resolution 5 today (care of one Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco), which states that "a revision is a substantial change to the underlying principles of the California Constitution, or to the structure of California's basic governmental plan."

We dare you to watch the Courage Campaign's Fidelity video and not get all weepy. We were able to keep it together until it got to the big crowd shots around the end, and then suddenly there was something in our eye.

Just about everyone agrees: gays can win more support for civil equality by partering with ally-communities. This is a nice-sounding idea, particularly in the San Francisco bubble. But what does it mean -- and is there a point at which collaborating stops being beneficial?

Oh this Prop 8 stuff just gets hairier and hairier. We were thumbing through some articles about the people who backed Prop 8; that includes groups like the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which despite the word "liberty" in their name wants to wield control over California marriages -- every single one -- vetoing whichever couples they don't like. They plan to use Prop 8 to continue stopping marriages and to nullify the approximately 18,000 that they don't currently like -- and possibly more in the future. And the Amicus Brief that they filed in Prop 8's favor contained this scintillating quote:

So, you've got nothing to do on a Tuesday? Well, Equality California has just the thing. Head on over to Sacramento to participate in 2009 Marriage Lobby Day, an opportunity for concerned citizens to nag their elected officials about fighting the good fight against Prop 8.

Remember the other day, we told you about a bunch of new TV ads about how gay families can actually be pleasant and likable? Well, you'll be glad to hear that the spots aired all over California during Tuesday's inauguration, which is great -- except in Los Angeles on ABC-TV. According to the folks who produced the ads, they were told they were "too controversial to air during the Inauguration, since 'many families will be watching.'"

With this week's slew of court filings, the post-Prop-8 fight for civil equality is still hot hot hot. And even though some of the 15-minutes-of-fame organizers may be losing focus, the pros aren't waiting for another election to reach out to voters.

Oh dear. Get ready to freak out. Somebody has gone and created a mash-up of Google Maps and Prop 8 Donors. Which you can see right here.

Back in October, the Yes on 8 "people" challenged California's Superintendent of Schools, Jack O'Connell, to a debate about gay marriage. According to Yes, even the remotest possibility of learning anything about gay marriage is harmful to children. Nothing hateful about that!

At last, our two favorite things have been brought together! No, not dolphins and Greco-Roman wrestling. Equality! And camp!

Remember that "write a postcard to Obama, asking him to repeal Defense of Marriage Act" campaign? Well, oddly enough, Obama's office has decided that they will no longer accept postcards. Moving forward, only letters in envelopes asking the president-elect to yank DOMA will be accepted. So, does this mean that it was working, and they got the message? Or that they're irritated and pissed off? We hope it's the former.

What a smashing idea. Courage Campaign, an organizing network that connects 300,000+ grassroots and "netroots" activists to push for progressive change in California to get Prop 8 overturned, is getting people to host a Milk screening in their community on the 20th, and then bring everyone straight from the screening to the candlelight vigils happening that night. It's called "Milk + Love."