News of the Day
BREAKING: 9th Circuit overturns release of Prop 8 trial recordings
By Jacob Combs - Prop8TrialTracker.com - 2.2.2012
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals just filed an opinion overturning a district court's previous ruling to release the video recordings of the Perry v. Brown trial. Today's decision means that the recordings will remain under seal. Prop 8's opponents can now appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which may exercise its own discretion about whether or not it wants to take the appeal.
The question of broadcasting the Perry trial has been a thorny one from the beginning. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker, who presided over the 2010 trial (known then as Perry v. Schwarzenegger) challenging the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, petitioned the 9th Circuit to include the Prop 8 trial in a pilot program the Circuit was trying out in which cameras were allowed into the courtroom. The 9th Circuit said yes, but the proponents of Prop 8 went to the U.S. Supreme Court (a notoriously camera-phobic body). Over 140,000 people signed a Courage Campaign petition to the courts asking that the proceedings be televised. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately stayed the broadcast of the proceedings in a 5-4 decision. Judge Walker withdrew Perry from the pilot program, and while the case was still filmed, the tapes (actually, digital recordings) were given to the litigants and placed into the court record under a seal.
Click here to read the complete article.
Disabled vet in same-sex marriage sues over denial of full benefits
Los Angeles Times - February 1, 2012
An Iraq war veteran from Pasadena filed suit against the Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday over its refusal to pay her full disability benefits because she is in a same-sex marriage.
The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles by Tracey Cooper-Harris seeks a federal court ruling that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional because it discriminates against gays, lesbians and legally married same-sex couples.
Cooper-Harris, who earned the rank of sergeant and more than 20 medals during a dozen years of Army service, was honorably discharged in 2003 and married her spouse, Maggie, during the six-month period in 2008 when same-sex marriage was legal in California. The veteran who trained and provided care for military animals in the war theater, such as explosives-sniffing dogs, has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since returning to civilian life and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2010.
The regional VA medical center determined that Cooper-Harris' illnesses were "service-related," and she has been collecting benefits since the diagnosis, but at the lesser rate paid to single veterans. In her lawsuit, she notes that in the event of her death her surviving spouse won't be entitled to receive the compensation that would be paid if she were married to someone of the opposite sex. Click here to read the complete article.
Washington State Senate Passes Gay Marriage Bill
SEATTLE - Washington appeared almost certain to become the seventh state to allow same-sex marriage
after the State Senate voted late Wednesday for a measure that would
allow gay and lesbian couples to marry beginning this summer.
Supporters had considered the Senate to be the more challenging chamber
in which to pass the bill, but it was approved easily, by a vote of 28
to 21, after less than 90 minutes of debate. The measure now moves to
the House, where it has wide support and could be voted on as soon as
next week. Gov. Christine Gregoire has urged the bill's approval. The
governor is a Democrat, and both legislative chambers are controlled by
Democrats.
"Regardless of how you vote on this bill, an invitation will be in the
mail," Senator Ed Murray of Seattle, the prime sponsor in the Senate,
said in his final remarks before the vote. Mr. Murray, who is gay, has
noted many times publicly that he and his longtime partner hope to marry
in their home state.
Click here to read the complete article.
State Senate set to vote on gay marriage bill
February 1, 2012 - Associated Press in The Seattle Times
OLYMPIA, Wash. -
The state Senate is set to vote on a measure that would legalize gay marriage in Washington state.
The bill is not expected to come up for a vote until late afternoon or early evening Wednesday. It is expected to pass in the Senate with at least 25 votes, the number needed for approval. If passed by the Senate, the measure moves to the House, where it already has enough support. Gov. Chris Gregoire says she will sign it into law if passed.
Opponents of same-sex marriage have already promised a referendum battle at the ballot if the Legislature passes the bill and it's signed into law.
Washington state has had a domestic partnership law since 2007, and an "everything but marriage" expansion of the domestic partnership law since 2009. Click here to read the complete article.
Maryland Gay Marriage Hearing Set For Tuesday
By Carlos Santoscoy
Published: January 30, 2012
Maryland lawmakers on Tuesday will hold a public hearing on a gay marriage bill.
The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee will consider the bill at its 1PM meeting. Testimony will be limited to 2 hours per side.
If approved, Maryland would become the seventh state to legalize gay marriage. The state currently recognizes the legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples performed outside its borders.
At a rally Sunday in support of the measure, Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler told roughly 200 activists that he believes the bill will pass, but added that opponents were certain to challenge it at the ballot box, gay weeklyMetro Weekly reported. Click here to read the complete article.
Martin O'Malley Introduces Gay Marriage Bill
by John Riley
Published on January 26, 2012
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) announced his 2012 legislative agenda Monday evening, which includes support for same-sex marriage, continuing a commitment he made in July 2011.
The move sets off what supporters of the measure expect to be a hard-fought campaign to put marriage equality into law, followed by a likely referendum fight.
''This session, our legislative agenda will help us create jobs for Maryland families, protect the quality of life for all Marylanders, and continue our push for a more sustainable future,'' O'Malley said in a release announcing the agenda, which includes a wide range of items.
Tuesday morning, O'Malley met with marriage equality supporters at a breakfast held at the governor's residence to discuss the bill before introducing it to the General Assembly. O'Malley told reporters that the bill focuses more carefully on protecting religious freedom. Click here to read the complete article.
Maine Poised For Second Public Vote On Gay Marriage
HuffingtonPost.com - January 26, 2012
AUGUSTA, Maine - Gay rights activists in Maine, the only New England state that does''t allow gay marriage or civil unions, said Thursday that they are forging ahead with plans to put the marriage question up to a second statewide vote.
EqualityMaine, the Maine Civil Liberties Union and the Maine Women's Lobby have collected more than 100,000 signatures - far more than needed to seek the referendum - made their announcement Thursday at the State House in Augusta.
The Legislature previously approved gay marriage, but it was rejected by a 2009 statewide vote, 53 percent to 47 percent. If Mainers approve gay marriage, the state would be the first to do so by a popular vote.
The new petition drive kicked off in August, and by November gay marriage supporters had collected more than 100,000 signatures, but supporters wanted to wait to make sure the timing was right before deciding whether to deliver those petitions to the secretary of state. Click here to read the complete article.
How Churches May Actually Help Gays Win the Marriage Fight
 By Byard Duncan, AlterNet
Posted on August 8, 2009, Printed on August 8, 2009
At the top of a hill in Berkeley, California -- above the city's stucco angles, crinkled palm fronds and coffee shops -- Rev. Mark Wilson is seated at a piano. Horizontal bands of evening sun pour through the stained glass to his right, dotting his forehead with pearls of sweat. He closes his eyes.
Today is July 5, 2009 -- the day after Independence Day. Wilson, a broad, boisterous man with a neatly etched triangle of beard, is feeling political.
Click here to read the complete article.
|
The Faces of Family are everywhere. They are the common thread that runs through us all. Regardless of color, race, spiritual belief, love orientation or political persuasion, we all share a family heritage.
The Wedding Party is proud to announce The Faces of Family project! The Faces of Family project will continue The Wedding Party's promise to provide the media and the world with the honest and provocative truth about same-sex relationships and families.
How can you be a part? Send us your story! Tell us about your family and why it is important. Tell us what family means to you and how your understanding of marriage was affected by your experience of family. Send us your picture and we will tell your story.
The Faces of Family Project is raising funds
to send the message to Albany to leave no family
behind and that all families deserve protection
through marriage. Click
here to contribute to our Faces of Family
Project.
|
Values Are For Everyone
Gloria Steinem - Author and Activist
If I had married when I was supposed to, I would have lost my name, my legal residence, my credit rating, my ability to get a loan or start a business without my husband's permission - most of my civil rights.
It's taken almost four decades of work by the women's movement to make an equal marriage possible, a parallel to the struggle of suffragists to change marriage laws that turned wives into property, and became the legal model for slavery. Suffragists won a legal identity. Feminists won a legal equality.
Click here for the complete article.
Marianne Williamson - Author and Universalist Minister
Here in this great city we have seen the ravages of hate. What better place than this to celebrate love.
We celebrate love, regardless whose it is. We celebrate love, regardless of anything except that two people join together, and with their love and prayers commit to make of their love a blessed thing.
Rebecca A. Kanis Captain, U.S. Army (1991-2000)
I was investigated for being a lesbian while I was at West Point in 1989, before the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. I lied to the investigators and was allowed to continue at the academy. I didn't believe I had other options and the possibility of returning to my family in Kansas as a "disgraced" lesbian was unthinkable. In a crisis at 19 years old, I chose to lie to keep an opportunity open to me, instead of losing it all for the truth. I would choose differently today, but no one should be put in that situation.
Click here to read her complete story!
Evan Wolfson - Executive Director, Freedom to Marry
In 2007, a record number of pro-marriage bills were introduced, while courts in California, Iowa, Connecticut and Maryland continued to hear cases brought by couples challenging their unfair exclusion from marriage. Bills to create "civil unions" or "partnerships" as an interim step toward marriage equality advanced in states as diverse as Oregon, Illinois, New Mexico, Washington and New Hampshire-all products of the work to win marriage itself.
In 2007, it was the conversation about marriage, and even the state Supreme Court's stumble, that moved the Washington legislature to enact a "first steps" partnership bill by a whopping margin. Likewise, introduction of marriage bills in New Hampshire and Illinois this year vastly upped the ante and helped civil union progress in those states, while underscoring that marriage itself remains the frame and the goal, as well as the engine of advance. After more than a decade of the marriage debate, it remains true that the states that make the most gains for same-sex couples (and, incidentally, for unmarried different-sex couples) are those where advocates fight hardest for the freedom to marry.
Click here to read more!
Community Bulletin Board
Human Rights Campaign Events In Your Area
The Human Rights Campaign represents a grassroots force of over
750,000 members and supporters nationwide. As the largest national
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, HRC
envisions an America where LGBT people are ensured of their basic equal
rights, and can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the
community. Check out our local area events list to join the fight.
Click here for event info!
|
| Considering a New York Marriage? |
|---|
 |
Lambda Legal has created a General Information Sheet on Marriage in New York that covers such topics as eligibility requirements, the timing of the new law's enactment and its religious implications. Enjoy!
Click here to read more! |
| "NOM Exposed" Website Tells It All |
|---|
 |
WASHINGTON, D.C. - As the National Organization for Marriage, or NOM, embarks on a fall election campaign to defeat candidates who support full marriage equality, the Human Rights Campaign, in collaboration with the Courage Campaign, unveiled "NOM Exposed," a live, interactive website which reveals NOM's deep anti-gay affiliations, its long connections to the Mormon and Catholic churches and its quest to keep voters in the dark about its financing.
Click here to visit the website! |
| Faces of Family Postcard Project |
|---|
 | |
Send us a self-addressed stamped envelope, and we will send you 2 photo postcards at no cost! These simple but effective tools allow you to affix your picture to the postcard and tell your story to whomever you wish. Just mail your request to: "TWP Postcard Project" 332 Bleecker St., #d24 New York NY 10014 A picture of your family will tell a thousand words, if you let it. So let us help you tell your story. Send us a SASE today!
|
| From the Heart - A CD tribute to marriage equality |
|---|
 |
Looking for a compilation of todays best new artists? How about a collection of songs devoted to equality? Check out FROM THE HEART, a CD celebration of love benefitting The Wedding Party!
Click here to buy the CD! |
| OMG |
|---|
 |
Pressure On Cardinal Francis George To Resign Over KKK-Gay Pride Comment Increases
By On Top Magazine Staff
Published: January 02, 2012
Pressure on Cardinal Francis George to resign over comments comparing gay rights activists to the Ku Klux Klan continues to increase.
Gay rights group Truth Wins Out called on George to step down in a full page ad that ran in Sunday's The Chicago Tribune.
"Hey, Francis George, gay is not like the KKK," the ad's headline states.
George, the head of the Catholic Conference of Illinois and the Archbishop of Chicago, commented during a Fox Chicago interview that he believes a Gay Pride parade route in Chicago should be altered to avoid passing in front of Our Lady of Mount Carmel's front doors.
Click here to read more. |
| Box of Intolerance |
|---|
 |
NOM Suggests Kids Raised By Gay Parents Don't Get Food Or Health Care
by David Badash on November 30, 2011 - The New Civil Rights Movement
In yet another example of anti-gay tunnel vision, NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, displaying a complete lack of understanding of the nature of same-sex headed households, links to and quotes a fatally-flawed op-ed that suggests children parented by gay couples will not get "child care, groceries, health care, home maintenance, household products, insurance and juvenile products," nor will these children of gay or lesbian couples be "acquiring the skills and social capital they need to become well-adjusted, productive workers."
Click here to read more. |
| Human Rights Alert |
|---|
 |
Nigeria Approves Anti-Gay Marriage BillThe Root - November 30, 2011
NPR is reporting that the Nigerian Senate has passed an anti-gay bill
which criminalizes gay marriage, gay advocacy groups and same-sex
public displays of affection. On Tuesday, Africa's most populous nation
passed the bill which can now be signed into law by President Goodluck
Jonathan.
The Associated Press reports:
"The bill, now much more wide-ranging than its initial draft,
must be passed by Nigeria's House of Representatives and signed by
President Goodluck Jonathan before becoming law. However, public
opinion and lawmakers' calls Tuesday for even harsher penalties show
the widespread support for the measure in the deeply religious nation." "Under the proposed law, couples who marry could face up to 14 years
each in prison. Witnesses or anyone who helps couples marry could be
sentenced to 10 years behind bars. That's an increase over the bill's
initial penalties, which lawmakers proposed during a debate Tuesday
televised live from the National Assembly in Nigeria's capital Abuja."
Click here to read the complete article. |
| Chris Christie Nominates Openly Gay Bruce Harris |
|---|
 | |
By Carlos Santoscoy
Published: January 23, 2012
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Monday nominated Chatham Borough Mayor Bruce A. Harris to the state Supreme Court, the Star-Ledger reported.
If approved, Harris would become the first openly gay person and the third African-American to serve on the state's highest court.
"Today, the governor has made civil rights history," Steven Goldstein, CEO off Garden State Equality, the state's largest gay rights advocate, said in a statement. "I extend to him our most profound appreciation."
Click here to read the entire article |
|
