(San Francisco) About 100 people are demonstrating outside the federal courthouse in San Francisco as the trial for California’s gay marriage ban begins.

Most of the demonstrators are gay marriage supporters, who took turns Monday addressing the crowd with a microphone. They support the overturning of Proposition 8, a voter-approved law …

Maine reporter fights firing for anti-gay marriage note

(Waterville, Maine) A longtime Maine newspaper reporter says he was unjustly fired after writing a personal e-mail to gay marriage supporters rebuking their tactics.

The Portland Newspaper Guild has filed a grievance on behalf of 58-year-old Larry Grard, who says he was fired Nov. 10 from the Morning Sentinel in Waterville.

Grard …

Gay-marriage supporters, opponents square off

(Portland, Me.) A supporter and an opponent of same-sex marriage made their respective cases on live television Wednesday, less than a week before a statewide referendum on whether to allow gay marriage in Maine.

The referendum is about equality under the law, Mary Bonauto of Protect Maine Equality said in a …

House subcommittee approves benefits for same-sex partners

A House subcommittee today advanced a bill to provide health and retirement benefits to the same-sex domestic partners of gay and lesbian federal employees.

The bill, HR 2517, passed the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on the federal workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia on a party-line vote.

Democrats said the bill is needed to eliminate an inequality that drives some talented employees away from the government. Gay and lesbian employees currently cannot cover their domestic partners under their health insurance or provide an annuity for their partners after they die, even if they are legally married in states that recognize gay marriage. Supporters of the new bill say the current policy places an undue financial burden on as many as 34,000 gay and lesbian federal employees in domestic partnerships, who have to maintain separate health plans to keep both partners covered.

Many states and Fortune 500 companies offer same-sex partners such benefits. See House subcommittee approves benefits for same-sex partners

Federal Times

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Gay marriage and the date debate

Nearly nine months after California voters banned same-sex marriage in the state, gay marriage supporters are ready to ask them to overturn Proposition 8. They’re just not sure when to ask: In November 2010 or November 2012.

Choosing a date involves more than sifting through the polling, community meetings and consultants’ reports that have filled the time since last fall’s election with soul-searching and finger-pointing among supporters, culminating in a meeting of the movement’s leaders Saturday in San Bernardino.

Generating enthusiasm for a grassroots campaign will also be a heart-based decision, one that has split same-sex couples even in Kern County, where 75 percent of voters backed Prop. 8.

Bakersfield resident Jade Haley wants an initiative in 2010. Her partner Alee Gamino thinks that’s too soon. Gamino’s Catholic mother still refers to Haley as “she” and has no contact with them as a couple, who are raising Gamino’s teenage daughter from a previous relationship.

Churches’ influence

On Sundays, Gamino, 34, goes to church twice. She attends a Catholic service solo with her mom in the morning and goes to a Metropolitan Community Church with her partner in the evening. “The churches have thousands and thousands of people ready to go against us,” said Gamino. She looked at 70 people who came to a Unitarian Universalist Church on Thursday to talk about the movement’s next step. “All we have is what’s in this room.”

Still, Gamino was among only a dozen people at the Bakersfield meeting called by Marriage Equality USA who supported waiting until 2012. The sentiment for a vote next year echoed one at a similar gathering in San Francisco, while gatherings in liberal bastions such as Oakland and Berkeley leaned toward 2012.

“The reaction was really mixed,” said Pam Brown, Marriage Equality USA’s political director, who compiled information from the organization’s “Get Engaged” tour of 40 California cities over the past several weeks. “A lot of people who wanted to wait until 2012 wanted to see what the plan was first before they committed.”

A nonbinding straw poll of leaders gathered Saturday in San Bernardino to plan the movement’s next step found that 93 people voted to go in 2010, 49 in 2012 and 20 were undecided. Organizers expect to officially decide when to return to the ballot in a couple of weeks. If they decide on November 2010, the deadline to have ballot language submitted to the attorney general is Sept. 25.

Faults not addressed

This month, several groups of same-sex marriage supporters said not enough has been done to address the faults of last year’s campaign in time to mount a winning drive next year.

See Gay marriage and the date debate

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NY Gay Marriage Bill Faces New Challenges

With what some are describing as a “circus” in Albany, many gay marriage supporters fear that proposed legislation recognizing same sex marriage in New York will not come up for a vote in a state Senate in flux.

And now, one group is also trying harder to keep that from happening. The National Organization for Marriage announced Tuesday that they have set up a Political Action Committee for New York to fight the measure.

With the announcement, Executive Director Brian Brown also said that the first $500,000 raised will be used to back a primary challenger to GOP Senators who vote for gay marriage.

“The first half million dollars will be used in GOP primaries,” Brown said. “But we are also looking to aid Democratic candidates who want to buck the establishment on the marriage issue, and to help in general election contests.”

Brown said politicians were ignoring “the wishes of their own constituents.” See NY Gay Marriage Bill Faces New Challenges

CBS News

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NH gay marriage advocates hope to celebrate

(Concord, NH) After a crushing two-vote defeat, gay marriage supporters hope to succeed Wednesday when a second vote is taken on expanded religious protections needed to win the New Hampshire governor’s signature.

The vote could be supporters’ last chance this year to make New Hampshire the sixth state to allow gays …

NH gay marriage advocates hope to celebrate

The vote could be supporters’ last chance this year to make New Hampshire the sixth state to allow gays …

Quotes from New Hampshire’s gay marriage debate

“Thank you!” — Gay marriage supporters to lawmakers as they left the Statehouse following Wednesday’s gay marriage vote.

“A lot of New Hampshire families have come to know people in their families who are gay — co-workers, former classmates — and that’s what really made this difference. We are no longer talking about an issue. We are talking about people.” — The Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, the church’s only openly gay bishop.

“This legislation makes clear that we understand that certain faiths do not recognize same-sex marriage, and it protects them from having to participate in marriage-related activities that violate their fundamental religious principles.” — Gov. John Lynch, as he signed the gay marriage bill into law.

“We certainly would like to see new legislators and a governor who keeps his word on the issue. If he tells the voters he doesn’t support same sex marriage, that’s what he means. If that happens, who knows, we may be looking at repeal in the next legislative session.” — Kevin Smith, executive director of gay marriage opponent Cornerstone Policy Research. See Quotes from New Hampshire’s gay marriage debate Chicago Tribune

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