20 gay weddings in Portugal this year
Few couples have married since Portugal legalized gay unions, but problems have been fixed.
20 gay weddings in Portugal this year
Few couples have married since Portugal legalized gay unions, but problems have been fixed.
Effort To Ban Gay Unions Falling Short In Wash. State
The effort to place a gay-inclusive domestic partnership law up for a vote in Washington State appears to be falling short.
With a looming deadline of Saturday at 2PM, opponents of the law dubbed by the media as the “everything but marriage law” have only 4 full days left to gather thousands of valid signatures.
Opponents – a coalition of mostly religious groups – announced their attempt to repeal the bill in November, even before it became law in May. Gary Randall, president of the Faith and Freedom Network, says his group filed Referendum 71 because the law is too close to marriage and violates the law.
“The bill … elevates homosexual relationships to that of traditional marriage, thus eliminating any legal difference between domestic partnerships and marriage,” Randall wrote in a blog entry posted on the group’s website before the bill became law.
“I do not believe a majority [of] Washingtonians believe in homosexual marriage, nor do they want to become a national attraction for homosexuals from other states and countries,” he added.
Organizers, however, admit that they have fallen desperately behind in collecting the 120,577 valid signatures needed to qualify the measure. Randall told the conservative group Concerned Women for America that only 75,000 signatures had been collected as of Friday. Leaving the group at least 45,577 signatures short. But in order to ensure there are sufficient valid signatures, the group estimates it needs to collect 75,000 signatures. In other words, opponents need to collect as many signatures in one week as they did in the previous seven to eight weeks.
The Democratic-controlled House passed the bill in April along a mostly party-line vote of 62 to 35. Senators approved the bill in March with a 30 to 18 vote, and Governor Chris Gregoire signed the bill into law on May 18. See Effort To Ban Gay Unions Falling Short In Wash. State
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/effort-to-ban…
Gay marriage stalls as RI lawmakers wrap up
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island seems almost certain to remain the only New England state that does not recognize gay marriage after measures legalizing same-sex unions stalled just before the part-time General Assembly ended the bulk of its annual work.
None of the bills legalizing same-sex marriage in Rhode Island advanced to a floor vote this session, continuing a trend begun in 1997.
The lack of State House action on gay unions means that Rhode Island is unlikely to allow same-sex marriage anytime soon, despite decisions this year by lawmakers in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont to join Connecticut and Massachusetts in legalizing marriage equality.
“I was hoping the momentum that was going around New England and the support we had in the House would get enough representatives to ask for it,” said Rep. Frank Ferri (D-Warwick), who is gay and sponsored same-sex marriage legislation. He and his partner wed in Canada.
Equally disappointed were marriage equality opponents, who wanted voters to be able to decide whether the state constitution should be changed to ban gay marriage.
“I think that if you put it to the voters on a statewide basis, gay marriage would fail,” said Rep. Jon Brien, D-Woonsocket.
See Gay marriage stalls as RI lawmakers wrap up
Bay Windows
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/gay-marriage-…
2010 Census Will Count Same-Sex Couples In Reversal Of Bush Policy
U.S. Census Bureau officials said Friday that married same-sex couples will be counted as such in the 2010 national tally, reversing an earlier decision made under the Bush administration.
Steve Jost, a spokesman for the Census Bureau, said officials already were identifying the technical changes needed to ensure the reliability of the information, but remained committed to providing an accurate tally of gay spouses.
“They will be counted, and they ought to report the way they see themselves,” Jost said. “In the normal process of reports coming out after the census of 2010, I think the country will have a good data set on which to discuss this phenomenon that is evolving in this country.”
Same-sex couples could not get married anywhere in the United States during the last decennial count. But last summer, when two states sanctioned gay unions, the bureau said those legal marriages would go uncounted because the federal Defense of Marriage Act prevented the federal government from recognizing them.
See 2010 Census Will Count Same-Sex Couples In Reversal Of Bush Policy
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Cleveland partner registry opens
(Cleveland, Ohio) Same-sex couples began lining up early at city hall Thursday morning to sign up under Cleveland’s new domestic partner registry.
Outside city hall, there was an air of excitement; inside a group of conservative pastors held a prayer service using the National Day of Prayer to denounce gay unions.
City …
France to recognize foreign gay unions
France to recognize foreign gay unions
Gay Marriage Arrives In Sweden
Gay and lesbian couples may marry in Sweden starting today. Swedish lawmakers approved a gay marriage bill in April, making it the seventh country to legalize gay marriage. The measure was approved in the Swedish Parliament by a wide margin – 261 to 22, with 66 lawmakers abstaining or absent. The legislation repeals a 1987 law defining marriage as a heterosexual union. A recent poll found that nearly three-fourths of Swedes (71%) approve of the new law.
Sweden has recognized civil unions for gay and lesbian couples since 1995. The union offered gay couples the same legal status as married heterosexual couples, including the right to adopt. The Lutheran Church, which was the state church until 2000, offered a separate religious blessing for gay unions.
See Gay Marriage Arrives In Sweden
On Top Magazine – Cleveland,OH,USA
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/gay-marriage-…
Minnesota Poll: A subtle shift on gay unions
With the state Supreme Court in neighboring Iowa rewriting that state’s definition of marriage to include same-sex couples, Minnesotans are divided on the subject in this state, a Star Tribune Minnesota Poll finds:
• One-third say the state needs a constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage;
• Just over one-third say that there should be no change in current state law, which bans such unions, and that it should be left to the Minnesota Supreme Court to rule on the law’s constitutionality;
• One-fourth believe same-sex marriage should be legalized.
The survey of 1,042 adults was conducted April 20-23, and has a margin of sampling error of 4 percentage points, plus or minus.
See Minnesota Poll: A subtle shift on gay unions
Minneapolis Star Tribune – * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/minnesota-pol…
Sweden set to legalise same-sex marriage by May
The Liberals, the Centre Party, and the conservative Moderates, however, are all behind the new law that would remove the reference to marriage as being restricted to a union between a man and a woman. The motion before parliament reads: “Regardless of sexual orientation, people in stable couple relationships have a need to manifest their feelings and their desire to live together.” See Sweden set to legalise same-sex marriage by May
IceNews – Reykjavik,Iceland
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/sweden-set-to…
