Ruby-Sachs: Hawaii May Get Civil Unions
It’s a Tuesday after a holiday, which always makes me feel a bit out of the news world. Couple that with the awesome nature of the Haitian tragedy, and it’s hard to think of much else. But, today is an important day in many respects for LGBT voters.
First, and I …
Lesbian albatrosses and bisexual bonobos have last laugh on Darwin
Charles Darwin argued that sexual preferences can shape the progress of evolution, creating displays, such as the peacock’s tail, that are inexplicable by natural selection alone.
It’s safe to say, however, that he did not anticipate the lesbian albatrosses of Hawaii. Nor bisexual bonobos. Let alone sadomasochistic bat bugs or the gay penguins of New York.
Homosexuality is so widespread among some animal species that it can reshape their social dynamics and even change their DNA, according to the first peer-reviewed survey of research on the subject.
From mammals to snails, and even nematode worms, homosexual behaviour is almost universal across the animal kingdom, and Californian scientists argue that it should be considered a selective force in its own right.
“The variety and ubiquity of same-sex sexual behaviour in animals is impressive — many thousands of instances of same-sex courtship, pair bonding and copulation have been observed in a wide range of species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, molluscs and nematodes,” write Nathan Bailey and Marlene Zuk of the University of California, Riverside.
Animals engage in same-sex activity for a variety of reasons, ranging from the need for an alternative child-rearing strategy to mistaken identity. “Male fruit flies may court other males because they are lacking a gene that enables them to discriminate between the sexes,” Dr Bailey said.
“But that is different from male bottlenose dolphins, who engage in same-sex interactions to facilitate group bonding, or female Laysan albatrosses that can remain pair-bonded for life and co-operatively rear young.”
See
Lesbian albatrosses and bisexual bonobos have last laugh on Darwin
Times Online
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Why Some People Are Gay: Notes (and Clues) from the Animal Kingdom
We have known for at least a decade that hundreds of animal species — including birds, reptiles, mollusks and, of course, humans — engage in same-gender sexual acts. But no one is quite sure why. After all, same-sex couplings don’t usually result in offspring. (I say usually because when male marine snails pair with other males, one partner conveniently changes sex, allowing for reproduction.) Evolutionarily speaking, homosexuality should have disappeared long ago.
A yearlong study just completed at the University of California at Riverside offers several fascinating competing theories about why same-gender sexual behavior has endured. And although it’s gay-pride month — and the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots that sparked the gay-rights movement — not all the theories will give same-gender-loving humans a reason to celebrate. (See the top 10 animal stories of 2007.)
One particularly charged finding is that in most species besides humans, same-gender pairings rarely lead to lifelong relationships. In other words, when one attractive bonobo male eyes another in a lovely patch of Congo swamp forest, they occasionally kiss and then move on to other oral pleasures, but they don’t bother anyone afterward about trying to legalize their right to an open-banana-bar ceremony. In fact, they are likely to move on to girl bonobos: most animals that engage in same-gender sex acts do so only when an opposite-sex partner is unavailable.
And yet the study’s authors, Nathan Bailey and Marlene Zuk of UC Riverside’s biology department, report some exceptions, like the laysan albatross. Last year, researchers studying a Hawaiian colony of albatrosses found that nearly a third of all the couples involved two females who courted and then shared parenting responsibilities. (Albatrosses don’t have U-Hauls, so no lesbian jokes, please.) Male chinstrap penguins also form long-term relationships, at least in captivity. And some male bighorn sheep will mount females only after the females adopt male-like behaviors.
What explains all these variances? Here are some hypotheses I collected from Bailey and Zuk’s paper as well as from some of their original sources:
See Why Some People Are Gay: Notes (and Clues) from the Animal Kingdom
TIME
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Homosexual behaviour widespread in animals according to new study
The pairing of same sex couples had previously been observed in more than 1,000 species including penguins, dolphins and primates.
However, in the latest study the authors claim the phenomenon is not only widespread but part of a necessary biological adaptation for the survival of the species.
They found that on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, almost a third of the Laysan albatross population is raised by pairs of two females because of the shortage of males. Through these ‘lesbian’ unions, Laysan albatross are flourishing. Their existence had been dwindling before the adaptation was noticed.
Other species form same-sex bonds for other reasons, they found. Dolphins have been known engage in same-sex interactions to facilitate group bonding while male-male pairings in locusts killed off the weaker males.
A pair of “gay” penguins recently hatched an egg at a German zoo after being given the egg that had been rejected by its biological parents by keepers.
Writing in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Dr Nathan Bailey, an evolutionary biologist at California University, said previous studies have failed to consider the evolutionary consequences of homosexuality.
He said same homosexual behaviour was often a product of natural selection to further the survival of the species.
See
Homosexual behaviour widespread in animals according to new study
Telegraph.co.uk
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Same-sex marriages gradually gain legal ground
“There’s a sense people have — a sense of inevitability — and a tremendous sense of frustration because of the history of the gay rights fight in Maine,” said Michael Heath, executive director of the Maine Family Policy Council.
Those rights are expanding as legally married gay couples relocate to states that don’t allow same-sex marriage, forcing courts, legislatures and employers to deal with the resulting issues of custody, divorce, inheritance and end-of-life decisions.
The adoption ruling in Maine had the effect of granting parental rights to same-sex couples. By the time the Legislature adjourns for the summer, experts expect Maine to become the fifth state to legalize same-sex marriage — 11 years after voters banned it.
In California, federal judges have twice overruled decisions by the federal government to deny healthcare coverage to gay employees’ legal spouses, teeing up a constitutional challenge to the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which forbids federal benefits for same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and Massachusetts, which began the trend five years ago. (Iowa issued its first marriage licenses April 27, a few weeks after its Supreme Court gave approval; weddings in Vermont will begin in September.) Within a year, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York will probably follow suit, say sexual orientation scholars at the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute; New Hampshire’s Senate approved a same-sex marriage bill Wednesday.
And as more same-sex couples wed in places where it is legal, the administrative fallout in other states is expected to keep expanding.
“The courts are going to have to wrestle with these issues as more and more states make it possible for people to marry,” said Toni Broaddus, executive director of the San Francisco-based Equality Federation. “People don’t stay in the same state for their whole lives anymore, so the courts in states without marriage equality are going to have to address these issues.”
The recent moves in New England and the heartland to legalize gay marriage appeared to reinvigorate campaigns for passage of same-sex marriage bills in Maine, Maryland and Hawaii. Rights advocates predict the tide will eventually sweep even into some of the 30-plus states that have passed laws or constitutional amendments defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
“A body of law is emerging because it has no choice. Cases have been filed and they have to be decided one way or another,” said Joseph Milizio, a Long Island lawyer specializing in gay and lesbian representation.
The legal developments allow people to become comfortable with “the fact that gay marriage is going to be recognized in many different aspects, even in states that don’t allow it,” said Milizio, whose firm recently secured the first dissolution of a same-sex marriage in New York.
In the workplace, proponents of extending spousal rights such as healthcare benefits and life insurance to same-sex couples have succeeded by challenging employment practices that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Seven states, including California, now guarantee full equality to same-sex couples — another incremental advance that is lamented by opponents.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/same-sex-marr…
Hawaii Senators Hesitate On Rescue Of Gay Civil Unions
Hawaii senators who had vowed to rescue a stranded gay civil unions bill from a deadlocked committee and pass it this legislative session have begun to backpeddle.
House Bill 444, which would grant gay and lesbian couples all the rights of marriage, was marooned on February 25 when it deadlocked on a 3-3 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The final tally came after a grueling 18 hour marathon hearing session that ended at 3AM.
Even before the votes were in Senate leaders had begun discussing the possibility of rescuing the bill out of committee for a full vote on the Senate floor. The bill sailed through the House on a 33 to 17 vote. See Hawaii Senators Hesitate On Rescue Of Gay Civil Unions
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/03/hawaii-senato…
Support for Hawaii civil union vote wavering – as usual (why do we keep traveling there?)
The drive to make Hawaii the fifth state in the country to allow same-sex civil unions is on the verge of failing, despite support from most state lawmakers.
Senate leaders had planned a vote before the full Senate as early as Tuesday, but deep divisions have emerged over whether Democrats should take an extraordinary legislative step to revive the measure after a tie committee vote.
A tie vote in committee usually is enough to kill a measure, but the bill could advance under a rarely used provision of the Hawaii Constitution if more than one-third of senators approve.
The Democratic leadership wants more than half the Senate to agree to put the bill before the full Senate. Some rank-and-file senators who support the bill, however, are unwilling to circumvent the normal legislative process.
The measure already has passed the Hawaii House.
Lawmakers’ hesitation comes after more than 6,000 opponents, most of them from religious groups, rallied against the legislation Feb. 22 at the state Capitol. Civil union supporters planned their own event at the Capitol on Saturday.
See Support for Hawaii civil union vote wavering
The Associated Press -
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Six States To Consider Same-Sex Marriage This Year S
Bills to legalize same-sex marriage are expected to see action this year in Maine, New Jersey, New York and Vermont. In addition, the Iowa Supreme Court will decide a case that could legalize same-sex marriage there.
In California, the state Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling in June on whether Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.
Same-sex marriage currently is legal in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Internationally, it is legal in Belgium, Canada, Nepal, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa and Spain.
Three other U.S. states — Hawaii, New Mexico and Washington — are expected to consider passing civil-union laws this year that extend all or nearly all of the rights and obligations of marriage.e.
Such laws already are in place in California, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Oregon and Vermont.
The District of Columbia, Maine, Hawaii and Washington presently have laws that extend limited spousal rights to same-sex couples.
See Six States To Consider Same-Sex Marriage This Year San Francisco Bay Times
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In Hawaii, Civil unions reawaken gay marriage divisions
The decade-old battle lines over same-sex marriage in Hawaii are being redrawn as lawmakers consider civil unions.
Opponents of civil union measures say it’s just same-sex marriage in a different package. Supporters say public opinion has shifted since Hawaii became the first state to ban gay marriage in its constitution.
An overflow crowd came to testify on one of several measures that would give same-sex partners rights through civil unions much like those in legal marriage.
See Civil unions reawaken gay marriage divisions
KHON2, HI
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/in-hawaii-civ…
New guide to Atlanta for gay travellers
ATLANTA — There’s a new guidebook for gay travellers interested in visiting Atlanta.
“The Out Traveler: Atlanta” (Alyson Books) is the latest in a series that also includes books on New York City, South Florida and Hawaii.
The Atlanta edition was written by two gay friends who grew up in the city, Jordan McAuley and Matt Burkhalter.
The introduction to the book says that gay travellers “have to know where we are welcome, how to fit in, the vibe of a particular cultural or political climate – all things many straights take for granted.”
The book lists many basic attractions like the Georgia Aquarium, Stone Mountain and “Gone with the Wind” author Margaret Mitchell’s house, along with hotels and bed-and-breakfasts deemed to be “gay-friendly” by the authors, and nightspots and bars like the Atlanta Eagle leather bar, Blake’s on the Park, Burkharts and Mary’s.
Visit http://www.OutTravelerAtlanta.com for more information.
See New guide to Atlanta for gay travellers
The Canadian Press, ATLANTA
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