Paterson’s Gay Marriage Soft Sell
Gov. David Paterson this morning said he has started talking - not lobbying mind you, just sort of casually chatting - with senators about his gay marriage program bill.
The governor has said he will at some point personally press recalcitrent lawmakers to support the measure, which was passed by the Assembly last week for the second time since 2007.
So far, he seems to be favoring the toe-in-the water approach rather over the jump-in-with-both-feet method.
” I wouldn’t say I was actively lobbying,” the governor said. “But I’ve run into a couple senators here and there and talked to them - some who are for it and some who are opposed.”
“So I have put my word in with those who are opposed and as the session goes on, and the session’s coming to an end, I will talk to the legislators that are not interested and try to persuade them that they should maintain any feelings that they have about marriage equality.”
“But the reason we think the law should be passed is because it would then keep it in line with the other laws that exist on our books.”
That last bit is a new line of reasoning from the governor, who has heretofore cast his call for legalization of gay marriage as the next great civil rights battle - an approach that apparently isn’t sitting all that well with black clergy in Buffalo (not to mention Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. and his fellow Hispanic religious leaders).
See * Paterson’s Gay Marriage Soft Sell New York Daily News Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Anti-gay amendment resurfaces in Penn.
(Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) A proposed amendment to Pennsylvania’s state constitution banning same-sex marriage that failed twice before resurfaced Tuesday.
Republican state Sen. John Eichelberger, pointing to the legalization of gay marriage in Iowa and four New England , time is running out to preserve the “traditional family” in Pennsylvania.
The state already has …
Tags: Anti Gay, Harrisburg Pennsylvania, Legalization Of Gay Marriage, marriage, New England, Pennsylvania State, Republican State, same sex marriage, State ConstitutionMass. couples cheer gay marriage, 5 years later
BOSTON - Every year, the couples who led the fight for gay marriage in Massachusetts get together privately to celebrate both their own weddings and the marriages of thousands more couples who followed them.
But this year, the celebration feels a little bit sweeter for the six couples who will gather Sunday to mark the fifth anniversary of Massachusetts becoming the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. This year, they will also be celebrating the legalization of gay marriage in four other states.
“We’ve been very happy that it’s started to be accepted in other places,” said Maureen Brodoff, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to a Supreme Judicial Court decision legalizing gay marriage.
“It’s important to us that same-sex relationships get recognition outside of our home state, and I think that that is happening slowly as people look to the Massachusetts example and see that, you know, the sky didn’t fall, that it’s strengthened families, that it’s brought joy to a lot of families,” Brodoff said. See Mass. couples cheer gay marriage, 5 years later Chicago Tribune * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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NH gov. tests political wind on gay marriage
(Concord, New Hampshire) The legalization of gay marriage in New Hampshire hinges on the next move of Gov. John Lynch, who remains uncommitted but has said he believes the word “marriage” should be reserved for the union of a man and a woman.
“I’m going to talk to legislators and I’m …
Tags: Concord New Hampshire, Hinges, John Lynch, Legalization Of Gay Marriage, Legislators, Man And A Woman, marriage, Political Wind, Union Of A Man And A WomanRallies nationwide support same-sex marriage
(New York City) Same-sex couples and their supporters held demonstrations across the country over the weekend calling for the repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, similar laws in several dozen states, and the legalization of gay marriage.
The rallies were organized by the group Join the Impact.
In …
Tags: Defense Of Marriage Act, Demonstrations, Dozen States, Legalization Of Gay Marriage, marriage, Marriage Laws, Nationwide, New Sex, New York City, Rallies, Same Sex Couples, same sex marriage, Sex City, Sex NewObama’s Pastor Pick Makes Anti-Gay Gesture - Again …..
Rick Warren, who has been out of the news for, oh, about 10 minutes, since the controversial California pastor was picked to give the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration, is back.
Recapping here: After sticking a fork in the eye of gay rights advocates by actively supporting Proposition 8 — which overturned the legalization of gay marriage in California — Warren compounded their outrage by equating gay marriage with incest in an interview with Beliefnet.
The hubbub lulled down a little over the holidays but today, he’s back, with an open invitation to any group displaced by their denomination. This is code for Episcopal congregations that oppose that church’s acceptance of a gay bishop in 2003. Earlier this week, a California judge ruled that a breakaway congregation, St. James in Newport Beach, cannot keep its property now that they have left the Episcopal Church.
The Southern Baptist Warren shared his letter with Christianity Today which says, in part:
We stand in solidarity with them, and with all orthodox, evangelical Anglicans. I offer the campus of Saddleback Church to any Anglican congregation who need a place to meet, or if you want to plant a new congregation in south Orange County.
See Rev. Rick Warren takes another jab
USA Today -
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/01/obamas-pastor…
Is gay marriage bad for family? Europe might have the answer
Will gay marriage in California fundamentally change family life? Some backers of Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage, have argued that same-sex unions could “undermine” traditional marriage. But John Richardson at Esquire noted that little has changed in European countries that allow gay marriage:
They say that acceptance of gays could even lead to the “self-destruction” of the human race, as the Pope himself recently argued. But once again the actual evidence goes against the assumption. Not only have gay rights had no effect on constantly expanding population rates, but they’ve had no effect on traditional marriage in those European countries where they have the most extensive legal protections. Similarly, the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts hasn’t changed a relevant fact: Massachusetts has one of the lowest divorce rates in the United States. This is relevant because divorce is the real threat to American families, having broken up more than fifty percent of all marriages since it achieved widespread acceptance.
See Is gay marriage bad for family? Europe might have the answer
Los Angeles Times, CA
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/01/is-gay-marria…
In New Jersey, Push for Gay Marriage Meets Election Concerns
NEW JERSEY has never appeared so close to — and yet so far from — enacting gay marriage.
Gov. Jon S. Corzine; Richard J. Codey, the State Senate president; and Joseph J. Roberts Jr., leader of the Democratic-controlled Assembly, have all recently stated publicly that gay marriage is an idea whose time has come. Echoing the sentiments of a state commission report released last month, some state officials said that civil unions — the closest thing to marriage available to gay couples in the state — were woefully inadequate and that the legalization of gay marriage in New Jersey was not a matter of “if” but “when.”
But with the governor and all 80 members of the Assembly up for re-election in November, most of the officials say the “when” may not be for some time.
The New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission, a 13-member panel convened to evaluate the impact of the state’s 2006 civil union law, in its final report last month, called on the state to legalize same-sex marriage after finding that civil unions did not result in equal treatment. Likening the prohibition against gay couples marrying to the racial segregation laws imposed upon black Americans, the commission said hospitals were reluctant to recognize civil unions when it came to visitation rights, employers did not always extend health benefits to both partners, and the children of such unions were stigmatized.
Massachusetts and Connecticut are currently the only states that allow gay couples to marry, and in both instances the issue was decided by the courts rather than the legislatures. California was in that category until November, when gay marriage was overturned by voters.
Mr. Goldstein says his organization has been lobbying to get a measure passed.
“We are very, very close,” he said. “Do I believe we have the votes yet? It depends on how you count them. Even under our very conservative vote counts, we’re very close.”
While the governor had asked state lawmakers to refrain from raising the issue during the presidential election, for fear that it would sidetrack voters, he is now encouraging lawmakers to seriously review the commission’s report.
“While this administration is focused squarely on the economic crisis for the foreseeable future, it’s clear that this issue of civil rights must be addressed sooner rather than later,” Mr. Corzine said in a statement.
The governor promised to sign marriage-equality legislation when it reaches his desk. The question is whether state lawmakers will present him with the opportunity. “Politics will play a role in whether it actually gets posted to a committee,” said Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, a Democrat from Princeton and the deputy majority leader, who sponsored a gay marriage bill. “With the Assembly up this November, there will be a lot of members unlikely to get involved with such a polarizing issue.”
See Push for Gay Marriage Meets Election Concerns
New York Times, United States
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/01/in-new-jersey…
Gays, God, the Bible and the bishops
The wrangling over faith, homosexuality and Proposition 8, which overturned the legalization of gay marriage in California, is taking some interesting turns this week — all based in some way on how one reads the Bible.
Archbishop of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony said in a letter to homosexuals in the weekly archdiocesan paper, The Tidings, that the Catholic Church’s vociferous support of the ballot initiative “does not diminish in any way (your) importance” nor “lessen your personal dignity and value as full members of the body of Christ.”
Mahony wrote:
We are saddened that some people who opposed Proposition 8 have employed hurtful and accusatory language, and even threatening actions, against those who voted for Proposition 8. This is most unfortunate since such strategies obscure the basic matter at issue: the preservation of the ordered relationship between man and woman created by God.
In a blog, LA Weekly wasn’t buying this, calling it “wacky double-speak.”
And the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and seven other dioceses announced they would ask their national denomination to retract its General Convention’s 2006 ban on the election of more gay or lesbian bishops. (The election of actively gay bishop Gene Robinson in 2003 was the rallying cry for a splinter group of about 10% of U.S. parishes to pull out of the Episcopal Church and form their own new conservative Church, the cornerstone of which is a literal reading of the Bible which they say forbids homosexual behavior.)
To make the point even sharper, Bishop of Los Angeles Jon Bruno announced a new policy on the Sacramental Blessing of Life-Long Covenants and included an official liturgy for the diocese — another step officially discouraged by the national denomination.
See Gays, God, the Bible and the bishops
USA Today -
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/gays-god-bibl…
