Councilmen waver on new gay marriage bill
Porterville city councilmen rehashed a contentious issue Tuesday night — gay marriage.
Former mayor Cameron Hamilton proposed that council members show adamant opposition to a bill circulating among state legislators.
Senate Bill 54 proposes same-sex couples married outside the state, and before the passage of Proposition 8, are warranted the equal recognition as married spouses in California.
The council formerly engaged with a state issue on Sept. 2, 2008 by adopting a resolution supporting Proposition 8. The ballot measure, which was passed by California voters in November, codifies that marriage in California is only between a man and a woman.
This time the vote was not unanimous.
By a sliver — two in favor, two opposed, one abstained — council members allowed Hamilton to draft a resolution to approve or disapprove at a future meeting.
See Councilmen waver on new gay marriage bill
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McEntee: Discrimination is still with us
o Salt Lake City is stepping out, urging a new anti-discrimination law that actually includes sexual orientation and gender identity in the traditional list of those affected by housing and employment discrimination. Take that, all you legislators who have squashed any such thinking on the state level, arguing disingenuously that “choosing to be gay” is not grounds for civil rights protection. Mayor Ralph Becker, a Democratic representative for 11 years, knows all about that ruse. And one of the most fascinating things is how the city’s Human Rights Commission got there: Its members sat down and talked to people in five “dialogues on discrimination” late last year. No lectures, no surveys. Just conversations about classism/poverty, people with disabilities, racism, faith and sexual orientation. Kilo Zamora, whose nonprofit Inclusion Center trained the commissioners, says the opener was, “How’s the city doing, and do you think there’s discrimination here?” As people talked, it became evident that race, gender, class, income and religious biases “we thought we had buried in the ’60s were much alive in our communities,” he says. People were shocked. “Are you sure?” they would ask. “I never knew racism was still alive!”
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Mass. legislators hear GENDA testimony
Mass. legislators hear GENDA testimony
Tags: Legislators, Testimony“Connecticut homosexual Legislators keep the real Catholic Church under fire” whine right wing bllogger
Two Connecticut homosexual Legislators have declared war on the real Catholic Church.
Senator Andrew McDonald and Representative Michael Lawlor, are behind this vicious movement.
They aim to destroy the real Catholic Church by dragging Connecticut into Obama’s growing Marxist conspiracy to kill the Church; the last large obstacle to their plans for a Marxist America worshiping at a government approved Church.
The Diocese of Bridgeport is being attacked and labeled “an unregistered lobbyist” because it’s fighting back against their proposed state law to strip real Catholic priests of their authority to run parishes. This attack is designed to drain Church resources and it is.
These attacks beg the question: who benefits?
Ed note: Perhaps thsoe in the Roman Catholic church who make a living by “fightingt” gay marriage, hiding behind the “church’s” tax exempt status while playing politics? See Connecticut homosexual Legislators keep the real Catholic Church under fire.
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Gay bishop says faith groups key to NH gay marriage vote
New Hampshire became the sixth state to legalize gay marriage on Wednesday (June 3) in part because faith leaders testified that the measure would not impinge on religious rights, according to V. Gene Robinson, the state’s openly gay Episcopal bishop.
When credible Christians, Muslims and Jews advocated for same-sex marriage, it “had a lot of sway with legislators in terms of giving them cover,” said Robinson. “Our message was loud and clear: religious organizations have nothing to fear from civil marriage for same-gendered folks.”
Robinson, who was elected bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, joined his longtime partner in a civil union last year. Under the New Hampshire law, their union will automatically be considered a marriage on Jan. 1, 2010.
“I’m still about 30 feet off the ground, hovering somewhere on high,” Robinson said in a conference call with reporters on Thursday.
The legislation signed by Gov. John Lynch on Wednesday contains explicit legal protections for religious groups that object to same-gender relationships and makes Rhode Island the only state in New England that does not allow gay marriage.
Robinson said separating the civil and religious aspects of marriage and making clear that religious groups would not be required to sanction same-gender weddings was key to the effort.
“We made sure that our … bill here stated and overstated and restated the fact that no religious liberties would be abridged in the embrace of civil marriage — that no religious institutions would be required to do anything against its own beliefs,” Robinson said. “It largely undercut the argument from the other side.”
Two separate studies released on Wednesday concluded that anti-gay marriage groups relied heavily on religious language to successfully push for ballot initiatives in Michigan in 2004 and California in 2008 that outlawed gay marriage.
“A religious opposition requires a religious response,” said the Rev. Rebecca Voelkel of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and an author of one of the reports.
Robinson said, “I think it’s about emboldening legislators to see people like them who identify as Roman Catholic or American Baptist or Methodist or Lutheran (and) say `OK, this … is clearly a person of faith, so despite what the denomination says as a whole I’ve got a fairly firm piece of ground to stand on here.”
See Gay bishop says faith groups key to NH gay marriage vote
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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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Illinois gay union legislation stresses the civil aspect
Rev. Frank Senn of Evanston wouldn’t mind if Illinois became the sixth state to recognize same-sex civil unions as binding commitments in the eyes of the law.
But the Evangelical Lutheran pastor would object if his church became the next Protestant denomination to bless same-sex unions as binding commitments in the eyes of God.
“There’s a difference between what is ordered in civil society and what the church can do under the Gospel,” said the pastor, whose son married another man in California before same-sex marriages were banned by the Proposition 8 referendum in November. “I think civil society has its own authority to make whatever social accommodations that seem good to society. We can only act on the authority of the word of God.”
Both decisions hang in the balance. This weekend, Illinois legislators could vote on a bill that would legalize same-sex civil unions and give same-sex couples the same “basic rights” as married couples. See Illinois gay union legislation stresses the civil aspect Chicago Tribune * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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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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Economist: Is Outing Of Closeted Political Figures A Useful Tactic?
KIRBY DICK’S documentary “Outrage“, which opened nationally last week, has turned gay activists’ controversial tactic of exposing closeted public figures—in this case, closeted Republicans perceived as advancing anti-gay policies in their public lives—into a feature-length film. The movie targets an array of elected officials and prominent GOP operators, but of particular interest is its focus on Charlie Crist (pictured with wife), the governor of Florida, who has thrown his hat into the 2010 race for the US Senate, with the support of much of the party establishment.
As if to confirm the film’s thesis that the press go out of their way to help preserve this sort of charade, National Public Radio opted to edit their reviewer’s piece on the movie to remove the names of politicos identified as closeted. At this point, as several others note, this seems rather quaint—and indeed, like an endorsement of the notion that there’s something especially awful about being accused of being gay. Nor do the network’s protestations that they simply avoid traffic in gossip and rumour hold up: They are only too happy to pass along unconfirmed reports about the sex lives of entertainers.
Which is odd, when you think about it, since while the public is clearly interested in the romances of musicians and movie stars, it’s hard to claim there’s a genuine public interest served by poking into their private lives. When it comes to public servants, however, we generally accept that it’s perfectly legitimate to scrutinise their private conduct to the extent it’s relevant to assessing the sincerity of their professed beliefs or the veracity of their public personas. Usually the controversy over “outing” has to do not with elected officials, but with high-level staffers, who have not volunteered themselves for scrutiny in the same way as political candidates. In practice legislative directors and analysts too yield significant public power—legislators are important people, and can’t be bothered with writing and reading bills themselves—but “Outrage” limits itself to indisputable public figures. If the claims about them are so poorly sourced as to constitute plain slander, the film shouldn’t be rewarded with any kind of attention; if they’re at least credible, one may as well save the listeners a Google search and say what they are.
See Economist: Is Outing Of Closeted Political Figures A Useful Tactic?
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Same-Sex Marriage Approved In Maine: What It Means For One Couple …
With Maine becoming the fifth state in the union to approve same-sex marriage, our former Jaime McLeod, a member of MTV’s Street Team ‘08, wrote a blog for us about what the ruling means to her …
Five years ago, my partner and I stood up in front of our families, our friends and our God, and pledged to walk together and care for one another, no matter what life brings. Though it wasn’t legally binding, we meant it, and we still mean it today.
In 89 days, we will finally be able to make the vows we made to one another official. It won’t change the way we see our relationship. It won’t change the way those who love us see our relationship. And, for that matter, it won’t change the way those who hate us see our relationship. As some of my gay friends keep pointing out, gay marriage won’t cure homophobia. It won’t cure AIDS. It won’t keep queer kids from getting bullied in school. But it’s a step. It ensures that the relationship my partner and I have worked so hard on for the last eight years doesn’t receive fewer protections under the law than the drunken Vegas wedding of a pop starlet to some guy she hardly knows. It means our friends won’t have to go through a ridiculously difficult legal process so that their kids can have two legal parents. And it means that a majority of legislators in my state were willing to stand up and acknowledge that same-sex relationships are just as valid as heterosexual ones.
Thank you, Maine State Legislature, and Gov. Baldacci, for doing the right thing and affirming the rights of all Mainers. You’re all invited to my second wedding! See Same-Sex Marriage Approved In Maine: What It Means For One Couple …
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