Uproar in DC as Same-Sex Marriage Gains Washington Post
After the vote, enraged African American ministers stormed the hallway outside the council chambers and vowed that they will work to oust the members who supported the bill, which was sponsored by Phil Mendelson (D-At Large). They caused such an uproar that security officers and D.C. police were called in to clear the hallway.
Yesterday’s action could be a precursor to a debate later this year over whether to legalize same-sex marriage in the city. “There is no turning back,” said Catania, who plans to introduce a broader gay marriage bill in a few months.
Barry, who said he supports gay rights and civil unions, warned after the vote that the District could erupt if the council does not proceed slowly on same-sex marriage.
“All hell is going to break lose,” Barry said. “We may have a civil war. The black community is just adamant against this.”
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) has said he will sign the bill recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. The council’s action puts the matter before Congress, which under the Home Rule Charter has 30 days to review District legislation. The bill could present the House and Senate with their biggest test on the same-sex marriage issue since Congress approved the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. …
“I am representing my constituents,” said Barry, who later told reporters that “98 percent of my constituents are black, and we don’t have but a handful of openly gay residents.”
Civic activist Philip Pannell, who is openly gay and lives in Ward 8, called Barry’s remarks offensive. “He of all people, coming out of the civil rights movement, should understand the need to fight for the rights of all minorities to be protected,” Pannell said.
Catania and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) are the two openly gay members of the council, and Catania made it clear that he took offense at Barry’s stance.
“This issue is whether or not our colleagues, on a personal level, view me and Jim Graham as your equals,” Catania said, “if we are permitted the same rights and responsibilities and obligations as our colleagues. So this is personal. This is acknowledging our families as much as we acknowledge yours.”
Barry, visibly upset, fired back that he has been a supporter of gay rights since the 1970s.
“I understand this is personal to you and Mr. Graham. I understand because I have been discriminated against,” Barry said. “. . . I resent Mr. Catania saying either you are a bigot or against bigotry, as though this particular legislation represents all of that.”
Catania replied: “Your position is bigoted. I don’t think you are.”
Video: D.C. Votes to Recognize Gay Marriage
See Uproar in DC as Same-Sex Marriage Gains
Washington Post * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Political Memo Same-Sex Marriage Holds Peril for GOP
WASHINGTON — It was only five years ago that opposition to same-sex marriage was so strong that Republicans explicitly turned to the issue as a way to energize conservative voters. Yet today, as the party contemplates the task of rebuilding itself, some Republicans say the marriage issue may be turning into more of a hindrance than a help.
The fact that a run of states have legalized same-sex marriage in recent months — either by court decision or by legislative action — with little backlash is only one indication of how public attitudes about this subject appear to be changing.
More significant is evidence in polls of a widening divide on the issue by age, suggesting to many Republicans that the potency of the marriage question is on the decline. It simply does not appear to have the resonance with younger voters that it does with older ones.
Consider this: In the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, released Monday, 31 percent of respondents over the age of 40 said they supported same-sex marriage. By contrast, 57 percent under age 40 said they supported it, a 26-point difference. Among the older respondents, 35 percent said they opposed any legal recognition of same-sex couples, be it marriage or civil unions. Among the younger crowd, just 19 percent held that view.
Steve Schmidt, who was the senior strategist to Senator John McCain of Arizona during his presidential campaign, said in a speech and an interview that Republicans were in danger of losing these younger voters unless the party came to appreciate how issues like same-sex marriage resonated, or did not resonate, with them.
“Republicans should re-examine the extent to which we are being defined by positions on issues that I don’t believe are among our core values, and that put us at odds with what I expect will become, over time, if not a consensus view, then the view of a substantial majority of voters,” Mr. Schmidt said in a speech. See Political Memo Same-Sex Marriage Holds Peril for GOP
New York Times
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Gay marriage advocate downplays opposition to issue
The Chicago based group that orchestrated the move toward gay marriage in Iowa says it will have observers in 25% of the county recorders’ offices Monday when same-sex couples can first seek licenses to marry — but the group is dismissing the idea there is any opposition to the marriages.
Camilla Taylor is the Lambda Legal attorney who led the Iowa lawsuit which resulted in the Iowa Supreme Court ruling that Iowa’s law saying marriage is between a man and a woman is unconstitutional.
Taylor was asked during a conference call with reporters Thursday if there was confusion among state officials over how they should handle gay marriage issues. Taylor says she hasn’t heard any particular difficulties in working out what the decision means. She says Iowa isn’t the first state to rule that marriage licenses must be issued to same-sex couples, so there is a lot of help available if Iowa officials have questions.
Lambda officials say Iowa has “embraced” the gay marriage ruling, and Taylor dismissed recent attempts in the legislature to bring up a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Taylor says the state legislature “has made it very clear that the state legislature is not interested in putting discrimination into the constitution and that there are a lot of other issues that Iowans care about. She says there are budget issues and the state is recovering from natural disasters, “so I don’t think there is any will to amend the state constitution.”
Democratic leaders have blocked several attempts to bring up the vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Taylor was asked if her confidence would change if Republicans won back control or the legislature or if Iowa voters decided to call for a constitutional convention in 2010.
See Gay marriage advocate downplays opposition to issue
Radio Iowa – Des Moines,IA,USA
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WATCH: Alicia Silverstone, Lance Bass Star In “Gathering Gay Storm” Spoof
The “gathering storm” ad made by the National Organization for Marriage, which preaches against same-sex unions, has spawned many parodies in its short life. As Stephen Colbert said before introducing his version of it, “It is like watching the 700 Club and the Weather Channel at the same time.”
Our own Lizz Winstead offered her version that shows the ridiculous leaps the ad makes in conflating the restriction of personal rights with granting marriage rights to homosexuals.
Now Funny or Die is getting in on the fun with a star-studded version that boasts Alicia Silverstone, Lance Bass, George Takei, and Sarah Chalke. The ad offers an answer to the gay marriage issue: a giant gay-repellent umbrella that will shield god-fearing Americans from the storm.
See WATCH: Alicia Silverstone, Lance Bass Star In “Gathering Gay Storm” Spoof
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Advocates Say Paterson Falls Short On Gay Marriage Issue
Governor David Paterson is under fire from some Democrats who say he has not done enough to help legalize gay marriage in New York. NY1′s Grace Rauh filed the following report.
Governor David Paterson has been a longtime supporter of gay marriage, and has even ordering state agencies to recognize same-sex unions performed outside New York.
But in the fight to legalize gay marriage in his own state, some lawmakers charge that Paterson isn’t doing his part.
“Say what you will about former Governor [Eliot] Spitzer, a blessing and a curse. However, working with him, we would have gotten this bill passed by now,” said Democratic Manhattan Senator Tom Duane. “We absolutely would have gotten this bill passed and we would have had a strategy. And we would have worked together and we would have made sure it became a reality.”
But there is new momentum behind the issue, in the wake of Iowa and Vermont’s recent moves to legalize same-sex marriage.
Paterson says he will introduce a gay marriage bill in the State Senate, but deeply angered supporters this week by arguing that the bill should move to the floor even if it doesn’t have the votes to pass.
See Advocates Say Paterson Falls Short On Gay Marriage Issue NY1
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How the Rising Gay Marriage Issue Affects Cal Gov Race
The cultural war over gay marriage has suddenly re-emerged nationally, setting the stage for volatile political developments in California when the Prop. 8 decision comes down between now and June.
Last Friday’s decision by the Iowa Supreme Court that found unconstitutional a state ban on same-sex marriage was followed within days by enactment of a pro-gay marriage law in Vermont and passage of another in the District of Columbia. All this could push the issue directly before Congress, as similar measures move ahead in New York and other states.
The flurry of activity triggered an all-hands-alert among religious foes of gay marriage, led by an outfit called the National Organization for Marriage, which rushed to air in California and other key states a dubious TV spot that uses paid actors to mouth lines of supposedly real people whose purported lives are about to be allegedly disrupted by “The Gathering Storm.” (And for a good spoof of the ad, try this.)
Foes of Prop. 8 meanwhile are sniffing defeat in court and planning mass demonstrations if the California Supremes uphold the initiative ban on gay marriage passed last November. The court has until June 3 to issue its ruling.
All of which complicates the lives of the candidates for governor. After months of mouthing platitudes about the green economy, as all-recession-all-the-time stories blanketed the news cycle, wannabes now face the unpleasant prospect of getting whipsawed between two highly motivated enemy camps: ardent progressive and gay activists demanding civil rights for all versus impassioned conservative evangelicals and other churched groups, fiercely intent on protecting their most sacred values from doom.
Read how the issue affects the governor’s race at www.calbuzz.com
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Gay Marriage Issue Steering Clear of the Supreme Court
And now there are four. In the space of a week, the number of states allowing same-sex marriage has doubled, with Iowa and then Vermont joining Massachusetts and Connecticut. In California, gay and lesbian couples were exchanging vows for five months before voters put a stop to the practice in November. Californians are still talking it over, though, and loudly. New York and New Jersey may be next to debate the question.
In other contexts, this sort of turmoil might amount to an invitation for the United States Supreme Court to step in. But there are all sorts of reasons the court is likely to keep its distance, and a central one is the endlessly debated 1973 decision that identified a constitutional right to abortion.
“The concern about creating another Roe v. Wade looms large,” said Nathaniel Persily, who teaches law and political science at Columbia. “At least five members of this court, if not more, would probably be reluctant to weigh in on this controversy, especially given the progress that is being made in state legislatures, state courts and public opinion.”
Court decisions on issues like school desegregation, abortion and same-sex marriage can raise questions about the judicial branch usurping the democratic process. But there are strategic issues as well. The Supreme Court not only decides cases but also decides which cases to decide. In jurisprudence as in life, timing is everything.
Even some strong supporters of abortion rights believe, for instance, that Roe went too far too fast and may have been counterproductive. One of them is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
See Gay Marriage Issue Steering Clear of the Supreme Court
New York Times -
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Advocates Say Paterson Falls Short On Gay Marriage Issue
Governor David Paterson is under fire from some Democrats who say he has not done enough to help legalize gay marriage in New York. NY1′s Grace Rauh filed the following report.
Governor David Paterson has been a longtime supporter of gay marriage, and has even ordering state agencies to recognize same-sex unions performed outside New York.
But in the fight to legalize gay marriage in his own state, some lawmakers charge that Paterson isn’t doing his part.
“Say what you will about former Governor [Eliot] Spitzer, a blessing and a curse. However, working with him, we would have gotten this bill passed by now,” said Democratic Manhattan Senator Tom Duane. “We absolutely would have gotten this bill passed and we would have had a strategy. And we would have worked together and we would have made sure it became a reality.”
But there is new momentum behind the issue, in the wake of Iowa and Vermont’s recent moves to legalize same-sex marriage.
Paterson says he will introduce a gay marriage bill in the State Senate, but deeply angered supporters this week by arguing that the bill should move to the floor even if it doesn’t have the votes to pass.
See Advocates Say Paterson Falls Short On Gay Marriage Issue NY1
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Calif couples hope ads spur gay marriage support
A group of gay couples in Southern California is planning to put a personal face on the same-sex marriage issue by airing a series of television ads featuring their families.
The five spots are scheduled to run in the days before the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration. They’ll target counties where high numbers voted for Proposition 8, the Nov. 4 ballot initiative that stripped gay couples of the right to wed in California.
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See Calif couples hope ads spur gay marriage support
San Jose Mercury News, USA
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City defers move to slam gay marriage
(Sioux City, Iowa) A proposed resolution declaring marriage in Sioux City, Iowa, as a union between a man and woman has been tabled while city lawmakers try to determine if such a measure would even be legal.
Citizens on both sides of the gay marriage issue packed City Council chambers Monday …
