Applause after NJ committee approves gay marriage bill

(Trenton, NJ) The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee handed proponents of marriage equality an important first-round victory last night, approving a bill that could make New Jersey the sixth state to allow same-sex marriage.

The panel’s 7- 6 approval came shortly after ten o’clock Monday night, after more than seven hours …

Kalamazoo gay-rights issue will be revisited

KALAMAZOO — The Kalamazoo City Commission is expected to take the first step Monday night in a process that could lead to voters deciding whether Kalamazoo should grant “protected-class” status to gays, lesbians and transgender individuals.

The commission will consider for first reading a new city ordinance that includes revisions from the first anti-discrimination measure that members unanimously approved in December. A subsequent citizen petition drive challenged the measure and resulted in commissioners rescinding it and establishing a subcommittee to attempt to reach a compromise on a new ordinance.

The language coming back to the commission Monday does not change the basic premises, however. It essentially will make it a municipal civil infraction to discriminate against someone in the city in issues of housing, public accommodation and employment because they are gay. Violators could face up to a $500 fine, plus court costs.

The local proposal to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity represents an expansion of existing state and federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on factors such as race, color, religion and sex.

Proponents of the local ordinance — including the Kalamazoo Alliance for Equality, which proposed the original concept — say they’ll support the new measure.

See City gay-rights issue will be revisited

Kalamazoo Gazette – MLive.com

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Gay marriage legal in Vermont

(Montpelier, Vermont) Vermont has become the fourth state where same-sex marriage is legal. and the first to do so in the legislature.

The House and Senate on Tuesday overrode Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of a marriage bill.

The Republican governor, as expected, nixed the bill Monday night when it …

Vt House tries to override gay marriage veto

(Montpelier, Vermont) Vermont lawmakers Tuesday will attempt to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of a bill to allow same-sex couples to marry. The Republican governor, as expected, nixed the bill Monday night when it arrived on his desk.

In a prepared statement, the governor attempted to portray himself as a moderate, …

Italian TV Transforms Brokeback Mountain into a straight tale of friendship

Italians tuning in to their state TV network this week had a rare chance to see Brokeback Mountain, the tale of true friendship between two straight cowboys.
At least that was the version of Ang Lee’s gay cowboy Oscar-winner that was broadcast by channel Rai Due: two love scenes between the male protagonists had been excised, cuts which provoked furious accusations from gay-rights groups of censorship driven by creeping homophobia in Italy.

“The need to change a film about homosexual love into a film about simple male friendship says a lot about the current cultural climate,” said Franco Grillini, president of Gaynet.

La Repubblica noted that the cuts – involving a kiss between actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal and a love scene in a tent – came days after the Vatican attacked a European Union proposal that the United Nations formally condemn discrimination against gays.

But Rai yesterday claimed the cuts were an honest mistake and promised to broadcast the full version of the 2005 film. “Since it went out after the watershed we could have shown the full version but did not have the copy,” said Rai director general Claudio Cappon. The copy broadcast, Rai said, had been supplied by a distributor for use before the watershed.

Opposition senator Luigi Vimercati called the explanation “embarrassing” and said he would demand a parliamentary inquiry.

Critics noted that while the gay love scenes were removed, censors left a heterosexual sex scene in Monday night’s version. “Evidently it is not sex which creates fear and pain, but the feelings between two men,” said Grillini.

See Italian TV Transforms Brokeback Mountain into a straight tale of friendship

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Tying a knot, and loose ends, on ‘Boston Legal’

Given the years of wacky story lines on ABC’s satiric lawyer drama “Boston Legal,” it was hard to imagine how creator David E. Kelley could come up with something that took its characters any further over the top for Monday night’s show finale.

But Kelley did it the way he always has, by blending real-life headlines and issues into fictional drama that was simultaneous complex, troubling, reflective, absurd and amusing.

First, he had the firm bought by the Chinese. Then he sent James Spader’s Alan Shore and William Shatner’s Denny Crane to a place relatively few men have gone before – the altar.

See Tying a knot, and loose ends, on ‘Boston Legal’
New York Daily News, NY