Bush v. Gore Lawyers Joining Forces To Fight Proposition 8
A coalition of gay rights groups said Wednesday that a federal same-sex marriage lawsuit brought by two high-profile lawyers is premature and they’d rather work through state legislatures and voters to win wedding rights.
A day after the California Supreme Court upheld a voter-approved ban on gay marriage, the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and other national organizations issued a statement saying they think the U.S. Supreme Court is not ready to rule in their favor on the issue. See Bush v. Gore Lawyers Joining Forces To Fight Proposition 8 * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/bush-v-gore-l…
Group Begins Ad Blitz Against Same-Sex Marriage
The National Organization for Marriage, a conservative Christian group that has fought efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in California and in the Northeast, has set its sights on New York with its latest media campaign.
Beginning Thursday in the New York City and Albany markets, the organization will run a 30-second television commercial that warns of unanticipated social consequences if the state allows gay couples to marry.
Echoing a theme that was used in turning public opinion against same-sex marriage in California in a vote last fall, the commercial suggests that children will be taught about homosexuality in schools.
“And it’s not just kids who face consequences,” the narrator says over foreboding music. “The rights of people who believe marriage means a man and a woman will no longer matter. We’ll have to accept gay marriage whether we like it or not.”
The commercial closes with a shot of the Capitol as the number for the State Senate switchboard flashes on the screen. The Senate must act in the next four weeks if it is to pass a same-sex marriage bill before the Legislature adjourns. The Assembly passed the bill this month, and Gov. David A. Paterson has pledged to sign it.
The National Organization for Marriage said its initial ad spending, which includes the television commercial and a radio spot, was just over $100,000. That campaign will run through Sunday.
The group said it hopes the commercial, which is intended to raise doubts about an argument made by advocates for same-sex marriage — that allowing gay couples to marry is simply a matter of fairness and equality — will give opponents a louder voice in a debate that has been dominated by the other side. See
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/group-begins-…
Kids “Confused” in New Anti-Gay Ad
A new commercial airing in New Hampshire features children “confused” by the idea of two men or two women getting married. The ad is an attempt to stop the governor from signing a bill that would allow same-sex marriage in the state.
One child asks, “If my dad married a man, who would be my mom?” Another says, “I’m confused.”
The ad was produced by the National Organization for Marriage and CPR Action, a conservative New Hampshire group. “I’m Confused” follows NOM’s “Storm Is Gathering” video, for which the organization hired actors to play the part of ostracized doctors and churchgoers.
In New Hampshire, a marriage-equality bill recently passed the house and senate. It is currently awaiting the governor’s approval. Governor Lynch has said he would sign the bill pending revisions that would allow religious institutions to withhold services to married couples.
See Kids “Confused” in New Anti-Gay Ad Advocate.com * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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PRINCETON: Students picket same-sex marriage opponents
PRINCETON — Waving umbrellas and posters, around 30 Princeton students danced and cheered in front of the National Organization for Marriage’s (NOM) Nassau Street offices Wednesday to voice disapproval of the group’s opposition to same-sex marriage.
NOM, which was founded in 2007 by Princeton politics professor Robert George and Maggie Gallagher of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, is a nonprofit organization that serves as a resource for organized opposition to same-sex marriage around the country, according to its Web site. The group is based in Princeton, across the street from the university.
”The fact that NOM exists so close to campus and that it was founded by a Princeton professor, yet that there hasn’t been much discussion about the issue, gives the impression that Princeton is ambivalent,” said Emily Sung, a sophomore who helped organize the protest. “That’s what we’re combating. We want to end the silence.”
Many protestors showed up in rain gear, referencing NOM’s “Gathering Storm” commercial, which features actors standing in front of a foreboding background of storm clouds. The commercial, part of NOM’s $1.5 million “Religious Liberty Ad Campaign,” warns of a coming “storm” in the fight over same-sex marriage.
See PRINCETON: Students picket same-sex marriage opponents
Packet Online – Princeton,NJ,USA * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Group Renews Fight for Same-Sex Marriage in California
SAN FRANCISCO — As the California Supreme Court mulls the fate of a 2008 ballot measure outlawing same-sex marriage, one of the state’s largest gay rights groups is laying the groundwork for a campaign to overturn the measure, perhaps as soon as next year.
The announcement by the group, Equality California, comes almost a year after the court’s initial decision to legalize same-sex marriage, a ruling that voters negated in November when they passed the ballot measure, Proposition 8. The proposition has since been challenged in court, but gay rights advocates worry the court will uphold it, and are preparing for the next stage of the fight.
“We’re hoping the court rules the right way, but we’re not counting on it,” said Marc Solomon, Equality California’s newly hired marriage director. “And we believe that 2010 is the right time to go back to the ballot.”
The possibility of a ballot measure to overturn Proposition 8 has been floated online and elsewhere since the election, but the announcement is a concrete signal that California might soon be embroiled in another electoral fight over same-sex marriage. The November campaign ranked as one of the most divisive and expensive ballot measure fights ever, with the two sides spending more than $80 million combined.
Opponents of same-sex marriage said a second campaign would be a mistake. “The fact is that the people of California have already spoken,” said Brian S. Brown, the executive director in National Organization for Marriage, in Princeton, N.J. “And they don’t like being told they were wrong the first time.”
Mr. Solomon, who came to California after several years of working on behalf of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, the first state to legalize such unions, in 2004, stopped short of announcing of a formal campaign to put the issue on the California ballot, which would require an extensive signature-gathering effort. See Group Renews Fight for Same-Sex Marriage in California New York Times * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/group-renews-…
Miss Universe to anti-gay group: Stop using Carrie Prejean pageant footage
TMZ reports that Miss Universe Organization has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the National Organization for Marriage.
Seems the Miss Universe organizers are not too thrilled with NOM using footage from the Miss USA 2009 pageant in an anti-gay marriage commercial.
The commercial is playing on NOM’s website and uses Prejean’s controversial response to the gay marriage question to back up the group’s message.
This doesn’t mean the MUO is taking sides. Although we kinda think it might be.
But NOM cannot legally use copyrighted pageant material to promote its social agenda.
See Miss Universe to anti-gay group: Stop using Carrie Prejean pageant …
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/miss-universe…
Gay marriage heat on NH Gov. Lynch
PORTSMOUTH — Proponents and opponents of New Hampshire’s gay marriage bill have been out in force, taking to the airways, telephone lines and streets with the goal of persuading Gov. John Lynch to act on their point of view.
The House is expected this week to vote on a reconciliation of its version and the Senate version of the gay marriage bill, which was passed last week. But both sides said they expect no surprises in the House, leaving Lynch — who has said he opposes gay marriage — at the center of their efforts.
New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition sent volunteers out this past weekend to most of the major cities in the state, including Portsmouth, to gather signatures on a pro-marriage petition. Meanwhile, the National Organization for Marriage funded a $50,000 radio and television campaign aimed at persuading Lynch to remain strong to his commitments.
Mo Baxley, executive director of New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition, said volunteers with petitions fanned out Saturday and Sunday to Concord, Portsmouth, Keene, Plymouth and Manchester. In Portsmouth, volunteers were in Market Square and will remain there during the lunch hour this week. On Sunday, they were in front of South Church, the Unitarian church, gathering signatures from congregants.
The petition urges “the state of New Hampshire to allow same-sex couples to share fully in the rights, responsibilities and commitment of civil marriage.”
Baxley said the group gathered about 1,500 signatures over the weekend, which will be sent to Lynch after the House vote Wednesday, and Lynch will receive additional petitions “in waves” as they come in. Moreover, she said, supporters are also inundating the governor’s phone lines, making upward of 300 calls a day since the legislation passed the Senate.
See Gay marriage heat on Lynch
Seacoastonline.com – Portsmouth,NH,USA
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/gay-marriage-…
Miss California: The anti-gay-marriage martyr extends her 15 minutes
Last night, Miss California Carrie Prejean called into Fox News’ On the Record, hosted by Greta Van Susteren, to talk about her latest venture. You may have heard the news yesterday that Prejean is appearing in an ad for the National Organization for Marriage, the same group that created the much-mocked “Gathering Storm” spot earlier in April. Prejean’s claim to fame is her Q&A session with blogger Perez Hilton during the Miss USA pageant. Hilton asked her whether states should legalize gay marriage, and Prejean responded in the negative, saying she herself believes in “opposite marriage.” As my colleague Jennifer Armstrong pointed out, it was a brief soaring moment of journalistic clarity for Hilton. (Whereupon he immediately crashed back to earth by calling Prejean a “dumb b—-” on his video blog. Was the air too thin up on the high road, Perez?)
Prejean became an instant martyr to the anti-gay-marriage cause, claiming that she lost the Miss USA crown because of her views. Now, I’m all for freedom of speech (even for pageant contestants) and Miss Prejean should be able to announce any opinion on marriage, gay or “opposite,” that she wants. But after rereading the transcript of Prejean’s interview with Van Susteren again, I have to say: If you’re going to make her into an anti-gay-marriage Joan of Arc, shouldn’t she be better informed? When asked about her thoughts on civil unions or gay adoption or general rights for gay couples, it was obvious Prejean didn’t have any, even saying at one point “I will get back to you on that one.” The most she could offer beyond the “promoting marriage” boilerplate was “I think that people that are homosexual should have some rights, you know, hospital rights, and things like that.” (Gee, thanks.)
See videos & more of Miss California: The anti-gay-marriage martyr extends her 15 minutes Entertainment Weekly
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California’s Carrie Prejean Joins Movement Against Gay Marriage
When Miss California appeared Friday night on CNN (above), she insisted she wasn’t a poster girl for the movement against gay marriage—just a beauty pageant contestant answering a tough question.
But U.S. News Whisperer Paul Bedard reports that Carrie Prejean has now officially joined the movement. She’s coming to D.C. tomorrow to unveil a new ad by the National Organization for Marriage
that focuses on her Miss USA experience.
The National Organization for Marriage describes the ad this way:
“No Offense,” the next ad in NOM’s $1.5 million national ad campaign, will be previewed for the media. What happens when a young California beauty pageant contestant is asked “do you support same-sex marriage?” She is attacked viciously for having the courage to speak up for her truth and her values. But Carrie’s courage inspired a whole nation and a whole generation of young people because she chose to risk the Miss USA crown rather than be silent about her deepest moral values. “No Offense” calls gay marriage advocates to account for their unwillingness to debate the real issue: gay marriage has consequences.
The National Organization for Marriage’s first ad has gotten a lot of news attention: See California’s Carrie Prejean Joins Movement Against Gay Marriage
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/californias-c…
LGBTQ Student Rights in the Wake of Tragic Suicides
Statement from Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director of Lambda Legal:
“The tragic deaths of Jaheem Herrera and Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover underscore the importance of safe schools where harassment and violence based on racist, sexist, antigay or other biased attitudes are not tolerated. Unfortunately, there is much work to be done. Harassment of LGBTQ students and those perceived to be LGBT remains a serious problem across the country. Lambda Legal pledges to continue to stand up for students and hold schools accountable for preserving their rights and integrity. We applaud schools that stand up for safety and respect for all students because any student can be the target of LGBT-related bullying and harassment.
Lambda Legal will join the Faith and Community Alliance and other community groups at a vigil for Jaheem Herrera on Tuesday, April 28, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., First Christian Church of Decatur ,601 West Ponce de Leon Ave., Decatur, GA.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/lgbtq-student…
