NY Senate fails to put gay marriage to vote

(Albany, NY) After weeks of uncertainty and pleas for action by Gov. David Paterson, New York’s Senate failed to vote on a bill legalizing same-sex marriage during a special session Tuesday.

Advocates and opponents say the Senate lacked the 32 votes needed to approve the measure, which Paterson strongly supports and …

A political fight over the rights of same-sex…

A political fight over the rights of same-sex couples is drawing nearer in Washington State.

Backers of Referendum 71, who want to overturn a new state same-sex partnership law, have made an appointment to file signatures with state elections officials Saturday afternoon.

Saturday is the deadline to collect 120,577 valid voter signatures and qualify for the Nov. 3 state ballot.

Protect Marriage Washington is the primary backer of R-71. Gary Randall of the allied Faith and Freedom Network said by e-mail: “We are gathering and counting signatures. I think we are making good progress.”

Protect Marriage has raised just more than $20,000 for a campaign that so far has been waged mostly through churches. Randall said the group is not anti-gay but pro-marriage. The group wants voters to reject Senate Bill 5688, the “everything but marriage” legislation that passed this year and adds about 250 rights of marriage for registered same-sex partners in Washington.

Defenders of the new state law, who call themselves Washington Families Standing Together, say they are ready to defend the third round of rights lawmakers added since creating the partners registry in 2007.

See Washington State braces for battle over same-sex rights

MiamiHerald.com -

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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

Porterville Recorder

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RI senate passes gay funeral bill

Nevada governor follows through on threat to veto DP bill

CARSON CITY — As promised, Gov. Jim Gibbons on Monday vetoed the bill that would allow same- and opposite-sex couples to become legal domestic partners with many of the rights and privileges of married couples.

In his veto message, Gibbons said he rejected state Senate Bill 283 because it is contrary to the wishes of Nevada voters who in 2002 approved the Protection of Marriage constitutional amendment. That amendment stipulates a marriage may be between only a man and a woman.

But the governor said his veto should not be taken to mean he believes that “domestic partners are in any way undeserving of rights and protections.”

He said that on Saturday he signed a bill to prevent discrimination in public accommodations based on one’s sexual orientation.

“I am disappointed, but it wasn’t unexpected,” said state Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas, about the veto.

Parks, the bill’s sponsor, who is openly gay, said times have changed since the Protection of Marriage amendment, and some polls show strong public support for domestic partner legislation.

However, a Las Vegas Review-Journal poll conducted May 12-14 found that 50 percent of poll respondents opposed the proposal, with 38 percent favoring it and 12 percent undecided.

See * Nevada governor follows through on threat to veto DP bill
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New Hampshire gay marriage bill delayed

(Concord, New Hampshire) Revisions in marriage equality legislation demanded by New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch before he signed the bill were stonewalled in the House Wednesday, after passing in the Senate.
The original marriage bill passed the legislature earlier this month, but Lynch said he would veto it unless it offered …

Hawaii Senate kills civil unions bill

Marriage bill passes NH senate

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage passes the NH senate, goes on to Democratic governor.

Academy Award Winning Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black to Testify in Favor of Harvey Milk Day Bill

Sacramento–Dustin Lance Black, Academy Award winning screenwriter of the film Milk will testify before the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday in support of legislation establishing Harvey Milk Day in California. Senate Bill 572, sponsored by Equality California and authored by Sen. Mark Leno (D- San Francisco), creates a day of special significance on Milk’s birthday, May 22.

Harvey Milk, a former San Francisco City supervisor, was the first openly gay elected official of any large city in the United States, and only the third openly gay elected official in the nation. He and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated in San Francisco on November 27, 1978. His life was the subject of last year’s critically-acclaimed film Milk, for which both Black and actor Sean Penn received the Academy Award.

Equality California (EQCA) is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender-rights advocacy organization in California. In the past decade, EQCA has strategically moved California from a state with extremely limited legal protections for LGBT individuals to a state with some of the most comprehensive civil-rights protections in the nation. EQCA has passed over 50 pieces of legislation and continues to advance equality through legislative advocacy, public education and community empowerment. www.eqca.org

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Religious right not united in push to repeal benefits for gay couples

Religious conservatives across the state are divided over a new campaign to repeal legislation extending all the benefits of marriage — except the name — to gay and lesbian couples.

Conservative faith leaders on Monday followed through on an earlier pledge, filing a referendum to overturn Senate Bill 5688, which extends to same-sex couples all the state-given benefits of marriage previously reserved for opposite-sex couples.

But some prominent religious conservatives are not on board with the campaign, saying the timing is all wrong, given the state of the economy.

The referendum’s backers — a network of Catholic, Protestant and Mormon organizations with some 100,000 constituents — can’t begin gathering the 120,500 signatures necessary to qualify the measure for the November ballot until the governor has signed the bill into law. That should happen within two weeks.

Gary Randall, executive director of the Faith and Freedom Network, which is leading the coalition of bill opponents, said he feels they have a good shot at getting their numbers.

“There’s a broad coalition of organizations involved with us,” Randall said. “We’re not assuming everyone will be on board, but conservatively there are 100,000 people involved in those organizations. So, based on that, I think the chances are pretty good.”

See Religious right not united in push to repeal benefits for gay couples

Seattle Times