ENDA activists avoid prison time
Four lesbian activists who earned the nickname “the ENDA 4” for staging a protest – and getting arrested – at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Washington, D.C., office will not face any prison time, a judge ruled Tuesday.
ENDA is the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that has been held up in a House committee since last year. The activists want the bill to come to a House vote.
While the charges against the group were dropped, the four women affiliated with the gay advocacy group Get Equal [1] were ordered to stay away from Pelosi’s office for the next six months, according to Metro Weekly [2].
[3]
In addition, the women – Chastity Kirven, Janine Carmona, Michelle Wright and Samantha Ames – are barred from engaging in “disruptive behavior” around the Capitol for the next six months.
Ames and Carmona, who are both D.C. residents, also must perform 60 hours of community service. The other two are exempt from community service because they live outside the District.
Claire Morris Clark, the attorney representing the ENDA 4, told Metro Weekly, “This is a very good outcome.”
[1] http://getequal.org/
[2] http://www.metroweekly.com/news/?ak=5054
[3] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/news-rainbow-gay-flag-top.jpg
‘This Is a Question of Fairness’ – NY Times Editorial
It is by no means a fast and easy path, but the cause of same-sex marriage is moving forward — proof that justice can triumph over wedge politics and prejudice. It happened this week in Maine and New Hampshire, where both states’ legislatures voted to legalize same-sex marriage and promptly put the final say to their governors.
In New Hampshire, Gov. John Lynch — who previously defined marriage as strictly between a man and a woman — promised his “best decision” after consulting lawmakers and constituents. Mr. Lynch would be wise also to consult his neighbor in Maine, Gov. John Baldacci, who signed his state’s same-sex marriage bill. He previously had opposed the idea, with the familiar hedge of supporting the half-step of civil unions.
Mr. Baldacci described his change of heart — and what we hope is the changing sentiment of many other American politicians. “I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage,” he said. Precisely.
Maine was the fifth state to legalize same-sex marriage. We urge Mr. Lynch to make New Hampshire the sixth. Similar proposals are pending in other states, with a major debate expected in the New York Legislature.
This week, the City Council of the District of Columbia took a preliminary step, voting 12 to 1, to recognize marriages between gay people certified in other states. A fuller debate is anticipated on a proposal to legalize same-sex unions. Unfortunately, there already are calls for Congress to once more tread on home rule and block this progress in the nation’s capital.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is right to caution against such grandstanding. Governor Baldacci heard the people speak. Congress should listen. See ‘This Is a Question of Fairness’
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/this-is-quest…
Opponents of DC Gay Marriage Bill Hope Congress Intervenes
And they have allies on Capitol Hill, which has thirty days to review the matter before it becomes law. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she supports the measure and wants Congress to stay out of it. But conservatives lawmakers hope to force a vote on the bill.
“I think we should be allowed to express each of our opinions,” Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz said. “I happen to represent what I think is the majority opinion, which is marriage should be defined as between one man and one woman.”
Yet for some long-time activists, who own a gay bookstore in the District, the pastors and conservatives are wrong.
“”We are, as far as we’re concerned, married 100 percent for life,” said Deacon MacCubbin, owner of Lambda Rising Bookstore. “That’s the way it is. And yet, there are people that want to stand between him and I in those personal, private matters. See Opponents of DC Gay Marriage Bill Hope Congress Intervenes
News Channel 8 – Washington,DC,USA
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/opponents-of-…
Early treatment for HIV act reintroduced
(Washington) A bipartisan bill that advocates say will save lives by allowing states to provide Medicaid coverage to low-income, HIV-positive Americans has been reintroduced in Congress.
The bill was filed by Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and currently has 44 co-sponsors. A similar …
