NJ gay couples: We’ll fight for same-sex marriage
(Trenton, NJ) The ceremony was going to be at their home. Along with friends and family, Marty Finkle and Mike Plake were going to invite their state lawmakers who helped them win the right to be married
Last Thursday, their wedding – never scheduled but certainly anticipated – was postponed indefinitely …
Congressional Race in California Draws a High-Profile Cast
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — With competitive races in Congress a rarity in California, the unexpected availability of a seat here has set off a sudden and furious chase, with at least a dozen candidates and a mélange of political styles and personal storylines.
California’s 10th Congressional District, a sprawling inkblot made up of a collection of suburbs east of San Francisco, has been represented since 1997 by Ellen O. Tauscher, a Democrat who resigned after being confirmed on June 25 to a top post in the State Department.
The field to succeed her includes the lieutenant governor, two state lawmakers, a decorated Iraqi war veteran who is openly gay and a former newspaper reporter. And that does not even include the Republican candidates in this Democratic-leaning district.
The crush of hopefuls, said Henry Brady, a professor and dean of the public policy school at University of California, Berkeley, might stem in part from the diversity of the district, which extends from the liberal Bay Area to more conservative territory inland.
“These seats don’t come available very much, and the reason is very simple: geography,” Dr. Brady said. “The Democrats are primarily on the coast, and the Republicans are in the Central Valley and the mountains, so it’s very hard to build a competitive district. But this has the potential to be one.”
The lieutenant governor, John Garamendi, is considered the early favorite to replace Ms. Tauscher. Mr. Garamendi, a Democrat who had considered running for governor next year, said he opted instead for Congress in large part because of the abbreviated campaign. A primary, followed by a special election, to complete Ms. Tauscher’s term must be held within 126 days of the governor setting the date. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation Friday declaring Nov. 3 the date for the special election.
“I thought, How am I going to spend two valuable years of my life?” said Mr. Garamendi, 64, who previously served as the deputy secretary of interior in the Clinton administration as well as the California’s first elected insurance commissioner. “Am I going spend two years dialing for dollars, or am I going to spend four months out ringing doorbells and campaigning person to person and the other 20 months working on issues?”
Mr. Garamendi’s principal challengers among the Democrats, some polls show, are State Senator Mark James DeSaulnier and Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan. Both were elected to their current posts last fall.
Mr. DeSaulnier, 57, is a former mayor, city councilman and assemblyman, who says his career comes in spite a devastating personal experience with politics: a scandal involving his father, Judge Edward J. DeSaulnier Jr., who was removed from the bench of the Massachusetts Superior Court and disbarred in 1972 after being accused of rigging a sentence for the Mafia. The older Mr. DeSaulnier was never charged with a crime but was disgraced nonetheless and committed suicide in 1989.
“I’ve been very affected by my father’s journey,” said Mr. DeSaulnier, who worked as a restaurateur before running for office. “And I’ve loved my public life.”
The rest of the Democratic field is not as well known, though one candidate has attracted some national attention: Anthony Woods, a 28-year-old graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and a veteran of the Iraq war who was awarded the Bronze Star for two tours of duty. Shortly after his return from combat, while at Harvard working toward his master’s degree, Captain Woods told military superiors that he is gay, resulting in an honorable discharge.
While considered a long shot for the Congressional seat, Mr. Woods would be the first openly gay black man in Congress, though he has been careful on the campaign trail to trumpet more than his sexuality.
“The first thing I talk to voters about is their priorities, universal health care and economic security,” he said. “I’m not hiding who I am, but they’re just as interested in talking about the issues as I am.”
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New York Times
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Delaware is 21st state to pass lesbian-gay bias law
Dover, Delaware–State lawmakers sent a sexual orientation nondiscrimination bill to the governor on June 25, passing it through both houses of the legislature in only an hour.
The House passed the measure at 8:30 pm, shortly after the Senate passed an identical bill. In previous legislative sessions, the Senate killed the bill.
Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, one of the bill’s champions, said that Gov. Jack Markell had expressed support for the measure
When Markell signs it, Delaware will become the 21st state with such a law. But, unlike seven similar state laws passed since 2002, Delaware’s does not include gender identity.
See Delaware is 21st state to pass lesbian-gay bias law
Gay People Chronicle
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Iowa’s GOP Lawmakers Take Aim at Gay Marriage
Opponents of the Iowa Supreme Court ruling last week allowing same-sex marriages said Friday that they would step up pressure on state lawmakers to block the marriages through a constitutional amendment and predicted political fallout for Democratic state leaders, including Gov. Chet Culver, if they did not join the opposition.
“This isn’t over, not even for this year,” said Bryan English, a spokesman for the Iowa Family Policy Center, which encouraged hundreds of opponents of same-sex marriages to meet and pray outside the State Capitol in Des Moines this week, and plans a similar rally next week. “Everyday folks who get up and go to work were shocked at what happened here, and it’s really gotten people activated.”
Since the court ruled unanimously on April 3 that an Iowa law banning the marriages was unconstitutional, opponents have been searching for a way to begin the process of amending the state’s Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
Because, under Iowa law, that process would take two legislative sessions, however, even opponents acknowledge that nothing now seems likely to prevent Iowa from beginning to allow such marriages on April 27 after the ruling becomes final.
Still, inside the Capitol on Thursday, where supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage packed the gallery, Republican representatives twice tried to bring up a constitutional amendment on marriage. Democrats, who control both chambers, cited violations of House procedures in blocking the efforts.
See Iowa’s GOP Lawmakers Take Aim at Gay Marriage
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Report: Support wavering for vote on civil unions in Hawaii
(Honolulu, Hawaii) The drive to make Hawaii the fifth state in the country to allow same-sex civil unions is on the verge of failing, despite support from most state lawmakers.
Senate leaders had planned a vote before the full Senate as early as Tuesday, but deep divisions have emerged over whether …
Support for Hawaii civil union vote wavering – as usual (why do we keep traveling there?)
The drive to make Hawaii the fifth state in the country to allow same-sex civil unions is on the verge of failing, despite support from most state lawmakers.
Senate leaders had planned a vote before the full Senate as early as Tuesday, but deep divisions have emerged over whether Democrats should take an extraordinary legislative step to revive the measure after a tie committee vote.
A tie vote in committee usually is enough to kill a measure, but the bill could advance under a rarely used provision of the Hawaii Constitution if more than one-third of senators approve.
The Democratic leadership wants more than half the Senate to agree to put the bill before the full Senate. Some rank-and-file senators who support the bill, however, are unwilling to circumvent the normal legislative process.
The measure already has passed the Hawaii House.
Lawmakers’ hesitation comes after more than 6,000 opponents, most of them from religious groups, rallied against the legislation Feb. 22 at the state Capitol. Civil union supporters planned their own event at the Capitol on Saturday.
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Gay marriage supporters hand out Valentines
About a dozen gay and lesbian couples came to the Statehouse today to talk about why they think they should be allowed to legally marry in Maine.
And, they handed out Valentines to state lawmakers as they made their way into the morning session.
“Our stories, our lives, our love and our commitment to each other are what is truly at the heart of marriage in Maine,” said Jill Barkley of Portland who spoke with her partner, Diane Hitchcock, at her side. “Being able to legally commit to one another as spouses will secure our life together and provide added protection for our future family.”
The Maine Freedom to Marry Coalition is lobbying legislators to support a bill sponsored by Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton, who is sponsoring a bill to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in Maine.
Opponents of the measure will gather at St. Paul Center in Augusta from 3-5 p.m. today for a talk called “Ramifications of Genderless Marriage in Maine.” That talk is sponsored by the Maine Coalition of Concerned Families.
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Central Maine Morning Sentinel – Augusta,ME,USA
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Gay marriage supporters hand out Valentines
About a dozen gay and lesbian couples came to the Statehouse today to talk about why they think they should be allowed to legally marry in Maine.
And, they handed out Valentines to state lawmakers as they made their way into the morning session.
“Our stories, our lives, our love and our commitment to each other are what is truly at the heart of marriage in Maine,” said Jill Barkley of Portland who spoke with her partner, Diane Hitchcock, at her side. “Being able to legally commit to one another as spouses will secure our life together and provide added protection for our future family.”
The Maine Freedom to Marry Coalition is lobbying legislators to support a bill sponsored by Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton, who is sponsoring a bill to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in Maine.
Opponents of the measure will gather at St. Paul Center in Augusta from 3-5 p.m. today for a talk called “Ramifications of Genderless Marriage in Maine.” That talk is sponsored by the Maine Coalition of Concerned Families.
See Gay marriage supporters hand out Valentines
Central Maine Morning Sentinel – Augusta,ME,USA
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Another gay-rights bill goes down in Utah
Another Common Ground gay-rights bill has died. But this one wasn’t killed by opposing state lawmakers.
This measure was done in by the sponsor herself.
Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake City, decided Friday to pull her bill, which would have sought voter approval to repeal the second part of Utah’s constitutional gay-marriage ban (known as Amendment 3) to avoid confusion about which protections are the legal equivalent of marriage.
“I believe the second clause of Amendment 3 has been misconstrued by many and will continue to be a stumbling block for reasonable policies in the future,” Biskupski said in a news release from Common Ground Initiative backer Equality Utah.
“However, I believe that the other Common Ground bills have broader support and cannot be construed as having anything to do with marriage. “By pulling this bill,” she continued, “we hope to make a good-faith effort to demonstrate that the protections we’re talking about have nothing to do with marriage and in no way conflict with Amendment 3.”
Some feared Biskupski’s bill was a move to pave the way for civil unions, which recent polls show Utahns overwhelmingly oppose. “By dumping that bill, we are bringing attention to the most important items on our legislative agenda,” said Mike Thompson, executive director of Equality Utah, items that he says most Utahns favor.
See Legislature: Another gay-rights bill goes down
Salt Lake Tribune
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Utahns backing gay rights
While Utahns aren’t ready to let gay and lesbian couples exchange wedding vows or enter civil unions, most are willing to give them broader legal rights to inherit property, visit a partner in the hospital and ward off employment discrimination.
A Salt Lake Tribune poll finds that 56 percent of Utah voters support increased legal protections for same-sex couples — a potential boon for Democratic state lawmakers who intend to introduce a package of gay-rights bills this legislative session.
However, the poll shows overwhelming opposition (70 percent) to any changes to the Utah Constitution that would allow same-sex partners to enter civil unions. Utahns, 54 percent of them, also are wary of letting unmarried couples, including gay and lesbian partners, adopt or foster children.
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