Paterson Vows Vote on Gay Marriage Before Break
ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson said in an interview Sunday night that he would make sure that the State Senate votes on same sex-marriage legislation before it breaks for the summer, hours after he and his administration had refused to commit to forcing a vote on the issue.
The development came as the governor announced plans to call the Senate to a special session on Tuesday, after trying unsuccessfully for two weeks to broker a compromise in a leadership battle that has deadlocked the chamber. But Mr. Paterson dismayed gay rights groups in his comments at a news conference early Sunday afternoon, when he said same-sex marriage would not be on the special session’s agenda.
“It has always been my intention to see same-sex marriage come to the floor,” he said, adding, “I don’t want there to be any confusion.”
See Paterson Vows Vote on Gay Marriage Before Break
New York Times
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In Ozarks, Gay PrideFest Met With Protest
A festival meant to celebrate the gay and lesbian communities in the Ozarks was met with mixed opinions Sunday afternoon.
The local chapter of the National Socialist Movement made their opnions heard at Pridefest. Leaders with the Socialist movement say gays and lesbians are not welcome in Springfield. The Minutemen United stood just to the side of the celebration.
They say they were praying for God to lift up the homosexual community.
“We love them so much that we want their soul in heaven for eternity. That’s the greatest live that there is so we want to see that they get there. I think they’ve kind of mis guided in this situation. The people aren’t here to be saved and taken cae of. They’re here to enjoy an aspect of their lifestyle that they enjoy.” said Dr. Gregory Thompson. See Gay PrideFest Met With Protest
Ozarks First
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Moscow’s mayor tried to crush the city’s gay pride parade. In doing so, he did the cause of gay rights in Russia a huge service Russian gay rights …
Russian gay rights campaigners are toasting Moscow’s homophobic mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, after he ordered the banning and violent suppression of last Saturday’s Slavic gay pride parade in the Russian capital – just hours before the Eurovision song contest was staged in the city.
“Luzhkov has done more than anyone to publicise gay rights in Russia,” beamed Nikolai Alekseev, the gay parade organiser, as we chatted on Sunday afternoon following his release from nearly 24 hours of police detention:
By stopping the gay parade he has provoked massive media coverage of our fight against homophobia. The Russian media has been full of reports about gay issues for the last week. This has hugely increased public awareness and understanding of gay people.
Slowly, we are eroding homophobic attitudes. Through this media visibility, we are helping to normalise queer existence. After our successive gay protests in Moscow since 2006, people are less shocked about homosexuality. We have a long way to go, but gradually we are winning hearts and minds, especially among younger Russians.
We ought to give Luzhkov an award. His violation of our right to protest has given us a remarkable platform, with day-after-day of publicity about lesbian gay human rights. It is the equivalent of about 200m roubles (£4m pounds) in free advertising.
AfteSee Thank you Mayor Luzhkov
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Moscow’s mayor tried to crush the city’s gay pride parade. In doing so, he did the cause of gay rights in Russia a huge service Russian gay rights …
Russian gay rights campaigners are toasting Moscow’s homophobic mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, after he ordered the banning and violent suppression of last Saturday’s Slavic gay pride parade in the Russian capital – just hours before the Eurovision song contest was staged in the city.
“Luzhkov has done more than anyone to publicise gay rights in Russia,” beamed Nikolai Alekseev, the gay parade organiser, as we chatted on Sunday afternoon following his release from nearly 24 hours of police detention:
By stopping the gay parade he has provoked massive media coverage of our fight against homophobia. The Russian media has been full of reports about gay issues for the last week. This has hugely increased public awareness and understanding of gay people.
Slowly, we are eroding homophobic attitudes. Through this media visibility, we are helping to normalise queer existence. After our successive gay protests in Moscow since 2006, people are less shocked about homosexuality. We have a long way to go, but gradually we are winning hearts and minds, especially among younger Russians.
We ought to give Luzhkov an award. His violation of our right to protest has given us a remarkable platform, with day-after-day of publicity about lesbian gay human rights. It is the equivalent of about 200m roubles (£4m pounds) in free advertising.
AfteSee Thank you Mayor Luzhkov
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/moscows-mayor…
Minnesota gay couples head to Iowa to get married
Ten gay couples from Minnesota boarded a bus headed for Davenport, Iowa Sunday afternoon, so that they could make a legal trip down the aisle.
“If I have to go to Iowa first because that’s the first opportunity I have, then I am going to take it,” said Johnny Hedgepeth, one of the men getting married.
The couples are all congregants of All God’s Children Church in South Minneapolis.
Once Hedgepeth and his partner, Kenn Anderson cross the border back into Minnesota Tuesday, however, their marriage will no longer be recognized.
“I say whereever you are married, you are married and the law will just have to catch up with reality,” Hedgepeth said.
Minnesota law may catch up to Iowa in the next few years, according to gay marriage opponent Tom Prichard. See Minnesota gay couples head to Iowa to get married
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/minnesota-gay…
National Equality Rally at Independence Hall March for Equality on Independence Mall Sunday, May 3, 2009
PHILADELPHIA, PA — The National Park Service (NPS) has issued a First Amendment permit for a National Equality Rally at Independence Hall on Sunday afternoon, May 3, 2009 at Independence National Historical Park.
The goals of the National Equality Rally are:
– Passage of trans-inclusive hate crimes legislation and the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)
– Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA)
– Support for GLBT health issues
– Equal benefits for same-sex families
– Same-sex marriage Equality
Regional, state and national organizations, people of color, progressive religious institutions, high school and college GSAs, and straight ally organizations will be represented as Co-Organizers. Over 100 organizations from across the nation will March for Equality on Independence Mall.
Leaders will carry their organization’s name on pole-mounted placards. Activists, participants and straight allies will be offered American and rainbow flags. After completion of the March for Equality, activists, organizations, and allies will fill in Independence Mall for a one-hour high-impact Rally.
Gay Pioneers Frank Kameny and Lilli Vincenz will lead grassroots activists, organizations, and straight allies in the March for Equality on Independence Mall from the National Constitution Center to Independence Hall.
The Rainbow Chorale of Delaware will open the Rally with a choral tribute, and 100 members of the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, Anna Crusis Women’s Choir and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia will sing a special rendition of “America the Beautiful” to end the Rally.
The Philadelphia Freedom Band and members of the national Lesbian and Gay Band Association will join the March for Equality on Independence Mall. The Lesbian and Gay Band Association marched in President Obama’s Inaugural Parade. There will be participants from the New York Big Apple Corps, D.C.’s Different Drummers, North Carolina Pride Band, and Flamingo Freedom Band of South Florida, among others, marching past the Liberty Bell Center and the Gay Pioneers Historic Marker to Independence Hall.
Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are where the Gay Pioneers held the first organized gay and lesbian civil rights demonstrations called “Annual Reminders” each Fourth of July from 1965 to 1969. The Annual Reminders laid the groundwork for the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and the first New York Pride Parade in 1970.
“Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are where the movement was launched. With a new Congress and a President who describes himself as a ‘fierce advocate’ of our civil rights, it is the right moment for us to join hands at an iconic location to demand Equality,” stated Malcolm Lazin, Executive Director of Equality Forum.
Equality Forum is a national and international GLBT civil rights organization with an educational focus. The National Equality Rally at Independence Hall will be held on the concluding day of Equality Forum 2009 (April 27 to May 3), the largest and premiere annual national and international GLBT civil rights forum.
For more information about the National Equality Rally at Independence Hall, visit www.nationalequalityrally.org. For more information on gay-friendly Philadelphia or to book a hotel stay, visit the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation’s website at www.gophila.com/gay.
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Robinson Invocation Supposed to Be Included in HBO Broadcast
Crowds attending the concert at the Lincoln Memorial
(AFP/Robyn Beck)
Late last night AfterElton.com reported that HBO, which had broadcast The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial Sunday afternoon — a
concert organized by the Presidential Inauguration Committee to start the inauguration festivities — said they were not to blame for …
