A group of gay skiers plan to resume their trips to Park City in 2010, saying the ill will between gays and Utah stemming from California’s gay-marriage ballot measure will likely have subsided by next year.

Next year’s Utah Gay & Lesbian Ski Week is tentatively scheduled Jan. 6-10. An Internet site indicates the skiers plan to visit each of the three local resorts, hold cocktail and social hours and have a party. A dinner is scheduled at the Wasatch Brew Pub.

The 2010 event is scheduled one year after organizers were forced to cancel this year’s annual visit.

They said few gay skiers signed up for the 2009 trip because they were unhappy with the role The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints played in the passage of Proposition 8, the California ballot measure. After Election Day, gays and their supporters called for a boycott of Utah. This year’s trip would have been the ninth consecutive year visiting Park City.

One of the organizers, John Harriott, a bisexual who lives in West Hollywood, Calif., said there remains a possibility of the 2010 event being canceled. He said, though, there is a three-in-four chance that it will be held. A decision will not be finalized until early December.

Much depends on the political climate by early 2010, he said. Similar boycotts typically do not last longer than a year, he said.

“I have a feeling this will be a lot of water under the bridge,” he said, adding, “I have a feeling Prop. 8 will be a distant memory by next year.”

California courts are expected to consider the validity of the ballot measure in 2009, likely shifting some of the emotions from Utah to the state where Proposition 8 passed.

 See Gay skiers want to return to Park City
Park Record, UT

This video will break your heart.

And Ken Starr is to blame.

Yes, THAT Ken Starr. The prosecutor who led the campaign to impeach President Bill Clinton has filed a legal brief — on behalf of the “Yes on 8″ campaign — that would forcibly divorce the 18,000 same-sex couples married in California last year before the passage of Prop 8.

News broke Tuesday that the state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on March 5, and will then make a decision within 90 days on the validity of Prop 8 and these 18,000 marriages.

When Starr’s legal brief went public in December, the Courage Campaign immediately launched the “Don’t Divorce…” campaign, asking our members to send us pictures with a simple message for Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund.

Those pictures, and the heartfelt messages on them, inspired blogger Paul Delehanty (also known as “kid oakland”) to send us a suggestion: Would Regina Spektor allow us to put your pictures to the words and music of her hit song “Fidelity”? So, we asked her and she said yes, very enthusiastically.

Regina Spektor’s song, in concert with your pictures, shines a beautiful light on the 18,000 couples that Ken Starr wants to forcibly divorce.

Click here to watch “Fidelity,” the heartbreaking music video inspired by your pictures and words, and then tell the Supreme Court not to divorce 18,000 California couples. Tell the Court to invalidate Prop 8, reject Ken Starr’s case, and let loving, committed couples marry. DEADLINE: Valentine’s Day:

Everyone who cares about marriage equality needs to spread the word that this isn’t just a court case.

The lives of your spouses, your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers and your family members hang in the balance.

Please watch this video and then, if you feel as we do, please share it with your friends. The more people that see this video, the more people will understand the pain caused by Prop 8 and Ken Starr’s shameful legal proceeding:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/Divorce

Thank you to the amazing people who sent us these wonderful pictures. Thank you to Paul for his inspired idea and Regina for her beautiful song. And thank you for taking action to support the love of 18,000 couples across California.

Rick Jacobs
Chair

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Courage Campaign Issues is part of the Courage Campaign’s online organizing network that empowers nearly 400,000 grassroots and netroots activists to push for progressive change in California. 

There is distinct frustration in the voices of Iowa social conservatives as they talk about the possibility of the Iowa Supreme Court striking down the state’s 1998 Defense of Marriage Act and allowing same-sex couples to wed.

On Tuesday morning, the court heard oral arguments in the case of Varnum v. Brien. The case, filed initially by six same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses by Timothy J. Brien, the Polk County Recorder, was given summary judgment in Iowa District Court in August 2007. Although the lower court’s decision was placed on hold pending the appeal to the high state court, one same-sex couple was able to quickly maneuver through the marriage process. The fate and validity of that marriage now hinges on the ruling from this appeal.

 See Social conservatives worry about ‘activist’ justices in gay …
Iowa Independent – Des Moines,IA,USA