It's a start, jcboy. It's a start!
Eva wrote:It's a start, jcboy. It's a start!
I predict two years for full marriage equality in the U.S.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) is being called out for making homophobic remarks in front of hundreds of realtors at a meeting of The Alabama Association of Realtors in Montgomery, AL.com reports:
M_rogers"At the Board of Directors meeting this morning one of our speakers made some remarks that were inappropriate and offensive to some of our members," the statement said. "Those remarks are not reflective of AAR or our policies. Moving forward we will endeavor to prevent such inappropriate remarks at our events or meetings."
Barry Mask, executive director of the realtors association, declined any additional comment.
In the open letter to Rogers, Equality Alabama Chairman Ben Cooper wrote, "when you marginalize our community, we will not be silent."
“You allegedly joked about how nice it was to be called ‘Honey’ and ‘Sweetie’ by a woman at an Alabama restaurant rather than a D.C. men’s room,” Cooper wrote. “And you went on to mock our nation’s capitol as a ‘cross between Detroit and San Francisco’ — an obvious reference to Detroit’s racial makeup and San Francisco’s vibrant gay culture. Comments like these are racist, homophobic, and hurtful, and they will not be tolerated.”
Rogers has been invited by the LGBT rights group to a Feb. 16 Vigil for Victims of Hate and Violence at the State Capitol. We'll see if he attends.
EDINBURGH, Scotland — Scotland becomes the 17th country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, after the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday passed the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill by an overwhelming majority.
105 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) voted in favor, 18 objected and 0 abstained.
Five last minute amendments putting limits on the Marriage Equality bill, by Christian MSP John Mason, were rejected.
Secretary for Health and Well Being, Alex Neil, stated during the vote: “Scotland is a nation that cherishes love. I commend this bill to the chamber, and invite MSPs to support it.”
The first same-sex marriages are now expected to take place later this year after the Scottish Government pledged to speed up the implementation of the Bill.
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder is set to announce Saturday night that the Justice Department will do all it can “to ensure that same-sex marriages receive the same privileges, protections, and rights as opposite-sex marriages under federal law.”
“On Monday, the Justice Department will issue a new policy memorandum that will – for the first time in history – formally instruct all Department employees to give lawful same-sex marriages full and equal recognition, to the greatest extent possible under the law,” Holder is due to tell members and supports of the Human Rights Campaign at a fundraising dinner in New York City Saturday night.
The formal announcement follows advice given by the Justice Department in the months since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the Defense of Marriage Act’s ban on the federal government recognizing same-sex couples’ marriages.
Among the changes to result from this policy announcement, according to Holder’s prepared remarks provided by the Justice Department:
The Family Foundation has announced that it intends to embark on a hunger strike against marriage equality from Aug. 27 through Oct. 5.
For those counting, that's 40 days.
The Virginia-based conservative Christian organization is calling the fast "40 Days of Prayer, Fasting and Repentance for Marriage."
According to a statement released on the group's website:
Our state and nation are mired in a morass of confusion and post-modern thinking that does not believe in absolutes nor that any truth can even be known. Nowhere is this more evident than in the current debate raging about what constitutes marriage. Pagan philosophies, a secular humanist education establishment and an entertainment industry that is absolutely determined in pushing the envelope on decency and morality have all combined to turn this great land into a country that our forefathers could not even begin to recognize.
On April 11, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring stated his belief that same-sex couples should have the same right to marry as interracial couples, and gave his support to uphold a Federal court ruling that declared Virginia's gay marriage ban unconstitutional.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the arguments on May 13. On that same day, The Family Foundation intends to conduct a "Stand & Pray" outside the Richmond Courthouse.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Saturday he supports allowing same-sex couples to wed but will continue defending his state’s 2004 ban on gay marriages in court.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday struck down Oregon's voter-approved ban on gay marriage, saying it is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Michael McShane said the ban unconstitutionally discriminates against same-sex couples and ordered the state not to enforce it. State officials earlier refused to defend the constitutional ban in court.
McShane joined judges in seven other states who have struck down gay marriage bans, though appeals are underway.
Oregon state officials have said they'd be prepared to carry out same-sex marriages almost immediately, and couples lined up outside the county clerk's office in Portland in anticipation of the McShane's decision.
Laurie Brown and Julie Engbloom arrived early Monday at the Multnomah County Building to form the line for marriage licenses. The two have been a couple for 10 years. Engbloom proposed in April, when they celebrated their anniversary by climbing Smith Rock in Central Oregon.
"We always knew we wanted to spend our whole life together," Brown said. "This opportunity has come, it feels right, everything has fallen into place."
Four gay and lesbian couples brought the Oregon cases, arguing the state's marriage laws unconstitutionally discriminate against them and exclude them from a fundamental right to marriage.
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Harrisburg, Pa., has struck down Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriage, the second such ruling this week by a federal court and the 14th consecutive ruling in favor of marriage equality.
U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III issued the ruling in a case filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and and the ACLU of Pennsylvania, on behalf on a widow, 11 same-sex couples, and one of the couples’ two teenage daughters, calling them “courageous.”
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said the law inflicts harm on same-sex couples and their children by depriving them of the legal protections and tax benefits afforded to married couples.
“We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history,” Jones wrote of the 1996 state ban:
