Category: Uncategorized

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New Jersey: Possible marriage equality override vote being planned

New Jersey’s legislature is planning votes in both the Senate and Assembly to override Chris Christie’s February 2012 veto of a marriage equality bill that passed both houses there:

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, an openly gay lawmaker who sponsored the bill in the Assembly, said he met with both Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald and both men were committed to putting the bill up for an override. The bill did not pass in either house with enough votes to override the governor’s action, but gay rights advocates have been working the phones for a year trying to turn lawmakers in their favor.

The bill passed 24-16 in the Senate and 42-33 in the Assembly. In the Senate, three additional votes are needed to pass an override, while in the Assembly an additional 12 are needed for the two-thirds majority required to override.

“I think we can get the three in the Senate,” he said. “But the Assembly is a different story. I can name five who might switch their vote, but it stops there.”

Sweeney says he would like the override vote to happen after the June primaries so that Republicans would feel safer from retribution from ultra-conservative voters.

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Tim Tebow cancels speech at First Baptist Church of Dallas

Tim Tebow has cancelled his much ballyhooed April appearance at the First Baptist Church of Dallas.

Tebow tweeted:

While I was looking forward to sharing a message of hope and Christ’s unconditional love with the faithful members of the historic…First Baptist Church of Dallas in April, due to new information that has been brought to my attention, I have decided to cancel my upcoming appearance. I will continue to use the platform God has blessed me with to bring Faith, Hope and Love to all those needing a brighter day. Thank you for all of your love and support. God Bless!

From JoeMyGod: “Stand by for the howls of outrage as this is clearly the result of homofascism. Either that or Tebow is now aware that First Baptist Pastor Robert Jeffress has said that all Jews and Mormons will go to hell and that Satan runs the Catholic Church.”

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This is how DOMA impacts gay and lesbian service members

Marine Corps. Captain Matthew Phelps made history when he became the first gay man to ask his partner, Ben Schock, to marry him at the White House.

The Center for American Progress and OutServe/SLDN profile the soon-to-be-married couple in a video highlighting the financial struggles they’ll incur because of DOMA:

As long as DOMA remains in effect and the cost of his moving is taken into consideration, Capt. Phelps may expect to receive about $20,000 less in benefits and allowances than the other married servicemen that he serves beside.

(via Towleroad)

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Gov. Huntsman: “All Americans should be treated equally under the law”

Wow. This is pretty amazing AND important.

In an article for the American Conservative, former Utah governor and presidential candidate Jon Huntsman writes that “the marketplace of ideas will render us irrelevant, and soon, if we are not honest about our time and place in history.” Huntsman underscores the importance of Republicans to embrace marriage equality:

While serving as governor of Utah, I pushed for civil unions and expanded reciprocal benefits for gay citizens. I did so not because of political pressure—indeed, at the time 70 percent of Utahns were opposed—but because as governor my role was to work for everybody, even those who didn’t have access to a powerful lobby. Civil unions, I believed, were a practical step that would bring all citizens more fully into the fabric of a state they already were—and always had been—a part of.

That was four years ago. Today we have an opportunity to do more: conservatives should start to lead again and push their states to join the nine others that allow all their citizens to marry. I’ve been married for 29 years. My marriage has been the greatest joy of my life. There is nothing conservative about denying other Americans the ability to forge that same relationship with the person they love.

All Americans should be treated equally by the law, whether they marry in a church, another religious institution, or a town hall. This does not mean that any religious group would be forced by the state to recognize relationships that run counter to their conscience. Civil equality is compatible with, and indeed promotes, freedom of conscience.

I often write that I’m in many ways a moderate Democrat. I like to see compromise on some issues and see the government come together to solve problems. That’s why I can’t get behind a GOP candidate that runs far to the right of the political spectrum to get their party’s votes and then try to pretend they represent me.

That being said, Gov. Huntsman showed himself to be a fair, smart and moderate Republican in the last campaign cycle that when I watched and listened to him, I thought – “if I had to have a Republican president, I could deal with this guy.” Of course, he wasn’t nearly “far right” enough for the GOP and he had to drop out of the race. Mittens got the nod, and the rest is history.

I think Gov. Huntsman is being honest with his party about marriage equality. It is the law of the land in many states now, with more to follow. This is the course of history.

Time to get with it, GOP kids. Or soon you could be as outdated as the KKK.