Tag: gay marriage

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New Zealand: Marriage equality bill moves forward in Parliament

From the New Zealand Herald:

The Government Administration Committee said the private member’s bill should progress, but with an amendment to make it clear that no minister was obliged to marry someone against their own beliefs.

The committee report said: “The bill seeks to extend the legal right to marry to same-sex couples; it does not seek to interfere with people’s religious freedoms.”

The Marriage Act would be amended to put beyond doubt that no celebrant recognised by a religious body or nominated by an approved organisation would have to marry a couple if it meant contravening their own, or the organisation’s beliefs…

The report also said that a majority of the select committee agreed that marriage was a human right, and that it was unacceptable for the state to deny this right to same-sex couples.

The Campaign for Marriage Equality says the report “sends a clear message that New Zealand is ready for marriage equality”.

“It is a ringing endorsement of love, fairness, family, and for the equal treatment of all Kiwis before the law,” campaign spokesman Conrad Reyners said.

The bill passed by an 80-40 vote.

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Illinois: state House committee votes 6-5 in favor of marriage equality

One more step and Illinois could celebrate marriage equality as law in the land of Lincoln.

From Chicago Phoenix:

The Illinois House Executive Committee voted 6-5 to approve a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage Tuesday evening, sending the bill to a vote in the full House chamber, the bill’s last hurdle before becoming law.

“This is a wonderful moment for the State of Illinois,” said Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), the bill’s chief sponsor in the House, moments after the committee victory.

“I look forward to a successful vote in the full House,” he said.

Illinois would join nine other states that have legalized same-sex marriage – Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Connecticut, Vermont, Washington, New Hampshire, New York and Massachusetts.

If passed, Governor Pat Quinn has said he will sign it.

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Illinois: state House committee to consider marriage equality bill today

The Illinois House Executive Committee will consider SB 10 (the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act)  at 3 pm CST today.

The Chicago Phoenix reports:

The committee vote is the next hurdle the bill must overcome on its path to becoming law and needs at least six votes there before it is cleared to hit the full House floor.
Advocates are expecting success in the committee, which comprises seven Democrats and four Republicans, but anticipate a tougher road to the 60 “yes” votes required to pass the measure in the full House.

The Illinois Senate passed the bill on Valentine’s Day in a 34-21 vote.

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Poll: Nevadans support repeal of same-sex marriage ban 54%-43%

A new Public Opinion Strategies poll commissioned by the Retail Association of Nevada finds that a majority of Nevada voters would support repealing the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Even with the normal partisan and age divides, 54% would favor removing the Protection of Marriage provision from the Nevada Constitution, with 43% opposed.

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Gov. Bobby Jindal – “GOP doesn’t need to embrace marriage equality”

Regarding supporting marriage equality, as some other high profile GOP pols have recently, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, one of the likely 2016 presidential candidates (who will run but not get the nomination) said today on Meet The Press: “Look, I believe in  the traditional definition of marriage.”

Think about it, kids.  In about two years, when the campaign starts to heat up, how much further along the equality road are we going to be?  And how bad and out of touch will these guys look?

SRSLY.

(via CrooksAndLiars)

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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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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.

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Laura Bush asks to be removed from Respect for Marriage Coalition ad

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that former First Lady Laura Bush has asked the Respect for Marriage Coalition (spearheaded by HRC and Freedom to Marry) to remove her from a new ad which is the centerpiece of a $1 million media campaign in support of marriage equality:

The advertising blitz, first reported by Politico, features a clip of Bush talking to Larry King on CNN in 2010 and saying, “When couples are committed to each other and love each other then they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has.”

But Bush spokeswoman Anne MacDonald said in a statement Wednesday that the former first lady “did not approve of her inclusion in this advertisement nor is she associated with the group that made the ad in any way.”

“When she became aware of the advertisement last night, we requested that the group remove her from it,” MacDonald said.

So I guess what she’s saying is “I said I support marriage equality, I just don’t want YOU saying I support marriage equality.”

Kind of a sad turn of events. Mrs. Bush, you said you support this issue – why the turnabout?

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Bipartisan political figures band together to support marriage equality

This is a BIG deal.

The Respect For Marriage Coalition will today launch a national print and television campaign in support of marriage equality. The coalition is made up of several progressive and LGBT groups like Freedom To Marry and the Human Rights Campaign.

The TV ad features a bipartisan group of political figures like former First Lady Laura Bush, former Secretary of Defense Colin Powell, former Vice President Dick Cheney and, finally, President Barack Obama.  All showing their support for marriage equality.

In addition, a full-page print ad (below) will appear in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post in the next few days.