Candi & Randy Show: Kardashian divorce and marriage equality
Last night’s radio with Candi became a semi-funny, semi-serious discussion of the LGBT community’s reaction to the Kim Kardashian / Kris Humphries “72 day marriage” versus the denial of marriage equality for gays and lesbians.
Take a listen. (may take the file a few seconds to load – wait for it).
Listen to internet radio with CandiXRandy on Blog Talk Radio
86 Congress members ask that gay weddings be banned on military bases
From JoeMyGod: Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) has issued a letter calling for on-base gay weddings to be specifically banned in the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act. Eighty-six members of the House have co-signed Akin’s letter.
This ban includes military bases in states that allow marriage equality.
“The Defense of Marriage Act was passed by a bipartisan vote in Congress and signed into law by President Clinton,” said Congressman Akin. “Unfortunately, this current administration is now directing the Department of Defense to ignore this law and perform gay marriages on military bases. I think this is wrong, which is why I offered an amendment to the House-passed defense bill making it clear that DOMA applies to the DOD. This letter calls for the Senate to add a similar amendment to their version of the bill. The Department of Defense should not be allowed to simply ignore laws they do not like.”
It will surprise no one that the list includes the usual suspects like Michele Bachmann, Steve King and Allen West, to name a few.
Marriage equality vs Kardashian “marriage”
Michael and I were interviewed yesterday over what many in the LGBT community feel is a sense of hypocrisy regarding Kim Kardashian’s right to a 72 day marriage versus the LGBT fight for marriage equality.
Today, Buzzfeed posted pictures of 20 couples who “put Kim Kardashian to shame” while we all fight for the same rights 90% of the rest of Americans have.
As I’ve said many times in the past, it is frustrating that some people oppose marriage equality for gays and lesbians based on a word “marriage” as if marriage rights are a wholly religious issue. The truth of the matter is as long as over 1,100 federal marriage rights are derived from a license issued by a civil government – not a church – marriage equality is a civil rights issue. No one in the LGBT community is talking about forcing a church to change their views or practices. The LGBT community is simply looking for the same – not ‘special – rights as all other Americans.
Also, I was glad the news cast included my comment about the National Organization for Marriage’s silence on the Kardashian issue. If NOM truly weren’t anti-gay, as they claim, and only about protecting marriage, where is their outrage over protecting “the sanctity of marriage” in the Kardashian case? I have reached out through twitter and emails for a response from NOM. The silence is deafening.
Rather than attack the civil rights of lesbian and gay couples, how about NOM work to prevent the true threat to marriage which is divorce?
Majority of New Jersey voters support marriage equality
From OnTopMag: A majority of New Jersey voters say gay marriage should be legal, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released Friday.
Fifty-two percent of the 903 adults contacted by telephone (landline and cell phone) from October 6-9 said “same-sex marriage” should be legalized. Approval jumps up to 61 percent when the term “marriage equality” is substituted.
Opposed to the union are 39 percent when the term “same-sex marriage” is used. Opposition drops to 27 percent when the term is exchanged with “marriage equality.”
“Support for legalizing same-sex relations in New Jersey continues to be solid,” said poll Director David Redlawsk, a professor of political science at Rutgers University. “Young people are overwhelmingly in favor, though a majority of all age groups is supportive, except for those 65 and over. Whatever it is called, support for state recognition of same-sex marriage remains strong and most likely will grow over time.”
Threat to repeal marriage equality in Spain
Next month’s general elections threaten to undo Spain’s 6-year-old gay marriage law.
The Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, which swept into office in 2004, looks to be on the outs. Polling shows the conservative Popular Party (PP) with a 15-point lead over Socialists.
Zapatero’s government legalized gay marriage over the objections of the Catholic Church and the PP, which filed a legal challenged to the law based on technical grounds.
Mariano Rajoy, the leader of the PP, has previously said he believes the law is unconstitutional and that he would “change” it even if the nation’s highest court ruled it constitutional.
“I will listen to the court, but I don’t like the fact that there is gay marriage and I don’t think it is constitutional,” he told daily El Pais. “What I don’t like is the word ‘marriage.’”
While repeal of the law seems doubtful, gay and lesbian couples in the country are taking the threat seriously. In the past several months, a sharp uptick in the number of couples marrying has been reported in the Spanish press.
(via OnTopMagazine)
Clint Eastwood on marriage equality
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New Hampshire committee votes to repeal marriage equality
From Instinct: The New Hampshire House Judiciary Committee has approved legislation that seeks to remove same-sex couples right to marriage, already instituted in the state.
By a vote of 11 – 6, the Committee has moved forward with the regressive legislation in hopes of replacing New Hampshire’s historic marriage equality rights with the lesser and unequal civil unions.
Even the leader of the groups fighting equality understands that his proposal will create a cluster-headache of confusion in the state, similar to California in the wake of Prop 8.
“Kevin Smith, executive director of Cornerstone Action, admitted that if the bill eventually becomes law, it will create two classes of same-sex couples in New Hampshire—those with the tax benefits of marriage, and those without. That, however, is better than trying to repeal same-sex marriage all in one shot and having the matter ultimately decided by courts, he said.”
Despite that most in New Hampshire “strongly oppose” the legislation, thanks to today’s vote, if approved by the full House in January it will become law.
This week’s Marriage Watch with Matt Baume
It’s been a crazy week, with secret anti-gay activists unmasked and then re-masked in Washington state. A Maryland football player is our new best friend, DOMA contributes to crumble but not before costing taxpayers $520 per hour. And why Australia’s Prime Minister resisting a marriage equality measure that would increase public support for her party?
Marriage equality increases revenue by 29%
New York’s Marriage Equality Act has been good for business at the clerk’s office in the city of Niagara Falls.
Clerk Carol Antonucci told city lawmakers last week that revenue from the issuance of marriage licenses is up 29 percent so far this year. During a presentation of her department’s proposed 2012 budget, Antonucci reported marriage license revenues of $13,457 from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30, up from $10,430 from the same period last year.
Antonucci said revenue from marriage ceremonies involving the city has increased as well. For the first nine months of 2011, her office took in $10,200 in marriage ceremony revenue compared to $8,400 for the same period a year ago.
Antonucci said her office is now regularly issuing more than 10 marriage licenses per day. She attributes part of the spike in activity to the state’s Marriage Equality Act, a law passed in June that granted marriage rights to same-sex couples in New York.
“We’re pretty much busy all day, everyday issuing marriage licenses,” Antonucci said.