Tag: marriage equality

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Survey: 44 States Now Have Majority Support For Marriage Equality

As we approach the three year mark since same-sex marriage became the law of the land thanks to the June 2015 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) shared the results of a survey of over 40,000 Americans during the last half of 2017 on the acceptance of marriage equality.

The poll shows, as a country, 61% of Americans support gay and lesbian couples right to marriage, while only 30% are opposed.

When you break it down state-by-state, same-sex marriage has majority support in 44 states.

Only 6 states fail to show at least 50% support. Those six states are: Alabama (41%), Mississippi (42%), Tennessee (46%), West Virginia (48%), Louisiana (48%), and North Carolina (49%).

Of those, only Alabama has a majority of residents who oppose same-sex marriage.

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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Trump Administration Refuses To Sign Court Ruling Supporting Marriage Equality & Trans Rights

In January, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued an advisory opinion reiterating that sexual orientation and gender identity are protected classes under the American Convention on Human Rights.

That’s great, right?

Except, all member countries didn’t sign the statement showing support of the court’s opinion.

Seven countries signed the statement. Those were Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Uruguay.

Who’s missing from that list?

Mmm, that would be the United States.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, the Trump administration chose not to support the opinion.

Even Chile, which doesn’t yet have marriage equality, signed its support.

But Trump says he’s “better for the gays” than Hillary.

Yeah…

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Australia: Same-Sex Marriages To Begin January 9, 2018

After a vastly lop-sided “Yes” vote for same-sex marriage in Australia’s Parliament, the legislation has been signed and LGBT Aussies will be able to marry within 30 days.

From ABC News:

Australia’s prime minister rushed gay marriage into law on Friday by gaining a final signature on a bill hours after it was overwhelming endorsed by Parliament and as the nation started planning weddings that can take place in a month.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull traveled to Government House where Governor-General Peter Cosgrove signed the bill into law on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II, Australia’s constitutional head of state.

Cosgrove’s signature makes gay marriage legal in Australia from Saturday, when same-sex couples who wed overseas will be recognized as married under Australian law. Couples who intend to marry must give a calendar-month notice, making gay weddings legal on Jan. 9, Turnbull said.

Let’s relive that awesome moment one more time 🙂

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Australia: Senate Approves Marriage Equality Bill 43-12

Just two weeks after Australia’s “vote by mail” survey showed 61.6% of Aussies approve of same-sex marriage, the nation’s Senate has approved a bill that would make marriage equality a reality by a wide margin of 43 “Yes” votes to only 12 “No” votes.

The issue now moves to the House of Representatives where it is expected to pass easily.

Watch below the moment when the Senate votes were announced last night.

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Australia: Conservative Amendments To Marriage Equality Bill Voted Down In Wide Margins

As Australia’s Senate debates marriage equality legislation, with hopes of passing by Christmas, same-sex marriage opponents are seeing their amendments meant to water down the bill voted down in rapid succession.

Via Buzzfeed:

The amendments would have added far-reaching exemptions into the bill, including the right for all celebrants to refuse to solemnise gay weddings on religious or conscientious grounds and legal protections for people who don’t believe in same-sex marriage or think gay relationships are wrong.

Their decisive defeat is a considerable victory for the “yes” campaign and LGBTI advocates, who feared opponents of same-sex marriage would try and insert clauses into the bill that would roll back anti-discrimination law.

The first amendment debated by the Senate would have effectively allowed civil celebrants to refuse to marry same-sex couples based on their religious or conscientious beliefs. It was defeated 42-24.

The second would have legislated widespread legal freedom of speech protections for people who hold various beliefs, including those against same-sex marriage but also against same-sex parenting and relationships, as well as an anti-detriment clause and a legislated parental right to pull children out of classes that mention the relevant beliefs. It went down 44-20 after a few hours of debate.

A further amendment relating to defence force chaplains was also defeated, as were amendments in relation to registered charities and religious organisations, with similar margins.

After the five amendments from the conservative bloc were defeated, the Senate also voted down two amendments from Brandis and resources minister Matthew Canavan.

The first, defeated 36-27, would have inserted a line about religious freedom taken from the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights into the bill, and the second, defeated 38-25, would have extended a right to civil celebrants to refuse to solemnise gay weddings.

BuzzFeed News understands that supporters of the legislation are confident that very few, if any, amendments will get up and the Smith bill will pass the Senate largely unamended.

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Chile To Begin Debate On Marriage Equality

Chile’s government will begin debate today on whether to change existing marriage laws to include same-sex couples.

On August 28 President Michelle Bachelet introduced legislation that would define marriage as ‘a solemn contract by which two people, of the same or different sex, unite themselves, and for life, in order to live together, to procreate and to help each other.’

Chile’s Senate Constitution Committee has called on LGBT advocacy groups to step up and make their case for marriage equality.

Since 2015, Chile has extended limited legal recognition of same-sex couples via civil unions.

Bachelet also supports efforts to strengthen hate crime and anti-discrimination law against the LGBTQ community as well as legislation that would allow transgender Chileans to legally change their names without requiring sex reassignment surgery – although the bill on transgender protections has stalled due to a lack of political will.

But time is of the essence as Bachelet will step down in March 2018, and one of the two leading candidates to replace Bachelet does not support marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Currently, only Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay have legalized same-sex marriage in South America.

On Saturday, over 100,000 marched in support of marriage equality in Santiago, Chile.

Watch below.

(source)

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Romanian Same-Sex Marriage Case Could Affect Several European Union Countries

Within the European Union, 13 countries currently recognize same-sex marriage, 9 additional nations offer civil unions or a similar legal status but 6 countries have no legal recognition of same-sex couples.

That could change soon as the European Union’s highest court is looking at a case brought by a Romanian man’s desire to live in his home country with his husband of 7 years.

One of the fundamental principles of the EU is to provide the citizens of the bloc’s member states and their family members the right to move and freely reside across the region, subject to certain conditions.

But when Adrian Coman and his American husband, Claibourn Robert Hamilton, sought to move to Coman’s home country of Romania, the authorities there refused to recognize their relationship in regards to legal residency for Hamilton.

Should the court rule in their favor, it could effectively force Romania and the other five non-marriage-equality nations residency and working rights as long as one member of the couple is a citizen of a European Union country.

In a country of 20 million Romanians, 3 million signed a 2016 petition calling for the constitutional definition of marriage to be defined as between “one man, one woman.” A referendum on the issue could be held as soon as next year.

So this decision by the high court will be especially timely.

Stay tuned.

(source)

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Australia Says “YES” To Same-Sex Marriage!

Today the results of Australia’s mail-in survey on marriage equality were announced, and once again, equality wins the day.

According to Australia’s Chief Statistician, 61.6% voted “Yes,” 38.4% said “No.”

Every state and territory voted a majority “Yes”. All states except New South Wales voted “Yes” by over 60%; NSW voted “Yes” by 58%.

An astounding 79.5% of eligible voters took part in the “vote-by-mail” effort.

Australia’s Parliament will begin work immediately to craft and pass legislation to change the marriage laws “down under.”

Australia is set to become the 25th nation in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.

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Marriage Equality Postal Survey Ends In Australia

The “vote-by-mail” survey on marriage equality in Australia has now ended, and now, we wait.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over 78% of those Aussies who received a mail-in ballot for the (expensive $122 million) postal survey on same-sex marriage participated in the vote.

A new poll in The Guardian indicates 64% of respondents voted “Yes,” 31% were “No” voters and 5% declined to answer the question.

The final tally will be announced on Wednesday, November 15.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised to pass legislation to legalize same-sex marriage should the majority say “Yes.”

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Podcast: Kevin Spacey Had A Very Bad Week; Federal Judge Blocks Trump’s Trans Military Ban

In this week’s podcast:

• Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey had a really, really bad week

• A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump’s ban on transgender service members in the U.S. military

• Don’t miss the marriage equality documentary, “The Freedom To Marry,” now on Netflix

• The first openly gay winner of “The Voice Australia” released his latest single, a marriage equality anthem as the mail-in same-sex marriage survey comes to a close

All that and more on this episode of The Randy Report

 p.s. I want to thank all the folks who’ve hit “Play” on the podcast. I’m humbled by the support.

If you like the podcast, I’d appreciate it muchly if you would post a review on iTunes. Not for my ego, but it helps the podcast be found more easily on iTunes.