Tag: marriage equality

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Former Miami Heat player Tim Hardaway 1st to sign Florida marriage equality petition

During a 2007 radio interview former Miami Heat star Tim Hardaway said, “I hate gay people. So I let it be known. I don’t like gay people. I don’t like to be around gay people. I’m homophobic.”

Times have changed. And since the infamous interview, Hardaway has tried to make amends by volunteering at various LGBT youth organizations.

And now, with Florida ramping up to try and repeal the state’s marriage equality ban, Hardaway was the first person who signed a petition to place an equal marriage constitutional amendment on the ballot in Florida, reports NBC Miami.

“If you’re married you’re married – you should see your significant other in the hospital, make choices for your significant other if you need to make those choices,” Hardaway said on July 3 at an event supporting a ballot measure which would amend Florida’s state constitution to define marriage in the state as a “union between two persons.”

(source)

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Henry Rollins on the misguided outrage by the losers of DOMA demise

Henry Rollins explains to anti-gay haters that this year's 16 year olds will be voting in two years. And they don't like hate.
Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins, writing for LA Weekly, addresses the opponents of marriage equality who lost their minds over the fall of DOMA last week:

“Bad News for the Haters Dept.: You realize that all those obnoxious 16-year-olds you see everywhere, texting their friends who are standing next to them, will be able to vote in the 2016 elections. Do you think you will be able to sell them on your anti-gay/anti-woman/anti-brown/black platform? Do you think they want to end up like you? I bet they don’t. Gov. Bobby Jindal said that you all have to stop being the stupid party. I don’t think you can do it. How did equality become political? Because you can’t handle science, change or the truth. America is on the move, you are not.”

[snip]

“The demise of DOMA, while great, is also a smack to the hornet’s nest and there will be a whirlwind to reap, so please, prepare for many challenges up the road. The pushback will be considerable. America is changing and, historically, we don’t handle it well.

“The Supreme Court’s DOMA decision was good, but the best part of the story is how it got to their door. That was you and me never shutting up, never relenting and never being satisfied for too long.”

Read the entire essay at LA Weekly

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Did Costa Rica just legalize marriage equality?

In Costa Rica, this past week, the national legislature approved a bill that it seems “accidentally” legalized civil unions or marriage for gay couples.

Here’s the language that was passed:

“The right to recognition without discrimination contrary to human dignity, social and economic effects of domestic partnerships that constitute publicly, notoriously unique and stable, with legal capacity for marriage for more than three years”

After her election in 2010, President Laura Chinchilla declared her continued opposition to same-sex marriage, but said that Costa Rico should move forward on some legal recognition for gay couples. Most expected the President to veto the bill and that it would be rewritten.

Now, she has signed this new law.

“We’re going to go forward and will sign this law. We understand that the debate is over how some interpret the law and this alone is not sufficient for the executive to veto the law,” Chinchilla told reporters.

The president added that the only members of government equipped to interpret the law are judges and lawmakers. Costa Rica would be the first country in Central America to approve same-sex civil unions if the provision’s legal interpretation holds up in court according to the Tico Times.

(via Queerty)

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Arkansas: Gay couple file lawsuit for marriage equality

Arkansas couple files lawsuit for marriage equality:

Several LGBT couples have taken a stand against Arkansas Amendment 83, saying that the amendment denies them the benefits and privileges given to married heterosexual couples.

The lawsuit filed against the state of Arkansas declares that while the US Supreme Court recognized marriage as one of the ‘basic civil rights of man,’ the Arkansas Constitution prevents gay marriage from being recognized. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit said the amendment is unconstitutional and violates their fundamental rights.

“These are the constitutional arguments to make,” said University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law Professor Terri Beiner. “Now, whether they’ll be successful or not, we’ll just have to wait to see what the courts do with it.”

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Happy Endings – Edie Windsor and her $638,000 IRS refund

In all of the hoopla over Edie Windsor’s big win at the US Supreme Court, it’s possible we lost focus on why she even started the lawsuit that changed so many of our lives.

 Her fight with the IRS.

From CNN:

Normally, surviving spouses are entitled to inherit the estate of their late husband or wife tax free.

But because DOMA only recognized marriage between a man and a woman as legitimate for the purposes of federal law, same-sex spouses have not been entitled to the same privilege.

As a result, Windsor had to pay the federal government roughly $363,000, as well as $275,000 to New York state, where estate tax rules track the federal ones.

That money has been in limbo since Windsor sued to get it back in November 2010. Her case first went before a federal trial court judge in New York, then to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, and finally to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Windsor will also be paid interest on her refunds. Paul, Weiss, the law firm that represents her, estimates she will receive about $45,000 in interest on her federal refund and $25,000 on her New York State refund.

The other good news for the 83-year-old Windsor? Her lawyers won’t be getting a cut because Paul, Weiss took the case pro bono.

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New Jersey lawmakers to attempt override of marriage equality veto by Gov. Christie

(image via Memeographs)

New Jersey’s Star-Ledger reports:

The state’s top Democratic lawmakers today urged their Republican counterparts to “vote their conscience” to legalize same-sex marriage, but said some GOP lawmakers won’t do this because they don’t want to cross Gov. Chris Christie.

Senate President Stephen Sweeney said he will hold a vote to override Christie’s veto of a same-sex marriage bill that passed last year, noting that thousands of gay couples in New Jersey will be ineligible for federal benefits unless lawmakers act soon.

But first, Sweeney said, at least a few Republicans have to change their no votes to yes. The Senate president said Christie has intimidated GOP lawmakers, claiming some have privately admitted they would like to change their votes to allow same-sex marriage.

To quash Christie’s veto, Democrats have to muster three more votes in the Senate and 12 more in the Assembly to reach the required two-thirds majority.

(via JMG)

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Marriage equality support hits record high in USA

Support for same-sex marriage in the United States has hit a record high just days after landmark US Supreme Court rulings on the issue, a poll showed Tuesday.

According to a survey published by USA Today,  55 percent of participants versus 40 percent said they believed same-sex marriages should be recognized as valid, with couples granted the same rights as heterosexual couples.

The only two demographic groups where a majority remained opposed to same-sex marriage were Republicans (68 percent) and people over the age of 65 (51 percent).

The poll of 1,003 adults was carried out between June 27-30 by Princeton Survey Research Associates, with a margin of error of 3.6 points either way.

(source)

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Michigan: Equal protection lawsuit moves forward after DOMA repeal

An equal protections lawsuit that challenges Michigan’s ant-gay marriage law will move forward in the aftermath of the repeal of DOMA:

“Plaintiffs’ equal protection claim has sufficient merit to proceed.

“The United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in United States v. Windsor, No. 12-307 (U.S. Jun. 26, 2013), has provided the requisite precedential fodder for both parties to this litigation. plaintiffs are prepared to claim Windsor as their own.

“And why shouldn’t they? The Supreme Court has just invalidated a federal statute on equal protection grounds because it “place[d] same-sex couples in an unstable position of being in a second-tier marriage.” Id. slip op. at 23.

“Moreover, and of particular importance to this case, the justices expressed concern that the natural consequence of such discriminatory legislation would not only lead to the relegation of same-sex relationships to a form of second-tier status, but impair the rights of “tens of thousands of children now being raised by same-sex couples” as well. Id. This is exactly the type of harm plaintiffs seek to remedy in this case.”