Tag: same-sex marriage

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Australia: Prime Minister promises marriage equality if reelected

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd promised to legalize same-sex marriage within the first 100 days in office if he beat Conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott in the September 7 election.

The Guardian reports:

Rudd said he supported legalising same-sex marriage “as a mark of decency to same-sex couples across the country who wish the same loving, caring relationship that, for example, I have had with Therese my wife now for the last 32 years, and for that to be formalised”.

He promised Labor MPs would again have a conscience vote on the issue and he “appealed to Abbott to do the same because folk out there want this to happen”.

Tony Abbott said he understood same-sex marriage was “a very important issue”, acknowledging his gay sister, Christine Forster, who was in the National Press Club debate audience with her partner.

But he said the matter had been recently debated by the parliament and would not be a high priority for an incoming Coalition government. He said it would be up to the Coalition party room to decide whether Coalition MPs should get a conscience vote, if it ever came up in the future.

(via Towleroad)

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Social Security Administration announces new policies for married same-sex couples

The Social Security Administration announced on Friday that since the Supreme Court’s historic rulings, which on June 26 struck down a key section of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act,  processes will soon be in place to treat same-sex married couples equally:

“I am pleased to announce that Social Security is now processing some retirement spouse claims for same-sex couples and paying benefits where they are due,” said Carolyn W. Colvin, acting commissioner of Social Security, in a statement released Friday. “We continue to work closely with the Department of Justice. In the coming weeks and months, we will develop and implement additional policy and processing instructions. We appreciate the public’s patience as we work through the legal issues to ensure that our policy is legally sound and clear. I encourage individuals who believe they may be eligible for Social Security benefits to apply now, to protect against the loss of any potential benefits. We will process claims as soon as additional instructions become finalized.”

(via Advocate)

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Iowa couple denied wedding venue because GAY

Gortz Haus owner Betty Odgaard

Lee Stafford and his fiance were turned away from a Grimes, Iowa wedding venue because they are gay. Betty Odgaard, owner of Gortz Haus, the venue where they had hoped to wed, says she denied them based on religious principles. She is a Mennonite.

KCCI reports:

“Can I have my beliefs without being ostracized for that? I think I have my right too, and to stand firm my convictions and beliefs,” said Odgaard.

Stafford said he has a new location for his wedding and said rejection hurts, but he will not let it affect his wedding.

“We are going to find some people that are still going to be reluctant to embrace us. That is just going to happen,” said Stafford.

Stafford said he plans to pursue his case with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.

(via Towleroad)

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Oregon reaches one-third of petition signatures for marriage equality in only 12 days

The marriage equality kids in Oregon are NOT playing 🙂

After only 12 days of signature gathering, they are already at the one-third mark in terms of signatures needed:

According to Oregon Says I Do campaign spokeswoman Amy Ruiz, the campaign has already collected 42,000 of the 116,284 signatures needed to qualify for the November 2014 ballot.

She added that some 1,700 volunteers have collected roughly 90 percent of the signatures, with the rest coming from campaign staffers. Supporters have until next summer to collect the remaining signatures.

Using volunteers, Ruiz told The Oregonian, helps the campaign to build its organization.

If successful, the referendum would reverse the state’s 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual couples and Oregon would make history as the first state to do so.

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Marriage proposal on Project Runway

The recently married Jesse Tyler Ferguson is a guest judge on this Thursday’s Project Runway promoting his “Tie the Knot” bowties, which benefit marriage equality.

As part of the challenge, contestants must incorporate JTF’s bowties in their designs, inspiring Californian Brandon to propose to Josh, his boyfriend of 18 years.

While the episode was being filmed, the Supreme Court handed down its decisions on DOMA and Prop 8.

(source)

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First gay couple registers to marry in Uruguay

Two gay men who have been a couple for 14 years have become the first to register to marry in Uruguay, hours after a law came into force allowing same-sex marriages in the country.

Rodrigo Borda, 39, and Sergio Miranda, 45, said it was a day of much joy and emotion, but also of responsibility.

Uruguay is the second South American nation to pass a gay-marriage law.

Mr Borda and Mr Miranda said they would celebrate their wedding in September.

It would be a “very public affair”, not only because they wanted to share the moment with “all the world”, but also because they wanted “to give an example to those gay couples who may be thinking about getting married but don’t dare to”, the couple added.

Three years ago, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to allow same-sex marriages.
Reforms

Since then, Brazil’s Supreme Court overwhelmingly voted in favor of granting same-sex couples the same legal rights as married heterosexuals.

(source)

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Pennsylvania: Mayor of Braddock performs first same-sex marriage

This will probably push the marriage equality issue further into the public square.

Braddock Mayor John Fetterman performed a marriage ceremony for John Kandray and Bill Grey last night.

The couple that was married knows that neither the Pennsylvania nor the federal government may recognize their marriage, but they say one day they hope it will be recognized by both.

“Showing our commitment to each other,” Gray said, “which we’ve been at that point for a long time, just now we can prove it.”

When they heard that Montgomery County was issuing licenses to same-sex couples, they went across the state to get one. And then they heard Braddock Mayor John Fetterman was willing to marry them.

“I just think it’s time people in Pennsylvania say, Mr. Corbett, you know, tear down this law,” Fetterman said. “DOMA is a fundamentally unjust piece of legislation.”

“We pay the same taxes, we do everything the same, but we don’t have the same rights,” Kandray said.

“It felt like, you know what, let’s stand up for ourselves and do this,” he added.

So at the mayor’s home and in front of the couple’s family and friends, they exchanged rings and were married by the mayor.

Last month the ACLU filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriage.

(source)

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San Diego County Clerk withdraws challenge to Prop 8 repeal

San Diego County Clerk Ernest Dronenburg on Friday withdrew his petition asking the California Supreme Court to halt same-sex marriages and consider whether the Supreme Court’s Prop 8 ruling applies only to the plaintiffs involved in the case.

From the Union Tribune:

In a news release sent out Friday afternoon, Dronenburg said he canceled the petition because it covered the same ground as another petition filed earlier to the court.

The first petition was filed July 12 by Dennis Hollingsworth and others. Hollingsworth, a former state senator, has worked with ProtectMarriage.com in support of Proposition 8, which amended the state Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Dronenburg said he was withdrawing his petition, which he filed July 19, to speed up the legal process that he hopes will clarify the current legal standing of Prop. 8.

Dronenburg has said he wanted county clerks to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples because it would be “cruel” if such people tied the knot and then later learned that their marriages were invalid. However, it would seem strange that a man so concerned for the “well-being” of gays and lesbians would hire attorney Charles LiMandri, a vocal supporter of Prop. 8 and head of the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund in Rancho Santa Fe.

Coincidence? I think not.

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Minnesota: Rep. Keith Ellison celebrates marriage equality with “This Land Is Your Land”

Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison provides a little musical celebration as marriage equality comes to his state.

Ellison tells Politico:

“I mean a year ago it looked like [there might be] a constitutional amendment in the state of Minnesota barring people from marriage equality and now here we are today, not just celebrating the defeat of the anti-marriage amendment, but the success of marriage equality. I think that’s something to rejoice about.

“It was a massive effort from diverse parts of the community and it succeeded so. It means that America’s a little freer, a little fairer, a little more equal, a little more accepting of all people. I think that’s worth celebrating.”

(h/t Towleroad)