(via Blabbeando)
Mayor of Mexico City hosts wedding for 26 gay couple
New Jersey: 60% support same-sex marriage
Gov. Chris Christie, who vetoed a bill that would have made marriage equality a reality in New Jersey, may want to pay attention to the very solid majority of his peeps who would like to see same-sex marriage happen in the Garden State.
According to a new poll by Quinnipiac University, 60% of New Jersey support marriage equality versus 31% who oppose.
In my opinion, two things are important here:
1. Equal rights for all is easily the right thing to do. No-brainer for most.
2. And, when the solid majority of the people want this issue passed, it seems like another no-brainer.
Gov. Christie – pay attention.
Sometimes, that’s all you have to do to know which way to go.
ACLU files marriage equality lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit today in Pennsylvania on behalf of 23 residents of the state who are seeking marriage equality. The lawsuit is the latest to be filed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decisions in favor of same-sex marriage in June.
The group of plaintiffs, which includes 10 couples, two minor children of those couples, and one widow who recently lost her partner of 29 years, argue Pennsylvania’s own Defense of Marriage Act violates both the fundamental right to marry and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The ACLU also announced today that it will amend an existing adoption lawsuit in North Carolina, and will file a marriage lawsuit in Virginia as co-counsel with the ACLU of Virginia and Lambda Legal in the coming weeks.
More at Advocate
Civil unions are now officially NOT equal to marriage
The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration will not extend federal-worker benefits to domestic partners under the recent Supreme Court ruling that repealed part of the Defense of Marriage Act, meaning the government will treat civil unions differently than legal same-sex marriages.
And so, couples who are not legally married “will remain ineligible for most federal benefits programs.” However, any existing benefits provided to domestic partners will remain intact, OPM said.
That being said, same sex couples living anywhere in the U.S. will qualify for federal-employee benefits as long as they hold marriage licenses from any of the 13 states that recognize same-sex marriage, as well as from the District of Columbia, which has also legalized such unions.
Sounds like bad news for folks with civil unions, but there’s a bright side.
Civil unions were created as the “separate but equal” answer to same-sex marriage after the passage of DOMA. Since civil unions don’t hold federal status, clearly they don’t come close to “equal.” Such inequality could help four states (Hawaii, Colorado, Illinois and New Jersey which currently offer civil unions) move towards marriage equality.
For example, in New Jersey, the state Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples deserve complete equality, so civil unions offered there are now a violation of the state’s constitution.
(source)
Ohio: Former GOP Attorney General Jim Petro supports marriage equality
Jim Petro, former Attorney General for Ohio, said Monday that he supports an effort to overturn the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, contending the prohibition fosters intolerance and creates a roadblock to diversity.
The Ohio Republican says banning same-sex marriage sends a bad message to companies that might look to hire employees who could be LGBT:
Ohio’s economic well-being “will depend on its welcoming nature,” Petro said at a news conference with officials from FreedomOhio, the group collecting signatures to put the issue on the Nov. 2014 ballot. “More and more public officials will recognize the need for true equality.”
Petro said when he was asked to support gay marriage, he “quickly and without hesitation said ‘I’m all for it.’ ” He said he will be active in the 2014 campaign and hopes more Republicans join him
385,245 valid signatures of registered Ohio voters from at least 44 of 88 counties on a petition by July 3, 2014, to qualify for next year’s general election ballot.
Ohio passed it’s constitutional amendment, which limits marriage to one man and one woman, in 2004 by 62 percent of Ohio voters.
Henry Rollins on the misguided outrage by the losers of DOMA demise
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| 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
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)
New Jersey lawmakers to attempt override of marriage equality veto by Gov. Christie
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| (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)
Garden State Equality promises marriage equality by end of 2013
“I promise you with no reservation that New Jersey will have marriage equality before the end of this year.” – Troy Stevenson, Garden State Equality Executive Director
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)