Mike Fédée has a message to French people afraid of same-sex marriage in the form of his poem, “Fear Not”
(Make sure to hit the “CC” in the control bar to turn on captions)
Brazil: Rio De Janeiro becomes 10th state in nation to legalize marriage equality
The Brazilian state of Rio De Janeiro has become the tenth in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage.
The other Brazilian states to allow it are São Paulo, Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, Espírito Santo, Bahia, Alagoas, Sergipe, Piauí, Ceará. The Federal District allows it as well.
Marriages conducted in any of these ten states are recognized nationwide.
Columbian Senate to vote on marriage equality today
The Colombian Senate will vote on same-sex marriage today.
The Colombian Consitutional Court issued a ruling in 2011 (Sentencia C577/11) that requires the Congress to act by June 20, 2013, or else same-sex couples can present themselves to legal notaries to contract for their legal rights.
The Court ruled that same-sex couples have equal legal rights to found a family, but there is a “deficit of legal protection” for such couples under current law, and ordered the Congress to eliminate that deficit by June 20, 2013.
The Court previously ruled that the right given to heterosexual couples to a legally recognized non-marital union must be accorded to same-sex couples.
New Zealand passes marriage equality!
New Zealand has legalized same-sex marriage in a 77-44 vote on a third and final reading of the bill, the New Zealand Herald reports:
The bill will take effect in mid August and comes 27 years after New Zealand decriminalised homosexuality.
Same-sex marriage supporters at the Campaign for Marriage Equality party in Wellington cheered loudly and applauded as the bill was passed into law.
More than a hundred supporters gathered at the San Francisco Bath House bar on Wellington’s Cuba St to watch the vote. They will be joined later tonight by the bill’s sponsor, Labour MP Louisa Wall, who is expected to be welcomed with a haka before addressing supporters.
There was a din of anticipation in the moments before the vote was announced, followed by a hush as the vote was read.
The bar then erupted into cheers and applause. Supporters embraced and joined in a waiata following the vote.
Watch as the vote is announced and hundreds of spectators in the gallery of New Zealand’s parliament break into a rendition of the love song “Pokarekare Ana” in the indigenous Maori language. How fabulous for New Zealand.
New Zealand joins Uruguay, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Argentina, and Denmark as the 13th nation to offer its citizens nationwide marriage equality.
Brazil, Mexico, and of course, the U.S. offer it in parts of the country.
Who’s next?
Forward!
New Jersey: 62% support marriage equality
New Rutgers-Eagleton poll came out yesterday:
A proposal to place the question of same-sex marriage on the fall ballot also gets broad support; voters want a chance to decide by a 68 percent to 25 percent margin.
Given a chance, New Jersey seems likely to become the latest state to legalize same-sex marriage: 62 percent would vote yes on the question, 30 percent would vote no, while 8 percent are unsure. This represents the highest level of support for gay marriage ever recorded in a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll.
New Zealand looks to final approval of marriage equality this week
New Zealand looks ready for final approval of marriage equality this week, TVNZ reports:
Labour MP Louisa Wall’s marriage equality member’s bill is due to have its third reading in Parliament on Wednesday night.
The bill passed its committee stages with 77 votes to 43 last month and little change was anticipated for the final vote.
Big crowds, including a few celebrities, were expected to be in Parliament’s public gallery to witness the vote.
Once the bill is passed it will be four months before the first same-sex couples can be married. Weddings could begin as early as mid-August.
(h/t Towleroad)
NBC/WSJ poll: 53% support marriage equality
A new poll by NBC/WSJ shows support for marriage equality continues to climb:
Fifty-three percent of respondents favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry, which is up 2 points since the NBC/WSJ survey last asked this question in December, though that increase is within the poll’s margin of error.
Forty-two percent oppose gay marriage – also up 2 points since late last year.
By party, 73 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of independents back gay marriage, while 66 percent of Republicans oppose it.
Slow and steady wins the race, kids.
Forward.
France: Senate passes reading of full marriage equality bill
The articles have been voted on one by one. And now the French Senate has passed the marriage equality bill as a whole.
From Edge LGBT News:
The French Senate has voted to legalize same-sex marriage in France, putting a landmark bill on track to become law by summer.
The vote in the upper house of parliament – led by President Francois Hollande’s Socialists – comes despite boisterous protests. Opponents – mostly conservatives and fervent Roman Catholics – have sought to defend traditional marriage.
Both houses of parliament will now take up a second reading to consider minor Senate changes to the bill passed in February by the National Assembly, also controlled by a Socialist-led majority.
Nevada: state Senate committee advances proposal to repeal anti-marriage amendment
This morning, by a vote of 3-2, the Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections in Nevada voted to advance a legislative measure that would begin the process to repeal the state’s anti-marriage equality amendment and legalize marriage equality.
A vote is expected before April 23.
From Freedom To Marry:
An initial draft of the language for the measure sought to repeal the state’s 2006 anti-marriage constitutional amendment, but the resolution passed this morning takes a step forward by replacing that language with an amendment to “recognize marriages and issue marriage licenses, regardless of gender.”
In order to repeal the amendment, the resolution – SJR13 – must pass this year AND again with identical language in the next legislative session (2015). If both votes pass, then the proposal goes to the voters in November 2016.
For more info about marriage equality in Nevada, click here.
(via Freedom To Marry)
Marriage Equality Nations
(h/t JMG)