Tag: same-sex marriage

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Michigan Indian tribe votes to recognize marriage equality

The legislative body of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians has voted to recognize same-sex marriage. The tribe is based in Harbor Springs, and the vote was held this past Sunday.

The 5-4 vote in favor of recognizing same-sex marriage sends the statute to the tribal chairman, who can either sign or veto it. The tribal council would need seven votes to override a veto.

Little Traverse Bay Bands Chairman Dexter McNamara told the Petosky News that “I’m going to have to think about it.” 

Two other U.S. Indian tribes recognize gay marriage: the Coquille Tribe in North Bend, Oregon (2009), and the Suquamish Tribe in Suquamish, Washington (2011).

Michigan voters passed a state constitutional ban on marriage equality in 2004, but Indian tribes are self-governing.

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Rhode Island: 60% support marriage equality

A new poll conducted by the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University, found that 60.4 percent of respondents favored allowing same-sex couples to legally wed, a number that is nearly identical to the findings of a May 2009 poll by Brown.

The poll found 26.1 percent of respondents were opposed to same-sex marriage.

The poll surveyed 593 Rhode Island voters from Feb. 21 to 23, and has a 4 point margin of error. 

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Frank Rich: The die is cast on gay marriage

I’d say Frank Rich is dead-on with this one:

“The die is cast on this issue, and the signatories are belatedly getting ahead of history before it flattens them like a tank. Generational turnover alone assumes gay marriage will be a done deal in America; public opinion on this issue has moved faster than any civil-rights battle in our history.”

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New Zealand: Marriage equality bill moves forward in Parliament

From the New Zealand Herald:

The Government Administration Committee said the private member’s bill should progress, but with an amendment to make it clear that no minister was obliged to marry someone against their own beliefs.

The committee report said: “The bill seeks to extend the legal right to marry to same-sex couples; it does not seek to interfere with people’s religious freedoms.”

The Marriage Act would be amended to put beyond doubt that no celebrant recognised by a religious body or nominated by an approved organisation would have to marry a couple if it meant contravening their own, or the organisation’s beliefs…

The report also said that a majority of the select committee agreed that marriage was a human right, and that it was unacceptable for the state to deny this right to same-sex couples.

The Campaign for Marriage Equality says the report “sends a clear message that New Zealand is ready for marriage equality”.

“It is a ringing endorsement of love, fairness, family, and for the equal treatment of all Kiwis before the law,” campaign spokesman Conrad Reyners said.

The bill passed by an 80-40 vote.

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Illinois: state House committee votes 6-5 in favor of marriage equality

One more step and Illinois could celebrate marriage equality as law in the land of Lincoln.

From Chicago Phoenix:

The Illinois House Executive Committee voted 6-5 to approve a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage Tuesday evening, sending the bill to a vote in the full House chamber, the bill’s last hurdle before becoming law.

“This is a wonderful moment for the State of Illinois,” said Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), the bill’s chief sponsor in the House, moments after the committee victory.

“I look forward to a successful vote in the full House,” he said.

Illinois would join nine other states that have legalized same-sex marriage – Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Connecticut, Vermont, Washington, New Hampshire, New York and Massachusetts.

If passed, Governor Pat Quinn has said he will sign it.