Tag: same-sex marriage

Posted on

News Round-Up: December 14, 2017

Ben Cohen

Some news items you might have missed:

• Some #ThrowBackThursday action as I’m reminded of my major man crush on rugby champ and anti-bullying advocate Ben Cohen (above). Check out his 2018 charity calendar here.

• Researchers say having older brothers could increase the likelihood of being gay.

•  Failed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore threw more anti-LGBT shade even as he refuses to concede his race to Democrat Doug Jones. Moore says he lost due to “sodomy” sweeping the nation.

• Just six months after legalizing same-sex marriage, Bermuda’s lawmakers have reversed course and outlawed marriage equality.

• Gay porn star sentenced to life in prison for “brutal and vicious” murder of his millionaire boyfriend.

• Afterglow, the controversial off-Broadway hit one-act play, celebrates 200 performances tonight and has added a new block of tickets through March 2018.

Via press release: The play explores the emotional, intellectual, and physical connections between three men and the broader implications within their relationships.

 The Advocate called the play “compelling and raw” and “not to be missed.”

Huffington Post wrote, “It’s clear Afterglow will be a must-see among New York theatergoers.”

Afterglow (photo: Mati Gelman)
Posted on

Australia: Same-Sex Marriages To Begin January 9, 2018

After a vastly lop-sided “Yes” vote for same-sex marriage in Australia’s Parliament, the legislation has been signed and LGBT Aussies will be able to marry within 30 days.

From ABC News:

Australia’s prime minister rushed gay marriage into law on Friday by gaining a final signature on a bill hours after it was overwhelming endorsed by Parliament and as the nation started planning weddings that can take place in a month.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull traveled to Government House where Governor-General Peter Cosgrove signed the bill into law on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II, Australia’s constitutional head of state.

Cosgrove’s signature makes gay marriage legal in Australia from Saturday, when same-sex couples who wed overseas will be recognized as married under Australian law. Couples who intend to marry must give a calendar-month notice, making gay weddings legal on Jan. 9, Turnbull said.

Let’s relive that awesome moment one more time 🙂

Posted on

Anti-Same-Sex Marriage Couple Renege On Divorcing On Passage Of Marriage Equality

I’ve posted in the past about a married couple of haters in Australia who “threatened” to divorce should marriage equality come to the land “down under.”

Back in June 2015, Nick and Sarah Jensen of Canberra swore to divorce in protest if the government legalized same-sex marriage.

It will come as no surprise the threat was an empty one as Parliament has resoundingly approved marriage equality.

From The Daily Mail:

And after Parliament finally passed the law to cheers on Thursday afternoon, Mr Jensen announced his position in a statement to Daily Mail Australia. “My previous public comments regarding civil divorce never envisaged me separating from my wife, but rather our marriage from the State,” he wrote.

“The legislation currently makes it untenable for us to do this under the law. The point we were highlighting and that still stands however is the fact that a redefinition of marriage changes the agreement under which we were originally married. We will be making no further comment.”

Here’s Nick Jansen’s statement from 2015:

“My wife and I just celebrated our 10-year anniversary. But later this year, we may be getting a divorce. The decision to divorce is not one we’ve taken lightly. And certainly, it’s not one that many will readily understand. And that’s because it’s not a traditional divorce. Our view is that marriage is a fundamental order of creation. Part of God’s human history. Marriage is the union of a man and a woman before a community in the sight of God. And marriage of any couple is important to God regardless of whether that couple recognises God’s involvement or authority in it.” 

(h/t JoeMyGod) 

Posted on

Australia Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

Australia’s House of Representatives has legalized same-sex marriage by a wide margin.

Only four MPs voted no to make marriage equality the law of the land.

The Senate had already approved the legislation last week by a vote of 43-12.

After the Governor-General gives the legislation official approval in a formality known as “Royal Assent,” marriage equality will become the law of the land. Australia will become the 25th country to recognize same-sex couples’ right to marry.

Congratulations, Australia!

Posted on

Austria’s High Court Rules In Favor Of Marriage Equality

After seven years of affording same-sex couples “registered partnerships,” Austria’s Constitutional Court has ruled that by 2019 full marriage equality must be available to same-sex couples.

Via Deutsche Welle:

Same-sex couples in Austria have been able to enter only into “registered partnerships” since 2010, with nearly the same rights of married couples. But the court ruled that “the distinction between marriage and registered partnership … cannot be upheld in this day and age without discriminating against same-sex couples.”

“The resulting discriminatory effect is seen in the fact that through the different title of the family status, people living in same-sex partnerships have to disclose their sexual orientation even in situations in which it is not, and must not be, relevant and … are highly likely to be discriminated against,” the court said in its ruling.

It said that restrictions on same-sex marriage would be lifted at the end of 2018 unless the government did so itself earlier. The ruling will remove the words “two people of different sex” from the law on marriage. It will keep civil partnerships as an option and will open them up to straight couples.

Posted on

Australian Lawmaker Proposes To His Partner During Same-Sex Marriage Debate In Parliament

It was an emotional moment when Tim Wilson, a member of Australia’s House of Representatives, addressed fellow lawmakers about the impending vote to legalize same-sex marriage.

“In my first speech I defined our bond by the ring that sits on both of our left hands, and they are the answer to a question we cannot ask,” Wilson said as his partner of seven years, Ryan Bolger, watched from the public gallery.

“There’s only one thing left to do: Ryan Patrick Bolger, will you marry me?” Wilson continued.

Bolger, a primary school teacher, smiled broadly and immediately answered, “yes.”

And the crowd goes wild.

After the legislation sailed through the Senate last week, the House is expected to vote later this week.

Watch the marriage proposal below.

(source)

Posted on

SCOTUS Will Let Stand Texas Ruling Denying Same-Sex Couples Equal Spousal Benefits

This is very bad.

The U.S. Supreme Court has announced it will let stand a ruling by the Texas Supreme Court that said the right to a marriage license did not entitle same-sex couples to spousal benefits under employee insurance plans.

From The Texas Tribune:

The high court on Monday announced it would not take up the case — which centers on Houston’s policy to provide spouses of gay and lesbian employees the same government-subsidized marriage benefits it provides to opposite-sex spouses — just months after the city of Houston filed its appeal, arguing the state court’s June decision “disregarded” precedent.

In that decision, the Texas Supreme Court threw out a lower court ruling that said spouses of gay and lesbian public employees are entitled to government-subsidized marriage benefits, and it unanimously ordered a trial court to reconsider the case. The ruling found that there’s still room for state courts to explore “the reach and ramifications” of marriage-related issues that resulted from the legalization of same-sex marriage.

That’s despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015 and noted that now-defunct marriage laws were unequal in how they denied same-sex couples the benefits afforded to opposite-sex couples.

In its decision, the Texas Supreme Court noted that Obergefell requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriages just as they do opposite-sex marriages but did not hold that “states must provide the same publicly funded benefits to all married persons.”

That does not mean Houston can “constitutionally deny benefits to its employees’ same-sex spouses,” the court added, but the issue must now be resolved “in light of Obergefell.”

Following the Obergefell ruling, public employers in Texas, including state agencies and public universities, quickly extended marriage benefits to spouses of gay and lesbian employees.

“Equal recognition of same-sex marriage requires more than a marriage license; it requires equal access to the constellation of benefits that the state has linked to marriage,” Houston attorneys wrote in their brief to the court.

This is particularly disconcerting as SCOTUS prepares to hear the case of Colorado baker Jack Phillips tomorrow who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple.

All eyes will be on that ruling.

Posted on

Australia: Senate Approves Marriage Equality Bill 43-12

Just two weeks after Australia’s “vote by mail” survey showed 61.6% of Aussies approve of same-sex marriage, the nation’s Senate has approved a bill that would make marriage equality a reality by a wide margin of 43 “Yes” votes to only 12 “No” votes.

The issue now moves to the House of Representatives where it is expected to pass easily.

Watch below the moment when the Senate votes were announced last night.

Posted on

Australia: Conservative Amendments To Marriage Equality Bill Voted Down In Wide Margins

As Australia’s Senate debates marriage equality legislation, with hopes of passing by Christmas, same-sex marriage opponents are seeing their amendments meant to water down the bill voted down in rapid succession.

Via Buzzfeed:

The amendments would have added far-reaching exemptions into the bill, including the right for all celebrants to refuse to solemnise gay weddings on religious or conscientious grounds and legal protections for people who don’t believe in same-sex marriage or think gay relationships are wrong.

Their decisive defeat is a considerable victory for the “yes” campaign and LGBTI advocates, who feared opponents of same-sex marriage would try and insert clauses into the bill that would roll back anti-discrimination law.

The first amendment debated by the Senate would have effectively allowed civil celebrants to refuse to marry same-sex couples based on their religious or conscientious beliefs. It was defeated 42-24.

The second would have legislated widespread legal freedom of speech protections for people who hold various beliefs, including those against same-sex marriage but also against same-sex parenting and relationships, as well as an anti-detriment clause and a legislated parental right to pull children out of classes that mention the relevant beliefs. It went down 44-20 after a few hours of debate.

A further amendment relating to defence force chaplains was also defeated, as were amendments in relation to registered charities and religious organisations, with similar margins.

After the five amendments from the conservative bloc were defeated, the Senate also voted down two amendments from Brandis and resources minister Matthew Canavan.

The first, defeated 36-27, would have inserted a line about religious freedom taken from the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights into the bill, and the second, defeated 38-25, would have extended a right to civil celebrants to refuse to solemnise gay weddings.

BuzzFeed News understands that supporters of the legislation are confident that very few, if any, amendments will get up and the Smith bill will pass the Senate largely unamended.

Posted on

Chile To Begin Debate On Marriage Equality

Chile’s government will begin debate today on whether to change existing marriage laws to include same-sex couples.

On August 28 President Michelle Bachelet introduced legislation that would define marriage as ‘a solemn contract by which two people, of the same or different sex, unite themselves, and for life, in order to live together, to procreate and to help each other.’

Chile’s Senate Constitution Committee has called on LGBT advocacy groups to step up and make their case for marriage equality.

Since 2015, Chile has extended limited legal recognition of same-sex couples via civil unions.

Bachelet also supports efforts to strengthen hate crime and anti-discrimination law against the LGBTQ community as well as legislation that would allow transgender Chileans to legally change their names without requiring sex reassignment surgery – although the bill on transgender protections has stalled due to a lack of political will.

But time is of the essence as Bachelet will step down in March 2018, and one of the two leading candidates to replace Bachelet does not support marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Currently, only Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay have legalized same-sex marriage in South America.

On Saturday, over 100,000 marched in support of marriage equality in Santiago, Chile.

Watch below.

(source)