Tag: same-sex marriage

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Tennessee TV Station Refuses To Air Marriage Equality Ad

A Tennessee television station, which previously had no policy on ads regarding same-sex marriage suddenly developed one this week when approached by LGBT advocacy group Freedom To Marry.

The ad featured a gay Republican physician – Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld – who has just returned from deployment in Afghanistan and wants to marry his partner.

From Buzzfeed:

“I’m a Republican, I’m a doctor, and I’m a soldier,” says a voice over by Ehrenfeld as the commercial shows images of him serving in uniform, and back at home with his boyfriend, Judd Taback. “As a military physician, I take care of other people’s loved ones who are wounded in combat. But here at home, I’m fighting a different fight. Because I’m gay, I’m not allowed to marry my partner here in Tennessee where we live.”

The television station refused to air the spot.

“It’s just a very controversial and personal issue, and we just choose to not air a commercial on either side of that debate,” Tom Tolar, the president and general manager of Chatanooga-based WRCB, told BuzzFeed News in a phone interview.

The ad is running on TV stations in Nashville and Memphis.

Freedom To Marry has run over two dozen ads supporting marriage equality across the country. This is the first time a station has refused their business.

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North Carolina: Governor Will Veto “Magistrates Marriage Refusal” Bill

Via press release from North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory:

“I recognize that for many North Carolinians, including myself, opinions on same-sex marriage come from sincerely held religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman.

“However, we are a nation and a state of laws. Whether it is the president, governor, mayor, a law enforcement officer, or magistrate, no public official who voluntarily swears to support and defend the Constitution and to discharge all duties of their office should be exempt from upholding that oath; therefore, I will veto Senate Bill 2.”

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North Carolina Legislature Approves Bill Allowing Magistrates To Opt-Out Of Same-Sex Marriages

Having already passed in the North Carolina Senate, the state House approved legislation last night that would allow some state officials to opt out of same-sex marriage duties based on “sincerely held religious” objections.

Court officials could request to recuse themselves for up to six months — during which time they could not perform any other marriages — and the recusal could be based on a religious objection to any type marriage, including between same-sex couples.

The bill passed by a vote of 66-44.

The bill now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Pat McCrory for his signature.

The governor avoided questions about the legislation yesterday but told a Charlotte radio station in March: “I don’t think you should have an exemption or a carve-out when you swore an oath to the constitution of North Carolina or to the Constitution of the United States of America.”

The Campaign For Southern Equality issued a statement that read in part:

“This discriminatory bill treats gay and lesbian couples as second-class citizens and distorts the true meaning of religious freedom. We urge Governor McCrory to veto this discriminatory bill.

We have the freedom to practice religion in our place of worship and to hold private beliefs. But as Americans, we’ve agreed that we will be governed by the principles of equality and fairness in our public and civic life.

Senate Bill 2 is discriminatory and rooted in animus – it must not become law,” says Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality.

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No Same-Sex Marriage For Germany Despite 75% Approval For Marriage Equality

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel

Germany will not be following in Ireland’s footsteps in joining the 21st century by legalizing same-sex marriage.

Reuters reports that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition has agreed to small improvements in the country’s domestic partnership laws, but according to spokesman Steffen Seibert, “Same-sex marriages are not a goal of this government.”

Although there are growing divisions within the party, Merkel’s Christian Democrats are still overwhelmingly opposed to same-sex marriages partly due to fears it could upset voters on the right.

However, polls show 75 percent of Germans are in favour of legalising gay marriages, as are the Social Democrats (SPD) and all opposition parties.

Merkel’s cabinet gave same-sex couples more rights but this move was dismissed by critics as inadequate for a country that in 2001 became one of Europe’s first to allow registered civil partnerships.

Justice Minister Heiko Maas, of the SPD, sounded disappointed that Germany could not take a bigger leap.

“Expanding rights for registered partnerships is another step toward giving same-sex unions the same rights as marriages,” said Maas. “We haven’t reached the goal yet.”

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Texas: Rep. Garnet Coleman Will “Kill” His Own Bill Before Allowing Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment To Pass

Texas Rep. Garnet Coleman will kill his own bill before allowing an anti-gay amendment be attached
Texas Rep. Garnet Coleman

We all were pretty sure the anti-gay bill Texas House Bill 4105, filed by state Rep. Cecil Bell, was dead in the water. The legislation would  attempt to thwart a possible SCOTUS ruling in favor of same-sex marriage by cutting off any state funds used to issue a marriage license to same-sex couples.

When Republicans in the state House couldn’t get the legislation to the floor before deadline last week, it was almost a done deal. I say almost because the one sliver of a chance for the anti-gay marriage legislation to get to a vote would be if it could somehow be attached as an amendment to another bill still in play. BUT – it would have to be “germane” to the active bill.

Yesterday, state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., a Democrat who opposes same-sex marriage, attached Bell’s bill to a non-controversial bill, House Bill 2977.

Now, the author of THAT bill, Rep. Garnet Coleman, says he will kill his own bill before he allows the anti-gay legislation to pass.

From the Houston Chronicle:

A Democratic state senator has dredged up anti-gay marriage legislation that advocates thought was dead this session, attaching the language to an uncontroversial county affairs bill under the noses of his fellow Democrats. While gay rights advocates decried the move, the bill’s original sponsor in the House said he would never let his legislation pass with the anti-same-sex marriage language in-tact. “I’m the author of the bill. I will resolve the bill,” said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D- Houston, a staunch gay marriage advocate.

House Bill 2977, as Coleman originally filed it, was an uncontroversial county affairs placeholder bill, meant to act as a vehicle for lawmakers to ensure important local issues can be passed late in the session. As the bill was headed to the Senate committee for approval this week, however, Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. attached a number of other bills to Coleman’s legislation, including one that would seek to block a Supreme Court ruling in favor of gay marriage.

If the bill passes in the GOP-dominated Senate, which Coleman expects it to, it would need to return to the House, where the lower chamber’s members would have to concur with the changes. Coleman said if he can’t strip the anti-gay marriage off his legislation, then he would withdraw it completely. “If I can’t get it off, then the bill goes to bill heaven,” Coleman said. “I don’t support that legislation or that language.”

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Marriage News Watch – May 26, 2015

Matt Baume for the American Foundation for Equal Rights:

• Alabama has sent a minister to jail for 30 days for defying a local judge and marrying a lesbian couple.

• Irish voters support marriage equality in a landslide, but marriage could still start in America before they start in Ireland.

• And one more study shows support for equality on the rise.

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George W. Bush Offered To Officiate A Same-Sex Wedding In 2013

According to the Washington Blade, former President George W. Bush offered to officiate a 2013 same-sex wedding in Kennebunkport, Maine, for lesbian couple Bonnie Clement and Helen Thorgalsen, according to a new article published in the Boston Globe.

As was widely reported before, the Boston Globe notes that former President George H.W. Bush made headlines when he attended their wedding in 2013.

According to reports at the time, George H.W. Bush served as a witness at the wedding.

But the article also reports something that has previously been undisclosed in the media: former President George W. Bush “offered to perform the ceremony but had a scheduling conflict.”

Some mornings, Bush drops into H.B. Provisions, a cozy general store owned by Bonnie Clement and her wife, Helen Thorgalsen (George H.W. Bush made international headlines when he attended their wedding in 2013; George W. Bush offered to perform the ceremony but had a scheduling conflict).

This would certainly be a big pivot for George W. considering during his presidency he supported a Federal Marriage Amendment to the US Constitution that would have outlawed same-sex marriage.

The Washington Blade reports reaching out to H.B. Provisions in Kennebunkport regarding the Boston Globe’s assertion. Apparently, the person who answered the phone said, “There’s no story there. There’s nothing to tell. Please just leave me alone.”

I’ll be curious to see if more confirmation comes along in the next few days.

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Ireland: Panti Bliss Is Drunk On Yes

Irish drag celeb and LGBT activist “Panti Bliss” (aka Rory O’Neill) writes for the Independent:

“Yes. It’s such a little word but today it feels so big. YES. Has one simple syllable ever meant so much before? Not to me anyway. I’ve never asked anyone to marry me, but today it feels like I asked a whole country to marry me and they said Yes. And I’m delighted. Ecstatic.

“I’m over the gay moon and drunk on Yes, and like any happy groom on his wedding morning, I’m truly, deeply, madly in love. I am in love with the whole country.

“On Friday, Ireland agreed with that simple proposition. Forty years after those first brave men and women stood up and said, “no more”, the people of Ireland said Yes, and what must have seemed impossible all those years ago has been achieved: Ireland’s LGBTI citizens are full and equal citizens under the law.”

(h/t JMG)

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BBC Reports On The Big Celebrations In Ireland Over Marriage Equality

Watch all the shiny, happy people celebrate in Ireland – from the BBC:

The Republic of Ireland has voted overwhelmingly to legalise same-sex marriage in a historic referendum. More than 62% voted in favour of amending the country’s constitution to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.

It is the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage through a popular vote.