A possible California referendum on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions has pundits predicting an epic battle this November that could end in the approval of same-sex marriage or a massive rollback in relationship recognition.
VoteYesMarriage.com, the group collecting signatures to get the measure on the ballot this fall, has declared that it obtained by the April 28 deadline the 1.1 million signatures needed to bring the issue to voters. The California secretary of state has yet to certify that the signatures are valid and is not expected to make such an announcement until June.
Geoff Kors, executive ...
Local governments and state universities in Michigan can't offer health insurance to the partners of gay workers, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The court ruled 5-2 that Michigan's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, enacted in 2004, also blocks domestic-partner policies for gay employees at the University of Michigan and other public-sector employers. The decision affirms a February 2007 appeals court ruling.
Up to 20 public universities, community colleges, school districts, and local governments in Michigan have benefit policies covering at least 375 gay couples. After the appeals court ruled, universities and local governments rewrote their policies to ...
Don't be fooled by the religious right's assertion that they simply want to protect marriage and the family. Implicit in their efforts to pass legislation and constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage is an intention to slam the door on any measure that would grant rights or recognition to gays.
Should there be any doubt, take a look at today's Michigan Supreme Court ruling. In a case designed to determine the scope of an amendment passed in the state in 2004, the court upheld an appeals court ruling that prohibits Michigan's universities, colleges, and municipalities from providing health coverage ...
New York high court refuses to strike down state's recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriage: "The Court of Appeals declined yesterday to review the mid-level appellate court's decision to recognize the couple's Canadian marriage, the first such ruling by an appellate court in New York State. For now, that lower court decision remains binding across the state."
Thomas Roberts talks to The Advocate about the news industry's glass ceiling for gays: "It’s funny that people think I got fired from CNN. I left CNN on my accord: I resigned from my contract because of personal reasons. I never ...
Yesterday, a Pennsylvania Senate committee voted 18-8 to send Senate Bill 1250, which would place a measure on the ballot banning same-sex marriage, to the full Senate for a vote. The measure must be approved in two consecutive legislative sessions for it to be placed on the ballot.
Following the vote, lawmakers attended a boisterous rally against the ban in the Capitol:
"Senate Bill 1250, which is meant to bolster the state's 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which already prohibits same-sex marriage, "is disheartening and discriminatory," said Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park. 'It's marriage mischief -- an attempt ...
365Gay.com Newscenter(Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) A proposed constitutional amendment that would bar same-sex marriage and civil unions in Pennsylvania passed a key committee on Monday and is now headed for a full vote on the Senate floor. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 18 - 8 to send the bill to the Senate. If it passes it would then need approval of the House and then a second round of approvals in the next session of the legislature. The earliest it could be placed on the ballot would be in 2009. Pennsylvania already limits marriage to opposite-sex couples but supporters of the amendment ...
Liberal democracy just took another hit!
Pennsylvania’s Senatorial Appropriations Committee today voted 18-8 to put a gay marriage amendment to a vote, which will likely happen tomorrow. Many of you are probably thinking, “Wait, doesn’t Pennsylvania already have a law banning same-sex marriage?”
Well, yes; yes, it does, but conservative politicians think that an amendment’s needed to ensure nothing like civil unions can be legalized. Because even pseudo-queer-equality’s yucky!
The amendment reads thus: “No union other than a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as marriage or the functional equivalent of marriage by the ...
Frederic Minvielle, a gay Frenchman who has been living in the Netherlands for six years and married a Dutch man in 2003, has lost his French citizenship because of the marriage, Time reports:
"Although the Franco-Dutch immigration treaty pertaining to his situation generally forces nationals from one country to surrender their original citizenship when naturalized in the other, there is a key exception that allows dual citizenship accorded through marriage. Minvielle figured that would work for him. 'France does not recognize marriage between people of the same sex as the Netherlands does, and therefore considers Mr. Minvielle an unwed man ...
The religious right likes to be seen as the moral compass of the country...though they rarely want the country to fully understand that their focus on denying any rights to gays is their primary objective. Yes, they talk incessantly about same-sex marriage and frame it as the pivotal issue facing the American family. At the same time, they seek to keep the bulk of their mean spirited efforts working quietly in the background. The latest to surface is an attempt to force Wells Fargo to remove all protections for their gay employees.
From 365Gay.com:
(San Francisco, California) A motion by ...