By CHARLES M. BLOW We now know that blacks probably didn’t tip the balance for Proposition 8. Myth busted. However, the fact remains that a strikingly high percentage of blacks said they voted to ban same-sex marriage in California. Why? There was one very telling (and virtually ignored) statistic in CNN’s exit poll data that may shed some light: There were far more black women than black men, and a higher percentage of them said that they voted for the measure than the men. How wide was the gap? According to the exit poll, 70 percent of ...

Deb touched up the Project Postcard photos that James took last week. I am fairly pleased with how it went, and they have extended the project through Christmas. Basically, folks should sign a postcard to the Obama transition team asking for support for repealing DOMA and also for supporting LGBT equal rights. Optionally, they are asking for folks to take a photo with their postcard and post it. There is full details about the project here. In addition to the Flickr set, and the brief article on Erie Gay News linking to ...

The conflict within the state senate's Democrats and a push for re-election of Governor David Paterson has some lawmakers wary of attempting to pass a marriage equality bill in New York this session, perhaps not until 2011, the NYT reports: "Internally, the debate has created two camps among lawmakers who back the bill — with one group saying a vote should happen as early as possible in 2009, and another camp arguing for an indefinite delay. But delaying it could upset some advocates of same-sex marriage, who poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into State Senate races this year. 'Since ...

Nearly a decade after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that same-sex common law partners must be given the same rights and priveleges as opposite-sex partners, New Brunswick has introduced a bill called the modernization of benefits and obligations act. If passed, the act will update more than 30 other acts and regulations to extend equal status to same-sex common law relationships. While same-sex marriage has been legal in Canada for some time now, unmarried, same-sex, common-law partners are still, formally, on unequal ground compared to their heterosexual counterparts in New Brunswick. Bizarrely enough, even though New Brunswick’s bill is the result ...

Yes, it's been literally days since Fosco talked to you about Prop H8. Don't worry, there is still Prop H8 news and Fosco is digesting it for you (so you don't have to!). Here are two Prop H8 titbits from the last couple of days:

• Tom Ackerman has a great trick to try on your married straight friends. As Ackerman writes:I no longer recognize marriage. It’s a new thing I’m trying.Turns out it’s fun.Yesterday I called a woman’s spouse her boyfriend. She says, correcting me, “He’s my husband,” “Oh,” I say, “I no longer recognize marriage.”The impact is

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After a pledge from New York Democratic leaders that their party would legalize same-sex marriage if they won control of the State Senate this year, money from gay rights supporters poured in from across the country, helping cinch a Democatic... ...

Source: " href="http://www.denverpost.com/ci_11090768">Denver Post , Colorado Independent Boulder, CO -- Congressman-elect Jared Polis (D-Boulder) and his partner, Marlon Reis, are expected to join 100 or so other protesters at the Century Boulder Theatre Sunday afternoon to protest a donation given the the theater company's CEO to the Prop. 8 campaign in California. Alan Stock, CEO of Cinemark-Century Theaters which owns the Boulder moviehouse, donated $9,999 to the Yes on 8 Campaign, approved by California voters this month. The proposition prohibits same-sex marriage and...(read more) ...

With all the gloom in the United States over the passage of three same-sex marriage bans, US LGBT communities must be much happier about a benigh Florida Circuit Court verdict that relates to Florida’s archaic adoption ban for same-sex couples and individuals. Equality Florida and the Coalition for Fair Adoption have been lobbying for the removal of the ban for ages. Recently, they had some success. Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge Cindy Lindeman has ruled that the ban is in contravention of Florida’s state constitution. Miamian Frank Gill now intends to move forward with his (individual?) adoption of two four and eight ...

She's not a lawyer or a lawmaker, but few people were more pivotal to the struggle for same-sex marriage in Connecticut than Anne Stanback. She spent the better part of the past decade forging coalitions, lobbying legislators, raising money and doing the grunt work of community organizing. "The phrase that comes to mind is either relentlessly gracious or graciously relentless," said Lee Swislow, executive director of Gay and Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, or GLAD, the Boston-based group that successfully sued to bring same-sex marriage to the state. "Anne never stopped. In this incredibly warm and gracious way, she just ...

Compared with straight men, gay men are more likely to be left-handed, to be the younger siblings of older brothers, and to have hair that whorls in a counterclockwise direction. Researchers are finding common biological traits among gay men, feeding a growing consensus that sexual orientation is an inborn combination of genetic and environmental factors that largely decide a person's sexual attractions before they are born. Such findings — including a highly anticipated study this winter — would further inform the debate over whether homosexuality is innate or a choice, an undercurrent of the recent Proposition 8 campaign in ...

Openly gay Rep. Jim Splaine, a Portsmouth Democrat, who successfully lead lawmakers in 2006 to defeat a proposal to amend the state's Constitution limiting the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman and then pushed through New Hampshire's civil union bill in 2007, will now work next year to bring same-sex marriage to the state.Civil unions in New Hampshire give same-sex couples about 90 percent of the benefits and obligations that heterosexual couples get through marriage and about 600 couples have so far entered into civil unions in that state.That law also allows people ...

Meet the New Boss... Same as the Old BossIn the last legislative session, the Democratic-led New York State Assembly passed a same sex marriage measure by a sizable margin. However that measure stalled when the Republican-controlled Senate declined to bring it to the floor for a vote.So during this past election, New York Democrats said that their party would legalize same-sex marriage if they won control of the State Senate this year.And we LGBT’s sent them a lot of money to make that happen.Now The New York Times is reporting that after a pledging that their party would ...

Source: New York Times , New York Daily News , Gay City News ALBANY -- Money from gay rights supporters poured in from across the country to several tight Senate races after a pledge from New York Democratic leaders that their party would legalize same-sex marriage if they won control of the State Senate this year. The money helped cinch a razor-thin Democratic victory. Democrats won 32 seats in the election, but the Republicans, who appear to have won 30, have yet to concede defeat, New York Times reports. But now, according to the Times, party leaders have sent strong ...

ALBANY — After a pledge from New York Democratic leaders that their party would legalize same-sex marriage if they won control of the State Senate this year, money from gay rights supporters poured in from across the country, helping cinch a Democratic victory. But now, party leaders have sent strong signals that they may not take up the issue during the 2009 legislative session. Some of them suggest it may be wise to wait until 2011 before considering it, in hopes that Democrats can pick up more Senate seats and Gov. David A. Paterson, a strong backer ...

Gay-rights activists plan to protest a Boulder theater that will show a movie about a gay-rights pioneer because, despite the movie, the theater's chief executive supported a California ban on same-sex marriages. Among those expected to attend Sunday's protest at Century Boulder Theatre is Congressman-elect Jared Polis, the first openly gay congressional candidate from Colorado. Cinemark-Century CEO Alan Stock donated $9,999 to the Yes on 8 Campaign, approved by California voters this month. The proposition prohibits same-sex marriage and has sparked other protests by gay-rights activists. But Cinemark-Century — which owns Century Boulder Theatre — is being targeted because ...

Democrats in New York have taken the State Senate for the first time in 40 years, to a significant extent due to a flood of contributions from gays and lesbians wanting marriage equality. Now it looks as though this was not money well spent. Since the election, three Democratic Senators have been holding up the assention of the Senate leader, threatening to vote with Republicans unless there is a written promise not to bring marriage equality up for a vote. Now it seems that other Senate Democrats are finding that “it’s not the right time” to support their gay constituents ...

Black gay activists in Washington have expressed concern that advocates for legislation to legalize same-sex marriage in the city have not developed a strategy for winning support from black residents, who make up 56.5 percent of the D.C. population. Following a closed-door meeting last week at the D.C. gay community center, activists representing several local gay groups agreed to call a community-wide forum Dec. 11 to debate whether the City Council should take up a same-sex marriage bill in January. Gay D.C. Councilmember David Catania (I-At-Large) said he and several of his Council colleagues are considering introducing a same-sex ...

I’m mad. I’m angry that Proposition 8 passed. I’m mad that Californians voted to ban same-sex marriage. They kicked gays and lesbians into the La Brea tar pits. Never before has a state yanked away gay marriage after it had been legalized. California has historically led in the area of social change. The state Supreme Court’s decision [...] ...

When Mormons light their massive and colorful Christmas displays tonight on the Mesa Arizona Temple grounds, thousands of candles may burn across the street in a vigil in Pioneer Park. 'Idol's' Brooke White to turn on temple lights Vigil organizers call it a demonstration of solidarity for gays and lesbians seeking full civil rights. They say their vigil was precipitated by Mormons' staunch opposition to same-sex marriage with passage of amendments to constitutions in Arizona, California and Florida in the Nov. 4 general election. "We are not going to march. It is not a protest. We will have ...

Three lawsuits have been filed, Democratic legislators along with the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles are rallying behind the cause, and protesters have lifted signs in the streets and called for boycotts. Overturning Proposition 8, however, may be more a matter of time and patience than politics and pressure, according to experts analyzing trends in voting and polling results. Proposition 8 passed Nov. 4 by 52-percent-to-48-percent margin, banning gay marriage in California. That four-point margin was much slimmer than Proposition 22, a similar measure that passed in 2000 by a nearly 20 point margin, garnering 61 percent ...