State LGBT News
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Polls in New Jersey Say Bring On the Gay Marriage
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Why Gay Adoption Matters in the Florida Governor's Race
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A Potential Lesbian Mayor in Houston has the Right-Wing Up in Arms
A Happy Anniversary to Gay Marriage in Connecticut
Published November 12, 2009 @ 02:45PM PT
Today is particularly special for 1,700 same-sex couples in the state of Connecticut. That's because these folks have been able to get married thanks to a Connecticut Supreme Court decision 365 days ago that said the state's constitution called for equal rights, including equal marriage rights, for gays and lesbians. Happy Anniversary, gay marriage.
To honor today's one-year anniversary, groups that fought hard for marriage equality in Connecticut, including Love Makes a Family and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, held a rally on the steps of the State Capitol. It's sort of a fitting end for Love Makes a Family, which will be shutting its doors at the end of this month. Guess that means they did such a good job fighting for their cause, that they were able to put themselves out of business.
November is actually an historic month for gay marriage. In addition to this Connecticut anniversary, the state of Massachusetts also holds November as the month where its court case -- Goodridge v. Department of Public Health -- made the state the first in the union to recognize marriage equality.
Three States Eye Overturning Bans on Same-Sex Marriage
Published November 12, 2009 @ 11:51AM PT
What do Michigan, Ohio and Oregon have in common? Well, in addition to having the really delightful acronym, MOO, they are all three states where rumblings are afoot to overturn constitutional bans on gay marriage.
Overturning bans in these three states is an endeavor that's years away, and will be at the mercy of either state legislators or voters at the ballot box. But the fact that there's now space in the marketplace of ideas to push for overturning these bans -- all of which were just enacted within the past five years -- is a sign that marriage equality advocates have come a long way since the darkest days of this decade when gay marriage bans were as popular as ice cream. What a difference a few years can make.
Rhode Island Governor Doesn't Want You Attending Your Partner's Funeral
Published November 10, 2009 @ 02:55PM PT
Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri has a message for gays and lesbians in his state, and it's about as disgusting a message as any right-wing politician has ever given in this country. Today, the man who might be the worst governor in the entire country vetoed a bill that would have allowed gays and lesbians in the state to plan funeral arrangements for their deceased partners.
That's right, Gov. Carcieri thinks that gay people are too immoral to be allowed to plan the funerals of the people they share their lives with. Homophobic would be putting Gov. Carcieri's actions a bit too mildly. The apt word here is downright hateful and mean.
And the reasoning behind Gov. Carcieri's decision to veto the bill is about as logical as a four-year-old trying to do his parents taxes. Carcieri, you see, thinks that allowing gay people to plan the funerals of their partners is a bit too close to marriage.
"This bill represents a disturbing trend over the past few years of the incremental erosion of the principles surrounding traditional marriage, which is not the preferred way to approach this issue," said Gov. Carcieri.
Here's the problem with the Governor of Rhode Island. He has his head so far up the ass of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), that the man can't grasp that planning the funeral arrangements for a dead partner have absolutely nothing to do with marriage. But that's the next step for organizations like NOM, right? Once they get finished trying to make sure gay people can't be together in life, they can start making sure that gay people can't be together in death.
To make matters even worse, the bill he vetoed would have allowed state medical examiners to release the bodies of gays and lesbians to their surviving partners. But nope, the Governor thinks that's too close to marriage, too.
There is nothing decent about what Gov. Carcieri did today. All this man has left are the sad remnants of a political career that will wrap up in less than a year, with no future other that parading around as a standard-bearer for radical right-wing anti-gay groups. He's Carrie Prejean in eleven months, only without the sex tape (thank GOD!).
David Paterson's Gay Marriage Gamble
Published November 09, 2009 @ 06:54AM PT
With his approval ratings stuck somewhere between Dick Cheney and botulism, New York Governor David Paterson is staking it all on the line with a push this week to have the New York State Senate address the issue of marriage equality. Paterson has placed a gay marriage vote before state senators, scheduled for tomorrow, that could make New York the next state to recognize marriage equality.
Paterson himself said that he was inspired by the Maine vote last week, which rescinded marriage rights for same-sex couples in that state.
"I think that the public referendum in Maine should inspire us that there's more work to do, more persuasion to be made, more understanding to be reached, and more sensitivity to be displayed, and those of us who have been a catalyst for marriage equality have to regroup and work harder," Paterson said, in an interview with Corey Johnson and Andy Towle.
Negotiations are expected to go into the wee hours of the night tonight as Democratic lawmakers decide whether to push for a vote or not. Advocates estimate that they have 25 votes to support marriage equality. They need about six more to ensure that the marriage equality bill can pass.
Oh, and one great thing about New York: they don't have a referendum process, meaning that anti-gay activists and the Catholic Church can't put the question of civil rights for gays and lesbians on a ballot. All the more reason why tomorrow's vote will be historic if it happens.
New Jersey's Window of Opportunity for Marriage Equality
Published November 05, 2009 @ 05:18AM PT
The marriage equality debate sure moves fast and furious these days. Just days after losing a heartbreaking vote in Maine over the issue, all eyes, ears and phone calls to legislators are heading to New Jersey, where the state has the tiniest window of opportunity to pass a marriage equality bill that will recognize full civil marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
Why is that window so small? Because on Election Day, New Jersey voters gave the boot to their current governor, and marriage equality supporter, Jon Corzine. His replacement, Gov.-Elect Chris Christie, thinks that gay marriage is the devil.
So now there's just a two-month window while Gov. Corzine wraps up a lame duck legislative session for marriage equality to pass. And the state's leading LGBT rights organization, Garden State Equality, is coming out like gangbusters to make sure that over the next eight weeks, New Jersey legislators hear loud and clear that the state needs marriage equality legislation to truly value the equal rights for all of its citizens. That includes a wave of television advertisements that launched on Election night, describing how New Jersey same-sex couples lose out with no marriage rights.
Rhode Island, and the Quest for Gay Marriage Throughout New England
Published October 18, 2009 @ 02:56PM PT
When it comes to gay marriage and New England, all eyes are on Maine as voters prepare to decide whether the state's same-sex marriage law will be kept on the books, or repealed at the hands of anti-gay church folk. But three states down is the tiniest state in the country, Rhode Island, and if Maine beats back its anti-gay ballot measure, Rhode Island will become the only state in New England that does not recognize marriage equality. And activists are letting it be known that they want that changed.
This weekend, around 150 marriage equality supporters rallied on the steps of the State Capitol to boost public support (and thus, political action) for same-sex marriage. To say they are angry about Rhode Island not joining the marriage equality bandwagon might be an understatement.
"It's embarrassing, frankly, to be part of the only state surrounded by all of these other states that have already made the progressive choice," marriage equality supporter Ken Fish told WPRI. "And to have it happen here in Rhode Island -- how ironic -- the birthplace of religious freedom!"
Part of the problem is that Rhode Island's governor is, by many measures, a complete tool. While unemployment figures balloon in Rhode Island and the state is forced to ponder shutting down for up to two weeks to resolve a budget crisis, Gov. Don Carcieri high-tailed it up to Massachusetts this week for a $50-a-head fundraiser for the anti-gay Massachusetts Family Institute. During his speech, Gov. Carcieri said that gay rights activists piss him off when they try to fight for equality.
"[Same-sex marriage] is not a civil right," Gov. Carcieri said. "I get aggravated when it is portrayed that way."
Funny, I get aggravated when Governors start behaving like televangelists and parade around the country peddling discrimination.
Gov. Carcieri is barred from seeking another term in office after this one ends. Since he's already a member of the National Organization for Marriage, perhaps he'll consider employment there. Beyond that, one can only hope that Gov. Carcieri's successor isn't stuck in the stone ages when it comes to respecting equal rights.
Maine Newspapers Agree: Let Gays Marry
Published October 18, 2009 @ 05:58AM PT
In just over two weeks, voters will head to the polls in Maine and decide whether or not same-sex marriage will be allowed to stay legal in the state, or whether right-wing pundits and religious leaders will succeed in scaling back civil rights for gay and lesbian couples. The question voters will decide -- Question 1, officially -- asks Maine voters this:
Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?
The No on 1 campaign, which is leading the fight in the state to protect marriage equality, is doing a bang up job. Through this week they were on television more than opponents, and have responded with amazing fundraising prowess (thanks to the netroots!). That's all the more important because in Maine, the official Roman Catholic Church has decided to make fighting gays and lesbians the bread and butter of their faith this year, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to help pass the discriminatory ballot measure known as Question 1.
Poll numbers show a tight race, and that marriage equality advocates cannot let up (all the more so now that early voting has started).
One set of good news? Two major Maine newspapers have come out on behalf of equality. The first is the Bangor Daily News, one of the larger papers in the state. They have an absolute kick ass editorial this weekend on why Mainers should preserve the rights of gays and lesbians to marry. And the editorial delivers a sucker punch right into the mid-section of the Maine Catholic Church, which has tried to paint gays and lesbians as destabilizing threats to the common good. Check out the money line:
"The repeal effort has been led by the Roman Catholic Diocese. Bishop Richard Malone called same-sex marriage 'a dangerous sociological experiment.' The fact that gay couples have existed for generations — many of them raising children — counters this argument," the paper said. "Worse, however, is the church’s attempt to force its views on all Maine’s residents, whether they are Catholic or not."
The paper goes on to point out that Maine's governor who signed marriage equality into law, Gov. John Baldacci, is a Catholic. How's that for some equal rights irony?
The second paper this weekend to come out strongly on behalf of marriage equality in Maine is the Maine Sunday Telegram, Maine's statewide Sunday newspaper. And like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, here are a few of our favorite things from this editorial:
- "Limiting marriage to a man and a woman would not make families led by same-sex couples go away. It would just keep them in a legally inferior position that is inconsistent with Maine's tradition of equal protection under the law."
- "[Marriage equality opponents] argue that extending the rights and responsibilities of civil marriage to families headed by same-sex couples would have broad effects throughout society. We have listened to their arguments, but we just don't buy them."
- "Families led by same-sex partners are here now. They are part of our communities and they need and deserve the legal protections – as well as the dignity – that comes with civil marriage status. Maine voters should recognize that even if their personal beliefs about marriage haven't changed, reality has. They should accept reality and vote "no" on Question 1."
Aren't those lines amazing? It's almost as if marriage equality advocates couldn't ask for better editorials. But then again, the editorials just reflect reality. And that reality is that opponents of marriage equality will go to any length and pursue any bogus argument to try and discriminate against gays and lesbians.
Maine's newspapers are starting to get that opponents of marriage equality don't have much to argue with other than hate. Here's hoping Maine voters think the same thing when they cast their ballots.
