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.
Catholic Church Ready to Throw Homeless Under Bus in Order to Stop Gay Marriage
Published November 12, 2009 @ 06:15AM PT
The Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. has issued an ultimatum to the District's city council: approve same-sex marriage, and the Church will stop serving the city's disadvantaged, including the homeless.
Guess that Catholic Church commitment to the poor is only skin deep. For the Catholic Church to threaten the lives of homeless people and others who depend on church social services just to gain political points on the issue of gay marriage is sad, sorry, and a sign that no religious instutition in the country is willing to stand in the way of civil rights for gays and lesbians more than the Catholic Church.
The temper tantrum being thrown by the D.C. Church is being portrayed as a direct threat to the Washington, D.C. City Council. Listen to us, the church says, or we'll throw this city's poor and homeless in front of the closest Metro train.
A Really Good Week for Lesbian Ministers
Published November 11, 2009 @ 08:14PM PT
It's been a very good week for lesbian clergy. First Sweden consecrates the world's first lesbian bishop, Lutheran Eva Brunne, and now a section of the Presbyterian Church of the United States has voted, albeit by a mere 18 votes, to ordain their first lesbian minister. It's good news for Lisa Larges, who if everything continues to move forward, will be known from this point on as Rev. Lisa Larges.
Larges' appointment as minister had been blocked for fifteen years by folks who thought ordaining gay clergy would cause the sky to fall on the Presbyterian Church. Less than 24 hours after voting 156-138 to finally allow Larges to be a Reverend, the sky is still floating above. And the Presbyterian Church has taken a giant step toward inclusion.
In a statement released after the vote, Larges noted that the times they are a-changin'. Next thing you know the official Mormon Church might be supporting a gay rights measure.
Remembering Veterans by Working to Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
Published November 11, 2009 @ 06:57AM PT
Despite the fact that gay marriage advocates lost a heartbreaking vote in Maine last week, there was one individual whose story emerged from the election that has managed to not only go viral throughout the Internet, but has captured the hearts and minds of equality advocates. That man is Philip Spooner, and he's a World War II vet who talked publicly about what the idea of gay marriage and equal rights meant to him.
"A woman at my polling place asked me, 'Do you believe in equality for gay and lesbian people?'" Spooner said. "I asked her, 'What do you think our boys fought for at Omaha Beach?' I haven't seen so much blood and guts, so much suffering, much sacrifice. For what? For freedom and equality. These are the values that give America a great nation, one worth dying for."
Spooner's comments get at the heart of what Veterans Day -- being celebrated today -- is all about. Yes, it's certainly about remembering fallen soldiers and those that served this country. But it's also about the promise of equality and freedom, values that are supposed to apply to everyone in this country, regardless of sexual orientation.
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!).
The World's First Lesbian Bishop
Published November 10, 2009 @ 12:11PM PT
Eva Brunne is 55 years old, the mother of a three-year-old, and armed with a pastoral smile that could probably melt that hardest of hearts. Oh, and she's got one other title she can now hang under her hat: she's the world's first openly lesbian bishop.
Bishop Brunne became, well, "Bishop" Brunne this past weekend during a ceremony in Sweden. Her consecration as Bishop comes just two weeks after the Lutheran Church of Sweden, of which Brunne is a member, said that they would approve recognizing same-sex marriages.
Even more significant? Brunne is part of a Communion of Lutherans that spans 6.9 million members worldwide, making it the largest Lutheran Church in the world.
