Gay Marriage Watch

See the Full Events List Here

–USA, CA, Hollywood: 03/21, Gather Prop 8 Repeal Signatures, Farm Mkt, 8 AM-1 PM. http://bit.ly/9gSZZc
–USA, CA, Monterey: 03/21, Courage Academy, CSU. http://bit.ly/b575Nh
–USA, CA, Santa Monica: 03/21, Gather Prop 8 Repeal Signatures, Farm Mkt Ocean Pk, 9:30 AM-1:30 PM. http://bit.ly/9gSZZc
–USA, DC, Washington: 03/21, March for LGBT Immigration Domestic Partnership Rights/Immigration Reform, World War II Memorial, 11:30 AM. http://bit.ly/d7CTdj
–USA, DC, Washington: 03/21, Vigil at the Monument for Binational Same Sex Couples. zoeoka@yahoo.com
–USA, FL, Daytona Beach: 03/22, Soulforce 2010 Equality Ride Stop, Bethune Cookman University. http://bit.ly/chHIjx
–USA, NY, New York: 03/20-03/21, Same Love Same Rights Wedding Expo, Javits Center. http://bit.ly/aLmMrs

Gays and lesbians can’t get married in New York, but they can get an annulment. A mid-level state appeals court has ruled that even though New York doesn’t have a civil union law, its courts do have the power to annul a same-sex union made in another state.

The case involved two Schenectady County women who entered into a civil union in Vermont in 2003, but separated three years later.

One went to Vermont to get the union annulled, but was told she needed to live there a year before she could apply.

Full Story from WCBS

Click here for gay marriage resources in New York.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Sefanaia Waqabaca is a ‘feminine’ or ‘gay’. A hair stylist in one of Suva city’s most frequented hair salons, he’s not hiding the fact that he is. “Not a problem! Shoot, I’m very open,” he reassures me of my asking if he doesn’t mind being asked personal questions about his lifestyle. With his short styled bleached blonde hair, jeans, tee-shirt and a scarf, Sefa (as he prefers to be called with due respect to his namesake) says he wouldn’t be caught dead in a skirt or dress for that matter. And he doesn”t go by some chic nickname either.

Tall, slim, humble and always polite, he describes himself and others like him “feminine”. Feminine in the sense that he walks, speaks and acts like a woman. Sefa says he always felt girlish as he was growing up. “Even though it was something new to me, I felt comfortable about it. To me, it was a case of ‘follow your heart.’ I take my lifestyle seriously. It’s not some experimental game I’m playing or whatever – it’s something I treasure, it’s not vakasabusabu kind-of-stuff. I was feminine while in school – I did play rugby once in secondary school, but I was more into volleyball, but that didn’t mean I did not mingle with the guys in school.

Sefa grew up with family and relatives who were in the military. He was respectful of others and his elders and mindful of his actions around them. And contrary to people’s beliefs, “I don’t lust after every guy I see. Being gay is something that I treasure, I don’t throw myself around. I prefer a stable long term relationship with a partner,” he says.

Full Story from the Fiji Times Online

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Lisa Comingore, an assistant attorney general for the state of Florida, knows what it’s like to be forced out of a job over sexual orientation. Comingore, 39, took a job as a staff attorney with a state agency Nov. 1, 2006, and by the following February, she’d put in her notice. She’d been told that if she didn’t, she;d be fired.

The reason why, she says, had nothing to do with job performance – a supervisor wanted her out because she’s a lesbian. Comingore, a Tallahassee resident who was recovering from breast cancer, decided to leave on her own. She knew if she was fired, she’d have a hard time landing another state job and keeping her health insurance. “It just felt extremely unfair,” Comingore said. “Just being discriminated against and having no recourse – it’s very demoralizing.”

Currently, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community aren’t protected from workplace discrimination in local, state or federal law. They also aren’t protected from housing discrimination in state or federal law. The county’s housing code has a protection for gays and lesbians, but LGBT advocates say it has no enforcement mechanism and is ineffective.

Full Story from Tallahassee.com

Click here for gay marriage resources in Florida.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Since the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruled last April that banning same-sex marriage violated the state constitution, traditional marriage advocates have lobbied their lawmakers at every opportunity demanding the right to vote.

The local LUV, or Let Us Vote, advocates made what will likely be their last stand during the 2010 legislative session at a public forum with area lawmakers Saturday.

The group’s concerns with same-sex marriage have not changed since it was first allowed here on April 27, 2009, nor has the response of their lawmakers. About all that has changed in the past 11 months is a growing frustration on both sides.

Full Story from The Hawkeye

Click here for gay marriage resources in Iowa.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Dupont Circle on a recent sunny afternoon: Workers on lunch break gather for impromptu picnics; others relax on park benches, drawn by the springlike warmth. And under one budding tree, barely noticed by a passing stream of pedestrians, Baltimore residents Jessica Leshnoff and Holly Beatty prepare to wed.

We gather today to marry Jessica and Holly. This is your time; this is your day. Today you once again declare your love and commitment to each other: this time sanctioned not only by your love, your vows and your solemn commitment, but by the law.

With these words officiant Todd Waymon of the Washington Ethical Society begins a simple ceremony that will grant the women the legal recognition they’ve yearned for during nine years together. Looking on are five friends and Leshnoff’s 88-year-old great-uncle Ben, who’s come from Florida.

Full Story from the Baltimore Sun

Click here for gay marriage resources in Maryland.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

See the Full Events List Here

–USA, CA, Hollywood: 03/21, Gather Prop 8 Repeal Signatures, Farm Mkt, 8 AM-1 PM. http://bit.ly/9gSZZc
–USA, CA, Monterey: 03/21, Courage Academy, CSU. http://bit.ly/b575Nh
–USA, CA, Palm Springs: 03/20, Equality Happy Hour, Hamburger Mary’s, 4-7 PM. http://bit.ly/bKvO8V
–USA, CA, Santa Monica: 03/21, Gather Prop 8 Repeal Signatures, Farm Mkt Ocean Pk, 9:30 AM-1:30 PM. http://bit.ly/9gSZZc
–USA, CA, Silverlake: 03/20, Gather Prop 8 Repeal Signatures, Farm Mkt, 8 AM-1 PM. http://bit.ly/9gSZZc
–USA, DC: 03/21, March for LGBT Immigration Domestic Partnership Rights/Immigration Reform, World War II Memorial, 11:30 AM. http://bit.ly/d7CTdj
–USA, DC: 03/21, Vigil at the Monument for Binational Same Sex Couples. zoeoka@yahoo.com
–USA, DC: 03/20, 400 Couples to Marry, Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. http://bit.ly/dv99LH
–USA, NY, New York: 03/20-03/21, Same Love Same Rights Wedding Expo, Javits Center. http://bit.ly/aLmMrs
–USA, NY, New York City: 03/19-03/20, Drinking For A Change, 15 NYC Bars. http://bit.ly/cqVdIS

Thanks to our friend Denise from Highlands Inn for bringing this article to our attention:

New Hampshire towns have resoundingly rejected the vote to discriminate – an attempt to pressure for a statewide vote aimed at repealing marriage equality. In direct contrast to the intent of the town meeting petition campaign, voters sent a clear message that the people of New Hampshire do not vote to take away the rights of their neighbors. Results show:

• An astounding 80 towns rejected the vote to discriminate thus far – versus 59 towns who passed it. The facts completely undermine marriage equality opponent’s claims that the people of New Hampshire are calling for a vote.

• To put it another way, 57.5% of communities with the petition said NO to voting to take away the rights of others, compared to a mere 42.4% who voted yes.

In addition, another 86 communities – 37% of New Hampshire towns – did not even discuss the petition.

“Once we educated people about the true intent of the vote to discriminate, New Hampshire responded with such force that there is no doubt marriage equality is here to stay in the Granite State,” said Zandra Rice Hawkins, director of the organization Granite State Progress. “Anti-equality organizations like the National Organization for Marriage and Cornerstone Policy Research should be ashamed for pushing a misleading resolution in New Hampshire, and embarrassed for claiming a victory before they looked at the numbers. We have a strong tradition of civil liberties here and marriage equality is no exception in the Live Free or Die state.”

Full Story from Granite State Progress

Click here for gay marriage resources in New Hampshire.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Join in at 7 PM EST/6 PM CST to talk possible actions next week in solidarity with Lt. Dan Choi and his arrest yesterday.

We will be having a conference call to discuss the ongoing events with EAA and the way the movement for queer liberation has intensified, changed, unified and taken different directions in the recent months.

It will also be a time to get any general questions about EAA answered!

Please join us using the call-in information below at 6:00 CST on Sunday, March 21st.

Dial In Number: (218) 844-8230
Access Code: 738051

We will aim for a 90 minute call but folks are willing to stay on longer to make sure everyone’s questions are answered/opinions are heard.

Proposed agenda (thanks for the tips/advice everyone!)

1.) Discussion in solidarity with the arrests yesterday, including discussion of possible solidarity actions
2.) EAA-affiliated regional conferences update, including from Unite+Fight conference planners, open discussion
3.) EAA’s Harvey Milk Day Actions update/open discussion
4.) Next Steps, Moving Forward Together (open discussion)

We are very much looking forward to this call and are even more excited to move forward!

In Solidarity,

Equality Across America

“That’s the reason I deleted my Twitter account because I said on there that I believed in gay marriage because everyone should have the right to love each other, and I got such hate mail about my being a bad person.’”

Quote from Parade Magazine’s web-only outtakes with singer and actress Miley Cyrus . One year ago, Cyrus used her Twitter account to respond to a question from Perez Hilton about same-sex marriage, and that simple exchange got a lot of attention. (Parade)

Full Story from Metro Weekly

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.