While California’s gay rights advocates are split between a 2010 and 2012 repeal effort, you’ve still got the Olson-Boies federal Perry v. Schwarzenegger lawsuit that’s attempting to overturn Prop 8′s damage. The means to the ends may differ, but both plans will live and die by strategy. Say what you will about the ballot repeal’s strategy being led by the same people who bungled No On 8, but when it comes to Olson-Boies, is their strategy wholly flawed?

In order to convince a federal audience that Prop 8 is unconstitutional by way of the 14th Amendment, Olson-Boies and their clients (under the umbrella Alliance Defense Fund) plan to bring in a string of expert witnesses to testify that being gay is not a choice; that it’s decided by biology; and it is not a disorder. How come? Because if they can prove we’ve had no choice in the matter — so the thinking goes — it’ll be easier to convince a judge that, like skin color, sexuality cannot be the basis for discrimination.

The only problem with that? Federal protections are not always tied to biology and things we don’t have choices about. Just look at religion: We’re technically free to adopt any set of beliefs we want, change them at any time, or keep the same ones forever. But that choice remains constitutionally protected. So to go to great lengths to prove that sexuality is not a choice (and counter the defense’s likely argument that it is), the Los Angeles Times argues Olson-Boies’ strategy risks levying an unnecessary burden of proof on its own claim.

Full Story from Queerty

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com with “subscribe blog” as the subject. 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.

Government ethics commissions in Iowa and Maine are asking the National Organization for Marriage to provide answers to questions about its funding sources in campaigns to repeal those states’ same-sex marriage laws.

NOM launched a “Reclaim Iowa” campaign on Aug. 24to pass a constitutional amendment that would reverse the state Supreme Court’s ruling in April legalizing marriage for gays and lesbians. The organization is major financial backer of Stand for Marriage Maine, which has succeeded in placing a referendum on the November ballot for a “voter’s veto” of the same-sex marriage law Gov. John Baldacci enacted in May.

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board told NOM in an Aug. 27 letter it must form a political action committee and list contributors if its campaign activities exceed $750.

Full Story from Edge Boston

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com with “subscribe blog” as the subject. 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.

More than 80 activists from across California met last Saturday as part of the California Coalition for Marriage Equality, an ad-hoc group comprised of more than 75 organizations across the state that are dedicated to the single and common goal of restoring marriage equality in California as quickly as possible. The group met at San Francisco State University to create a structure for the signature gathering effort that would restore marriage equality in California in 2010.

The morning began with a keynote address from Ace Smith, noted California political strategist whose resume includes statewide ballot initiatives and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. “This is a civil rights movement,” Smith explained to the activists who attended the conference. “You can’t script it. You have to let people go. They have to be able to organize freely, let themselves go. Capturing lightning in a bottle, it either happens or it doesn’t. You have to let it happen. It’s what you’re seeking to achieve, but you don’t do it by planning a typical campaign.”

Activists quickly got to work after Smith’s speech. Five proposals, generated from around the state, were presented, and followed by several hours of discussion. The conclusion of that debate was the adoption of a comprehensive statewide signature gathering structure dubbed the Davis Plan, named after the hometown of one of the authors.

Full Story from The Examiner

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources in Caliufornia.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com with “subscribe blog” as the subject. 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.

Many gay and lesbian couples will hold small, low key ceremonies when they gain the legal right to marry this week.  Some say they’ve already had several celebrations of their relationship over the years and don’t plan a big wedding. VPR’s Ross Sneyd has our story.

(Sneyd) Eileen Blackwood and her partner, Lynn Goyette, had a big commitment ceremony with family and friends on their tenth anniversary together.  That was 13 years ago. When civil unions came along in 2000, they had another ceremony, this one smaller, mostly with friends.

This week they can get married. And they will. But pretty simply.

Full Story from VPR News

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources in Vermont.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com with “subscribe blog” as the subject. 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.

Gay Marriage Watch Events List:

We now publish updates daily, and a weekly recap of upcoming gay marriage events, along with our Hero of the Week and our Woody Award. For the posted stories during the week, just scroll down the blog or check the archives on the right.

To subscribe to this blog, or if you have any thoughts about how we can make this feature better or easier to use or any updates on the issues covered here, let me know at info@purpleunions.com.

You can also now 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

Enjoy the rest of the Watch!

–Scott

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Hero of the Week:

Kelly B. Huston, for this beautiful article about homosexuality and empathy:

“As a therapist and student of human nature, I have become increasingly convinced that opposition to gay marriage is primarily driven by a lack of empathy. Empathy involves the ability to see and understand the world through a different framework from one’s own… One of the first things you learn in Therapist School 101 is the importance of empathy, or seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. Empathy is not necessarily correlated with intelligence, and counseling programs scrutinize students who, though they may have high grades or test scores, lack empathy. So I have tried many times to imagine what it would be like to be someone else, including someone who is gay.”

Read the whole thing – it’s a great article. Go, Kelly, Go!

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Woody Award:

Our woody award this week goes to letter writer John Shaull in Des Moines, for this lovely bit of advice to all the gays:

“I agree with Butterfield’s statement: “Churches cannot transform gays into straights.” However, the same Jesus who healed the blind, changed a greedy tax collector and raised the dead can transform gays to straight. Now, that’s radical.”

OK, let’s go out on a limb here and say that of all the religions out there, and of all the forms of Christianity itself, Mister Shaull has happened upon the one true relgion. Let’s accept, for the sake of argument here, that Jesus has the power to do just about anything.

Why, then, would he change something that God himself had created? I no more “chose” this “lifestyle” than I “chose” to have brown hair and brown eyes. What Mister Shaull doesn’t understand is that, as a gay person, any shame I have had about being a gay man has come from society itself, and small minded individuals that make a point of reminding me, again and again, how “different” I am from everyone else. It was only when I learned to be proud of who God made me that I began to live a healthy life, free from the crippling guilt imposed upon me by the likes of Mister Shaull.

I can only hope that Jesus, with his great powers, can reach into Mister Shaull’s heart and teach him a little compassion.

Now that’s radical. Enjoy your woody, Mister Shaull.

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Upcoming Gay Marriage Events (in Country, State, City Order)

Canada, Montreal: 9/4: Mark Nelson and Gage Kristopher’s Out In Events presents Out in the Parks, the official 2009 LGBT Six Flags Tour, a benefit for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund. La Ronde, 6 PM-3 AM. More Info

Ireland, Limerick: 9/13-9/20: Limerick Pride 2009. More Info

UK, England, Manchester: 10/18: Gay wedding show. More Info

UK, England, Brighton: 11/15: Gay wedding show. More Info

UK, Wales, Cardiff: 10/4: Gay wedding show. More Info

USA, AZ, Tucson: 11/20: The first annual Wingspan Classic Golf Tournament will tee off at the Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain Golf Club north of Tucson, Arizona Friday, November 20, 2009.  The proceeds of the event will be donated entirely to Wingspan, Southern Arizona’s GLBT community center that is in dire financial need. 12:30 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Bakersfield: 9/8: Join local Equality Teams and Courage Campaign staff for a dessert potluck and an intimate discussion about the Courage Campaign’s vision for the next campaign and local Equality Teams. 7-9 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Berkeley: 9/6: The Alameda County Equality Team (ACE-T) is kicking off Party for Equality – its new fundraising party series – with a Labor Party in Tilden Nature Area, Berkeley. 1-4 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Citrus Heights: 9/6: Join us in Citrus Heights for some door-to-door neighborhood canvassing. We’ll talk to voters about same-sex marriage to enlighten and spread truth. Before the canvass, we’ll train and feed you! 5-8 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Eureka: 9/18: Join Northern CA Field Manager Hope Wood and Central CA Field Organizer Anthony Ashe for a potluck and intimate discussion about the Courage Campaign’s vision for the next campaign and for our local Equality Teams. 6:30-9 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Hayward: 9/17: Tabling in Hayward for Marriage Equality! Alameda County. 5:30-8:30 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Irvine: 9/12: The IUCC Advocates for Peace and Justice Ministry along with Americans United for the Separation of Church and State-Orange County and the Orange County Equality Coalition will be sponsoring a showing of the award winning documentary “Scout’s Honor.” 6/8 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Los Angeles: Every Monday: LA Equal Roots Meeting. More Info

USA, CA, Los Angeles: Every Tuesday: Love Honor Cherish Meeting. More Info

USA, CA, Los Angeles: Every Wednesday: Equality Network meeting. 7-9:30 PM. More Info (see Upcoming Events scroll in sidebar)

USA, CA, Los Angeles: 9/7: Every year, the legendary Livonia Speaks concludes summer with her drag extravaganza, The Sassy Show! This Labor Day, Livonia has partnered with Equality Network to host a benefit to promote same-sex marriage equality and equal rights for all Americans. At Here Lounge, 8 PM-2 AM. More Info

USA, CA, Los Angeles: 9/9: Join RENWL and the Hollywood, San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley, Silver Lake, Venice and Westside Equality Teams and Courage Campaign staff for a dessert potluck and an intimate discussion about the Courage Campaign’s vision for the next campaign and local Equality Teams. 7-9 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Los Angeles: 9/12-9/13: OUT West Coalition Boot Camp: learn the inner workings of running an effective campaign and how to ultimately repeal proposition 8. More Info

USA, CA, Los Angeles: 9/13: Entertainment Industry Equality Team Kickoff: The Entertainment Industry Equality Team is comprised of working professionals and willing volunteers in the entertainment industry who will donate their talents to create compelling, informative (and hopefully viral) videos that can be used to promote Marriage Equality across the United States. We are in need of experienced above- and below-the-line members who can bring talent, relationships, equipment, locations and other resources to the table, particularly editors, composers, web programmers and all crew members. 10:30 AM-12:30 PM. At the Farmer’s Market, Third & Fairfax. More Info

USA, CA, Los Angeles: 10/11: Los Angeles Equality March and Rally in Solidarity with the National Equality March. 12-3 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Modesto: 9/10: Join local Equality Teams and Courage Campaign staff for a dessert potluck and an intimate discussion about the Courage Campaign’s vision for the next campaign and local Equality Teams. 7-9 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Mountainview: Every Sunday Thru Nov Election: Phonebanking for Maine Marriage Equality. 2-7 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Palm Springs: 10/17: Palm Springs Equality Awards More Info

USA, CA, Palm Springs: 11/7-11/8: Palm Springs Pride More Info

USA, CA, Sacramento: 9/10: Equality California in partnership with Sweet invite you to an exclusive event featuring Suzanne Westenhoefer followed by Sacramento Monarchs basketball. 5:30 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Sacramento: 9/16: Join the Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, and Solano County Equality Teams, Volunteer Organizer Courtney Shelley, Northern CA Field Manager Hope Wood and Courage Campaign Chief Operating Officer Sarah Callahan for a potluck and intimate discussion about the Courage Campaign’s vision for the next campaign and for our local Equality Teams. 6:30-9 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Sacramento: 11/7: Camp Courage Sacramento – Camp Courage is an intensive 2-day training program that teaches principles of community organizing; Camp Courage intends to train those working to restore marriage equality in California. More Info

USA, CA, Salinas: 9/14: Join local Equality Teams and Courage Campaign staff for a dessert potluck and an intimate discussion about the Courage Campaign’s vision for the next campaign and local Equality Teams. 7-9 PM. More Info

USA, CA, San Bernardino: 9/18: Join the High Desert and Inland Empire Equality Teams, the Courage Campaign Equality Program staff & Courage Campaign Founder Rick Jacobs for a dessert potluck and intimate discussion about the Courage Campaign’s vision for the next campaign and local Equality Teams. 6:30-8:30 PM. More Info

USA, CA, San Diego: 11/14: 2009 San Diego Equality Awards. More Info

USA, CA, San Francisco: 10/11: 6th Annual Coast to Coast Bridge Walk: Meet at 9:30am at Crissy Field and together we will march the span of the Golden Gate Bridge.  This is a great event for kids, dogs, grandparents and the whole family.  We will have speakers and cake to toast our efforts thus far and a short conference call with the National March happening simultaneously in D.C. More Info

USA, CA, San Jose: 9/10: Movie Night, Thursday, September 10. Sponsored by Marriage Equality Silicon Valley and the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center, critically-acclaimed documentary “Ballot Measure 9″ will have its South Bay première. This highly charged film can’t be missed; please visit our website to learn more and view a trailer. Doors open at 6:30 P.M. More Info

USA, CA, San Jose: 9/10: Equality California’s Silicon Valley Office Grand Opening, Thursday, September 10. Join our friends at EQCA from 5 to 8 P.M. More Info

USA, CA, San Jose: 9/13: Rev. Troy Perry speaks at MCC service, Sunday, September 13. The Metropolitan Community Church of San José is moving to a new location, sharing space with the Grace Baptist Church, 484 E. San Fernando Street (corner of Tenth), San José. Join the MCC for their first service in their new home at 6:00 P.M. More Info

USA, CA, San Jose: 9/26: BAYMEC Dinner, Saturday, September 26. This year’s BAYMEC dinner marks its 25th anniversary, and is titled “Electing Partners in Equality.” Meet and greet LGBT elected officials and candidates, and others committed to equal rights for the LGBT community. The keynote speaker will be Lieutenant Dan Choi, Iraq War veteran and advocate working to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. The reception will begin at 6:00 P.M., with the dinner and awards ceremony following at 7:00 P.M. More Info

USA, CA, San Luis Obispo: 9/15: Join loca Equality Teams, the Courage Campaign Equality Program staff & Courage Campaign Founder Rick Jacobs for a dessert potluck and intimate discussion about the Courage Campaign’s vision for the next campaign and local Equality Teams. 7-9 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Santa Clara: 9/4: Join the Santa Clara County Equality Team, Northern CA Field Manager Hope Wood and Courage Campaign Founder Rick Jacobs for a potluck and intimate discussion about the Courage Campaign’s vision for the next campaign and for our local Equality Teams. 6:30-9 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Sonoma: 10/10: Geoff Kors will discuss strategy and next steps in the fight for equality in California. Enjoy wine and appetizers. 3-5 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Stockton: 9/11: Join local Equality Teams and Courage Campaign staff for a dessert potluck and an intimate discussion about the Courage Campaign’s vision for the next campaign and local Equality Teams. 7-9 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Valencia: 9/25: Mark Nelson and Gage Kristopher’s Out In Events presents Out in the Parks, the official 2009 LGBT Six Flags Tour, a benefit for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund. Six Flags Great Adventure, 6 PM-Midnight. More Info

USA, CA, Vallejo: 9/11: Mark Nelson and Gage Kristopher’s Out In Events presents Out in the Parks, the official 2009 LGBT Six Flags Tour, a benefit for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, 5 PM-11 AM. More Info

USA, CA, Valley Village: 9/12: Dialing for Marriage Equality in Maine. 11 AM-2 PM. More Info

USA, CA, Visalia: 9/2: Time for another phone bank! Always exciting! See everyone there. 5-7 PM. More Info

USA, CA, West Hollywood: Every Tuesday: Love Honor Cherish weekly meeting to discuss gay marriage strategy, 7:30 PM. More Info

USA, CA, West Hollywood: 9/7: The Sassy Show Presents “A Benefit for Equality Network”, Here Lounge, 8 PM-2 AM. More Info

USA, CA, West Hollywood: 9/27: Put on by Love Honor Cherish, the activist group seeking to regain marriage rights for gays & lesbians in California on the 2010 ballot, Something Old, Something New will sell both new and old furniture, clothing, antiques, collectibles, electronics, books, art, media, and household items in West Hollywood Park. More Info

USA, CA, West Hollywood: 10/24: Come celebrate Studio One with a night of Disco, Magic and Love – Keep the Music Playin Productions Presents A Fundraiser For Equality California to Help Fight Prop 8. Tickets: $30 before September 15, $35 after. $40 at the door if available. 9 PM. More Info

USA, CA, West Hollywood: 11/7: An Action / Rally to officially kick-off a new campaign to enact marriage equality in California, thereby overturning Prop 8. 5-8 PM. More Info

USA, DC: 9/30: Rally for gay marriage at the True Reformer building on U Street NW, 7 PM. More Info

USA, DC: 10/10: On October 10-11, 2009, we will gather in Washington, D.C. from all across America to let our elected leaders know that now is the time for full equal rights for LGBT people. This is simply a major national strategy to kick start our national grassroots Equality Across America campaign. More Info

USA, DC: 10/11: 6th Annual Coast to Coast Bridge Walk: Marriage Equality New York is moving their annual Wedding March, traditionally across the Brooklyn Bridge, to Washington D.C. this year to participate in the Equality Across America rally for LGBT rights. More Info

USA, ME, Portsmouth: 10/18: Over 30 select wedding professionals will participate as exhibitors, each one screened to be LGBT-friendly. Travel planners, Gift Companies and Home & Family-Planning Resources also will be represented. Other highlights will include Music, Interactive Presentations, Samples & Fabulous Fun! 12:30-3:30 PM. More Info

USA, NJ, Jackson: 9/18: Mark Nelson and Gage Kristopher’s Out In Events presents Out in the Parks, the official 2009 LGBT Six Flags Tour, a benefit for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund. Six Flags Great Adventure, 6 PM-Midnight. More Info

USA, NY, Brooklyn: 9/9: Family Law Day, In Conjunction with Lavender Law 2009, Brooklyn, NY, Co-sponsored by the National Lesbian & Gay Law Association and the National Family Law Advisory Council of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. More Info

USA, NY, Chautauqua: 9/12-13: The Rainbow Pride Connection will hold a conference Sept. 12-13 on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution. The conference is being organized by the members of the LGBT community in Chautauqua County and Erie, Pa. There will be workshops and presentations including ”Estate Planning, Legal Issues & Same-Sex Marriage” and “Interpreting the Bible Regarding Homosexuality” as well as breakout sessions covering issues specific to gay, lesbian and transgender people. More Info

USA, VT, Montpelier & Burlington: 9/1: The Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas is known for its ugly language at demonstrations. The group is coming to several spots in Montpelier and Burlington September 1st, bashing Vermont for legalizing same-sex marriage. Counterprotests are being planned at both locations. More Info

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fini

The first thing you notice in the basement of the Secretary of State’s Office is the silence. It is an uneasy quiet, a deceptive calm, for this is and has been for weeks the eye of the political hurricane known as Referendum 71.

Hour after hour, election workers are examining each of 137,689 signatures collected on referendum petitions to determine which belong to registered voters. Peering over their shoulders, tracking every twitch and tally, are observers from opposing camps of those behind the measure and those set on keeping it off the ballot.

Tuesday, state election officials think they’ll know if Referendum 71 is ready to go before voters in November. At stake is whether here in Washington same-sex couples registered with the state as domestic partners will become legally indistinguishable from married heterosexual couples.

Full Story from Herald.net

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources in Washington.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com with “subscribe blog” as the subject. 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.

So far, about eight parties have filed petitions against the decriminalisation of homosexuality. If they were to unite, a rainbow-coloured banner, not unlike the flags waved about during queer marches, would be apposite. For they’re a motley bunch of people from astrologers and politicians to priests and serial filers of public interest litigations.

Most of them have predictable arguments against homosexuality: it’s against the order of nature, it’s a nasty foreign habit, it’s bound to plunge India into a moral apocalypse and so on. One of the petitioners is the Apostolic Churches Alliance, which its general overseer Sam Varghese described as an “alliance of Christian independent churches”. Varghese is the pastor at Life Fellowship, a church in Trivandrum. According to him, homosexuals, who practice a “perversion of god’s order” are not immutable. “They can be made straight,” he said. “God can help them. We are willing to help them.” He added that he knows of men who have been helped to overcome their temporary deviance to lead “normal, married” lives. “We love them as god loves them,” he asserted.

There’s no love lost between queer folk and Bhim Singh, chairman of the Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party. Why is a party committed to reuniting Kashmir with its Pakistani sibling bothering with 377? “I am heading a political party,” Singh blustered. “I have a responsibility towards my people in general. I cannot allow two judges or politicians to mislead as far as human morality is concerned. This is an American invasion.” But homosexuality has been around in the subcontinent centuries before America came into being. “Everything is going on for centuries,” he argued. “Will you recognise murder as legitimate?”

Full Story from the Times of India

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com with “subscribe blog” as the subject. 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.

Two ladies have taken a bold decision to marry each other—in a first ever gay marriage case for this country that will no doubt set the tongues wagging.

The lesbians have come out publicly to state their case for a first gay marriage case as they intend to get married in just six months. The couple held its engagement ceremony yesterday afternoon, which was attended by family members and friends.
The words, ‘would you marry me’ are said by normally straight man and female couples when they declare their intentions of taking their relationships to the next level—which is marriage.

However, in Manzini yesterday these words were said by a female who was charming another female when proposing marriage. This was history in the making because the woman who was being proposed agreed and in six months time the couple will happily exchange their vows.

Full Story from the Times of Swaziland

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com with “subscribe blog” as the subject. 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.

The issue before a federal judge in January will be same-sex marriage in California and whether the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, with its guarantees of equal protection and due process of law, prohibits Proposition 8 and other bans on the right to marry. As a constitutional case, it will involve its share of arguments about meeting legal tests for various levels of judicial scrutiny and whether homosexuals constitute a “discrete” group. Dry stuff indeed, and yet the lawsuit against Proposition 8 also threatens to be an emotionally wrenching case about the nature of homosexuality, just as the proposition itself was one of the most rancorous and divisive issues to face California voters in recent years.

Is sexual orientation inborn or a choice? Can it be changed? If so, should it be changed? Do gay and lesbian partners make good parents? As good as straight parents? Do homosexuals contribute as much to society as heterosexuals? Would their marriages harm the unions of heterosexual couples and the institution of marriage? As the case unfolds, it could pose those and other questions, presenting an opportunity to debate seemingly every prejudicial canard about gays and lesbians. And what’s especially dishearteningis that it is the plaintiffs — those seeking to end the state’s ban on same-sex marriage — who may force the debate for the purpose of dismissing those tired biases and strengthening their constitutional argument.

Full Story from the LA Times

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com with “subscribe blog” as the subject. 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.

Eighteen Minnesotans crossed the state line into Iowa on Saturday morning with an entourage of friends and family. Nine married couples of the same sex returned home that evening, singing karaoke aboard the self-styled “love bus” on their merry way.

“To actually be legally married is a dream come true,” said Judith Weir, 73, who married her partner of 17 years, Olly Staneslow, 75, at the First Unitarian Church in Des Moines. Both previously married to men, they now live together in St. Paul. “It’s like maybe we can stop being treated as second-class citizens. You can’t choose who you fall in love with.”

Iowa drew the eyes of the nation in April when the state Supreme Court opened the door to same-sex marriages, and it has been drawing those couples themselves ever since.

Full Story from the Des Moines Register

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources in Iowa.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com with “subscribe blog” as the subject. 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.