October, 2009
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Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
The challenge to California’s Prop 8 could be coming to a television near you.
Ted Olson and David Boies, who represented Bush and Gore, respectively, in that little known Suprme Court battle, have teamed up to challenge the constituionality of Prop 8, California’s amendment prohibiting gay marriage. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker refused to dismiss the case, called Perry v. Schwarzenegger.
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Liptak also notes the judge has “hinted” that he may allow cameras in the courtroom for the trial, which would be an extremely rare move, especially in federal court.
Full Story from Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/gay-marriage-trial-could-be-televised-2009-10
Planning to marry your partner? 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.
Posted in federal court, Gay Marriage, lawsuit, prop 8, proposition 8, televised | No Responses »
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
Starbucks added its name to the list of major Northwest employers who support referendum 71, which would uphold Washington law that extends marriage-like benefits to gay, lesbian and some senior couples.
Last month, Boeing, Nike, Microsoft, Puget Sound Energy, RealNetworks and Vulcan issued a joint statement in favor of the measure.
Last Tuesday, Starbucks said it endorses and supports the approval of Referendum 71 because “it is aligned with our business practices, providing domestic partner benefits, and one of our core values of treating people with respect and dignity.”
Full Story from the Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/coffeecity/2010140831_starbucks_endorses_referendum.html
Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources in Washington State.
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.
Posted in domestic partnerships, endorses, Gay Marriage, r71, referendum 71, starbucks, wahsington state | No Responses »
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
A gay Brazilian man has been denied asylum by the Obama administration and won’t be reunited with his Massachusetts husband in the U.S., the husband said Monday.
Tim Coco said Attorney General Eric Holder did not act on a Friday deadline in the case of Genesio “Junior” Oliveira, effectively denying the 30-year-old Brazilian man’s request for asylum in the U.S. on humanitarian grounds.
“We needed the Attorney General to make a decision on whether Junior could come home,” said Coco, 48, of Haverhill. “He didn’t take this request seriously.”
Full Story from the AP: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gw-g_7TpOunvri-o-SIwk4cBOsaAD9BJ39S80
Planning to marry your partner? 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.
Posted in attorney general, eric holder, Gay Marriage, immigration, massachusetts, obama administration | No Responses »
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
The two sides of the same-sex marriage fight took their battle to the D.C. Council on Monday, with gay marriage supporters making their case for civil rights and equality and opponents raising the specter of tradition and God’s law.
At issue is openly gay Councilman David Catania’s proposal to legalize same-sex marriage in the District, as five states have done. The bill provides that members of the clergy would not be required to perform gay marriages against their beliefs.
“This issue for me is whether or not the public space in the District of Columbia is big enough to accommodate civil equality and religious freedoms,” Catania said.
Full Story from The Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/D_C_-Council-hears-from-both-sides-in-gay-marriage-debate-8442433-66188647.html
Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources in Washington, DC.
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.
Posted in bill, district of columbia, Gay Marriage, hearing, washington dc | No Responses »
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
A federal judge will rule Wednesday on whether the state may require two national organizations that are working to repeal Maine’s gay-marriage law to disclose their contributors.
The National Organization for Marriage and American Principles in Action have challenged the state campaign finance laws that apply to ballot question committees, arguing that requiring them to disclose their contributors violates the free speech protections in the First Amendment to the Constitution.
“The requirements here … are sufficient to chill parties from supporting the plaintiff and others,” the lawyer for the national groups, Josiah Neeley, told Justice D. Brock Hornby during Monday’s hearing in U.S. District Court.
Full Story from the Kennebec Journal: http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/7025090.html
Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources in Maine.
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.
Posted in court ruling, donors, Gay Marriage, maine, national organization for marriage, nom, privacy | No Responses »
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
Chuck Swaggerty and Jason Morgan were one of six couples who were parties to a court case leading to the April 2 Iowa Supreme Court ruling that made same-sex marriage legal in the state.
They believe they were among the first same-sex couples to marry in the state, journeying a county north to be married shortly after 8 a.m. April 27 in the Plymouth County Courthouse in Le Mars.
The two had been in a committed relationship for years, Chuck Swaggerty-Morgan said, but they wanted the legal protection that comes from a state-sanctioned marriage. Six months later, their life has changed for the better, they said, for the ability to both be covered by the health insurance Chuck Swaggerty-Morgan has at his job and for being able to adopt children as a couple.
Full Story from the Sioux City Journal: http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/article_4b7e075e-b1ba-5a52-a282-8de89cfadea6.html
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, 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.
Posted in gay couple, Gay Marriage, ia, iowa, sioux city | No Responses »
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
In a San Francisco courtroom two weeks ago, a prominent lawyer opposed to same-sex marriage made a concession that could mark a turning point in the legal wars over the purpose and meaning of marriage.
The lawyer, Charles J. Cooper, has studied the matter deeply, and his erudite briefs are steeped in history. He cannot have been blindsided by the question Judge Vaughn R. Walker asked him: What would be the harm of permitting gay men and lesbians to marry?
“Your honor, my answer is: I don’t know,” Mr. Cooper said. “I don’t know.”
A couple of hours later, Judge Walker denied Mr. Cooper’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to establish a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. The concession and the ruling that followed it have transformed a federal lawsuit that had been viewed with suspicion by many gay rights advocates into something with the scent of promise.
Full Story from Gainesville.com: http://www.gainesville.com/article/20091027/ZNYT02/910273002/1002/NEWS01?Title=In-Battle-Over-Gay-Marriage-Timing-May-Be-Key
Planning to marry your partner? 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.
Posted in ca, california, federal lawsuit, Gay Marriage, prop 8, proposition 8 | No Responses »
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
Stephen Colbert returned to air last night after a week off with a particularly funny and diverse episode, tackling everything from George Will’s sartorial hypocrisy to gay rights. The latter segment focused on recent legislation passed in the state of Washington called “Everything But Marriage” which expanded the state’s domestic partnership law to offer same-sex couples the same rights as straight married people.
This legislation was met with deep dismay by Protect Marriage Washington, an anti-gay marriage group which collected signatures to get a referendum on the ballot to overturn the law, but refuses to produce the list of those who signed the petition to prove its validity to detractors. Enter Stephen Colbert. The host used rhetoric usually reserved to discuss the rights of homosexuals to turn the whole debate on its head and expose the inherent hilarity:
“I don’t believe it is a choice, I believe you’re born thinking gays don’t have the right to get married or even be joined in union. And folks, the gays have no right to out those people.”
Full Story from the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/27/colbert-eviscerates-gay-m_n_335076.html
Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources in Washington State.
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.
Posted in colbert report, Gay Marriage, r71, referendum 71, stephen colbert, washington state | No Responses »
Monday, October 26th, 2009
A new poll shows strong support for maintaining the state’s new gay marriage law. The poll, conducted last week by Pan Atlantic SMS, also found dwindling support for the tax-and-spending cap initiative known as TABOR 2.
Pan Atlantic’s Patrick Murphy says the survey of 400 likely voters found 53 percent opposing Question 1, which would repeal Maine’s gay marriage law, while 42 percent favor the measure and six percent remain undecided. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.
Murphy says Question 1 is getting a different reaction in Maine’s two congressional districts, with voters in the 1st District favoring the measure by a 20 point spread, while voters in the 2nd District remain nearly equally divided. He says among the state’s Catholic voters, the measure has a narrow margin of support, 49 to 46 percent.
Full Story from MPBN: http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNews/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3483/ItemId/9516/Default.aspx
Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources in Maine.
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.
Posted in Gay Marriage, maine, poll, question 1 | No Responses »
Monday, October 26th, 2009
There’s a major call to action going on among tweeters in New York and nationwide. GaySocialites.com Associate Editor King Ralphy, DJ Samantha Ronson and others are drawing awareness for an anti-gay marriage ad running on KISS FM 98.7.
The ad has also infiltrated other markets where local government is currently working to legalize gay marriage. LGBT advocates want your to call the station and express your concern for this hate laced advertisement.
You can hear that horrible, homophobic commercial above.
Full Story from Gay Socialites: http://gaysocialites.com/2009/10/new_yorks_987_kiss_fm_offends_1.html
Planning to marry your partner? 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.
Posted in homophobic, national organization for marriage, new york, nom, radio ad, wahsington dc | No Responses »
