November, 2009

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CA: San Diego Mayor May Testify Against Prop 8

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

The first big trial of 2010 takes place Jan. 11 in federal court in San Francisco, where opponents of Proposition 8 will attempt to convince U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker that the measure banning same-sex marriage violates the federal constitution. It’s an uphill battle, to be sure. A number of same sex marriage advocates are opposed to pressing the case in federal court at this time for a variety of legal and tactical reasons, but the case moves on.

And coming along with it, apparently, will be San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders.

Last week San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera approached Sanders about testifying in the case, where the city and county of San Francisco have been granted intervenor status. Sanders famously announced he was opposed to Prop 8 at a compelling news conference in 2007.

Full Story from Sign On San Diego: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/nov/23/sanders-may-testify-prop-8-case/

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

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 Uncategorized | No Responses »

NJ: Legislature Stalling on Gay Marriage

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

The New Jersey Legislature kicked off the lame duck session Monday with Democrats picking new leaders but both houses failing to advance a gay marriage bill that will die with the Republican governor-elect unless it’s signed before his Jan. 19 inauguration.

South Jersey Sen. Steve Sweeney beat out Sen. Dick Codey for the Senate presidency, the chamber’s most powerful post. Sen. Barbara Buono of Edison was selected majority leader.

Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver of East Orange will become the first African-American woman to be Assembly speaker, succeeding Joe Roberts, who is stepping down. Assemblyman Joe Cryan of Union was chosen majority leader in the Assembly.

Full Story from 1010wins: http://www.1010wins.com/NJ-Legislature-Readies-for-Leadership-Changes/5738491

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

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 corzine, cristie, Gay Marriage, legislature, new jersey, nj, stalling | No Responses »

NJ: NOM Spending $500K on Anti Gay Marriage Ads

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the nation’s most vociferous opponent of gay marriage, launched an anti-gay marriage ad blitz in New Jersey Monday. The group announced in a press release the campaign would cost $500,000.

“NOM’s voter outreach will include telephone calling, direct mailers, and online advertising to let voters know that Democrats are considering following Jon Corzine over a political cliff by pushing gay marriage in the lame-duck [session],” said Brian Brown, executive director of NOM.

A 30-second radio spot titled Give Me a Break launched the campaign. In the ad, a woman and a man discuss the possibility of a gay marriage bill being debated during a lame-duck session of the New Jersey Legislature. They both agree the economy should come first.

Full Story from On Top Magazine: http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=4909&MediaType=1&Category=26

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

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 Uncategorized | No Responses »

America's Right Wing: Fear Leads to Hate, and Hate Leads to Suffering

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Since the introduction of Sarah Palin into the 2008 election, the right wing has been on the warpath. The rhetoric and volume of their message has been taken to increasingly fanatical extremes in an attempt to derail the movement for change and reform in America. This has already resulted in many deaths, and the conflict is becoming more open with every passing day.

The country has changed. The majority of the last 30 years was dominated by an increasingly conservative political philosophy. During the Bush years, the real world failures of these policies began to appear in undeniable forms.

The prison industry continued to boom under increasingly harsh laws until one out of every thirty two Americans was either behind bars or on probation, the highest rate in the world. Borrow and spend economics to fuel tax cuts for the rich and the illusion of prosperity brought mounting deficits and debt. Much of this money went into a burgeoning military, and today we spend almost as much as the rest of the world combined. The gulf between rich and poor got much worse, especially with CEOs who now rake in 1/3rd of all the pay.

Full Story from News Junkie Post: http://newsjunkiepost.com/2009/11/24/conservative-counter-revolution-and-the-coming-violence/

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 Gay Marriage, religious right, right wing, sarah palin, violence | No Responses »

UK: Straight Couple Applies for Civil Partnership, is Rejected

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

A straight couple who tried to apply for a civil partnership this morning have said they are willing to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle, both 25, arrived at Islington Town Hall in London this morning to register their intention to have a civil partnership. As they had anticipated, they were given a letter of refusal.

Head of democratic services John Lynch wrote: “I do not wish to comment on your views on marriage but would point out that part one of the Civil Partnerships Act 2004 states that a civil partnership is a relationship between two people of the same sex and therefore we would not be able to take notice of your proposed civil partnership.”

Full Story from Pink News: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/11/24/straight-couples-civil-partnership-application-rejected/

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

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 application, civil partnership, england, rejected, straight couple, uk, united kingdom | No Responses »

Australia: Rudd to Break Campaign Promise Again, Overturn ACT Civil Unions

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

KEVIN Rudd will move to overturn legislation passed by the ACT government allowing gay couples to hold public, legally binding ceremonies as they form civil unions.

In the latest run-in between the commonwealth and the ACT’s Labor government on the divisive issue, Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said Attorney-General Robert McClelland had indicated during a recent meeting that the Rudd government would quash the amended legislation.

“They are prepared to intervene to overturn the recent amendments to the civil union legislation in the ACT,” Mr Stanhope said of his Monday meeting with Mr McClelland. “I indicated bluntly that this was unacceptable.”

Full Story from The Australian: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/rudd-will-intervene-to-overturn-gay-civil-unions-in-the-act/story-e6frg6n6-1225803463250

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

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 act, australia, australia capital territory, civil unions law, kevin rudd, overturn, prime minister | No Responses »

World Net Daily Posts Wildly Homophobic "Poll" on Gay Rights

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

From WND founder and CEO Joseph Farah’s November 23 WND.com column headlined, “Why sin cannot be condoned by state”:

“On Friday, more than 150 Christian leaders, most of them conservative evangelicals and traditionalist Roman Catholics, issued a joint declaration reaffirming their opposition to homosexual marriage on the basis of protecting religious freedom. While I agree that government’s granting of special “rights” based on aberrant sexual behavior is a religious freedom issue, it’s not the main reason for concern by Christians and Jews. The Bible clearly identifies homosexual behavior, as opposed to homosexual thoughts or predilections, as sin.”

Full Story from Media Matters: http://mediamatters.org/blog/200911240011

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 Gay Marriage, gay rights, homophobia, poll, world net daily | No Responses »

NH: Radio Talk Show Host Fired After Tirade of Gay Slurs Against Barney Frank Broadcast

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Nationally syndicated radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh has long been the bete noir of liberals and of Democrats; of feminists and of gays; and in recent months has become anathema to nonwhites. But a local right-wing radio talk-show host in New Hampshire did something to a local politician last week that even Limbaugh would not have dared to do to Representative Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) — certainly not while his microphone was still turned on:

Hurl an F-bomb at him. No, not the four-letter F-bomb — the X-rated version that no radio or television personality can legally say on the air. Rather, it was the six-letter F-bomb — the homophobic version that is as highly derogatory to gays as the six-letter N-bomb is to African-Americans.

But that’s exactly what a Laconia, New Hampshire talk-show host did. But while his radio microphone was turned off, an in-studio camera with its own mic was still on — and beaming live pictures and sound onto the Internet.

Full Story from FireDogLake: http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/15743

Planning to marry your partner? 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.

Posted in Doug Lambert, fired, gay slur, new hampshire, nh, radio talk show host, rightwing | No Responses »

Columbia: Being a Gay Parent in Columbia

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

In a great number of ways, my last two years of high school in Hong Kong were quite different from my years of schooling in Colombia. For one, my Hong Kong school was much more liberal, and so were my fellow students. I remember that one day our teachers had organized a discussion on gay marriage and gay rights, for the school held a great deal of debates on all sorts of issues.

That day, the opening speaker was a fellow classmate who told us about growing up having two female parents. Her mothers, it happened, were a committed lesbian couple who had raised her and cared for her in the same way that a heterosexual couple would have. My classmate loved both her mothers, just as they loved her, and she was happy with the way her family was. Furthermore, she was straight.

I decided to start with this story because a few weeks ago a related and controversial event took place in Rionegro, Antioquia. Earlier this month, a judge in that paisa municipality decided to grant custody of a girl to a committed lesbian couple. The child is the biological daughter of one of the women, and she has been raised by both of them since her birth, almost two years ago. Unsurprisingly, the case has opened the debate on adoptions and parental rights for same-sex couples.

Full Story from Columbia Reports: http://colombiareports.com/opinion/131-gustavo-silva-cano/6990-gay-parenthood-in-colombia.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 Columbia, Gay Marriage, gay parents, lesbian, parenting | No Responses »

CA: Fresno's Robin McGehee Fights for Gay Marriage

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

College of the Sequoias speech instructor Robin McGehee sees herself as a product of the civil rights movement in her native South. So she was shocked and disturbed last year when officials at the Fresno Catholic school her son attends forced her to resign as president of the parent-teacher organization.

The reason, she says: her public stance against Proposition 8, which bars same-sex marriage and ultimately was passed by voters.

McGehee is the openly gay mother of two children, Sebastian, 6, and Jackson, 3, who share two mothers and two fathers. “The priest just called and said because of my public stance on Proposition 8 to resign and not volunteer at the school,” said the 36-year-old, a native of Jackson, Miss., who’s lived in California since the mid-’90s, teaching at COS since 1999.

Full Story from the Visalia Times-Delta: http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20091123/NEWS01/911230320/1002/COS-instructor-Robin-McGehee-seeks-better-future-for-LGBT-community-as-organizer

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 activist, ca, california, Fresno, Gay Marriage, interview, prop 8, proposition 8, Robin McGehee | No Responses »

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