Gay Marriage Watch

Earlier this month I reported that GOP House lawmakers in West Virginia were planning a “drastic” parliamentary move to force votes on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Looks like it could happen this week.

The Charleston Gazette reports: “House Republicans plan a series of procedural motions this week to force floor votes on proposals they say Democrats have allowed to die in committees. Those include a resolution (HJR5) that calls for a statewide referendum on whether to amend the constitution to define marriage, and a proposal (HJR104) to boost tax breaks for elderly and disabled people.”

A move to force the tax measure failed on Monday.

Full Story from Towleroad.com
Click here for gay marriage resources in West Virginia.
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Gay marriage opponents said Friday they plan to read proposed bills more closely from now on to make sure language legalizing same-sex marriage does not make its way into Iowa law surreptitiously. Their heightened awareness was triggered by a situation earlier this week when the state Department of Revenue’s tax policy cleanup bill included proposed gender-neutral language regarding married couples in the state tax code – replacing references to “husband and wife” with terms like “married persons” or “spouse” as appropriate to the context.

Department officials said provisions they included in Senate Study Bill 3200 that dealt with marriage were an attempt to conform Iowa’s tax code to case law language stemming from last April’s Iowa Supreme Court ruling. That decision struck down a 1998 statute defining marriage as only between one man and one woman, paving the way for civil marriages of same-sex couples.

Revenue agency officials already have incorporated revised language in Iowa’s 2009 tax forms that allows same-sex couples to file jointly or separately on a joint return and receive the same tax benefits as opposite-gender couples, but the proposed legislative change would have marked the first time that same-sex marriage language would show up in state law.

Full Story from the Sioux City Journal
Click here for gay marriage resources.
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Rep. Nancy Elliott (R-NH), in the video embedded above, explains why she opposes marriage between partners of the same sex. Snip:

“I started thinking, and We’re talking about taking the penis of one man and putting it in the rectum of another man, and wiggling it around in excrement, and you have to think…. hmmm, not sure, would I allow that to happen to me?

All of us: that could happen to you! Would you let that happen to you? Is that normal?”

Full Story from Boing Boing
Click here for gay marriage resources.
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The West Virginia legislative session reached its halfway point Thursday, and lawmakers have fulfilled predictions that they would be taking it slow this year.

…

The primary election in May and the November general election typically make legislators reluctant to raise contentious issues. But that hasn’t stopped some from trying.

The House Constitutional Revision Committee voted 6-19 Wednesday to reject a GOP-led bid to force an anti-gay marriage proposal onto the agenda. The measure seeks to ask voters to amend the state constitution and define marriage as being between one man and one woman. Supporters of that proposal have not ruled out further attempts to advance it.

Full Story from Forbes
Click here for gay marriage resources.
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A funny thing happened after Adm. Mike Mullen called for gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military: A curious silence befell much of the right. If this were a Sherlock Holmes story, it would be the case of the attack dogs that did not bark. John McCain, commandeering the spotlight as usual, did fulminate against the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” But the press focus on McCain, the crazy man in Washington’s attic, was misleading. His yapping was an exception, not the rule.

Many of his Republican colleagues said little or nothing. The right’s noise machine was on mute. The Fox News report on Mullen’s testimony was fair and balanced — and brief. The network dropped the subject entirely in the Hannity-O’Reilly hothouse of prime time that night. Only ratings-desperate CNN gave a fleeting platform to the old homophobic clichés. Michael O’Hanlon, an “expert” from the Brookings Institution, speculated that “18-year-old, old-fashioned, testosterone-laden” soldiers who are “tough guys” might object to those practicing “alternative forms of lifestyle,” which he apparently views as weak and testosterone-deficient. His only prominent ally was the Family Research Council, which issued an inevitable “action alert” demanding a stop to “the sexualization of our military.”

The occasional outliers notwithstanding, why did such a hush greet Mullen on Capitol Hill? The answer begins with the simple fact that a large majority of voters — between 61 percent and 75 percent depending on the poll — now share his point of view. Most Americans recognize that being gay is not a “lifestyle” but an immutable identity, and that outlawing discrimination against gay people who want to serve their country is, as the admiral said, “the right thing to do.”

Full Story from the New York Times
Click here for gay marriage resources.
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A legislative push to overturn the Iowa Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage is likely to begin Monday, according to the state’s largest gay-rights organization. After numerous meetings at the Capitol Thursday, Brad Clark, campaign director for One Iowa, told The Iowa Independent that he expects Republican lawmakers in the Iowa House to attempt to bring about a vote on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage by invoking Rule 60, which allows a majority vote on the floor of the House to pull a bill out of a committee even if the committee has not approved it.

Democratic leadership has repeatedly promised that the legislature would not discuss gay marriage this session. Gay-rights advocates have long believed conservative lawmakers would attempt some procedural move to force a vote on the issue in spite of Democratic opposition.

In the closing days of the 2009 legislative session, Republicans in both the House and Senate made numerous attempts to force a vote on a constitutional ban on gay marriage, including attaching it to a tax proposal and the state’s Health and Human Services budget. Democrats successfully blocked the efforts.

Full Story from the Iowa Independent
Click here for gay marriage resources in Iowa.
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A New Hampshire House committee is expected to vote soon on two bills seeking to restrict marriage licenses to straight couples only. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the measures January 20. One bill seeks to repeal the state’s newly enacted marriage equality law; the other seeks to amend the state constitution to define marriage as “one man and one woman.”

State Rep. Jim Splaine, an openly gay supporter of marriage equality, said about 100 people attended the hearing, divided fairly evenly between those supporting and opposing repeal. Among those opposing the repeal were several newly married same-sex couples, said Splaine.

House Bill 1590 was introduced by Republican Rep. Alfred Baldasaro and has only four co-sponsors in a chamber with 400 members—56 percent of them Democrats. In proposing to repeal marriage equality, the bill does not propose restoring the state’s previous law allowing for civil unions.

Full Story from Keen News Service

Click here for gay marriage resources in New Hampshire.

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REPUBLICAN state Sens. John Bonacic and William Larkin say the same rights provided to male-female married couples in New York could be extended to same-sex couples — but only under terms that identify the relationships as “civil unions.” Both senators oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York and voted it against it when the matter came up in their chamber last month. The Senate rejected the same-sex marriage bill just hours after the Assembly approved it on Dec. 2.

The five state senators who represent the Mid-Hudson Valley — Bonacic, Larkin, Stephen Saland, James Seward and Vincent Leibell — voted “no.” All are Republicans.

Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, said during a recent telephone interview that terms used to define marriage are “deep rooted in every religion in the country and in the world.”

Full Story from the Daily Freeman

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.

As reports emerge that Uganda’s president has promised to veto the “kill the gays” bill, five GOP Congressman have spoken out against the legistlation:

“Five Republican representatives – Chris Smith, Frank Wolf, Joe Pitts, Trent Franks and Anh ‘Joseph’ Cao – have written a letter to Ugandan President Yoweri Mouseveni pressing him to stop pending legislation that would severely criminalize homosexuality and sometimes impose the death penalty for homosexual acts. In the letter, which you can read in full here, the men say their religious faith requires them to oppose the legislation because it contradicts the ‘foundational Christian belief in the inherent dignity and worth of all men and women.’”

The letter invokes the anti-gay Manhattan Declaration: “As Members of Congress and as men of faith, we support the principles set forth in the declaration and are thankful for the principled position of these faith leaders on a host of issues, from the sanctity of life for the unborn and others, to religious freedom, to human dignity, to the belief that marriage is an institution between one man and one woman.”

Full Story from Towleroad.com: http://www.towleroad.com/2009/12/gop-reps-invoke-antigay-manhattan-declaration-in-condemnation-of-ugandan-kill-the-gays-bill.html

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.

An automated call featuring one of Terry Branstad’s former lieutenant governors asking Republicans to support same-sex marriage has drawn the ire of social conservatives.

The calls, which feature the voice of Republican Joy Corning and were paid for by gay rights group One Iowa, say the Iowa Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage continues “Iowa’s tradition of protecting the civil rights of all Iowans.”

One of Branstad’s rivals for the 2010 gubernatorial nomination, Bob Vander Plaats, said the calls are another reason to question Branstad’s commitment to opposing same-sex marriage.

Full Story from the Iowa Independent: http://iowaindependent.com/22236/corning-auto-calls-infuriate-conservatives

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.