Appearing on CNN’s “The Situation Room” Wednesday, Powell said he has “no problem with” gay marriage.

“I have no problem with it,” he said in the interview, which will air at 5 p.m. ET. “In terms of the legal matter of creating a contract between two people that’s called marriage, and allowing them to live together with the protection of law, it seems to me is the way we should be moving in this country. And so I support the president’s decision.”

READ ARTICLE AND SEE CNN VIDEO AT LGBTQ NATION

Zoran Milanovic

The prime minister of Croatia has announced plans to recognise at least some ‘gay marriage’ rights.

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic told reporters that registered partnerships would be ‘a somewhat higher standard than what we have now,’ according to the Associated Press, though he may still stop short of full marriage equality.

Improving the legal rights of same-sex couples was promised during the election campaign of the Milanovic’s Social Democratic Party. The Social Democratic Party is the largest part in a coalition that took over from the socially conservative Croatian Democratic Union in December 2011.

‘I hope that the people of Croatia accept it,’ said Milanovic. ‘It’s simply a form of social empathy and decency and expanding freedom.’

The recent Rainbow Europe Map and Index published by ILGA-Europe gave Croatia 10 points, immediately below Austria, Iceland and Finland and immediately above the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

READ ARTICLE AT GAY STAR NEWS

By Melanie Nathan, May 09, 20112.

Speaking Wednesday with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, President Barack Obama spoke about his evolution toward full marriage equality for same-sex American couples.

He said that he and his administration have long “stood on the side of broader equality for the LGBT community,” pointing to the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and the decision to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court, among others.

President Obama’s evolution is explained from these quotes which appeared within hours of the interview in the Los Angeles Times Article:-

“I had hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought that civil unions would be sufficient,” he said. “And I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word ‘marriage’ was something that evokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs, and so forth.”

That changed, Obama said, as he reflected more on the relationships of friends and staff and the feelings of gay members of the military who “feel constrained.”  “At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” he concluded. In the interview, Obama also reflected on the rapid change in public opinion on the issue, particularly among younger generations.

“When I go to college campuses, sometimes I talk to college Republicans who think that I have terrible policies on the economy, on foreign policy, but are very clear that when it comes to same-sex equality or, you know, sexual orientation that they believe in equality,” he said.

Obama noted that his daughters have friends who have same-sex parents. “There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table, and we’re talking about their friends and their parents, and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and, frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective,” he said.

LGBT activists are commenting with pride and admiration for the President:

John Lewis, MEUSA Legal Director, said, “I am thrilled that the dream of marriage equality is now so much closer, thanks to the President’s decisive leadership. Marriage is about love and commitment, and the President looked at this decision with his heart — not as a political calculation — and decided to stand on the side of love. In standing on the side of love, he also decided to stand on the right side of history.”

Robin Tyler, national activist and the original lesbian plaintiff to sue in the successful case (Tyler v State of California) that brought marriage equality for same sex couples to California, celebrates President Obama’s decision to come out for marriage equality today.

 ”There is absolutely no question of who I will support in the coming Presidential elections. Mitt Romney donated through his Mormon Church, $10,000 to Yes of Proposition 8. Donations to discrimination are not ‘charitable.’ Mitt Romeny violated our civil rights. We need a President who supports all American’s and their families, including LGBT ones. Today, President Obama showed that he has the courage to come out publicly and support marriage for lesbian and gay couples. There is actually no such thing as ‘gay’ marriage. There is no ‘gay driver’s license’ or ‘gay birth certificate.’ It is just marriage for same-sex adult couples. Our President has finally evolved!

There was never a doubt in my mind that the President had evolved on the issue of same-sex marriage; since recently the President had said he would sign the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act , the legislation that bans same-sex couples who are legally married from participating in Federal civil law granted by marriage to heterosexual couples.  Now that the President has made it clear to all who could not read into this as indicative of his evolution, it could not be more clear that he actually does support gay marriage.

So well done to President Obama, the skeptics in the LGBTQI community can now focus on the re-election of a President who has actually already done more than any other to forward the interests of equality.

Politically, let us hope that those in the community who insisted Obama be overt in his stance now support him one hundred percent unconditionally in his bid for re-election, because you can be rest assured that FOX News, Santorum, Romney and Maggie Gallagher, to name but a few, will do everything in their power to make this the re-invigoration of the wedge issue many assumed may have dwindled.

  GAY U.S.A. the Movie

Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

The  LGBT Community in the U.S.A. is deeply saddened by today’s vote in North Carolina against the right of same sex couples to marry or to enter into domestic partnerships or civil unions.

“This divisive initiative is blatantly unconstitutional. Not only does it deprive lesbian and gay North Carolinians of their fundamental freedom to marry, it attempts  to strip partners of lesbian and gay city employees in cities such as Durham and Asheville, of their health care benefits under the guise of limiting marriage rights. The United States Supreme Court has made clear that such targeting of lesbian and gay people to harm them violates the basic fairness guarantees of the United States Constitution,” said John Lewis, Marriage Equality USA’s Legal Director.

“It is a horrible feeling to have your life and your family put up for a popular vote. No one is better off by the initiative’s taking away health care benefits from lesbian and gay families. Lesbian and gay couples and their families are real human beings. This exclusionary initiative harms real people,” said Stuart Gaffney, Marriage Equality USA’s Media Director.

Pam Spaulding an LGBT Blogger from North Carolina notes

“What is the key issue here is that a battle about marriage and legal rights for unmarried couples is not what North Carolina needed, and was forced into it by craven lawmakers and bigots who wanted an easy political club — homophobia — as a GOTV tool. It shouldn’t have been on the ballot in the first place, but it was, prematurely leapfrogging an issue that the state was not ready to handle.

As I’ve told my marriage equality advocate friends many times, for those of us in states where we do not even have employment protections — you can be fired for being LGBT here, no questions asked — we won’t see same-sex marriage until the U.S. Supreme Court makes it happen.”

On a positive note Spaulding notes:

“The coalition-building here has afforded North Carolinians for the first time to discuss the rights of LGBT neighbors and friends. It has shown the country that yes, the South has politically active voters of strong faith that are against discrimination for all of the right reasons — it’s not a matter of religion at all, but about the separation of church and state and protecting and extending the rights of minorities, not restricting them.”

Jeremy Kennedy of Protect All NC Families notes:-

“Tonight’s results were disappointing, not just for gay and lesbian North Carolinians, but for the hundreds of thousands of non-traditional families who may face the harmful impact of Amendment One. Our campaign may have fallen short this evening, but your work over the past several months did not. Your efforts and dedications achieved many victories along the way, and demonstrated to North Carolina and to the entire country that discrimination and victimization will not achieve easy victories.”

According to MEUSA, The North Carolina vote stands in stark contrast to the clear trend in favor of marriage equality nationwide. All federal courts that have recently considered the issue have found that discriminating against lesbian and gay people in marriage violates the United States Constitution.

Last year, New York became the largest state in the nation to achieve the freedom to marry for all its citizens.

This year, Washington State and Maryland passed marriage equality laws through their legislatures, and the New Hampshire Legislature by a strong bipartisan vote rejected an attempt to roll back the freedom to marry in that state.

The freedom to marry will likely be up for a vote in four states this fall, and we are very hopeful that love and fairness will prevail in those states,” said Lewis.

 

Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

Click here for gay marriage resources in Rhode Island.

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