petitions

...now browsing by tag

From the Front Lines in Maine

Monday, October 24th, 2011

In the spirit of the University of Maine’s celebration of Coming Out Week and Equality Maine’s initiative to put same-sex marriage on the 2012 ballot, today’s column will commence with a personal anecdote.

I’m gay. I neither wear panda hats nor parade half-naked with “gay pride” painted on my chest. I wear turtlenecks and Dansko clogs. I have a wonderful family — parents still married and in love. No adultery, no drugs, no alcohol. I don’t have tattoos, gauged piercings, spiked hair or track lines. I respect others, and I respect myself. This is a part of me, and it’s not wrong. It’s not sexy. It’s not a trend.
It just is.

My sexual orientation unfortunately has become a taboo subject — something I cannot discuss as freely as heterosexuals who never have to divulge “I’m straight” to the general public. They don’t need to. They have legal rights and are not portrayed as unnatural heathens who maraud the streets and attempt to lure children into moral degeneration. Upon volunteering for Equality Maine this fall, I encountered disconcerting hostility and animosity towards the issue of marriage equality.

Full Story from The Maine Campus

Click here for gay wedding 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. We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Responses »
Tags: maine, marriage equality, petitions

WA: Gay Activists to Publish R-71 Petition Names Online

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

A gay rights group has announced it will publish the names of foes of a Washington law that recognizes gay and lesbian couples with nearly all the legal protections of marriage.

On Monday, social conservatives lost their legal case to keep private the names of signers of a petition that attempted to repeal the law.

Conservatives wanted to block the public release of the nearly 138,000 signatures that put Referendum 71 on the state’s ballot in 2009. The ballot initiative asked voters to accept – or reject – an expansion of an existing domestic partnership law approved by lawmakers. Voters opted 53-to-46 to keep the law dubbed “everything but marriage” by the media.

Full Story from On Top Magazine

Click here for gay wedding resources in Washington State.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Response »
Tags: online, petitions, publish, r-71, signatures

WA: State Releases R71 Petitions After Judicial Decision

Monday, October 17th, 2011

Washington state officials on Monday released copies of signature petitions that forced a vote on a 2009 domestic partnership law, disclosing the names of signers after a judge rejected arguments that supporters could be harassed.

The Washington State Archives provided a DVD to The Associated Press showing the 138,000 signatures for Referendum 71. The release came despite an attorney’s vow to appeal the ruling and seek temporary protection from the disclosure of names.

Gary Randall, a spokesman for the group Protect Marriage Washington, said he thought it was terrible that the state released the names. “I believe there will certainly be harassment, and I pray to God there isn’t more than that,” he said.

Full Story from CBS

Click here for gay wedding resources in Washington State.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Responses »
Tags: petitions, r71, released, washington

WA: Fight Continues Over Release of Petition Signers’ Names

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

He’s known in federal-court documents as John Doe #2, a former youth pastor and unabashed opponent of gay marriage who two years ago signed a petition to put benefits for same-sex couples up to a statewide vote.

Doe is unnamed because Protect Marriage Washington, the conservative organization that ran the Referendum 71 campaign to roll back those benefits, worries about harassment and reprisals against him and 137,500 others who signed the petition.

He is the second of two John Doe plaintiffs in a lawsuit the group filed in 2009 against Washington’s secretary of state. The action succeeded in blocking release of all their names.

Full Story from the Seattle Times

Click here for gay wedding resources in Washington State.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Responses »
Tags: petitions, referendum 71, signatures, washington

IL: Group Collecting Signatures for Marriage Equality Ban in Chicago

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

A group of 15 men and women representing the Illinois Defense of Marriage Initiative was spotted in front of the Art Institute of Chicago Aug. 22.

Some held signs that said “Honk for Traditional Marriage.” However, the focus was on the group’s statewide effort to place an advisory marriage referendum on the 2012 Illinois ballot. Several individuals approached passers-by in an attempt to get signatures on their petition. Approximately a dozen Chicago police officers on mountain bikes monitored the group.

There were some heated exchanges between some pedestrians and the group’s members. At one point a woman shouted “This is hateful! YOU’RE the ones going to hell.” One of the group’s organizers responded that he was “just out doing his job.”

Full Story from Windy City

Click here for gay wedding resources in Illinois.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Response »
Tags: chicago, gay marriage ban, illinois, petitions

ME: Marriage Equality Petition Gets 5,200 Signatures in First Day

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

Gay marriage supporters in Maine gathered more than 5,000 signatures during the first official day of petition-gathering around the states.

EqualityMaine targeted a number of communities including Portland, Kennebunk, Biddeford, York, Bangor, Ellsworth and Brunswick on Saturday. The idea was to hit heavily attended summer festivals.

On Sunday, EqualityMaine put the tally at 5,200.

Full Story from the Houston Chronicle

Click here for gay wedding resources in Maine.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Responses »
Tags: Gay Marriage, maine, marriage equality, petitions

CO: State Board Clears Marriage Equality Measure for Signature Gathering

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Gay marriage supporters were cleared Wednesday to begin collecting signatures on a petition to repeal Colorado’s same-sex marriage ban.

A state board charged with approving proposed ballot measures voted 3-0 to allow a measure to repeal the ban, which voters placed in the state constitution in 2006. The measure would strike the ban and say marriage is allowed regardless of the participants’ gender.

Gay-marriage activists would need to collect about 86,000 valid signatures to make the 2012 ballot.

Full Story from Coloradan.com

Click here for gay wedding resources in Colorado.

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 »
Tags: colorado, marriage equality, petitions

WA: Anti Gay Group Tries Again to Block Release of Signatures

Saturday, July 2nd, 2011

World Net Daily has dug up those years-old anonymous internet comments (some from JMG) to illustrate a story about the latest attempt to block the names of those that signed an anti-gay petition in Washington state.

A federal court in Tacoma, Wash., has been asked to order that the names of signatories of a state petition seeking to protect traditional marriage be redacted to protect them from death threats from homosexual activists.

“What is becoming increasingly evident,” said James Bopp of the James Madison Center, “is that some groups and individuals, certainly a minority, have resorted to advancing their cause, not by debating the merits of the issue but by discouraging participation in the democratic process itself.”

Full Story from Joe.My.God

Click here for gay marriage resources in Washington State.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Responses »
Tags: petitions, signatures, washington

Maryland Court: State No Longer Allowed to Disqualify Illegible Signatures

Friday, March 25th, 2011

In a ruling that is already being celebrated by NOM, by a 5-2 decision the Maryland Court of Appeals has ruled that election officials may no longer contest illegible signatures on referendum petitions.

The Court of Appeals this week released its reasoning behind last fall’s decision on a Montgomery County ambulance fee referendum. The court decision will affect political efforts statewide, and signature-gatherers said it will make their task easier. Everything from local questions to a referendum on gay marriage, if such a measure passes the legislature, could feel the impact.

Elections officials in Montgomery had rejected thousands of signatures on petitions last year because of the way voters signed their names. The elections officials blocked a referendum seeking to undo a newly passed fee for ambulance service, and that decision was upheld by a Montgomery circuit court judge. But in September, the Court of Appeals reversed the lower court and ordered the referendum placed on the ballot.

Full Story from Joe.My.God

Click here for gay marriage resources in Maryland.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Responses »
Tags: illegible signatures, maryland, petitions

HRC Delivers Petitions to Mormon Church

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest gay rights advocate, delivered on Tuesday a petition letter carrying 150,000 signatures denouncing LDS leader Boyd K. Packer’s anti-gay message.

Speaking at the church’s 180th General Conference in downtown Salt Lake City, Packer, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ (the Mormons) Quorum of Twelve Apostles, railed against gay marriage – “To legalize that which is basically wrong or evil will not prevent the pain and penalties that will follow as surely as night follows day.” – and rejected the notion that same-sex attraction – which he called “impure and unnatural” – is inborn.

“Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone?” he rhetorically asked. Solmonese called Packer’s statements “inaccurate” and “dangerous.” “We’re here today to tell Elder Packer and those in the Mormon Church hierarchy who agree with him that his statements are both factually and scientifically wrong and that more importantly, they are dangerous and are putting millions of lives in great danger,” Solmonese said at a press conference outside Mormon Church headquarters.

Full Story from On Top Magazine

Click here for gay marriage resources.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Response »
Tags: Gay Marriage, hrc, marriage equality, Mormon Church, petitions, same sex marriage