Same-Sex Marriage Update

[chris1life]

I'm so proud that our country is starting to move in a direction that will give us equality! This butch gets all emotional and teary eyed every time a new state pass the law! We are gaining ground folks. Ha I may have to move out of Mississippi Because I Would die of shock if it ever passed here.

[iamkeri1]

Originally Posted by chris1life

I'm so proud that our country is starting to move in a direction that will give us equality! This butch gets all emotional and teary eyed every time a new state pass the law! We are gaining ground folks. Ha I may have to move out of Mississippi Because I Would die of shock if it ever passed here.

Right with you there chris, on all counts - the tears and the consideration of moving. Also seems quite a long shot for Florida to pass anything like this.

Ms T ...
Not same-sex marriage I know, but a huge step in human rights, and a win for the dignity we all deserve.

MANY states do not recognise sex changes, even if they allow you to change your sex on your Driver's license or even your birth certificate. Because of your appearance and your paperwork, you may be allowed to marry, but if the underlying law does not regognise sex changes, then the marriage, if challenged by divorce or upon death, can/will be found invalid. If you move in to such a state having been legally married somewhere else, doesn't mean a state with these restrictions will recognise your marriage. So it remains a same sex issue. Seems like we are all stuck on the same road. Fortunately we are gaining ground at last.

... and Ms T thank you so much for all you do to help our movement and keep us up to date as well
Smooches,
Keri

[MsTinkerbelly]

Illinois Will Pass Marriage Equality Bill, Sponsor Says

Rep. Greg Harris of Illinois predicts success for the state's marriage equality bill, which coincidentally today picked up Bill Clinton's endorsement.

BY Trudy Ring.

May 21 2013 3:26 PM ET


May could become an even more spectacular month for marriage equality: The sponsor of the Illinois bill predicts it will pass by the month’s end, which is also the end of the legislative session.

Rep. Greg Harris, the chief sponsor, said he will “absolutely” call a vote on the marriage equality bill by May 31, and “it’s going to win,” Chicago’s Windy City Times reports. Harris has previously said he would not bring the measure to a vote in the House of Representatives unless he was sure there was enough support to pass it. The state Senate approved it Valentine’s Day, and Gov. Pat Quinn has vowed to sign it.

The bill picked up an endorsement today from former president Bill Clinton, who issued a statement invoking another president. “Since the days of Abraham Lincoln, Illinois has stood for the proposition that all citizens should be treated equally under the law,” President Clinton said in Tuesday’s statement. “Lincoln himself came to Springfield in search of opportunity, and he dedicated his life to securing equal opportunity for all citizens. I believe that for Illinois and for our nation as a whole, in the 21st century that must include marriage equality.”

Several other supporters of the bill have predicted it would pass by May 31, according to Windy City Times. If this happens, Illinois will join three other states — Rhode Island, Delaware, and Minnesota — that have approved marriage equality in the past few weeks. Twelve states plus the District of Columbia offer marriage rights to same-sex couples.

[MsTinkerbelly]

Nevada Takes Another Step Toward Marriage Equality

The state Assembly approved a pro-equality constitutional amendment, but it faces another round of legislative and citizen votes.

BY Trudy Ring.

May 23 2013 6:41 PM ET

The Nevada legislature advanced a measure today that would repeal the state’s anti–marriage equality constitutional amendment and replace it with one guaranteeing same-sex couples’ freedom to marry.

The state Assembly approved the bill today by a vote of 27-14; the state Senate had passed it last month. Both houses will vote on it again in the 2015 legislative session, and if they approve it in exactly the same form, it will go before voters in 2016, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.

All the no votes were from Republicans, but some GOP members supported the legislation, including Assemblywoman Michelle Fiore of Las Vegas. Addressing fellow lawmakers, she said, “When we started this floor session, I introduced my mother to this body, proudly. What is currently in our constitution does not allow her to get married. You see, my mom is gay. I love my mom with all my heart, and I am who I am today because of her guidance, influence, and how she raised me.”

Marc Solomon, campaign director for the national group Freedom to Marry, released a statement in support of Nevada’s action, saying, “Lawmakers in Nevada took a huge step today toward undoing a discriminatory amendment that never should have been written into the state constitution and advancing the freedom to marry. We look forward to the day that Nevada couples join those in the 12 other marriage states in being able to make a lifelong commitment to the person they love.”

[MsTinkerbelly]

Floyd: Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings says he’ll back marriage-equality resolution


Jacquielynn Floyd



jfloyd@dallasnews.com

Published: 27 May 2013 10:30 PM

Updated: 27 May 2013 11:49 PM


After weeks of sidestepping the question, Mayor Mike Rawlings says he will vote next month in favor of a Dallas City Council resolution supporting the right of same-sex couples to marry.

“I will vote for this resolution as written,” he told me during a conversation last week. “This is an important issue, and I did not want to turn this into a sound bite.”

The resolution was proposed for council consideration last month by council member Scott Griggs, who said he has enough votes to get it passed.

Rawlings didn’t exactly put on a poker face to conceal his irritation at the timing. Griggs’ announcement came less than two weeks before the May 11 elections, in which Griggs was running against fellow council member Delia Jasso for the same seat because of a redrawing of district boundaries.

Jasso was among those who supported the amendment, but Rawlings suggested that Griggs — who ultimately won the race — wanted to shore up support among gay and lesbian residents in Oak Cliff.

“To do this for what seem to be political reasons is not good judgment,” Rawlings said earlier this month. He characterized what he viewed as a symbolic debate on a divisive constitutional issue as a “misuse of the council’s time.”

Griggs politely responded that he felt the issue was “timely” and “relevant” and that he looks forward to the resolution’s passage.

Now, with council elections in the rearview mirror, Rawlings says he has decided to join the council majority supporting the measure.

He’s not backing away from his insistence that marriage equality for same-sex couples isn’t something the Dallas City Council can confer.

“There is no doubt in my mind that this is not a city issue,” he told me. “I was concerned that this was done right in the last weeks of the City Council races.”

But he will sign, he says, because he personally supports marriage equality — even though (he adds, without breaking stride) he also does not want to pick a moral fight with people who believe same-sex marriage violates their personal religious convictions.

“I want to honor their beliefs and their tradition of beliefs,” he said. “Trying to referee what I think is a cultural dialogue — I don’t think that’s my job description.”

And don’t even get him started on the Mayors for Freedom to Marry initiative, which has enlisted 349 mayors in 35 states to sign a pledge promising to support marriage equality.

“That’s a Grover Norquist thing,” he said dismissively, a reference to the conservative pioneer who launched a national effort to bind candidates and elected officials to no-new-taxes pledges.

Rawlings has said repeatedly that he is “pledge-phobic” and dislikes the blunt, unnuanced tactic of pinning leaders down to broad rhetorical absolutes.

Yet, he’ll support the Dallas resolution. He’ll sign — in part, he says, because his 25-year-old son has charged him with “talking out of both sides of his mouth” on the issue.

Critics will no doubt say Rawlings is bowing to the inevitable, that he’s making a political calculation to support the measure now that a majority vote is assured.

“This resolution, when passed, will be nothing more than a smile in our direction,” wrote Daniel Cates, a contributing columnist for the gay weekly Dallas Voice. It would have been more useful, Cates argued, had it come up months ago, when the state Legislature was early in its biennial session.

I understand the impatience of people who say they’re tired of being insulted and reviled and denied what they view as basic rights. Political and social change surely seem slow when you’re the one waiting for them to happen.

But there is a cultural change coming. Rawlings referred to it as an “arc of history,” an evolution in public opinion that’s shifting to recognize that gay Americans are equal and ordinary participants in the everyday life of our nation.

When frightened opponents shout insults like “unnatural” and “depraved,” I can’t help but recall that other groups have heard the same when they asked to partake in the same rights and privileges as everybody else: women who wanted to vote, interracial couples who wished to marry, minorities who wanted the constitutional promise of equality to not be a lie.

Rawlings, who is no dope, gets this. And whether his decision is personal or political or a little bit of both is really beside the point.

He’ll sign. And it’s the right thing to do

[MsTinkerbelly]

Illinois Gay Marriage: LaShawn Ford Says He's No Longer Undecided On Marriage Equality Bill


Posted: 05/28/2013 5:10 pm EDT | Updated: 05/28/2013 5:11 pm EDT

An Illinois representative formerly undecided on the state's marriage equality bill who'd been targeted by both marriage equality supporters and opponents said in an interview this week that he plans to vote yes on the legislation.

State Rep. LaShawn Ford, a Democrat representing Oak Park and part of Chicago's West Side, told the Wednesday Journal in a Monday interview that he believes "the time has come" for legal same-sex marriage in Illinois.

Ford partially credited his support for the bill to the respect he has for marriage equality bill's lead sponsor, state Rep. Greg Harris, a Chicago Democrat.

"This will go down in history as an example of how to effect change in the world," Ford told the paper.

Ford is one member of the state House's Black Caucus, which has been extensively lobbied by advocates on both sides of the issue in recent months.

The 20 black members of the state House have long been identified as the key "swing" vote that could determine the fate of the pending bill, prompting the National Organization for Marriage and a group of socially conservative African-American ministers led by the Rev. James Meeks to target the lawmakers' constituents with robo-calls opposing same-sex marriage.

Meanwhile, a competing group of black religious leaders has spoken out in favor of marriage equality in Illinois.

With the state's spring legislative session set to end on Friday, the marriage equality bill must be passed by the House by that date or risk being delayed for many months more. Rep. Harris told the Windy City Times last week he will "absolutely" call the bill to a vote before the session's end.

Harris has repeatedly stated in recent months he would not call for a vote on the bill in the House unless he was sure supporters had lined up the 60 votes they need for the measure's approval.

As the state Senate has already OKed the bill in a Valentine's Day vote and Gov. Pat Quinn has vowed to sign it into law, the House vote is the only remaining obstacle to legal same-sex marriage in Illinois.

[MsTinkerbelly]

First gay marriage celebrated in France

Jerard Julien / Reuters


By Catherine Bremer, Reuters

MONTPELLIER, France - Two men married each other in the southern French city of Montpellier on Wednesday, in the first same-sex wedding in a country rocked by protests against and for the reform.

Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau exchanged vows in the city hall before the mayor, relatives and friends as dozens of riot police stood guard outside to ensure the ceremony was not interrupted by protesters.

The two men, who have been together since they hit it off six years ago discussing music in an online forum, embraced to wild cheers from the audience of some 500 people and the strains of "Love and Marriage" by U.S. crooner Frank Sinatra.

"It's a great pleasure for me to declare you married by law," said Montpellier Mayor Helene Mandroux as the couple, both dressed in dark suits, kissed and signed the marriage registry.

The ceremony marked a symbolic end to months of debate that often overshadowed France's economic woes, sealing Socialist President Francois Hollande's reputation as a reformer despite bitter and continued opposition from Catholics and conservatives.

Despite support for the reform in Montpellier, which boasts of being France's most gay-friendly town, officials scrapped plans to broadcast the wedding live on a giant TV screen and instead beamed it live online to the city's website.

Moments before the men walked in, a smoke bomb was lobbed from outside into the perimeter of the city hall. Security guards rushed to investigate, but the wedding went ahead.

An emotional Autin gave a brief speech to the audience, thanking his family, friends and government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a personal friend present at the ceremony.

"Love each other, love us, love one another, because it's important," said Autin from a balcony to a crowd of hundreds of well-wishers outside the city hall, adding the next step would be a law allowing gay couples to adopt children.

After the men exchanged a kiss, Mandroux signed the first ever marriage registry entry for two people of the same sex in France, a nation predominantly Roman Catholic but fiercely attached to the separation of church and state.

Backed by a slim majority of French and feted by gay men and lesbians when it came into force this month, a law making France the 14th country to allow same-sex marriage has triggered street protests by conservatives, Catholics and extreme right-wingers.

"This is a historic moment in your own lives... and a historic moment for our country," Mandroux told the ceremony. "We are building here together the society of tomorrow."

Frigide Barjot, a pink-clad comedian who leads the anti-gay marriage movement, has urged her supporters to stay away from Wednesday's wedding and expressed concern at right-wingers who have hurled bricks, bottles and firecrackers during marches. On Sunday, a massive march in Paris was marred by violence.

"I forbid militants from going to protest in Montpellier," Barjot told Reuters TV after hardliners in motorcycle helmets beat up a press photographer at a march against the reform in Paris on Sunday.

Hundreds of the well-wishers outside city hall and many of the guests inside were dressed fancifully, with men in drag made up as nuns and others wearing gold and pink capes.

"It's a fantastic day for us, for our generation and for the kids that will have proper homes because of this," said Lucile Dampierre, 24, a student and lesbian activist who was trying to get one of the seats reserved for members of the public.

Earlier, French Interior Minister Manuel Valls pledged to toughen penalties for homophobic behavior, citing an increase in the number of threats against gay people on online forums.

"Why do we need to toughen security? Because there are threats," he told i-Tele news TV. "It's likely that we'll have to harden penalties for homophobic speech and behavior by law."

Organizers of the wedding in Montpellier, a bohemian city with a medieval university, took no chances. Between 50 and 100 police and gendarmes were deployed and ready to cordon off any potential protests.

A few dozen members of the public were let in to the 500-seat function room alongside invited guests and dozens of journalists for the wedding of the year in Montpellier's futuristic new city hall, built in blue glass.

Bruno's teary-eyed mother, Dominique Boileau, dressed in a short white dress and coral jacket, told reporters: "I cried when Hollande passed the law and I am still crying. I am proud of them."

Homosexuality, still a crime in some 78 countries, has been legal in France since the Revolution, and the age of consent was lowered to that of heterosexual relations in 1981.

Autin, 40, and Boileau, 29, were the first gay couple to apply to marry as President Hollande was pushing through the law, which grants equal marriage and adoption rights that go beyond existing rules for civil partnerships.

Autin proposed by phoning Boileau at work in September in front of city officials who had just announced that Montpellier would host the first gay wedding. A surprised Boileau, put publicly on the spot via speakerphone, said yes.

Since then, rallies that are partly fuelled by anger at the government over other issues like the economy appear to have eroded support for the gay marriage law; it now stands at 53 percent, with 47 percent opposed, reflecting a deep national division, particularly over the adoption rights it includes.

Last week, one opponent of gay marriage shot himself dead at the altar of Paris's Notre Dame cathedral and on Sunday hundreds of thousands marched in the capital to demand the law's repeal.

That evening, the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, along France's Mediterranean coast from Montpellier, handed top prize to an explicit, taboo-shattering love story between two women.