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Mayor of Newark, New Jersey’s impressive response to marriage equality
After Obama endorsed gay marriage, Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, reposted a video showing his response to a question about marriage equality.
I rejoice in President Obama’s announcement. But, let us all who believe in equality continue to labor in the cause. We still live in a nation where there are hundreds and hundreds of laws that deny gay Americans the same rights and privileges that straight Americans enjoy. And especially here in New Jersey, it is time for us to treat all of our citizens equally under the law and make marriage equality happen.
We love this inclusive ad from JCPenny that depicts a two-mom family. Just in time for Mother’s Day!
“Marriage takes a lot of heart work.” Aww, isn’t that sweet. And it’s a nice play on words with Valentine’s Day and whatnot. But you know what? Marriage really does take a lot of heart work. It does not, however, require one penis and one vagina.
Please reblog this photo if you stand with Governor O’Malley and support marriage equality in Maryland!
Look at these images closely. If you really scrutinize the one on the left, you’ll see the cake topper of two grooms that’s magnified on the right. Not too visible, right?
Apparently the grooms are enough to get a small conservative group outraged with Macy’s, who sent this ad to homes last week to encourage people to join Macy’s gift registry.
An antigay group called One Million Moms, somehow related to the American Family Association, attacked Macy’s for “inappropriate marketing” and “offending conservative customers.” Well, well, well. A good portion of their statement can be found at the link above.
Macy’s is a known supporter of LGBT causes, both through its generally pro-equality advertising and its consistently high ratings with HRC. If this group thinks it can take a corporate giant down for one ad, it’s sadly mistaken. Tough luck.
(via cillian-alainn)
Just Engaged
Alex and I went to a conservative Christian university in Tennessee. He studied French and I majored in Spanish Language and Culture. We weren’t allowed to date in college because being in a homosexual relationship in our university meant that you were kicked out if you didn’t agree to corrective therapy. I was already being forced to attend scare-you-straight therapy sessions and didn’t want to subject him to that, thus we secretly dated for around a year while we were in Tennessee. He moved to France, I moved to Costa Rica - and while we were separated I studied French every day with the goal of being conversational by the time we were reunited. When we both got back to Tennessee, I had been assigned a new counselor and the pressure of living a double life drove me into a deep depression. My love for him was the only thing that kept me from killing myself. I graduated, got hired as an English professor in the Catholic University of Chile and moved to South America. A year later, he applied to the same program and moved to the southern hemisphere to be with me. Last night, while all of my North American friends were here for Thanksgiving, I got down on one knee while we were all giving thanks for the good things in our lives, and asked him if he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He said yes and we stood there and cried while we held each other and our friends cheered. It was the best day of my life. The only day that will top yesterday will be when I marry that boy. I don’t know if my family will want to come. I don’t know if my parents will ever hold our future child - but I know this: as long as I have him, I’ll need no one else.
In a development considered unthinkable just a few years ago, a transgender woman and a man identifying himself as gay were married in a public wedding in Havana on Aug. 13, with family members, friends and newly emerging gay activists attending the ceremony.
“This is the first wedding between a transsexual woman and a gay man,” the 31-year-old groom, Ignacio Estrada, told the Associated Press. “We celebrate it at the top of our voices and affirm that this is a step forward for the gay community in Cuba,” the AP quoted Estrada as saying.
(Source: addtoany.com)
This week, the Obama Administration made history by ending its defense of DOMA in the federal courts.
But just as President Obama dealt a blow to this discriminatory law, Speaker Boehner and Republican leaders could step in and begin defending it.
Anti-LGBT lawmakers are being pressured by right-wing groups to use taxpayer resources to defend this discriminatory law in court. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and other members of Congress have already stepped in to defend DOMA in another federal court.
Republican leaders could decide within days, so we don’t have much time. Congress should be helping Americans in this struggling economy, not wasting our tax dollars to defend an unconstitutional law!
Update on the Wall Street Journal’s same-sex marriage poll - 2/24/11
(click through photo to vote)
Administration Drops Defense of Discriminatory DOMA Law
February 23, 2011
Today the Obama Administration announced it won’t continue its defense of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA) in court. DOMA denies federal recognition and benefits to legally married same-sex couples and purports to allow states to deny recognition to those couples as well.
“This is a monumental decision for the thousands of same-sex couples and their families who want nothing more than the same rights and dignity afforded to other married couples,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “As the President has stated previously, DOMA unfairly discriminates against Americans and we applaud him for fulfilling his oath to defend critical constitutional principles.”
(via: hrc.org) (photo courtesy of: change.org)
On August 16, 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the Proposition 8 proponents’ motion to stay U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision, which means that same-sex couples in California will not be able to marry while the case is on appeal. However, the Ninth Circuit put the appeal on a fast track and specifically directed the Prop 8 proponents to address “why the appeal should not be dismissed for lack of Article III standing” in their opening brief. That means that the Court will consider whether the decision can be appealed at the same time that it is considering whether Judge Walker’s decision that Prop 8 violates the federal constitution is legally correct. What is the fast-track schedule set by the Ninth Circuit? All the briefing must be completed by November 1, 2010 and the oral argument will take place the week of December 6, 2010. Proponents’ opening brief is due September 17. The plaintiffs’ opposing brief is due October 18. The proponents’ reply brief is due November 1. When can we expect a decision from the Ninth Circuit? The Ninth Circuit is not required to issue its decision within any particular time frame after oral argument; however, when an appeal is expedited, the Court tends to issue decisions more quickly. That said, it is still likely to take at least a few weeks or months after the oral argument in December for the Court to issue a decision. What happens after the Ninth Circuit rules? Will the case then go to the Supreme Court? Once the Ninth Circuit rules, the losing side can ask the United States Supreme Court to hear the case. The Supreme Court then has discretion to take the case or to let the Ninth Circuit’s decision stand. Which three judges from the Ninth Circuit will decide the Prop 8 appeal? We don’t know yet which three judges will be on the panel for the Ninth Circuit appeal in the Prop 8 case. It’s possible that it will be the three judges who heard an earlier appeal relating to discovery disputes in the case Judges Berzon, Fisher, and Wardlaw but it also might be a different set of three judges. We won’t know for sure until the week of November 29, when the names of the panel judges will be announced. Could the same panel that granted the stay also decide the appeal? The panel of judges that decided the stay was the temporary, rotating “motions panel” that sits for a month at a time and only hears motions that need an immediate response. There have been some past cases in which a motions panel keeps a case, so it is possible, but the more common practice is for an appeal to be assigned to a new panel of judges. Will the Ninth Circuit decide whether the Prop 8 proponents have standing to bring an appeal before the court decides the other issues in the case? The motions panel that issued the stay ordered the parties to address in their briefs both the question of standing and the question of whether Prop 8 is unconstitutional. So the argument scheduled for the week of December 6 likely will address both of those issues, and it’s unlikely that the question of standing will be separately decided anytime before that. If the Ninth Circuit decides that the Prop 8 supporters don’t have standing to bring an appeal, will they be able to appeal that ruling to the Supreme Court? Or does the case stop there? If the Ninth Circuit decides that Prop 8 proponents don’t have standing to bring an appeal, the proponents could ask the Supreme Court to review that decision, and the Supreme Court would have the option either to hear the appeal or to let the Ninth Circuit’s decision stand. Will the final decision in this case apply to California only? Judge Walker’s decision is just about California, but much of his legal analysis and many of his factual findings could be applied to other discriminatory marriage laws across the country. If this case reaches the Supreme Court, and if the Court decides to reach the question of whether Prop 8 is constitutional, and if the Justices ultimately decide that Judge Walker was right that Prop 8 is unconstitutional, they could issue that decision either in broad terms that apply to the whole country or in narrow terms that are limited to California. Source credit: National Center for Lesbian Rights
(UPDATED 8.17.10) What the Ninth Circuit’s Latest Ruling in the Prop 8 Case Means
