Same-Sex Marriage Update

[Cyclopea]

"McCain's wife, daughter back gay marriage movement

By JOAN LOWY
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 20, 2010; 9:57 PM

WASHINGTON -- Cindy McCain, the wife of 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, and their daughter Meghan have posed for photos endorsing pro-gay marriage forces in California.

Mrs. McCain appears with silver duct tape across her mouth and "NOH8" written on one cheek in a photo posted Wednesday to the Web site of NOH8, a gay rights group opposed to Proposition 8. The ballot measure passed by California voters in 2008 bans same-sex marriage.

The McCains' daughter Meghan, who has been outspoken in her support for gay rights, has also endorsed NOH8. She appears with silver duct tape across her mouth and "NOH8" on a cheek in a photo on her Twitter site.

Cindy McCain contacted NOH8 and offered to pose for the photo endorsement, the Web site said.

John McCain's office said in a statement that the Arizona senator respects the views of members of his family but remains opposed to gay marriage.

"Sen. McCain believes the sanctity of marriage is only defined as between one man and one woman," the statement said.

John McCain backed an Arizona ballot measure passed by voters in 2008 that defined marriage as between one man and one woman.

The NOH8 Web site praised Cindy McCain's willingness to publicly endorse a cause that is unpopular within the Republican Party.

"The McCains are one of the most well-known Republican families in recent history, and for Mrs. McCain to have reached out to us to offer her support truly means a lot," the site says.

"Although we had worked with Meghan McCain before and were aware of her own position, we'd never really thought the cause might be something her mother would get behind. We have a huge amount of respect for both of these women for being brave enough to make it known they support equal marriage rights for all Americans."

Meghan McCain said Wednesday in a Twitter message linked to her blog: "I couldn't be more proud of my mother for posing for the NOH8 campaign. I think more Republicans need to start taking a stand for equality."

Meghan McCain was asked to be the keynote speaker at next month's National Equality Week at George Washington University in Washington for her advocacy, but her appearance has drawn criticism from Republicans on campus, the NOH8 site said.

McCain's Senate re-election campaign said Wednesday that his presidential running mate, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, will come to Arizona to campaign for him in March. Palin has been a vocal opponent of gay marriage.

---

[SuperFemme]

SAN FRANCISCO — A leading proponent of Proposition 8 found himself on trial Thursday inside the boundaries of the historic federal court trial here to decide the legality of California's ban on same-sex marriage.

During an afternoon of scathing inquiry from prominent plaintiffs' attorney David Boies, William Tam, a controversial figure in the Proposition 8 movement, was confronted repeatedly on views depicted as hostile to the rights of gays and lesbians. Tam testified he likened same-sex marriage to pedophilia, polygamy and legalizing sex with children, and that California would fall into the "hands of Satan" if same-sex couples could wed.

The San Francisco-based Proposition 8 proponent, called as part of the case to overturn the state's same-sex marriage ban, said that he primarily opposed same-sex marriage because it would encourage children to "marry John or Jane" of the same-sex when they "grow up."

"I believe if the term marriage can be used beyond one man, one woman, then any two persons of any age, of any relationship, can use that same argument to ask for the term marriage," Tam testified. "That would lead to incest. That would lead to polygamy. If this is a civil right, what would prevent other groups from asking for the same right?"

With the plaintiffs nearing the end of their witnesses, Tam was called to the witness stand as part of the legal challenge to California's voter-approved 2008 ban on same-sex marriage unfolding before Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker. Plaintiffs' lawyers consider Tam's harsh outlook toward same-sex marriage important to proving that Proposition 8 was fueled by hostility and animus toward gays and lesbians, providing reason to give them greater protection under the U.S. Constitution.

Proposition 8 supporters insist they oppose same-sex marriage to preserve the traditional definition of heterosexual marriage, not to discriminate against the rights of gays and lesbians.

Proposition 8 lawyer Nicole Moss, through her questions, tried to distance the campaign from Tam's statements, depicting him as going rogue with his statements about gays and lesbians without the consent of Proposition 8 campaign officials.

"I was acting independently," Tam said of statements he made that were not approved by ProtectMarriage.com and Proposition 8's leadership.

Boies, however, portrayed Tam as inextricably linked to the campaign, showing e-mails in which he regularly communicated with ProtectMarriage.com officials and evidence Tam mobilized the Asian community and organized rallies against same-sex marriage.

The plaintiffs are expected to finish their case today with the testimony of another expert, University of California-Davis psychology professor Greg Herek, who will discuss the nature of homosexuality and its characteristics.
Earlier Thursday, Stanford University political-science professor Gary Segura finished his testimony, which amounted to the equivalent of a full day on the stand.

He was grilled by Proposition 8 lawyers on his position that gays and lesbians are "powerless" in the political arena.

[Soon]

Hawaii Senate passes civil-unions bill with veto-proof majority, 18-7

[Cyclopea]

Court rejects Russian lesbians' Canada marriage
Thu Jan 21, 2010 7:58am EST
By Amie Ferris-Rotman

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Two Russian lesbians on Thursday lost their bid to have their marriage in Canada recognized by a Moscow court, after a judge dismissed their argument that Russian law recognizes foreign marriages.

Public relations worker Irina Fyet, 30, and beauty parlor owner Irina Shepitko, 32, married in Toronto in October after an application for a marriage license in Moscow was rejected on the grounds that such a union must be between a man and a woman.

The couple are the first gay pair to attempt to get a marriage license in Russia.

"I will have to uphold the decision made by the registry office in May. Foreign marriages accepted in Russia must involve a couple of opposite sex," judge Boris Gerbekov ruled.

Fyet said the couple would take their case to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights, though a judgment could take up to five years.

"We were born here, this is our country, we want to be married in our homeland, Russia," said Fyet.

"We are putting a lot of hope into the European Court. Russia simply has to accept their decision," she said.

Homophobia is deeply rooted in Russia, where gay pride marches are widely condemned and the homosexual scene is largely underground.

Since their Russian marriage attempt, the pair have been flooded with letters of support from the country's hidden gay community but also received hate mail.

The Soviet Union banned homosexuality and any type of nudity on television and Russia did not decriminalize gay sex until 1993, two years after the collapse of communism.

Four years ago, police, militant Orthodox Christians and neo-fascists attacked and violently broke up the first gay rights march in Moscow.

(Editing by Jon Boyle)

[Cyclopea]

Gay Couple Face 14 Years In Malawi Prison
9:55am UK, Monday January 25, 2010
Emma Hurd, Africa correspondent

A new crackdown on homosexuality in parts of Africa has forced gay communities into hiding, fearing for their lives.


Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga appear in court on charges of indecency.

In Malawi, two men who dared to go public with their relationship by holding a traditional "marriage" ceremony are on trial for indecency, and face 14 years in jail.

"It's so scary," one gay man, who didn't want to be identified, told Sky News in the city of Blantyre, where the trial is taking place.
"We are not feeling free and are worried about being arrested.
It is the first case to be brought under Malawi's longstanding legislation banning homosexuality in years.

The rise of US style evangelist preachers has contributed to a hardening of attitudes in the tiny southern African state.

"Biblically it is demonic," pastor Stanley Ndovi said, flipping through the pages of his bible to show me the passages that condemn homosexuality.
"It is wrong and these people should be counselled and helped."

Inside his church on the outskirts of Blantyre, his congregation laughed when he told them that Sky News had come to talk to him about "gay rights".
At best, homosexuality is viewed as a mental illness in Malawi, at worst a form of Satanism with the power to infect the entire population.
"In the West you have allowed homosexuality and it has spread," pastor Ndovi said.

The gay couple on trial are considered such a risk to the public that they have been denied bail and are handcuffed every time they appear in court, jeered by the crowds as they're led to the dock.
"Sometimes I think it would be better to kill myself," another gay man said. "We are not even treated as human."
Malawi is not alone in its new hardline approach to gays and lesbians. Uganda is considering introducing legislation that would result in the death penalty for some "homosexual offences".
The Ugandan government has tried to distance itself from the plan after criticism from its biggest donor, the United States.

Rwanda is also seeking to tighten the laws banning homosexuality.
The crackdown has alarmed human rights campaigners and health workers who are trying to combat the spread of HIV and Aids.
In Malawi, 10% of the general population is HIV positive, with the figure rising to 25% among homosexual men.
There are fears that the gay community will be too scared to come forward to be tested, fearing reprisals from the state.
Just one African nation, South Africa, specifically safeguards the rights of lesbians and gays.
But even there, there have been attacks on gay men, and lesbians have been subjected to so-called "corrective rape".

[Cyclopea]

BEIJING (AFP) – State press splashed a front-page photo of China's first publicly "married" gay couple on Wednesday -- the latest sign of new openness about homosexuality in a country where it has long been taboo.
The page-one story in the English-language China Daily featured a photograph of the "newlyweds" arm-in-arm during a January 3 ceremony.
Zeng Anquan, 45, and Pan Wenjie, 27, tied the knot at a gay bar in the southwestern city of Chengdu, the paper said, calling it "the first such public event in the country".

Homosexuality remains a sensitive issue in China. It was officially considered a form of mental illness as recently as 2001. Same-sex marriages or civil unions have no legal basis.
"We are no longer hiding any more. The wedding is our happiest and most precious moment," Zeng, a divorced architect, told the paper.
"Thousands of gays and lesbians get married in France, Finland, the UK. Why couldn't we?"
Although the vast majority of gays in China are believed to remain in the closet, a number of signs have emerged recently that official attitudes may be softening.
Last month, China's first government-backed gay bar opened in the tourist town of Dali in southwestern Yunnan province, after a three-week delay sparked by intense media attention, in a bid to boost HIV/AIDS prevention efforts.
On Friday, the country's first gay pageant is scheduled to be held in Beijing to choose the Asian nation's candidate for the Mr Gay World contest in Norway next month. [*Shut down at last minute by Chinese government- see http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/wo...16beijing.html ]

China's top state-run radio network plans to launch a new programme this weekend about AIDS that features an HIV-positive host, according to a recent report by Xinhua news agency, which did not mention whether the host was gay.

However, the deep-seated sensitivity of the issue in Chinese society has reared its head in the Zeng-Pan wedding, with the families of the two men reportedly condemning their nuptials.
"My sister warned me she would never call me her brother unless I break up with Pan, and I have answered hundreds of phone calls from friends and relatives who say they feel ashamed of me," said Zeng.
"But we are deeply in love and will never desert each other," he said of his relationship with Pan, a recently demobilised soldier.
More than 200 of the couple's gay friends attended the ceremony, which one of the newlyweds attended in a white wedding dress, the China Daily said, without specifying who was the "bride".

Zeng said the couple feared discrimination and had thus moved to a small town near Chengdu where they were unknown to avoid unwanted attention.
According to Chinese experts cited in press reports, there are an estimated 30 million homosexuals in China, and 20 million of them are men.

[Cyclopea]

Gay couple live streams hunger strike

Francesco Zanardi and Manuel Incorvaia are starving themselves in a demand for gay marriage.

By Angelica Marin — Special to GlobalPost
Published: January 23, 2010 09:10 ET

ROME, Italy — One night last September, Francesco Zanardi walked toward the back of a gay nightclub on the Greek island of Mykonos. Before he reached his moped, four men came from behind, pulled him to the ground and beat him unconscious.

The next day Zanardi awoke in the ER wing of a Mykonos clinic with severe internal bleeding and an unshakeable anxiety. Had he died, his young partner would have been left without the home they share in Italy and all legal rights spouses are granted under Italian law.

It was then that Zanardi decided to stage a hunger strike to advocate gay marriage, and publicize it online. Now he and his 22-year-old partner, Manuel Incorvaia, are webcasting their own campaign, streaming it live, 24-hours a day, on www.glbt-tv.it.

“We came to a point where we wanted to protect each other,” said Zanardi, 39, who began fasting on Jan. 4 and is now living off just three cappuccinos a day. “This is not my first relationship, but for the first time I feel the need to protect my partner,” he said.

More than 1,500 fans have shown their support on Facebook and according to GLBT TV, thousands more are following the webcasts every day.
In Rome, the couple's supporters recently organized a vigil of about 200 people. Activists of all ages silently gathered outside the Parliament building. Within the crowd was Europe’s first transgender legislator, Vladimir Luxuria, who served in the Italian Parliament for one term in 2006.

“If you’re gay and have the fortune of falling in love like Francesco and Manuel have,” she said, “then the Italian government says you aren’t legally tied even as distant relatives. And you don’t benefit from any rights."
Without civil unions, same-sex couples have no right to care for a partner during illness, or claim property in case of death. The fear that Zanardi’s home could go to a distant cousin over his own partner is what first prompted them to begin the fast.

Citing Catholic moral values and national civil codes, Italian legislators have continually pushed gay civil rights aside. The law forbids same-sex partners from engaging in legal domestic partnership or adopting children as a couple.

Zanardi himself wrote letters to all the 630 parliament deputies demanding a new civil rights law. Only two replied.
“I think their initiative is courageous, very important and I admire them so much for what they are doing,” said Francesco Bilotta, an attorney at Rete Lenford, a national agency for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights in Italy.

Last November, Zanardi and Incorvaia and 23 other same-sex couples walked into their local city halls and requested that they be married. Once mayors denied their request, the couples took their cases to court, claiming that the Italian constitution doesn’t forbid gay couples from marrying.
“Because the constitution is so broadly written one could interpret it in light of social change,” said Bilotta who is the attorney for all 24 couples. “So extensively, to include same-sex couples,” he said.

By demanding gay marriage, same-sex couples organized under the so-called “Civil Affirmation” campaign are asking courts to re-examine current interpretation of Italian law.
Four tribunal courts in Florence, Venice, Ferrara and Trento — where the couples first made their claims — now must reject the cases or send them to a higher constitutional court.

“The outcome is a given,” said Claudio Mori, an upbeat gay rights activist in Rome. The 68-year-old veteran, who has pushed for LGBT rights since the 1970s, said it’s time for a progressive turn. Like many others, Mori is betting on Zanardi’s and Incorvaia’s case reaching constitutional courts.
“If they don’t respond to the call, they will be remembered as those constitutional judges who didn’t love the people,” said Mori, “who discriminated against people based on their sexual orientation.”

On Wednesday, Zanardi and Incorvaia will appear in court for their first hearing — that is, if they still have enough energy to leave their house. The tall and slender Zanardi has already lost 18 pounds. He has collapsed several times and is now unable to retain any liquids. “My body is giving up,” he said.
But that doesn’t deter him.
“I am not going to stop striking,” said Zanardi. “If necessary, I’ll die at home.”

[Lady Pamela]

Yesterdays update on SAME SEX MEDICAL DESISIONS FOR YOUR PARTNER!

A MUST READ:

http://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights/obam...e-sex-partners

[Jess]

Cross posting this on same " Obama sets regs for gays to "visit" in hospitals".... I think it is very important for us to realize that until we really are treated "equally", this sort of thing can and will continue to happen.

http://www.bilerico.com/2010/04/sono...couple_and.php

[Jess]

Maybe people will eventually realize that "equal" means equal. Nothing less. Nothing more.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5255991,00.html

[Cyclopea]

Originally Posted by Jess

Maybe people will eventually realize that "equal" means equal. Nothing less. Nothing more.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5255991,00.html

Very interesting. I remember years ago when Vermont was the first U.S. state to grant civil unions, some straight couples tried to apply and were turned away. Civil Marriages were then adopted before the issue could play out and civil unions were discontinued. Should be interesting to see how this works out ultimately in places where heterosexuals sue for civil union equality. Thank you for posting!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8376937.stm

[SuperFemme]

Presbyterian Church charges Northern California minister over gay weddings


Associated Press

Posted: 03/29/2010 01:43:55 PM PDT
Updated: 03/29/2010 01:43:56 PM PDT


SANTA ROSA — A retired Presbyterian minister in Northern California is again facing charges she violated church law when she officiated at the weddings of gay couples.

The Rev. Jane Spahr, 67, was acquitted two years ago of similar charges when the church's top court found that she did not violate denominational law because the ceremonies she performed were not real marriages.
But this time, the same-sex marriages at issue were legal in California. The 16 weddings were performed in 2008 before voters banned the unions with the passage of Proposition 8.

Spahr's lawyer, Scott Clark, said it's unprecedented that the church is trying to sanction a minister for performing legal marriages.

The prosecution counters, however, that while the marriages may have been legal under state law, they were "expressly prohibited" by the church.
The case hinges on "a narrow issue of church law," said prosecutor JoAn Blackstone, who added that the local presbytery committee that investigated the Spahr case found it didn't have "any wiggle room" in deciding to press charges.

"This isn't about her character," she said. "It's only about church law."
The constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) defines marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman. The church's Supreme Judicial Council has ruled that ministers can bless same-sex unions as long as the ceremonies are not called a marriage and don't mimic traditional
weddings.

The charges, formalized earlier this month, say Spahr "publicly, intentionally and repeatedly" violated church laws and "failed to further the peace, unity and purity of the church."

Spahr acknowledges the allegations and said she performed the weddings as a "matter of conscience."

"It's a real faith issue for me," she said. "I think I would be in jeopardy if I didn't do it."

Spahr, a lesbian who lives in San Francisco, used to lead a ministry for gay Presbyterians until she retired in 2007.

She faces sanctions ranging from public censure to a prohibition against performining ministerial duties, including marriages, Clark said. A trial on the new charges will likely take place in August or September.