Same-Sex Marriage Update

[QueenofQueens]

Originally Posted by GinaSofia

Hey QoQ,

Do you know where I can get more info on this new law?
I tried to google but found nada.
I'd love to have something to refer to when dealing with the
folks who keep insisting that my marriage is no longer valid.
TIA!

Hey Gina,

No problem. Here's a link to Equality CA's website with an article that lists the particulars.
>>Linky<<
I see you're already experiencing the issues that arise when minorities are not afforded equal protection under federal law. It's such fucking bullshit that you have to endure this sort of fallout due to people's ignorance. Beyond bullshit, it could be potentially dangerous for ANY legally married couple. Sorry for ranting, this shit just makes my blood boil.

Happy New Year, G
xox
QoQ

[Cyclopea]

Originally Posted by QueenofQueens

The legalization of gay marriage went into effect in New Hampshire on January 1st, however legislation has been filed to repeal the law and anti-marriage opponents are organizing a petition drive to create an amendment that would define marriage as being between one man and one woman.
Determining the rights of minorities should NEVER be subject to popular vote, New Hampshire gives us an opportunity to make that clear, should we seize it before it's too late.

Meanwhile, a CA law went into effect on Jan. 1st ensuring that those who were legally married here before prop 8 passed retain all legal protections and status as married couples. It also protects those legally married in other states/countries after prop 8 by affording them the same rights/protections sans being able to claim the designation of "marriage".

Thank you for these updates. The assholes in NH circulating petitions to get an anti-marriage amendment on this year's town meeting agenda are particularly disheartening. I find it hard to believe it will pass but after Maine who the hell knows. It's so easy to mobilize the stupid.

In other news the NJ Senate will vote this Thursday on a same sex marriage bill that is almost certain to fail. From Pam's House Blend:

" There will be a vote on gay marriage in the lame duck session of the New Jersey state legislature, NBCNewYork.com has learned.

"We're gonna post the bill and see what happens," Senate President Dick Codey told us.

Codey, and even sponsors of same sex marriage legislation are skeptical if there are enough votes to pass in the State Senate.

For days now, Codey has been weighing whether or not to allow a vote in the waning days of this session, which ends next Monday.

"The members for the most part said go ahead and post it," Codey explained in coming to his decision, while acknowledging there was a minority of his fellow democrats who urged him not to bring it to a vote.

The rush to get a vote in is because outgoing Governor Jon Corzine, who will sign the bill if passed, will leave office on January 19. His successor, Chris Christie, has said he would veto it."

This from Garden State Equality:

"MEMBERS: BREAKING NEWS FOR YOU TO FORWARD IMMEDIATELY TO YOUR FRIENDS, RELATIVES, ORGANIZATIONAL AND CONGREGATIONAL COLLEAGUES -- AND TO YOUR LIST SERVS AND BLOGS:

The New Jersey State Senate has just announced it is voting this Thursday, January 7, 2010 on the marriage equality bill. We need each of you to join us for this most momentus day in our lives.

We ask you to meet us in front of the State House in Trenton Thursday at 10:30 am, when we will march from the State House to the State House Annex, and then talk to legislators before the vote.

You may meet us in front of the State House earlier than 10:30 am Thursday to help us organize. We will be there earlier whenever you arrive. The address of the State House, for GPS and MapQuest purposes, is 125 West State Street. Park at the Trenton Marriott garage, 1 West Lafayette Street.

Thursday afternoon, immediately after the Senate vote, Garden State Equality will hold a news conference and a free member reception at the Trenton Marriott Ballroom, 1 West Lafayette Street. We ask all of you, members and journalists, to be there.

For further information

Journalists: Contact Chair Steven Goldstein, cell (917) 449-8918.

Members: Contact Co-Field Director Dani Bernstein, cell (909) 561-3738.

-----------------------------------------------------------
On a personal note, if I see one more big mainstream article stating that civil unions/domestic partnerships provide all the same rights of marriage I will freakin' scream. I just read that as the last line in an AP story yesterday and it is sooo misleading and makes gays and lesbians appear to be seeking some sort of social approval from the 'phobes, rather than critically important legal and financial equality.
GRRRRRRRRRRR.....

[Cyclopea]

From PinkNews.co.uk:

Malawi gay marriage trial expected next week

By Jessica Geen • January 5, 2010 - 15:28

The trial of two gay men arrested for holding a wedding party in Malawi is expected to begin on January 15th.

Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza are being held in custody in Chichiri Prison and were denied bail by a judge yesterday in the city of Blantyre.

Judge Nyakwawa Usiwa-Usiwa said the couple were at risk from mob violence if they were released, although this claim was rejected by their lawyers.

He said they would be bailed by January 10th if prosecutors had finished investigating them.

The pair had a traditional engagement ceremony in the south African country on Saturday December 26th and were arrested two days later.

Malawi punishes homosexuality with up to 14 years in prison.

According to gay rights activist Peter Tatchell, who is in contact with campaigners in the country, the men will deny the three charges of unnatural practices between males and gross indecency.

He said they would challenge the prosecution on the grounds that it is illegal under the equal rights and non-discrimination clauses of the Malawian constitution.

In a news release, Tatchell said the couple had been jeered in court and disowned by their families.

He said they were suffering "appalling" conditions in prison and are being threatened with forced physical examinations to determine whether they have had sex.

But he added that they had been given food and money by supporters and a legal term had been assembled.

Their case is being helped by the Malawian human rights group, the Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP).

The centre's executive director, Gift Trapence, told PinkNews.co.uk the men's lawyers are fighting for the trial to be held in a higher court where more judges are sitting.

He said: "Because of the penal code in Malawi, gays are seen as unnatural. They are not visible.

"This is the first case. There is a lot of attention in Malawi and lots of newspaper coverage. Gays are afraid of the law, they are not open, they are not visible.

"The problem is the violence is there but it is not reported. There are lots of blackmail issues. They think they will be prosecuted.

Trapence added that arrests such as this would hamper HIV prevention work.

An administrator for CEDEP was arrested yesterday on charges that the centre's safer sex HIV education materials are pornographic.

Tatchell described the charges as "trumped up" and said the arrest was "almost certainly in retaliation" for CEDEP's public support of Chimbalanga and Monjeza.

The group called today for a nationwide referendum on homosexuality, saying that consensus was needed.

UK-based gay rights group OutRage! is collecting donations to be sent to the couple's legal team in Malawi.

To send a donation, post a cheque payable to OutRage! to OutRage!, PO Box 17816, London SW14 8WT. Enclose a note giving your name and address and stating that your donation is for the Malawi Defence Campaign. OutRage! will pass all money donated to the couple's defence team in Malawi.

[Semantics]

January 7, 2010
NJ Senate Defeats Gay Marriage Bill
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 5:01 p.m. ET

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey's state Senate has defeated a bill to legalize gay marriage, leaving it unlikely the state will have a gay marriage law in the very near future.

The bill needed 21 votes to pass; only 14 senators approved the measure Thursday.

Gay rights advocates had pushed hard to get the bill passed before Jan. 19, when Republican Chris Christie becomes governor. Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine promised to sign the bill if approved by the Legislature but Christie has said he would veto it.

New Jersey offers civil unions that grant the legal rights of marriage to gay couples. Five states -- Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont -- allow gay marriage.

The New York Times



Sorry friends.

[Cyclopea]

Originally Posted by Semantics

The New York Times



Sorry friends.

Thanks for the update Semantics!
Lambda Legal announced after the loss that they will be pursuing litigation on that matter.
We all kinda knew it was a long shot, but still .

[Cyclopea]

Catholic Portugal set to legalise gay marriage

by Anne Le Coz
Wed Jan 6, 12:12 pm ET

LISBON (AFP) – Catholic Portugal, traditionally one of Europe's most socially conservative countries, is expected to approve the legalisation of gay marriage on Friday with a minimum of fuss.

With the governing Socialists and other left-wing parties enjoying a strong majority, the new law is likely to sail through the first reading debate and gain final approval before a visit by Pope Benedict XVI, due in Portugal in May.

In contrast to Spain, where the lead-up to the legalisation of gay marriage in 2005 brought hundreds of thousands of demonstrators onto the streets, the bill in Portugal has provoked only muted opposition even from the right.
While normally vocal on the role of marriage and the family in society, the Catholic Church has refused to mobilise on a subject which, according to Lisbon's Cardinal Patriarch Jose Policarpo, is "parliament's responsibility".
"I think the Portuguese people have learnt one of the fundamental tenets of democracy: respect for the rights of the individual," Miguel Vale de Almeida, Portugal's first openly-gay lawmaker who was elected in September, told AFP.

Vale de Almeida, who is the Socialists' pointman on the legislation, said there is now a political majority in favour of gay marriage and that it is "too simplistic to link Catholicism and conservatism."

According to poll conducted late last year by the Eurosondagem institute, while a strong majority (68.4 percent) of Portuguese are opposed to adoptions by same-sex couples, they are more evenly divided when it comes to gay marriage with 49.5 percent against, with 45.5 percent in favour.

On Tuesday, campaigners handed a petition with more than 90,000 signatures to demand a referendum on the subject into parliament.
But having had its fingers burnt by two referendums which preceded the legalisation of abortion in 2007, the government has ruled out consulting with the public as the measure was part of its manifesto in last year's election.

Prime Minister Jose Socrates' Socialists may have lost their majority in the September 27 election, but still command the support of other left-wing parties in parliament who should guarantee that the gay marriage bill is passed.

While opposed to the concept of same-sex "marriages", the centre-right opposition Social Democrat party says it is favour of a civil partnership that would give gays and lesbians the same rights as heterosexual couples minus adoptions.

Deputies are also expected on Friday to vote two other bills submitted by the Green party, the Left Bloc and others which would grant gay and lesbian couples the right to adopt children.

If the gay marriage proposals do pass through parliament, they will the have to go through a parliamentary commission before coming back for the final approval.

According to media reports, both the government and the Catholic Church wants the gay marriage issue to be resolved before the visit of the pope, scheduled for May 11-14.

[iamkeri1]

Hmmmm, so what's the weather like in Portugal?
Smooches,
Keri

[Cyclopea]

More good news from Pam's House Blend:

Portugal's Parliament has voted for marriage equality
by: Lurleen
Fri Jan 08, 2010 at 10:55:58 AM EST

Congratulations Portugal! As predicted, Portugal's Parliament easily passed a marriage equality law earlier today. The vote was 125 to 99.
"This law rights a wrong,'' Prime Minister Jose Socrates said in a speech to lawmakers, adding that it ''simply ends pointless suffering."

Conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silva is thought unlikely to veto the Socialist government's bill, which won the support of all left-of-center parties. His ratification would allow the first gay marriage ceremonies to take place in April -- a month before Pope Benedict XVI is due on an official visit to Portugal.

Portugal has offered civil unions to same-sex couples since 2001, but they did not provide some key benefits that come with marriage involving pensions, inheritance and the sharing of names. Married same-sex couples still will not be allowed to adopt, so the work continues.

[Cyclopea]

High-stakes gay marriage trial to begin in Calif.

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 7, 9:41 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – The national debate over same-sex marriage will take center stage in a California courtroom next week at a closely watched federal trial that could ultimately become the landmark case that determines whether gay Americans have a right to marry.

The case will decide a challenge to California's gay marriage ban that was approved by voters in 2008, and the ruling will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. How the high court rules in the case could set the precedent for whether gay marriage becomes legal nationwide.

"This could be our Brown vs. Board of Education," said former Clinton White House adviser Richard Socarides, referring to the 1954 Supreme Court decision that outlawed racial segregation in schools and other public facilities. "Certainly the plaintiffs will tell you they are hoping for a broad ruling that says that any law that treats someone differently because of sexual orientation violates the U.S. Constitution."

The case marks the first federal trial to examine if the U.S. Constitution permits bans on gay marriages, and the challenge is being bankrolled by a group of liberal Hollywood activists led by director Rob Reiner.

They retained two of the nation's most influential lawyers to argue the case — former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson and trial lawyer David Boies. The lawyers are best known as the rivals who represented George W. Bush and Al Gore in the "hanging chad" dispute over the 2000 presidential election in Florida, and have tapped the talent of their respective law firms in preparation for the trial and plan to take turns questioning witnesses.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown are defendants in the lawsuit by virtue of their prominent positions in California government, but both men opposed the ban and have refused to defend the suit in court. Schwarzenegger has taken no position on the case, while Brown filed a brief saying he agreed with the Olson-Boies team that gays have the same federal constitutional right to marry as heterosexuals.

The sponsors of the gay marriage ban, a coalition of religious and conservative groups, joined the case as defendants. Their legal team is being led by Charles Cooper, a veteran trial lawyer who worked for the Reagan-era Justice Department. Cooper is being assisted by a team of lawyers from his own firm, along with a Christian legal group based in Arizona.

Presiding over the case is U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker, a Republican named to the bench in 1989 by the first President Bush. Walker, who has a reputation as an independent thinker, was randomly assigned the lawsuit, put it on a fast-track to trial and has said he thinks it raises serious civil rights claims. During a pretrial hearing in August, the judge pointedly scolded Schwarzenegger for remaining neutral "on an issue of this magnitude and importance."

Walker says the case is so important that the court has taken the rare step of allowing videotaping of the proceedings so the public can watch. The trial, scheduled to start Monday, will air on YouTube every day.

To prevail, Olson and Boies will try to prove that denying gays the right to wed serves no legitimate public purpose and that Proposition 8 was motivated by legally irrelevant religious or moral beliefs or even anti-gay bias. The ballot initiative, which passed with 52 percent of the vote, supplanted a California Supreme Court ruling that had legalized same-sex marriages.

Boies and Olson say the ban is a blatant violation of Constitutional rights to equal protection and due process.

Testimony in the trial will explore many of the most contentious political arguments surrounding the issue. Leaders of the campaign to outlaw gay marriages have been called as witnesses, along with competing academic experts who will be cross-examined on topics ranging from how having same-sex parents affects children and if gay unions undermine male-female marriages.

Cooper's team plans to argue that same-sex marriage still is a social experiment and that it is therefore prudent for states like California to take a wait-and-see approach. Their witnesses will testify that governments historically have sanctioned traditional marriage as a way to promote responsible child-rearing and that this remains a valid justification for limiting marriage to a man and a woman.

"What sets this case apart is the strategy up until now, in the last 10 or 15 years, has been by the national organizations that support same-sex marriage to attack this on a state-by-state basis," said Brian Raum, who is helping to defend Proposition 8. "The impact of those cases, obviously, was limited to their respective states. But the potential impact in this case goes beyond the state of California."

Kristin Perry, 45, is the title plaintiff in the case registered on legal dockets as Perry v. Schwarzenegger. She and her lesbian partner of 10 years, Sandra Stier, 47, got married in San Francisco in 2004 when Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered city officials to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Six months later, they were among the 4,000 couples who had their unions invalidated by the state Supreme Court.

Perry and Steier, who have four sons, agreed to become involved in the challenge because they believe that a judicial approach grounded in constitutional law provides the best chance of success. Still, many gay rights groups objected to the timing of the lawsuit, fearing it was too soon to mount a federal case.

"All the other experiences around this have felt so politicized and in some ways outside of my control," Perry said. "But being in a courtroom where the rules of discussion are so different from a political discussion, I am feeling like as an American I have a right to ask someone if this is fair, someone whose job it is to do this every day and can make as educated a judgment about this as maybe anyone has made."

The plaintiffs will have plenty of star power with Olson and Boies. Olson helped Bush win the presidency in 2000 after the recount battle in Florida, and later served as the president's solicitor general — the lawyer who argues the government's cases before the Supreme Court. Boies represented Gore in 2000.

"The hope of the people behind this, in recruiting Olson and Boies, was to put a bipartisan face on this issue," said Jane Schacter, a constitutional law expert at Stanford. "I do think it's striking that one of the nation's senior conservative litigators is leading the charge, and it does cause some people maybe to take a second look, to see the issue through a different prism."

[Jess]

I'm not exactly sure how to catch it live on youtube, but I will certainly be trying!

http://www.kqed.org/news/specialcove...mesexmarriage/

Good luck Cali! Good luck all of us!

[SuperFemme]

The Supreme court has barred cameras in the courtroom. No youtube. The haters get to hide.

The reason? Because some of the witnesses would change their testimony if televised.

Seriously?

They are afraid of being judged. The irony does NOT escape me.

[SuperFemme]

http://www.mercurynews.com/samesexmarriage/ci_14165406


WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is blocking a broadcast of the trial on California's same-sex marriage ban, at least for the first few days.
The federal trial is scheduled to begin this morning in San Francisco. It will consider whether the Proposition 8 gay marriage ban approved by California voters in November 2008 is legal.
The high court today said it will not allow video of the trial to be posted on YouTube.com, even with a delay, until the justices have more time to consider the issue. It said that Monday's order will be in place at least until Wednesday. Opponents of the broadcast say they fear witness testimony might be affected if cameras are present. Justice Stephen Breyer said he would have allowed cameras while the court considers the matter.

[Jess]

Originally Posted by SuperFemme

The Supreme court has barred cameras in the courtroom. No youtube. The haters get to hide.

The reason? Because some of the witnesses would change their testimony if televised.

Seriously?

They are afraid of being judged. The irony does NOT escape

me.

Whatacrockasheit.

[Soon]

Sharp Words Open California Same-Sex Marriage Case

[Soon]

Prop 8 Trial Tracker

Here's a description of this site from www.joemygod.blogspot.com:
Follow the Courage Campaign's Rick Jacobs live blogging from the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial. He's typing as people speak and it can be a bit confusing, but Jacobs is doing a great job getting the gist of what everybody is saying. You'll need to refresh to see the updates. Bookmark the site for the remainder of the trial.

[Cyclopea]

Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow

Prop 8 Trial Tracker

Here's a description of this site from www.joemygod.blogspot.com:
Follow the Courage Campaign's Rick Jacobs live blogging from the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial. He's typing as people speak and it can be a bit confusing, but Jacobs is doing a great job getting the gist of what everybody is saying. You'll need to refresh to see the updates. Bookmark the site for the remainder of the trial.

WOW that is fascinating! EXCELLENT resource since the 'phobes have insisted they can only testify against our equality in secret.
Unfuckingbelievable that we can't view the proceedings.
If anyone finds an actual complete transcript, please post it. (The link that is)
Thanks again HowSoonIsNow.

[Toughy]

well that should make the Marriage Equality folks and the rest of 'our' leaders who opposed this case happy........

a whole bunch o chicken shits

[Just_G]

OJ Simpson's murder trial was aired and it didn't affect people the way this does. What a crock-o-shit that it isn't televised!

[SuperFemme]

Its not totally impossible the televised thing.
A decision will be reached by the SCOTUS by Wed.

Which will be a good indicator on how this issue will fare in the next level.

[Cyclopea]

here's another good "live-blog":
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/