Some more good news on the local marriage equality scene:
Senator Tom Plant and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald are proposing a ballot measure that would legalize civil unions for same-sex couples.
The referred measure would need a two-thirds vote in each house to get on the November ballot. It would not require the signature Gov. Bill Owens.
The measure would give same-sex couples the right to visitation and to be involved in the care of hospital patients and nursing home residents, inheritance and pension benefits, access to a partner’s health care benefits and family leave benefits, and the right to take possession of a deceased partner’s remains.
It’s not legalizing marriage, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Well now this is extremely interesting: Sean Duffy, Republican and former Communications Director under Governor Owens here in Colorado, will apparently lead the opposition to an anti-gay-marriage amendment here in Colorado (via ColoradoPols.com).
I’m kind of cynical, so my first instinct is to say, “yeah, right, sure… I’m supposed to believe that someone like Duffy would actually support gay rights, or at least would work to have rights taken away from gays? Sell me another bridge, why dontcha.” But it turns out that this is exactly what Duffy is going to do:
Duffy said he knows that many conservatives may be surprised by his involvement in the issue, but he believes many Republicans share his belief that gays should be “left alone.”
“I have a number of conservative friends who are on board with what I’m doing in terms of gay rights,” Duffy said. “There are a lot of folks ideologically on the Republican side who believe putting a ban on gay marriage in the state constitution is overstepping government authority.”
Duffy actually sounds like a reasonable guy regarding this issue. Will he actually come through? I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
There’s another story about school newspaper censorship, this time regarding high schools in Pennsylvania.
The student newspaper at Lampeter Strasburg High School ran the ad for Common Roads in its November issue — only to have it pulled.
The ad invited gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth to check out the group.
“It’s just saying we’re here if you need us. Check us out,” said Carol Reisinger, executive director of Common Roads.
The superintendent of the Lampeter Strasburg school district, Dr. Robert Frick, nixed the ad after the papers were printed.
They were reprinted without it. Other school papers refused to take the ad from the beginning.
Frick wouldn’t go on camera, but he told the television station that the advertisement encouraged students to attend “something we know nothing about.”
All I can say is: ugh. Schools should be teaching kids about freedom of speech and freedom of the press, not first-hand experience in how censorship works.
Colorado Pols links to a Denver post article suggesting that there is some discord among anti-gay-rights groups in Colorado, specifically regarding a possible amendment banning gay marriage here.
At issue among the different gay union foes is the scope of the final amendment language. Focus on the Family wants a measure that would outlaw any recognition of any legal union outside of that between a man and a woman. Other organizations wish only to protect the definition of the word marriage.
Also according to the article, noted Colorado gay rights rich guy Tim Gill started a PAC with a multi-million dollar budget to fight anti-gay-rights amendments nationwide.
Here’s hoping that the right-wing groups self-destruct, or that Gill’s PAC makes some strides here in Colorado.
Wells Fargo refused to back down from Focus On the Family, even though it cost them Focus On the Family’s business. Finally, a company that doesn’t just cave in and sell out the GBLT community!
Chris Hammond, a vice president of business development for Wells Fargo & Co., the fifth largest U.S. bank by assets, said the bank provided a $50,000 grant to support the leadership counsel of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. He said it did not, however, agree to match contributions as GLAAD had advertised and Focus criticized.
“That being said, we do support many communities, and we’re proud to be a diverse organization,” Hammond said. “We’re proud of our support of the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) community.”
And I am proud of Wells Fargo for the same exact reason.
Anyone who has read this blog for any amount of time knows that I am a firm believer in Free Speech. I will fight for anyone’s right to say what they believe, even if I don’t agree with what they have to say. There are times, though, that I wish people would use common sense. One example: one should just know that isn’t appropriate to hold a demonstration at a funeral. But apparently the wackos at the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka aren’t all that big on common sense.
A Kansas-based anti-gay group is expected to show up at a Greeley church to protest services for an Evans man, killed while serving with the US Army in Iraq.
[...]
Greeley police confirm protesters from Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka (Kansas) obtained a “parade” permit, and five to ten people are expected to picket along a sidewalk across the street from MacKenzie’s funeral.
On the one hand, this will once again show the world just how insane these people are. On the other hand, it’s a funeral. Who the fuck protests at someone’s funeral?
Good news abounds from election day this past Tuesday. First up is Maine, where voters overwhelingly endorse a gay rights law. By a vote of 56% - 44%, Maine chose to not repeal an anti-discrimination law. This vote clearly shows that Maine residents believe that people are people, and should not be treated differently because they are different.
Hopefully this level-headed view of this issue will propogate throughout the rest of the nation.
The law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, public accommodations, credit and education. It defines sexual orientation as “a person’s actual or perceived heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality or gender identity or expression.”
The law says it is not intended to redefine marriage, which a separate state law defines as the union of a man and a woman. But opponents of the law, led by the Christian Civic League of Maine and the Maine Grassroots Coalition, argued during the campaign that keeping the gay rights law on the books would pave the way for legalizing same-sex marriage.
Maine Won’t Discriminate, which led the fight to retain the law, countered that the law had nothing to do with marriage. Supporters said discrimination against gays and lesbians is a fact of life in Maine, so the Legislature did the right thing by amending the Human Rights Act to ban such practices.
Voters who backed the law said they did so because discrimination is wrong, regardless of the basis for it. “People have the right to be who they are” without worrying about losing a job or an apartment as a result, said singer Kattie Webber of Farmingdale.
I now no longer have a doubt that James Dobson is out of his friggin’ mind. Aside from waiting for god to tell him whether or not Miers is a good nominee for the Supreme Court Dobson is now making a “prophecy” that gay marriage will lead to beastiality:
James C. Dobson predicted on his radio program that allowing same-sex marriage in the United States would lead to “group marriage,” “marriage between daddies and little girls,” or “marriage between a man and his donkey.” Dobson called this vision of the future “more or less a prophecy,”
What the hell is wrong with anti-gay marriage people? How does it follow that marriage between two consenting adults would lead to marriage between a consenting adult and someone/something who can’t give consent (such as a child or an animal)? This is not brain surgery. It’s basic, fundamental logic: two consenting adults does not equal one consenting adult.
Hooray! Another win for the good guys: Connecticut now officially recognize Civil Unions!
[The] new law allowing same-sex civil unions took effect. City halls in Hartford, Stamford, New Haven and a half-dozen small towns held special weekend hours to issue certificates to couples who said they waited for years to be legally recognized.
Connecticut became the first state to legalize civil unions without being forced by the courts after lawmakers passed a law endorsing the unions in April. Massachusetts allows gay marriages and Vermont recognizes civil unions because of lawsuits.
Civil unions are definitely a step in the right direction.
More good news about marriage quality, this time from Daily Kos:
If those anti-gay efforts started with a bang, today they ended with a fizzle. A second constitutional convention addressing the issue today came up short. Really short. In fact, only 39 losers voted for it, 157 against.
Seems that after a year of gay marriage, people started realizing that heck — marriage really wasn’t in so much danger after all. Imagine that…
One state down, 49 more to go…
