Thursday, January 20, 2011

Via JMG: SAN FRANCISCO: Federal Judge Signals Intent To Overturn Portion Of DOMA


A federal judge in California has ruled that state employees may sue the federal government for excluding their partners from a long-term health care program.
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland denied an Obama administration request to dismiss the suit Tuesday and signaled that she is likely to overturn provisions of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal benefits to same-sex couples. But Wilken said the 1996 law actually changed the status quo by "robbing states of the power to allow same-sex civil marriages that will be recognized under federal law." She also rejected arguments that the law's sponsors put forth in 1996, that the legislation was necessary to promote procreation and preserve heterosexual marriage. The couples sued in April over the California Public Employees' Retirement System's refusal to enroll the spouses in a federally approved long-term care plan. State employees can buy coverage at below-market rates, use pretax dollars to pay premiums, and deduct future benefits from their taxes. The California agency has refused to sign up same-sex spouses because the Defense of Marriage Act denies federal tax benefits to any state that covers them.

reposted from Joe

THE BALLAD OF SARAH PALIN by LADY BUNNY

Via JMG: This Week In Entertainment Weekly


Entertainment Weekly on this week's cover:
Gay teens are suddenly popping up in major roles all over television, with Glee’s popular pairing of Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss) leading the way. How did gay teens go from marginalized outcasts and goofy sidekicks to some of the highest profile — and most beloved — characters on the likes of 90210, Pretty Little Liars, and Skins? And more importantly, how is this affecting real-life teens still facing the daily high-school realities of bullying, discrimination, and ignorance? The new issue of Entertainment Weekly investigates the history of gay teens on TV — from the angsty Rickie on My So-Called Life to sensitive-soul Jack on Dawson’s Creek to the slew of groundbreaking characters on Degrassi. We talk to the producers who fought for such progress, the actors who held the career-defining roles, and the activists who cheer recent advances — but are still pushing for more.

reposted from Joe

Via Andrei: Será que dessa vez vai?

quarta-feira, 19 de janeiro de 2011

Casamento gay será aprovado em fevereiro. E é no Brasil. Dilma apóia. Entenda o caso e compre sua aliança

19/01/2011 - 12h24
Por : Marcelo Cia 
Mix Brasil
Casamento entre pessoas do mesmo sexo tem tudo para ser arpovado no Brasil em fevereiro. 

De forma discreta, quase silenciosa, tramita no Supremo Tribunal Federal, o órgão máximo do poder judiciário brasileiro, um processo movido pelo governador do Rio de Janeiro Sergio Cabral que pede mudanças na lei do casamento para que homossexuais também possam se casar judicialmente. O pedido do governador foi feito em 2008 e é simples: ele pede que os funcionários homossexuais do Estado do Rio possam se casar para que se equipare direitos dados a casais heterossexuais (pensão, previdência, auxílio moradia, financiamentos especiais...). Ao propor tal processo, Sergio Cabral sabia que caso o Supremo aprovasse seu pedido, automaticamente TODOS os brasileiros gozariam da decisão, já que decisões do Supremo são válidas para todo território nacional sem possibilidade de recurso. O pedido está em fase final de conclusão e será votado em plenário no mês de fevereiro. E, melhor de tudo, a chance de ele ser aprovado é praticamente certa.

Tudo muito bem explicadinho

O relator do processo é o ministro Carlos Ayres Britto. Ele está finalizando seu parecer, que terá 32 páginas, sobre o assunto, em suas férias. Na real, o Ministro Carlos está usando o silêncio de suas férias para cuidar especificamente deste processo, porque, claro, é favorável a ele. Seu parecer será apresentado aos outros ministros do Supremo em fevereiro próximo, assim que as férias da Corte terminar. O parecer do Ministro será FAVORÁVEL ao casamento gay. É esta informação que corre nos corredores do Supremo. Se essa informação se confirmar, no texto que o ministro redige atualmente ele expõe os motivos pelos quais acredita que o casamento gay deve ser permitido no Brasil. O texto também norteia o votos de outros ministros. É como se Carlos Ayres Britto fosse defensor do SIM, um advogado de defesa do casamento gay na mais alta corte do país.

É o voto dos outros ministros que decidirá se o casamento passará a ser permitido ou não no país _o voto do Ministro Carlos vale tanto quanto cada um dos outros votantes. Ok, mas vários dos outros dez ministros do Supremo já se posicionaram a favor da matérias em outras ocasiões, como a Minsitra Ellen Grace. Além disso, o próprio Ministro Carlos Ayres Britto, conhecido por sua discrição, deixou sub-entendido que o casamento tem grandes chances de ser aprovado no Supremo, já que em decisões recentes e isoladas, o Tribunal sinalizou ser favorável à causa. "É um caso em que não tenho prognóstico. Quem sabe teremos uma bela surpresa?”, disse Carlos dias atrás.

É práxis entre os Ministros não darem entrevistas sobre assuntos ainda não votados, como é o caso. O que Carlos diz com essa frase faz alusão a dezenas de Tribunais regionais de primeira e segunda instância espalhados pelo país que já permitiram que homossexuais se casassem. Há decisões do tipo em praticamente todos os estados do Brasil, em especial nos estados do Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo e Mato Grosso do Sul. Essas decisões todas são levadas em conta na decisão dos Ministros do Supremo.

Carlos Ayres Britto disse ainda que “se a tese _do casamento gay_ for consagrada, pega todo mundo”, isso significa que caso o STF julgue procedente o pedido do governador do Rio de Janeiro, eu, você e todos nós poderemos nos casar.
Dilma a favor

Nos bastidores do Supremo a aposta é que a maioria dos ministros siga esse entendimento. E tem mais: o Planalto da Presidenta Dilma deu um jeitinho de mostrar-se favorável ao tema: a Advocacia Geral da União, que é montada pela presidenta, encaminhou parecer ao STF defendendo a posição do governo FAVORÁVEL ao reconhecimento da união entre pessoas do mesmo sexo. O texto oficial enviado pelo Planalto do governo Dilma aos Ministros lembra que a Constituição protege a dignidade da pessoa humana, a privacidade, a intimidade, e proíbe qualquer forma de discriminação.

Isso significa que o governo Dilma é a favor do SIM do Ministro Carlos Ayres e dos demais Ministros? Sim, significa. Essa opinião é levada em conta na decisão final? Sim, claro. Quem nomeia os Ministros do Supremo é o Presidente da República, afinal.

Vale lembrar, ainda, que o Supremo Tribunal Federal não cede à pressão de nenhuma corrente pública _nem de evangélicos, nem de católicos, nem de grupos gays. As decisões da Corte são técnicas e constitucionais. Mas é claro que se o Supremo tivesse maioria conservadora o voto pelo SIM ao casamento gay estaria ameaçado. A melhor notícia é que o Supremo ganhou maioria esmagadora progressista durante o governo Lula.

Então, querido, pode ir comprando suas alianças.

Se tudo isso se confirmar, e é claro que estamos na torcida, teremos três "heróis" do casamento gay: Sergio Cabral, Dilma e Carlos Ayres Britto.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Via JMG: More Gays Raise Kids In The South


According to a study of data released by the U.S. Census, there are more gay couples raising children in the southern states than in urban states more traditionally considered to be gay hot spots.
Child rearing among same-sex couples is more common in the South than in any other region of the country, according to Gary Gates, a demographer at the University of California, Los Angeles. Gay couples in Southern states like Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas are more likely to be raising children than their counterparts on the West Coast, in New York and in New England. The pattern, identified by Mr. Gates, is also notable because the families in this region defy the stereotype of a mainstream gay America that is white, affluent, urban and living in the Northeast or on the West Coast.
One theory for the result is that southern blacks and Latinos may be more likely to have been in a heterosexual marriage with children prior to coming out.


reposted from Joe

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Amy Sedaris Makes Hot Dogs on a Rake

Dying DADT Birds - Cindy Jacobs (Jake Benson Remix)

Via HimalayaCrafts:

Why is it that so few can see that just enough is quite enough?
♥ Tashi Delek ♥ ~ HimalayaCrafts

Via JMG: SCOTUS Rejects DC Marriage Suit


The Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of Bishop Harry Jackson, whose lawsuit demanded that Washington DC residents be allowed to vote on same-sex marriage.
The court did not comment Tuesday in turning away a challenge from a Maryland pastor and others who are trying to get a measure on the ballot to allow Washingtonians to vote on a measure that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Bishop Harry Jackson led a lawsuit against the district's Board of Elections and Ethics after it refused to put that initiative on the ballot. The board ruled that the ballot question would in effect authorize discrimination.
It's unclear what, if anything, today's news may mean regarding the Supreme Court's position on same-sex marriage in general.


reposted from Joe

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Via JMG: Rip Taylor


Via JMG: Pope Ratzi: Same-Sex Marriage Perverts The Meaning And Goals Of Families


Emperor Palpatine yesterday issued yet another attack on same-sex marriage, saying that the effort to legalize gay unions "perverts" the meaning of the word "family."
Addressing officials from the city of Rome and the Italian region of Lazio, Pope Benedict said that legislation and policies that promote same-sex unions end up “penalizing” heterosexual couples, “who, not without effort, seek to maintain stable emotional ties which are juridically guaranteed and publicly recognized.” “To this end,” he stressed, “the various components of society must agree on the objectives of education, in order for human love not to be reduced to an article of consumption, but to be seen and lived as a fundamental experience which gives existence meaning and a goal.”
Ill Papa made his comments in a traditional exchange of New Year messages with the mayor of Rome.


reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Larry Kramer: AIDS Is A Plague That Was And Is Allowed To Happen


As the world approaches the 30th anniversary of the first noted cases of AIDS, famed activist Larry Kramer publishes a typically blistering editorial for CNN International in which he shouts that AIDS is a plague that was allowed to happen. And still is. An excerpt:
Governments and bureaucrats and presidents and politicians and the people who run this world lie to people. They tell us HIV is under control. They tell us case numbers are decreasing. They tell us that all is being done that can be done. They tell us HIV is too complicated to eradicate. They tell us gay people and people of color have made more progress than ever before. These are all lies. [snip]

For some 30-plus years, I have been trying to tell the world where this plague came from and why, and I will continue to do so until I die, too. You see, I simply can't get the memories and the ghosts of just about every friend I had out of my life. And since there is no doubt in my mind that this plague of HIV/AIDS that took them from me was and continues to be allowed to happen, I am duty bound to tell this hideous history as best and as fully as I can. It's the least I can do. That is correct: This plague of HIV/AIDS was intentionally allowed to happen. It still is. Nothing has changed in the intentionality department. Hate has a way of hanging around forever and too often winning out in the end.
Please read Kramer's full piece, especially his "ten realities about AIDS." And read the comments, where AIDS denialists and anti-gay Christians are rushing to attack.


reposted from Joe