Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Via JMG: Massachusetts Town To Pay Married Gay Employees To Offset Tax
Marriage gay city employees of Cambridge, Massachusetts will become the first in the nation to be paid a small stipend to cover a federal tax that their heterosexual colleagues don't have to pay.
Like many people, these 22 school and city workers chose to put their spouses on their employer-provided health insurance. Because they're in a homosexual relationship, the value of that health coverage is considered taxable income by the federal government. But starting this month, Cambridge will become what is believed to be the first municipality in the country to pay its public employees a stipend in an attempt to defray the cost of the federal tax on health benefits for their same-sex spouses. The city employees hit by the extra tax pay an additional $1,500 to $3,000 in taxes a year and officials estimate the stipends would cost the city an additional $33,000. "This is about equality," said Marjorie Decker, a Cambridge city councilor. "This is a city that models what equality really means."
Via JMG: Linda Harvey: Teacher Unions Are Paying Children To Become Homosexual
"The group’s website says they raise money for teen scholarships given to those kids who consider themselves homosexual. The past few years the scholarship winners have not simply been young people persuaded to be in this deviant lifestyle, but are students who have unfortunately bought the party line and become involved in activism projects like homosexual clubs and the pro-homosexual Day of Silence in their schools. And so now kids are given financial incentives to be actively engaged in both the political goals of homosexuals as well as the risky behavior. This is appalling. In these tough economic times many kids will be struggling to get money together for college and here we have a really sleazy connection for them to make. It’s just one more outrageous thing going on with our teachers’ unions." - Linda Harvey, whackadoodle leader of the SPLC-certified hate group, Mission America.Via JMG: Chile Preps Civil Unions Bill
Chile's legislature is about to see a bill legalizing civil unions. The bill, which could be presented to Congress by next week, would grant legal rights to gay couples who have lived together for more than one year, the Santiago-based newspaper reported, citing a copy of the draft legislation it obtained.Click over for the latest on partnership rights across South America.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Via JMG: PCUSA: Gay Pastors Now Welcome
Beginning today, openly gay pastors may preach in Presbyterian Church USA pulpits.
Gone will be the requirement that clergy live "in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness." Elimination of that language clears the way for ordination of clergy in same-sex relationships. The change was endorsed last year by the Presbyterian national assembly, but required approval by a majority of the denomination's 173 regional presbyteries. That threshold was crossed in May.
Labels: LGBT rights, religion
JMG Quote Of The Day - Gary Johnson
“This ‘pledge’ is nothing short of a promise to discriminate against everyone who makes a personal choice that doesn’t fit into a particular definition of ‘virtue’. While the Family Leader pledge covers just about every other so-called virtue they can think of, the one that is conspicuously missing is tolerance. In one concise document, they manage to condemn gays, single parents, single individuals, divorcees, Muslims, gays in the military, unmarried couples, women who choose to have abortions, and everyone else who doesn’t fit in a Norman Rockwell painting." - Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the first 2012 GOP candidate to officially denounce the "offensive" moral pledge already signed by Crazy Eyes and Frothy Mix.Saturday, July 9, 2011
via JMG: BREAKING: Pentagon Orders Halt To DADT Dismissals, Welcomes Openly Gay Troops
Just in from the Army Times:
The Pentagon has ordered a halt to all separations of gay troops under “don’t ask, don’t tell” and will begin accepting applications from prospective recruits who identify themselves as homosexuals. The moratorium issued Friday came after a ruling Wednesday by a federal appeals court in California ordering the Defense Department to immediately stop enforcing the law. The court said the law is unconstitutional because it treats gay Americans differently under the law. Meanwhile, defense officials will continue to prepare for the law’s formal repeal, which Congress approved in December. The law will be formally repealed 60 days after the defense secretary and chairman of the Joint Chiefs “certify” that it will not adversely impact military readiness.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Via JMG: A Different Kind Of Hood
Submitted by JMG reader Sean Chapin.UPDATE: For those who say the above image goes too far, let's not forget the below actual sign carried by one NOM supporter.
Via Gay Politics Report: U.S. admits "regrettable role" in discrimination against LGBT Americans
- U.S. admits "regrettable role" in discrimination against LGBT Americans
- A legal brief filed last week by the Department of Justice is being hailed by LGBT-advocates as a historic document in the legal fight for equality for LGBT Americans. The brief cites the unconstitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act in arguing that a federal employee's lawsuit over partner benefits should not be dismissed, and lays out a history of discrimination against LGBT people in the U.S. The Obama administration had earlier announced it would no longer defend DOMA, but this is the first time it has sought to convince a federal court that the law is unconstitutional. "This brief represents the concrete manifestation of a complete paradigm shift in the federal government's position on anti-gay discrimination and the constitutional rights of married same-sex couples," said Tobias Barrington Wolff, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
- Google/The Associated Press (7/2), Metro Weekly (Washington, D.C.) (7/5)
Via JMG: AFA To Corporations: Don't Hire Gays
In an interview with hate group head Linda Harvey, the American Family Association's Gary Glenn said that corporations should not hire any homosexuals. Right Wing Watch has the quote.What ridiculous folly to suggest that only those individuals who engage in homosexual behavior given all of its severe medical consequences constitute the best and the brightest. It’s not really bright to engage in behavior that puts you at dramatically higher risk of mental illness and substance abuse and AIDS and cancer and hepatitis, and according to various sources, premature death. So to suggest that engaging in that type of behavior defines someone as the best and brightest, which seems to be the line coming out of corporate America, is just ridiculous.Harvey responded: "You’re right. And higher rates of domestic violence and unstable relationships. I would not think of a homosexual person as a good employment risk, I just wouldn’t."
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
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