Via JMG: SCOTUS Gets Prop 8 Overturn Appeal

In addition to the DOMA-related cases that landed on the desks of the Supreme Court this month, today they received an appeal on the overturn of Prop 8. Chris Geidner reports:

Supporters of California's constitutional amendment banning same-sex couples from marrying, Proposition 8, have asked the Supreme Court to hear the ongoing challenge to the law in order to reverse an appeals court decision from earlier this year that struck down the amendment as unconstitutional.

Specifically, they ask the court in a filing today to decide "Whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the State of California from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman."

Arguing that "[u]nique recognition of a unique relationship in no way disapproves or dishonors other relationships that the State has chosen to recognize differently," the Proposition 8 proponents ask the court to take the case to correct the "manifest errors" of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and "to return to the People themselves this important and sensitive issue."

Geidner notes that AFER has 30 days to respond to the filing. The Supreme Court is on summer recess and will not announce which cases it will review until this falls.

Labels: California, hate groups, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Proposition 8, Protect Marriage, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Via Gay Politics Report:

• Democrats back freedom to marry in platform draft
   
• A draft of the Democratic Party platform includes support for allowing same-sex couples to marry, a development that caps the party’s rapid evolution on the issue in the past few years. "The fact is, by every action that should be taken, the Democrats in Washington have repudiated DOMA,” said Rep. Barney Frank, a member of the platform drafting committee who said the vote to include support for marriage equality was unanimous. Other LGBT-related language in the draft rejects the Defense of Marriage Act and supports passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Washington Blade (7/30), The Huffington Post (7/31)     

VIa Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma July 31, 2012

A Little "Aha!"

Our whole spiritual transformation brings us to the point where we realize that in our own being, we are enough.

- Ram Dass, "Little 'Aha!'s"

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Via America Blog Gay:

Draft Democratic party platform includes marriage equality

From Chris Johnson at the Blade: The Democratic Party platform drafting committee approved on Sunday language endorsing same-sex marriage in addition to other pro-LGBT positions as part of the Democratic Party platform, according to two sources familiar with the drafting process. Retiring gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who sits on the committee, told the Washington Blade on Monday that the...

Via JMG: New Zealand PM Backs Equal Marriage

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has endorsed marriage equality and says that he will vote for the bill about to be presented in the national parliament.

Mr. Key told RadioLive NZ he would use a conscience vote to vote in favour of Labour MP Louisa Wall's marriage equality bill, pulled from parliament's ballot last week. "My view has been that if two gay people want to get married then I can't see why it would undermine my marriage to Bronagh," he said. "There will be plenty of people in our caucus who will be deeply opposed - particularly the very religious ones, and I can understand that." Asked whether his conscience would change in the bill's third reading, he said: "No".

Key will not have the full support of his party on the vote.

Controlling 59 of the 120 seats at the House of Representatives, Mr Key’s centre-right National Party is expected to have a diverse range of voting intentions. News.com.au indicates that 14 Green MPs have committed their support and most of the 34 Labour MPs should back a change in the law too. A poll in 2011 reported by the New Zealand Herald had found 60 per cent in favour of equal marriage rights for gay and straight couples and 34 per cent opposed. Support for such a measure rose to 79 percent among those aged 18 to 34.

RELATED: The American band Train said via Twitter yesterday that it is working to have one of its songs removed from the website of New Zealand's anti-equality movement.

Labels: LGBT rights, marriage equality, New Zealand

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Dick Cheney: My Standing Up For Marriage Would Have Killed Dubya's Chances

Dick Cheney, who has since endorsed marriage equality, claimed yesterday that he remained silent during the 2000 campaign because he knew if he spoke up it would have damaged Dubya's election chances.

The former vice president suggested it wouldn't have done much good and probably would have sunk President George W. Bush's prospects for office. "Why?" he responded to ABC News when asked in a televised interview whether he should have pushed harder for gay couples to marry. Cheney's daughter, Mary, married her longtime partner this June. Cheney said of the wedding: "I'm sure it was fine. We wished them well. She wanted to avoid having it be a media circus or having it become part of the political debate. So Lynn and I were very proud and happy and congratulated them."

Cheney also remained silent during then closet case Ken Mehlman's campaign against same-sex marriage, which resulted in bans in 21 states from 2004-2006. Cheney finally publicly announced his support in 2009.

Labels: Dick Cheney, Dubya, GOP, LGBT rights

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Barney Frank: The Democratic Platform Draft Includes Support For Marriage

Chris Johnson has big news at the Washington Blade:

The Democratic Party platform drafting committee approved on Sunday language endorsing same-sex marriage in addition to other pro-LGBT positions as part of the Democratic Party platform, according to two sources familiar with the drafting process. Retiring gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who sits on the committee, told the Washington Blade on Monday that the 15-member panel unanimously backed the inclusion of a marriage equality plank after a national hearing over the weekend in Minneapolis, in which several witnesses testified in favor of such language. “I was part of a unanimous decision to include it,” Frank said. “There was a unanimous decision in the drafting committee to include it in the platform, which I supported, but everybody was for it.”

Johnson goes to to quote an anonymous DNC source who reports that the draft version of the platform also denounces DOMA and expresses support for ENDA. The final official platform will be voted upon during the convention.

Labels: Barney Frank, Democrats, marriage equality

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Vietnam Moves Closer To Marriage

As I reported three weeks ago, Vietnam is seeing the early rumblings of a government-backed move towards same sex marriage. That first report noted that change "would not likely be coming soon." Or maybe it will after all.

Vietnam's Communist government is now considering whether to allow same-sex couples to marry or legally register and receive rights — positioning the country to be the first in Asia to do so. "Our love for each other is real and nothing changes regardless of whether the law is passed or not," said Loan, 31. "But when it is passed, we will definitely go get registered. I can't wait!" Even longtime gay-rights activists are stunned by the Justice Ministry's proposal to include same-sex couples in its overhaul of the country's marriage law. No one knows what form it will take or whether it will survive long enough to be debated before the National Assembly next year, but supporters say the fact that it's even being considered is a victory in a region where simply being gay can result in jail sentences or whippings with a rattan cane. "I think everyone is surprised," said Vien Tanjung, an Indonesian gay-rights activist. "Even if it's not successful, it's already making history. For me personally, I think it's going to go through."

The Christian Post is worried about Vietnam and today posted this concerning statistic:

92 percent of Vietnam's population is Buddhist, and another 6.7 percent is Catholic and less than 0.5 percent is Protestant. The Roman Catholic Church, which teaches that homosexuals are called to celibacy, staunchly supports the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, but due to the minority it holds in Vietnam, is unlikely to be able to play a big part in the same-sex marriage debate in the country.

Labels: LGBT rights, marriage equality, religion

Reposted from Joe

Oscar Wilde via FB:

Via JMG: Rex Wockner On Sally Ride

"Not every gay or lesbian person wants to be an activist, and when a public figure comes out, he or she can be thrust into that role by the media, which start asking the individual’s opinion on every gay topic of the day. Not every gay or lesbian person even considers his or her sexual orientation one of the most important pieces of his or her identity. For some, it’s just another thing, like being left-handed, or Episcopalian.

"If anyone deserves a bit of scolding, it’s the news media, which went about its business for around 24 hours before realizing that this obituary was not a run-of-the-mill obituary and that there was a surprise, and breaking news, lurking in the list of survivors. By the second day, there were stories everywhere about Ride’s coming out. And I suspect this piece is one of several on Sunday op-ed pages around the country today. American hero Sally Ride did one more great thing the day she died. She showed America, again, that LGBT people really are everywhere, including even in outer space and already in our history books." - Veteran gay journalist Rex Wockner, writing for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

 

Labels: coming out, LGBT History, NASA, Rex Wockner

posted by Joe

Via JMG: Jesus & Freddie Mercury

Cartoonist Mr. Fish tells the Jesus In Love blog about the above panel, which was first published in mid-May in reaction to North Carolina's marriage ban.

"I chose Freddie Mercury as Jesus’ partner because, a.) he is immediately recognizable as a gay icon and b.) there is something both holy and tragic about Mercury’s life and premature death. In many ways it is a narrative that is not dissimilar to the Jesus narrative, both figures inspiring of love and beauty and self-assuredness removed from corporeal existence way too soon. In that way, they seemed like a perfect match."

Labels: LGBT rights, North Carolina, Queen, religion

posted by Joe

Via Joe Moreno FB:

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma July 29, 2012

The Power of Presence

Presence has no measurable product except positive feelings, feelings of support, intimacy, and happiness. When we stop being busy and productive and switch to just being still and aware, we ourselves will also feel support, intimacy, and happiness, even if no one else is around.

- Jan Chozen Bays, "The Gift of Waiting"

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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma July 29, 2012

The Power of Presence

Presence has no measurable product except positive feelings, feelings of support, intimacy, and happiness. When we stop being busy and productive and switch to just being still and aware, we ourselves will also feel support, intimacy, and happiness, even if no one else is around.

- Jan Chozen Bays, "The Gift of Waiting"

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Via JMG: Protests At Kirk Cameron's NJ Speech

More photos here.

Labels: hate groups, Kirk Cameron, New Jersey, NOM

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma July 28, 2012

The Freedom of Generosity

To act generously is to awaken a certain kind of freedom: freedom from the stranglehold of self-concern, and, consequently, freedom to choose a level of responsibility beyond the minimal charge most of us have for ourselves. To give unselfishly is at least momentarily to be free of ourselves, free of greed and attachments, resentments and hatreds, habitual and isolating acts of self-protection.

- Dale S. Wright, "The Bodhisattva's Gift"

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Via JMG: FLORIDA: Former GOP Chair Accuses Party Of "Scheming" To Suppress Black Voters

The former chairman of the Florida Republican Party, Jim Greer, is claiming that other leaders of the state GOP strategized on ways that they could suppress the votes of black citizens. Today's revelation comes from Greer's deposition in his lawsuit to be paid back salary from the state GOP.

Greer's animosity was evident on almost every page of the deposition as he described the inner workings of a party that has controlled Florida since 1998. On voter suppression, Greer said he had just completed a December 2009 meeting with party general counsel Jason Gonzalez, political consultant Jim Rimes and Eric Eikenberg, Crist's chief of staff, when questions arose about fundraising. "I was upset because the political consultants and staff were talking about voter suppression and keeping blacks from voting. It had been one of those days,'' he said. Rimes said he recalls no discussion of suppressing votes at any meeting. Eikenberg did not return phone calls.

Two months ago Florida Gov. Rick Scott launched an attempt to purge the state's voter rolls of alleged non-citizens, a move widely seen as a transparent attack on the state's minorities. Scott is now suing the federal government for thwarting that plan.

RELATED: Two years ago Greer was arrested on charges of six felony charges of embezzling campaign money. His trial date on those charges has just been moved back until November, "sparing Florida Republicans the embarrassment of intense scrutiny of the party's inner-workings just weeks before Tampa hosts the Republican National Convention."

Labels: Florida, GOP, racism, voting problems

Reposted from Joe

Via Gay Politics Report:

• Chick-fil-A controversy grows as politicians weigh in
   
• The national political fight over marriage equality is set to move to Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country next week, as LGBT advocates are planning boycotts and a “kiss-in,” and anti-gay politicians such as Rick Santorum are urging support for an “Appreciation Day” at the chain’s locations. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino wrote to the company urging it not to open a restaurant in his city, and one Chicago city councilman has vowed to block the chain’s expansion. The company’s COO recently said it opposes marriage rights for same-sex couples, and organizations associated with Chick-fil-A have donated millions to anti-gay groups. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (7/25), The Huffington Post/Gay Voices (7/25), USA TODAY/The Associated Press (7/25)