Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Via JMG: Yet Another Court Strikes Down DOMA
Via press release from GLAD:
Today, a U.S. District Court Judge ruled that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional as a violation of equal protection guarantees. Her ruling comes with respect to claims brought by six married same-sex couples and one widower from the states of Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont who were denied federal tax, social security, pension and family medical leave protections only because they are (or were) married to someone of the same sex. Under the ruling, the plaintiffs’ marriages must be accorded the same federal protections and responsibilities as those of other married couples. The ruling by Judge Vanessa L. Bryant, an appointee of President George W. Bush, stems from the lawsuit Pedersen et al v. Office of Personnel Management et al, filed by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) in November 2010 in the Federal District Court in Connecticut.
“Section 3 of DOMA obligates the federal government to single out a certain category of marriages as excluded from federal recognition,” Judge Bryant wrote, “thereby resulting in an inconsistent distribution of federal marriage benefits as all marriages authorized by certain states will receive recognition and marital benefits, whereas only a portion of marriages authorized by other states will receive federal recognition and benefits.” “Judge Bryant’s ruling is very clear: married people are married and should be treated as such by the federal government. There is no legitimate basis for DOMA’s broad disrespect of the marriages of same-sex couples,” said Mary L. Bonauto, GLAD’s Civil Rights Project Director. “We are very pleased that the Court recognized that DOMA’s creation of second-class marriages harms our clients who simply seek the same opportunities to care and provide for each other and for their children that other families enjoy.”
Via JMG: More Chicken Wars News
Eat Mor (Gay-Friendly) Chikin
Opportunism? Corporate pandering? Just good business? From their Facebook page:Help us support Marriage Equality. Throughout the month of August, we will donate $1.00 from every purchase of a Schnipper’s Chicken Filet Sandwich to Marriage Equality USA (a non-profit whose mission is to secure legally recognized civil marriage equality for all). A truly good Chicken Filet Sandwich would always be in favor of Marriage Equality. Ours is the best you’ll ever have since its made from fresh chicken breasts and hand dipped to order in our seasoned corn flour blend and buttermilk. It’s super crispy and it’s gluten free! The sandwich is tasty – Marriage Equality is timely.Schnipper's locations are in Hell's Kitchen and Madison Square. (Tipped by JMG reader Ian)
Via JMG: More Chicken Wars News
Eat Mor (Gay-Friendly) Chikin
Opportunism? Corporate pandering? Just good business? From their Facebook page:Help us support Marriage Equality. Throughout the month of August, we will donate $1.00 from every purchase of a Schnipper’s Chicken Filet Sandwich to Marriage Equality USA (a non-profit whose mission is to secure legally recognized civil marriage equality for all). A truly good Chicken Filet Sandwich would always be in favor of Marriage Equality. Ours is the best you’ll ever have since its made from fresh chicken breasts and hand dipped to order in our seasoned corn flour blend and buttermilk. It’s super crispy and it’s gluten free! The sandwich is tasty – Marriage Equality is timely.Schnipper's locations are in Hell's Kitchen and Madison Square. (Tipped by JMG reader Ian)
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.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.
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."
Labels: California, hate groups, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Proposition 8, Protect Marriage, SCOTUS
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"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through August 2nd, 2012
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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...
Monday, July 30, 2012
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
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.
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."
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"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through July 31st, 2012
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
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"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through July 31st, 2012
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
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