An new article by Kerry Eleveld on Advocate.comsays Washington is abuzz with the possibility of repealing at least part of the Defense of Marriage Act in light of the fact two states have now legalized same-sex marriage and more appear to be on the way.
Passed in 1996, during the Clinton administration, DOMA says:
1. No state (or other political subdivision within the United States) needs to treat a relationship between persons of the same sex as a marriage, even if the relationship is considered a marriage in another state.
2. The federal government may not treat same-sex relationships as marriages for any purpose, even if concluded or recognized by one of the states.
At the time of passage, it was expected that at least one state would soon legalize same-sex marriage, whether by legislation or judicial interpretation of either the state or federal constitution. Opponents of gay marriage feared (and many proponents hoped) that the other states would then be required to recognize such marriages under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution, which basically says that states have to recognize the “public acts, records, and judicial rulings” of other states
As the same-sex dominoes begin to topple across the nation, it looks like New York will be the next to fall.
The Associated Press is reporting that New York legislative officials say Gov. David Paterson is expected to introduce legislation to legalize gay marriage.
Two officials say he will introduce the legislation tomorrow. They spoke on condition of anonymity because there’s been no formal announcement.
The proposal would revive a bill that died in 2007 and still faces strong opposition despite a new Democratic majority in the state Senate
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith says he doesn’t believe there are enough votes in the chamber to pass the bill.
Paterson, however, says he’ll make a brand new start of it – in old New York.
The governor was overhead saying “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere. Its up to you – New York, New York.”
I have to thank Rachel Maddow for saying – or at least almost saying – what we’re all thinking.
Apparently conservatives have never seen the John Water’s movie Pecker, or heard of the practice of “teabagging” as it’s been known in gay bars for many years.
If they had, I doubt they would have been so quick to whip it out and publicly shake it around the way they have.
Take a moment and watch these recent Rachel Maddow clips addressing the inadvertent conservative appropriate of really gay expressions:
If that wasn’t bad enough:
Rumor has it the Republican party found Sarah Palin through Google. When are they going to learn to Google other things before they run them up the flagpole of the misguided party?
The group behind a $1.5 million ad campaign targeting states where marriage equality has become legal, or may getting close to legalizing it, has seen its TV ad become a source of headlines in the queer and mainstream press.
It seems that somehow, somebody got ahold of audition footage for the commerical, showing that that the “concerned individuals” featured in the spot are, in fact, actors.
The audition tape has prompted a swarm of media attention. Everyone is in on the act, including LGBT news sites, blogs, and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show, along with general news sites.
From Maddow:
The National Organization for Marriage, the group behind the ad, has filed a filed a copyright violation against YouTube, where audition footage of the actors appearing in the ad had been posted. Unfortunately, some links to it don’t work because it’s been removed. When I clicked one link to it, I received a message saying “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by the National Organization for Marriage.”
In short, LGBT equality advocates think the ad is incredibly misleading, especially in light of the information that the individuals in it are actually actors speaking a script.
Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback Church, was at the center of a hornet’s nest of controversy when he was invited to deliver the invocation at President Obama’s inauguration.
LGBT groups howled in protest, because of Warren’s public anti-gay statements. At the center of the controversy was this interview with Steve Waldman, the editor-in-chief of Beliefnet, where Warren expressed his sentiments about gays marrying:
WARREN: The issue to me, I’m not opposed to that [some partnership rights] as much as I’m opposed to redefinition of a 5,000 year definition of marriage. I’m opposed to having a brother and sister being together and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.
BELIEFNET: Do you think those are equivalent to gays getting married?
WARREN: Oh , I do. For 5,000 years, marriage has been defined by every single culture and every single religion – this is not a Christian issue. Buddhist, Muslims, Jews – historically, marriage is a man and a woman.
Of course, no one in the LGBT community appreciated being likened to pedophiles, bigamists, or people committing incest, which wasn’t just an interpretation of what he said, it’s what he said.
Now, in an interview with Christianity Today, Warren talks about the backlash against his invitation to participate in the inauguration, and slips and slides around, parsing his language. Here’s his take on the interview exchange above:
In a Beliefnet interview, which was an hour long, Steve Waldman asked me about gay marriage. I said I believe marriage, that term, should be reserved for a man and a woman. I’m not saying same-sex couples don’t love each other. I gave some examples of what I think shouldn’t be considered to be marriage, like an older guy with a younger woman. Then [Waldman] said, “Are you saying that those are the same thing?” I said, “Oh sure.” It made it sound like I was equating homosexuality with pedophilia and incest. I don’t believe it, never have, and never would.
And just to futher confuse things, here’s Warren on Larry King Live a couple of nights ago, claiming he’s not against gay marriage:
However, just before the election, he made this video for his congregation, endorsing Proposition 8:
(Side note to Rick – next time, sit farther away from the camera, please.)
Vermont has become the fourth state to legalize gay marriage – and the first to do so with a legislature’s vote.
The Legislature voted Tuesday to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry. The vote was 23-5 to override in the state Senate and 100-49 to override in the House. Under Vermont law, two-thirds of each chamber had to vote for override.
The vote came nine years after Vermont adopted its first-in-the-nation civil unions law.
It’s now the fourth state to permit same-sex marriage. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa are the others. Their approval of gay marriage came from the courts.
It’s a fast-growing group of governments that recognize same-sex marriages and same-sex civil unions.
There are even a couple to add to the list since my friend E. compiled it just days go (Yea, Iowa! Go Vermont!)… but it’s a good list and anyone who thinks the U.S. is a world leader in LGBT rights should take a look at it.
This Associated Press photo by Steve Pope in the New York Times made me realize that Iowa is making gay marriage look so normal.
Maybe the country really is warming up to the idea of same-sex marriage, just not California style.
I love my home state, but rally and protest pictures taken of Prop. 8 celebrations, gatherings, and protests look much more flamboyant… we’re tattooed, pierced, androgynous, transgendered, butch, femme, in drag, wearing leathers, feathers, and sequins, and all-in-all more radical.
I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but I’m sure a good part of the country watches us on the news and finds us terrifying.
Iowa looks ’bout as scary as a church social. I’d let these good folk indoctrinate my children.
There’s something oddly appealing about John McCain’s 24-year-old daughter, Meghan, who is getting a lot of press these days for taking on Ann Coulterand telling the women on The View that Laura Ingraham (who referred to Meghan as “plus-sized”) can “kiss my fat ass”. Here she is, telling Larry King she supports gay marriage:
Ali Shams, a senior 22-year-old pre-law student at UC-San Diego, spent his Christmas break framing a constitutional amendment initiative to replace the word “marriage” with “domestic partnership” under state law. Now his project has been cleared by Secretary of State Debra Bowen to gather petition signatures for a potential statewide ballot. Shams’ proposed amendment would take the state out of the wedding business, making marriages a product of church-sanctioned ceremonies, and letting the state government grant domestic partnerships, to gay and straight couples alike. Shams and a friend, Kaelan Housewright, a 21-year-old senior at the California Institute of the Arts, are taking their movement to the internet. You can read more about it in the San Jose Mercury News.
As California sits and waits for a State Supreme Court decision on the legality of Proposition 8, I want to throw a huge shout-out to the legally married same-sex couples in Massachusetts who are now challenging the Defense of Marriage Act. (Read about it on Gay City News.)
And, I’m just wondering: Am I the only one who thinks of it as the “Defensive Heterosexuals Act”?
Well, there was plenty of media coverage of the State Supreme Court hearing. Ultimately no one knows what the judges will do, and they’ve got 90 days to do it.
The Advocate has this round-up story of how the California newspapers are reporting on the day’s events.
(Thanks to Steve Rhodes for the great photo on Flickr with a Creative Commons license, and thanks to the girl for a great sign.)
Last night, my son and I, and a few thousand others, made the walk from Harvey Milk Plaza to San Francisco’s City Hall, as part of the Eve Of Justice candlelight march, intended to encourage the State Supreme Court to overthrow Prop. 8.
I’m not a mommy blogger, I’m not even a lesbian mommy blogger. Although I know I’ve mentioned that I have a son, I tend to write more about things I’m not ready to have my kid read, than about my interactions with him. However, tonight was one of those special nights and I have a really special kid.
I’m hoping that my son, who is stumbling into puberty, will grow up to be a kind man. All arrows point that way. He’s a great guy with an easy way about him, a good sense of humor, and he’s genuinely nice to people. In return people are nice back.
I asked him if he wanted go to the rally in SF last night, and at first he wasn’t sure. Then he thought about it and said “I think I would”. So I left work a little early and we drove south, over the bridge, and into the city. (Well, actually I drove, and he did his math homework.)
We arrived in the Castro with a few minutes to spare. My son sized it all up and said “I need a restroom, candles, and a sign to carry.” True to form, my son asked a shopkeeper if we could use his restroom, and he agreed. By the time I emerged from my turn in the restroom, a nice guy in a black fedora was comparing hat brims with my son. Minutes later he met us outside and handed us a sign. And again, within minutes, my son found a guy to sell us a pair of little electric candles for $2 each.
Then we were off with the crowd.
It was a school night. We’ll have to be out of the house at 7:15 this morning – he to school, me to teach a yoga class before my “regular” job. And we live quite a distance north of San Francisco.
So what was this lesbian mommy thinking?
I was thinking that I had an incredible opportunity to teach my son something about civil rights, and – hopefully – to let him witness something historic… and I think I did.
You see, one of my great hopes is that he won’t have to see many civil rights rallies in his lifetime. I hope they won’t be needed. I want him to understand the important of equal rights – not just for his lesbian mommy – but for everybody. I want him to be able to explain that importance to the people of his generation, although I’m hoping he won’t ever have to.
You can read about the Eve of Justice rally on SFGate, the SF Chronicle’s website. There’s also a video below that will give you a taste of the event.
This Associated Press photo by Steve Pope in the New York Times made me realize that Iowa is making gay marriage look so normal.
Last night, my son and I, and a few thousand others, made the walk from Harvey Milk Plaza to San Francisco’s City Hall, as part of the 
