tagged w/ same sex marriage
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Excerpt: "Some think football players like me should just keep our mouths shut and focus on the game. But we're people first, and football players a distant second. Football is a big part of what we do, but a very small part of who we are. And historically, sports figures like Jackie Robinson, Billie Jean King and Muhammad Ali have been powerful agents for social change. That's why the messages athletes send — including the way they treat others and the words they use — can influence many people, especially children.
"Believe it or not, conversations about issues like gay marriage take place in locker rooms every day. In many respects, the football locker room is a microcosm of society. While there is certainly an element of bravado in our sport, football players are not the meatheads many think we are. For some of my friends who raise personal objections to marriage equality, they still recognize the importance of being accepting. And many of them also recognize that regardless of what they choose to believe or practice at home or at their church, that doesn't give them the right to discriminate. I am encouraged by how I've seen such conversations evolve."Excerpt: "Some think football players like me should just keep our mouths shut... more
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By Jo Piazza / current.com / @jopiazza
It's a little too simplistic to make the case that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia simply hates gays and will doubtlessly vote against any case that makes strides toward equal rights.
On Monday, speaking at Princeton to promote his book "Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts," Justice Antonin Scalia defended his previous controversial writing about gay rights, explaining that it makes perfect sense to draw an analogy between sodomy and murder — from a legal perspective.
Scalia told a gay university student who questioned him that this form of argument was "reduction to the absurd."
"If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder? Can we have it against other things?" Scalia queried.
Now, as the Supreme Court is preparing to take up two landmark cases that could decide the future of marriage equality in America, it is worthwhile to look back at Scalia's record to ascertain whether he legitimately has a bias against gay individuals, and if so, when that bias evolved.
(More from Current: Will the Supreme Court make gay marriage legal?)
Congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass., believes that bias certainly exists today. He called out Scalia as a homophobe in 2009, explaining why in a column for The Huffington Post:By Jo Piazza / current.com / @jopiazza
It's a little too simplistic to make... more
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Yesterday, President Obama made a historic announcement: he supports gay and lesbian Americans receiving the rights and benefits of marriage. The American Humanist Association has long lobbied for marriage equality and support of the LGBT community, and we thank President Obama for standing up for LGBT rights.
Click here to send a thank you note to President Obama for his support of marriage equality: http://action.americanhumanist.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10443Yesterday, President Obama made a historic announcement: he supports gay and lesbian... more
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There have been many famous weddings on TV. We all remember Tiny Tim's late night nuptials. And of course, who can forget Lady Di and Prince Charles' grand event. Now, exclusively from WHACKO-TV, Lucky Charm, the talking Irish frog, gets hitched with the love of his life; Humadora. We have spared no expense for this kind of coverage. So sit back and enjoy the ceremony and remember it was free for you. Not so much for the father of the bride.There have been many famous weddings on TV. We all remember Tiny Tim's late night... more
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By Eric W. Dolan
Monday, February 20, 2012 19:42 EST
Republican Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Monday that the government should not be telling churches who can and can’t get married.
Babeu, an emerging Republican figure and strong border defense sheriff, resigned from his position as Arizona co-chairman of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign on Saturday afternoon amid allegations of threatening to deport a former male lover.
“This is where I go Ron Paul on people,” Babeu told Blitzer. “I believe in less government at the federal level. They should get out of people’s lives. Unless its an enumerated power in the Constitution, it falls to the states. This is where it falls to the states.”
“I can tell you my personal belief and my political belief is I believe in freedom of religion, and there are faiths and religions that our government shouldn’t get involved in that absolutely do not condone gay marriage,” he continued. “The government should tell those faiths and those religions that they have to. At the same time, I don’t believe they should tell other faiths that they can’t. This is where our government needs to get the heck out of the way.
“If it is not harming somebody else, then what does it matter? You can’t legislate love.”
Babeu is also running for the U.S. House in Arizona’s new 4th Congressional District.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/20/sheriff-babeu-government-shouldnt-tell-churches-who-can-get-married/
Watch video, courtesy of CNN...
"What are your thoughts on this post, Friends???" =) "Don't make me go Ron Paul on you!!! LOL!!!!" =)By Eric W. Dolan
Monday, February 20, 2012 19:42 EST
Republican Arizona Sheriff... more
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We do realize that if the last newspaper reader would just stop reading the newspaper, he wouldn’t have all that stress about what is happening in the news and politics. But he pays for the paper, so he is going to read it. And once again, he annoys his old lady by simply being an “old man.” The fun is endless as he tries to make sense of Rick Santorum and Gov. Chris Christie.We do realize that if the last newspaper reader would just stop reading the newspaper,... more
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By David Edwards
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 9:50 EST
Less than an hour after same sex marriage became legal in Washington on Monday, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum was meeting with opponents of the law.
Speaking at Calvary Chapel in Olympia, the former Pennsylvania senator promised about 100 pastors and so-called “values voters” that he would work to repeal marriage equality in the state.
“We have a serious issue about trying to get moms and dads to marry and stay together,” Santorum explained. “I don’t see this as encouraging that. I think that at least from my perspective it tends to water down marriage instead of encouraging men and women to form healthy marriages, and that to me should be the objective of the government because that is in the best interests of our society.”
The candidate also spoke out about a recent U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that overturned the same sex marriage ban in California.
“It’s pretty intolerant to suggest that people have no rational reason to be in favor of this institution that has been the bulwark of society for 235 years,” Santorum said, adding that both sides needed to “be respectful.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/14/santorum-lgbt-equality-waters-down-marriage/
Watch this video from KIRO-TV, broadcast Feb. 13, 2012.
"That to Me should be the Objective of the government" Guess what Douche Bag, the Objective of the government should be to stay the Hell out of people's bedrooms and get on with fixing issues that your party screwed up!!!! Sheeesh!!!!By David Edwards
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 9:50 EST
Less than an hour after same... more
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By Andrew Jones
Monday, December 12, 2011
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney had an interesting exchange with a gay veteran at a New Hampshire diner Monday morning.
According to The Boston Globe, 63-year-old Vietnam vet Bob Garon asked the former Massachusetts if he would support a repeal of the state allowing same sex marriage.
“I believe marriage is between a man and a woman,” Romney replied. “That’s my view.”
Garon was upset by Romney’s answer, explaining to the GOP candidate the troubles married gay veterans face.
“If two men get married, apparently a veteran’s spouse would not be entitled to any burial benefits or medical benefits or anything that the serviceman has devoted his time and effort to his country,” he told Romney. “And you just don’t support equality in terms of same-sex marriage?”
After Romney said “we apparently disagree,” Garon further showed his displeasure.
“It’s good to know how you feel,” he said. “That you do not believe that everyone is entitled to their constitutional rights.”
Romney instantly replied back to Garon’s opinion.
“No, actually, I think at the time the Constitution was written it was pretty clear that marriage is between a man and a woman,” he said. “And I don’t believe the Supreme Court has changed that.”
What has changed however is Romney’s position on another issue. While running for the Senate in 1994, he told a gay newspaper that same sex marriage was a “state issue as you know – the authorization of marriage on a same-sex basis falls under state jurisdiction.”
Garon told The Boston Globe afterwards that Romney’s chances at winning were doomed.
“The guy ain’t going to make it,” he said of Romney. “He is not going to make it. You can’t trust him. I just saw it in his eyes. I judge a man by his eyes.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/12/romney-tells-gay-veteran-hell-repeal-same-sex-marriage/
WATCH: Video from Politico, which was published on December 12, 2011.
"I thought these folks were all about Patriotism and Flag lapel pins??? WTF???"
"I guess serving your country ain't all it used to be???"By Andrew Jones
Monday, December 12, 2011
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney... more
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The Future of Same-Sex Marriage Ballot Measures
"Last week’s passage of a bill to make New York’s marriage law gender-neutral may accelerate efforts to put the issue before voters in other states.
A measure to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota’s Constitution is already scheduled to be on the ballot in 2012, and one could follow in North Carolina. But with relatively few states now holding neutral positions on same-sex marriage, there may be efforts to repeal constitutional bans that already exist, such as in California and Oregon.
It is high time, therefore, to revisit the model that I originally built in 2009, which aims to predict the percentage of the vote that gay marriage-related ballot initiatives will receive.".........
Great article and presentation
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/the-future-of-same-sex-marriage-ballot-measures/The Future of Same-Sex Marriage Ballot Measures
"Last week’s passage of a... more
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TDK729
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The New York State Senate will bring the Marriage Equality Bill to a vote tonight (Friday). During the day, an agreement was reached for the addition of an amendment that would strengthen and clarify language that would protect religious institutions and specify that the proposed law would allow the state to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. From the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/nyregion/new-york-state-senate-to-vote-on-same-sex-marriage.html?hpThe New York State Senate will bring the Marriage Equality Bill to a vote tonight... more
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Hawaii lawmakers Tuesday sent the governor a bill that would allow civil unions for same-sex couples.
Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie's office says he intends to sign the bill into law within 10 days. Civil unions would begin Jan. 1, 2012.
The Hawaii Senate voted 18-5 on Wednesday to give the bill final legislative approval following years of thousands-strong rallies, election battles and passionate public testimony on an issue that has divided the Rainbow State for nearly two decades. The measure passed the House on Friday.
"I have always believed that civil unions respect our diversity, protect people's privacy, and reinforce our core values of equality and aloha," Abercrombie said in a statement released minutes after Wednesday's vote. "For me, this bill represents equal rights for all the people of Hawai'i."
The measure grants gay and lesbian couples the same rights and benefits the state provides to married couples.
Hawaii would become the seventh state to grant essentially the same rights of marriage to same-sex couples without authorizing marriage itself.
Five states and the District of Columbia permit same-sex marriage.
The anxiously awaited civil unions vote came immediately after the Senate confirmed the state's first openly gay Supreme Court justice, Sabrina McKenna.
Gay rights advocates praised the vote as a victory for equal rights in a state known for its diversity and tolerance.
Opponents of the measure, many of them Christians, said civil unions erode the concept of the traditional family and could lead to same-sex marriage.
The Hawaii Legislature also passed a similar civil unions bill last year, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican. She was term-limited from running for election again in November.
Abercrombie said Wednesday that the Legislature's approval marked an end to an "emotional process" for the state, which has been a battleground in the gay rights movement since a 1993 state Supreme Court decision that nearly legalized gay marriage.
The ruling would have made Hawaii the first state to allow same-sex couples to wed, but it didn't take effect while voters were given a chance to decide.
They responded five years later by overwhelmingly passing the nation's first "defense of marriage" constitutional amendment, approved by 69 percent of voters who gave the Legislature the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.
The amendment resulted in a law banning gay marriage in Hawaii but left the door open for civil unions.
Since then, 29 other states also have enacted defense of marriage amendments.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41630515/Hawaii lawmakers Tuesday sent the governor a bill that would allow civil unions for... more
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Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat equalities minister, is expected shortly to outline firm plans to lift the current ban on civil partnerships being conducted in places of worship.
In a political "win" for Nick Clegg and his party, the Coalition will also say that such ceremonies should for the first time be allowed to have a religious element, such as hymn-singing and readings from the Bible.
They could, it is understood, also be carried out in the future out by priests or other religious figures.
The landmark move will please equality campaigners but is likely to prompt a fierce backlash from mainstream Christian leaders, as well as some Right-leaning Tories.
The Church of England has already pledged not to allow any of its buildings to be used for civil partnership ceremonies, while last year
Pope Benedict said same-sex marriage was among the "most insidious and dangerous challenges that today confront the common good."
Some faiths, however – including the Quakers, Unitarians and Liberal Jews – support the change in the law and will apply for their
buildings to host same-sex "marriage" ceremonies.
Currently civil partnership ceremonies, which were introduced in 2005, have to be entirely secular and cannot contain any religious element, even though civil partners have almost exactly the same legal rights as married spouses.
Last year an amendment was added to the former Labour government's Equalities Act by Lord Alli, the Labour peer, paving the way for civil partnership ceremonies to be held in places of worship if religious groups permitted this.
However, before this arrangement could be fully legal ministers would be compelled to stage a separate consultation and to pass separate legislation. This is the process to be launched by Mrs Featherstone within days.
It is as yet unclear whether the new-style civil partnerships, formalised in a place of worship, would be officially called "marriage" under the law.
This is thought to be among the questions ministers will pose during the consultation period; they will also raise issues about the financial implications of the new arrangements, including their impact on tax.
Before last year's general election Theresa May, the current Home Secretary who was then shadow equalities minister, launched a Tory "equalities manifesto" which stated the party would, in government, "consider the case for changing the law to allow civil partnerships to be called and classified as marriage".
However, at the same time David Cameron sounded equivocal on the subject when questioned in a television interview.
He said MPs should "look to the future cautiously" about whether the current civil partnership system, which he described as having righted "one of the great unfairnesses", could be built on.
When the Equality Bill was passed by the House of Lords last March, a spokesman for the government equalities office said the move paved the way to allow religious groups "to let civil partnership ceremonies take place in their churches, mosques, synagogues and so on if they choose to do so".
The spokesman added: "It will not force any religious group to do anything that is not compatible with their faith."
However, the new move could open up a legal minefield with same-sex couples possibly taking anti-discrimination action against religious groups if they were barred from getting married in the place of worship of their choice.
Around the time of last May's general election, more than 26,000 civil partnerships had been formed in Britain, according to the Office for National Statistics.
There were also reports last night that other planned changes include allowing heterosexual couples, for the first time, to become "civil partners", an arrangement which up to has been the preserve of same-sex couples.
Campaigners have long called for this system to be changed – arguing that some heterosexual couples do not wish to enter into a state, in this case marriage, from which homosexuals are excluded.
Although civil partners have most of the same rights as married couples, critics claim the arrangement still carries a "second-class status" and can reinforce an idea of "sexual apartheid".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/8320705/Gay-marriages-to-be-allowed-in-church.htmlLynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat equalities minister, is expected shortly to... more
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(AP) As much as Americans revere the family, they differ sharply on how to define it.
New research being released Wednesday shows steadily increasing recognition of unmarried couples - gay and straight - as families. But there's a solid core resisting this trend who are more willing to include pets in their definition than same-sex partners.
How "family" is defined is a crucial question on many levels. Beyond the debate over same-sex marriage, it affects income tax filings, adoption and foster care practices, employee benefits, inheritance rights and countless other matters.
The new research on the topic is contained in a book-length study, "Counted Out: Same-Sex Relations and Americans' Definition of Family" and in a separate 2010 survey overseen by the book's lead author, Indiana University sociologist Brian Powell.
Between 2003 and 2010, three surveys conducted by Powell's team showed a significant shift toward counting same-sex couples with children as family - from 54 percent of respondents in 2003 to 68 percent in 2010. In all, more than 2,300 people were surveyed.
Powell linked the changing attitudes to a 10 percent rise between 2003 and 2010 in the share of survey respondents who reported having a gay friend or relative.
"This indicates a more open social environment in which individuals now feel more comfortable discussing and acknowledging sexuality," Powell said.(AP) As much as Americans revere the family, they differ sharply on how to define... more
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In a shocking display of E.S.P. , Haliburton decided to buy the firm that British Petroleum would later contract to develop strategies for the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Clean up.....less than two weeks before the explosion!
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/may/23/bp-readies-last-resort/In a shocking display of E.S.P. , Haliburton decided to buy the firm that British... more
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DefKid
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Mexico's supreme court has upheld a law allowing same-sex marriages in the capital, dealing a blow to federal prosecutors who argued that it violated the constitutional protection of the family. The justices' eight to two ruling this past week will be seen as legal victory for hundreds of gay couples who have been married in Mexico City since the landmark law took effect on March 4th.Mexico's supreme court has upheld a law allowing same-sex marriages in the... more
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Last week Argentina became the first Latin American nation to legalize gay marriage, granting same-sex couples all the legal rights, responsibilities and protections that marriage brings to heterosexuals.Last week Argentina became the first Latin American nation to legalize gay marriage,... more
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