A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled 2-1 Tuesday that a lower court judge interpreted the U.S. Constitution correctly in 2010 when he declared the ban, known as Proposition 8, to be a violation of the civil rights of gays and lesbians.

The measure, which passed with 52 percent of the vote in 2008, outlawed same-sex unions just five months after they became legal in the state.

Lawyers for Proposition 8 sponsors and for two couples who sued to overturn the ban have said they would appeal to the Supreme Court if they did not receive a favorable ruling from the 9th Circuit.

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Christie said, “I think people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South.”

The Huffington Post reports:

Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D), who supports gay marriage, criticized the comment. “I shudder to think what would have happened if the civil rights gains, heroically established by courageous lawmakers in the 1960s, were instead conveniently left up to popular votes in our 50 states,” he said, according to the Newark Star-Ledger.

Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) said the governor needed a “history lesson.”

Read More At The Huffington Post

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Obama is arguably the most gay friendly president in U.S. history.

His repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and passage of a federal law that further extends protections of LGBT people firmly solidifies his support from gay community.

However, one issue he has been slow to support-at least officially-is that of gay marriage. TheRoot says there would be benefits and risks behind such an endorsement:

If President Obama expressed support for marriage equality before the 2012 elections, there would be both benefits and risks. He would surely excite some of his supporters, especially those who feel that he too often shies away from bold stances in favor of measured pragmatism and common ground. On the other hand, some voters who support Obama but still oppose marriage equality may abandon the president over this issue. That leaves the president with two choices: Endorse marriage equality now or wait and play it safe until he is re-elected.

What do you think? Would supporting marriage rights invigorate Obama campaign? Or would such an endorsement derail his reelection hopes? Check out the rest of the article here.

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NAACP head Julian Bond, comedian Mo’Nique, and Newark Mayor Corey Booker have all made video testimonials supporting gay marriage.

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The New York Times reports:

This isn’t a topic that advocates for gay rights or their many black supporters relish discussing, because it focuses on a wedge where they wish there was a tighter bond. But polls indicate that support for same-sex marriage lags among black Americans.

In 2008 Californians passed Proposition 8, which prohibited state recognition of same-sex marriage, with a 52 percent majority. Voting analyses suggest that between 58 and 70 percent of black voters backed the prohibition.

Read More At The New York Times

Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said that the gay lifestyle is “personal bondage and enslavement,” strongly expressing her opposition to the idea of “redefining marriage.”

Former Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who also opposes same-sex marriage, said that “family” is based on the “traditional” definition of marriage between a man and woman.

Most Republican, conservative Americans demonstrably reject the idea of legalizing marriage for gay and lesbian citizens.

Until now.

Jeff Angelo, former Iowa state senator is one of the few Republicans a part of a burgeoning movement for marriage equality. Angelo, who served as a senator for 12 years, is the founder of Republicans For Freedom, an organization that stands on a divergent stance among the Republican party in support of gay marriage.

Angelo recently said that his organization is defending the status quo for same-sex marriage in Iowa, which is one of only six states in the country to legalize marriage for gay and lesbian Americans.

Like his GOP cohorts, he once opposed same-sex marriage, but today has a change of heart, and is hoping that his grassroots movement in Iowa will someday be a model for the rest of the country.

But Angelo recognizes the collective attitude mainstream Republicans have towards gay marriage. A 2011 Gallup poll showed that only 28 percent of Republicans supported the idea of same-sex marriage, compared to 69 percent of Democrats.

“The opposition [to same-sex marriage] is well organized and gets a lot of media attention, but [I felt] there had to be an alternate group for Republicans that want to say ‘marriage is a great thing to promote, we’re glad that the gay community wants to be married, and we want to be supportive of that in our own political party,’” Angelo told NewsOne.

The GOP’s monolithic stance on gay marriage is very harmful to the party, according to Angelo. While Republicans stand on a platform of constitutional conservatism, Angelo said the opposition to gay marriage goes against the grain of what Republicans claim to uphold.

“We (Republicans) are pro-stable family, which marriage provides, and so when a gay man or a lesbian says ‘I want to be married’ we should encourage that,” he said. “It’s good for society and it is consistent with what the Republicans say they believe.”

“There are those that believe the Republican Party should be of one mind on this issue and they don’t believe that there should be room in the party for those that disagree.” Angelo said such a mindset is “never” healthy for any political party.

In addition to party fragmentation, Angelo says Republicans push away gay voters who may align politically with the party, but do not vote Republican because of this one issue. He feels there are probably many gay and lesbian citizens who like the GOP’s stance on foreign policy, low taxes, and pro-business, but do not support the party because they don’t feel welcomed.

“A gay person may be with the Republican party 95 percent of the time on their issues, but say ‘I’m not a Republican because you don’t make me feel welcomed’ and I think that’s a shame,” he lamented.

Not every organization in Iowa, however, shares such accepting views. The Family Leader, an organization founded by Bob Vander Plaats, a very well-respected GOP stalwart, dispersed a controversial “Marriage Vow” that most characterized as anti-gay. Plaats said that he would not support any presidential candidate who does not sign the pledge. So far, candidates Bachmann and Rick Santorum are the only two to either sign or commit to signing the pledge.

Angelo said the pledge was “tremendously insensitive.”

“So many people convince themselves that they can treat gay neighbors as second-class citizens,” he said.

Most Republicans reference religion as their basis for opposing same-sex marriage. But Angelo disputes that conservative penchant.

“Nobody’s freedom of religion is being threatened. Churches are allowed to disagree on this issue but the government can’t side with one church over the other,” he cautioned.

Although the Republicans For Freedom remain relatively modest in size, there is evidence to suggest that a cluster of gay-marriage-friendly Republicans is on the horizon. Though his political identification is now Republican turned Independent, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg publicly supported same-sex marriage and was a key player in legalizing it in the state.

Interestingly enough, Bloomberg’s predecessor Rudolph Giuliani also spoke on the Republican party’s opposition to gay marriage. Giuliani who said he personally believes marriage should be between a man and woman, told CNN’s Candy Crowley that Republicans need to “get the heck out of people’s bedrooms” and keep the discussion out of politics.

It seems Angelo isn’t alone.

Angelo maintains that the Republicans For Freedom are committed to setting political precedence for other states.

“Hopefully this is a model that other states can follow in regard to most Republicans and Democrats coming together for protecting the right to get marry,” he said.

With the debate on same-sex marriage, and the Gay Civil Rights movement still brewing on a state and federal level, it will be interesting to see what directives political movements like Angelo’s will take and the political impact they could make in government.

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ESPN reports:

“I don’t see how any African-American, with any inkling of history, can say that you don’t have the right to live your life how you want to live your life,” he said, according to the magazine. “No one should be telling you who you should love, no one should be telling you who you should be spending the rest of your life with. When we start talking about equality, and everybody being treated equally, I don’t want to know an African-American who will say everybody doesn’t deserve equality.”

Read The Whole Story At ESPN

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Drones of gay and lesbian citizens and their allies celebrated on the streets during the 2011 NYC Pride March on Sunday, waving the pride flag and signs reading, “Thank you, Governor Cuomo.” Cuomo played an integral part in passing the historic legislation, passionately advocating to lawmakers on behalf of same-sex supporters. The throng of celebrators fervently marched unlike they’ve ever done before.

Over forty years ago, however, such a blissful scenario was vacant. In its place was a city that championed laws that discriminated against gays and lesbians. In the 1960s, it was illegal for bars to sell alcohol to homosexuals, obliging them to socialize in illegal, mafia-owned establishments with unsanitary conditions. Openly gay men weren’t even allowed to become firefighters, let only be open at all. This was at a time when vigilantes innocuously attacked homosexuals walking the streets, deeming them weak and deserving of onslaught. Gays sought a place of refuge; somewhere they were safe, and unscathed from judgment or ridicule. Plain-clothed cops deceitfully posed as male decoys to tempt gay men in making sexual advancements, and arrested them for “soliciting” sex, otherwise known as entrapment.

Gay bars were regularly targeted and raided for no other reason than for being a “gay” bar. Life for gays and lesbians was far from blissful; they were harassed and lawfully unprotected. And unlike today, where Cuomo and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg used their political influence to fortify the livelihood of gays and lesbians, then-mayor Robert Wagner caused more aid than cease to the discrimination of homophiles.

It was not until the Stonewall Riots of 1969 that New York saw visible changes on the gay political front.

On June 28, 1969, a group of gay, lesbian and transgender citizens rioted outside the Stonewall Inn bar in Greenwich Village after it was raided by NYPD cops. They had grown agitated by the unrelenting harassment from city cops and chauvinists. That riot sparked proponents to vigorously advocate equality for a minority inhumanely tormented. Over the next decade, the gay community won many political battles including Frank Kameny and the Mattachine Society’s victory in convincing the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its list of disorders in 1973, solidifying its place as a uniformed lifestyle, just as any other.

However, with the progression of this modern day civil rights movement, there will be obvious opponents: homophobes and religious proponents. However, New York’s legal triumph on same-sex marriage will undoubtedly set precedence for future legislation.

Polls conducted by Quinnipiac University and Gallup showed that 56 percent of New Yorkers and 53 percent of Americans favored same-sex marriage—the highest approval in history. These numbers, and the political advancement of the gay civil rights movement suggests that most Americans no longer fall victim to the bigotry that historically plagued the homophile populace.  The LGBT community is no threat to religious systems, or to the American household.

What one does in the comfort of his or her home should have no affect on one’s religious or personal convictions. These changing times will, hopefully, lead to a place of absolute humanity, where all are allowed to love whomever they please — and the legal rights that come with it — exempt from violence, hate and all ridicule.

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New York will become the sixth state where gay couples can wed and the biggest by far.

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“We are leaders and we join other proud states that recognize our families and the battle will now go on in other states,” said Sen. Thomas Duane, a Democrat.

Gay rights advocates are hoping the vote will galvanize the movement around the country and help it regain momentum after an almost identical bill was defeated here in 2009 and similar measures failed in 2010 in New Jersey and this year in Maryland and Rhode Island.

Though New York is a relative latecomer in allowing gay marriage, it is considered an important prize for advocates, given the state’s size and New York City’s international stature and its role as the birthplace of the gay rights movement, which is considered to have started with the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village in 1969.

The New York bill cleared the Republican-controlled state Senate on a 33-29 vote. The Democrat-led Assembly, which passed a different version last week, is expected to pass the new version with stronger religious exemptions and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who campaigned on the issue last year, has promised to sign it. Same-sex couples can begin marrying begin 30 days after that.

The passage of New York’s legislation was made possible by two Republican senators who had been undecided.

Sen. Stephen Saland voted against a similar bill in 2009, helping kill the measure and dealing a blow to the national gay rights movement.

“While I understand that my vote will disappoint many, I also know my vote is a vote of conscience,” Saland said in a statement to The Associated Press before the vote. “I am doing the right thing in voting to support marriage equality.”

Gay couples in gallery wept during Saland’s speech.

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Sen. Mark Grisanti, a GOP freshman from Buffalo, also said he would vote for the bill. Grisanti said he could not deny anyone what he called basic rights.

The effects of the law could be felt well beyond New York: Unlike Massachusetts, which pioneered gay marriage in 2004, New York has no residency requirement for obtaining a marriage license, meaning the state could become a magnet for gay couples across the country who want to have a wedding in Central Park, the Hamptons, the romantic Hudson Valley or that honeymoon hot spot of yore, Niagara Falls.

New York, the nation’s third most populous state, will join Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C., in allowing same-sex couples to wed.

For five months in 2008, gay marriage was legal in California, the biggest state in population, and 18,000 same-sex couples rushed to tie the knot there before voters overturned the state Supreme Court ruling that allowed the practice. The constitutionality of California’s ban is now before a federal appeals court.

While court challenges in New York are all but certain, the state – unlike California – makes it difficult for the voters to repeal laws at the ballot box. Changing the law would require a constitutional convention, a long, drawn-out process.

The sticking point over the past few days: Republican demands for stronger legal protections for religious groups that fear they will be hit with discrimination lawsuits if they refuse to allow their facilities to be used for gay weddings.

The climactic vote came after more than a week of stop-and-start negotiations, rumors, closed-door meetings and frustration on the part of advocates. Online discussions took on a nasty turn with insults and vulgarities peppering the screens of opponents and supporters alike and security was beefed up in the capitol to give senators easier passage to and from their conference room.

The night before, President Barack Obama encouraged lawmakers to support gay rights during a fundraiser with New York City’s gay community. The vote also is sure to charge up annual gay pride events this weekend, culminating with parades Sunday in New York City, San Francisco and other cities.

Despite New York City’s liberal Democratic politics and large and vocal gay community, previous efforts to legalize same-sex marriage failed over the past several years, in part because the rest of the state is more conservative than the city.

The bill’s success this time reflected the powerful support of Cuomo and perhaps a change in public attitudes. Opinion polls for the first time are showing majority support for same-sex marriage, and Congress recently repealed the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that barred gays from serving openly in the military.

In the week leading up to the vote in New York, some Republicans who opposed the bill in 2009 came forward to say they were supporting it for reasons of conscience and a duty to ensure civil rights.

Pressure to vote for gay marriage also came from celebrities, athletes and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Republican-turned-independent who has long used his own fortune to help bankroll GOP campaigns and who personally lobbied some undecided lawmakers. Lady Gaga has been urging her 11 million Twitter followers to call New York senators in support of the bill.

While the support of the Assembly was never in doubt, it took days of furious deal-making to secure two Republican votes needed for passage in the closely divided Senate.

Representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox rabbis and other conservative religious leaders fought the measure, and their GOP allies pressed hard for stronger legal protections for religious organizations.

Each side of the debate was funded by more than $1 million from national and state advocates who waged media blitzes and promised campaign cash for lawmakers who sided with them.

But GOP senators said it was Cuomo’s passionate appeals in the governor’s mansion on Monday night and in closed-door, individual meetings that were perhaps most persuasive.

The bill makes New York only the third state, after Vermont and New Hampshire, to legalize marriage through a legislative act and without being forced to do so by a court.

During his “Keeping Them Honest” segment, Cooper said “New questions are being raised about what the president actually believes about gay marriage and whether his public opposition to it is real or just political posturing.”

He then narrated Obama’s position on gay marriage; initially supporting it in a written statement back in 1996, to opposing it when he began running for national office.

Cooper said, “Hard to see how the president’s position has changed so much. The only thing that has changed is his need for a wider audience to vote for him.”

The Huffington Post Reports:

Cooper then brought on gay rights activist Cleve Jones and Democratic strategist Paul Begala to discuss Obama’s flip-flopping. Jones called the president’s moves a “political calculation, and sadly, I think it’s the wrong one.”

“You know, Paul, Democrats attack conservatives for being hypocritical on issues that they’re hypocritical about,” Cooper said to Begala. “But I don’t hear a lot of Democrats attacking their own president for hypocrisy.”

The White House recently released a statement that Obama feels the issue of same-sex marriage should be left up to the States.

Read More At HuffingtonPost.com

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“Although the President believes that this is an issue best addressed by the states, he also firmly believes that committed gay and lesbian couples should receive equal protection under the law,” the emailed statement said.

The Huffington Post Reports:

Respect for states’ rights with regards to marriage is a position shared by many prominent officials and politicians, including Republicans like Dick Cheney. While it falls far short of a full-throated endorsement of same-sex marriage — a gap that will keep LGBT activists rankled — as it comes just days before Thursday gala, the White House official’s statement offers both an indication of where Obama’s evolution currently stands and a hint as to how the president will handle the inquiries that will be coming his way.

Obama is reportedly looking for politically comfortable ways to take a more open stance on same-sex marriage. Stressing states’ rights, with a basic federal guarantee of benefits for same-sex couples, could be the path he’s looking for.

This comes at a time when the political discourse on same-sex marriage has reached an all-time high, as the state of New York is close to passing a bill that would legalize marriage for gay and lesbian couples.

Many considered Obama’s stance on same-sex marriage vague as Press Secretary Jay Carney has repeatedly said that the president’s position on the issue is “evolving.”

Nevertheless, Obama is expected to host a high-profile fundraiser at an LGBT gala in New York City on Thursday.

Read More At HuffingtonPost.com

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Gay Marriage Bill One Vote Away From Passing In NY

NEW YORK – Supporters and opponents of gay marriage made 11th-hour appeals on Sunday as state lawmakers weighed a vote on making New York the sixth state — and the most populous — to legalize same-sex marriage.

The measure that would make gay marriage legal, introduced by Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat and strong advocate, is currently one vote shy of passage in the state Senate.

The state Assembly approved the bill by a wide margin last week, and Monday is the last day of the legislative session before summer recess.

New York’s Archbishop, Timothy Dolan, reiterated his and the Catholic Church’s opposition to gay marriage on Sunday, vowing to oppose “any radical bill to redefine the very essence of marriage.”

“One has to wonder why the proponents of this radical redefinition, who claim overwhelming popular support, would not consider” a referendum “on such a drastic departure from traditional values?” he wrote on his blog.

Recent polls show statewide support for gay marriage.

Dolan wrote that the “government presumes to redefine” such sacred words as father, mother, husband and wife “at the peril of the common good.”

In Albany, Senate Majority Leader Republican Dean Skelos has said the bill as written has prompted concerns over its religious clauses and exemptions.

The bill does not compel any member of the clergy to conduct same-sex marriages, but some Republican lawmakers are concerned the legal protection is not strong enough.

Skelos said Cuomo has indicated he was open to including more specific exemptions for religious groups.

The governor has lobbied for passage and said he remains cautiously optimistic the bill will come to a vote and pass.

Meanwhile gay marriage advocates, including Latinos United for Marriage Equality, rallied on Sunday.

“Our demand today is simple and reasonable: bring Marriage Equality to a vote on Monday,” said Jake Goodman of the group Queer Rising, in a statement.

The group held a “Last Day of Marriage Inequality” rally in Manhattan’s Union Square, where supporters carried signs that read “‘I do’” support marriage equality” and “Be a leader: introduce the bill.”

New Yorkers United for Marriage also held rallies around the state.

The stakes are especially high because New York would become the most populous U.S. state to allow gay marriage approved by lawmakers, spelling a huge gay rights victory.

The state-by-state battle over gay marriage has become a contentious U.S. social issue ahead of the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.

Five states — Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire and Vermont — and the District of Columbia allow gay marriage, while four states have civil unions. Gay marriage is specifically banned in 39 states.

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There is no just comparison between America’s struggle to overcome the evils of slavery and the promotion of the lifestyle of homosexuality. It is preposterous for Mayor Bloomberg to degrade and minimize the plight of African-Americans in this civil rights struggle by equating it with the effort to push to legalize homosexual marriage.

Black Americans should not sit back and let Mayor Bloomberg compare the long struggle of their ancestors against American slavery to the current fight for a lifestyle choice. The effort to redefine marriage to include a man and a man or a woman and a woman can never be compared to the struggle against slavery.

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Civil unions in the Rainbow State would start Jan. 1, 2012, making Hawaii the seventh state to permit civil unions or similar legal recognitions for gay couples. Five other states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriage.

“This bill represents equal rights for everyone in Hawaii, everyone who comes here. This is to me the essence of the aloha spirit,” Abercrombie said at a signing ceremony. “With its signing, I want to say ‘welcome’ to the world, come to paradise.”

A crowd of exuberant supporters yelled, cheered and applauded as the Democrat inscribed his signature on the legislation, making it the first law he’s enacted since he was elected in November. The bill passed the state Legislature last week.

“We’re contributing to society, and we deserve the same rights as everyone else. It’s been a long, long time coming,” said Van Law of Honolulu, who wore a rainbow lei and watched the bill’s signing.

The new law follows nearly 20 years of court fights, protest rallies and passionate public debate in a state that has long been a gay rights battleground.

Just seven months ago, former Republican Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed a similar bill because she said it was same-sex marriage by another name.

But civil unions have been heading toward passage since Abercrombie defeated two gubernatorial candidates who opposed them, and only one state legislator who supported them lost re-election.

Hawaii, already known as one of the nation’s premier locations for destination weddings and honeymoons, could see an influx of gay and lesbian visitors hoping to have their partnerships solemnized on sandy, windswept beaches, according to tourism businesses.

“It’s overwhelming,” said Tambry Young, who has pushed for civil unions with her partner for more than two years. “All the families here can now feel like it doesn’t matter what kind of family you have.”

Arguments over civil unions and gay marriage have long divided the state, which nearly became the first in the nation to legalize gay marriage in 1993 because of a state Supreme Court ruling.

But voters overwhelmingly passed the nation’s first “defense of marriage” constitutional amendment five years later, which resulted in a law banning gay marriage but leaving the door open for civil unions.

Since then, 29 other states also have enacted defense of marriage amendments.

Opponents of civil unions say the partnerships could lead to same-sex marriage, likely through a court challenge based on the argument that gay couples aren’t truly being treated equally unless they’re allowed to marry.

State Sen. Mike Gabbard, a leader in the movement against same-sex marriage in the 1990s, called the bill’s signing “a sad day for the people of Hawaii.”

“The people of Hawaii made it clear that they’re against civil unions and same-sex marriage, and the politicians have basically said ‘To hell with you,’” said Gabbard, a Democrat.

The signing coincided with Hawaii-born President Barack Obama’s order Wednesday for his administration to stop defending a federal law banning recognition of gay marriage, and a vote in the Maryland Senate to legalize gay marriage. Illinois legalized civil unions last month.

“It’s a fantastic day,” said Tony Wagner of the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign, who attended the signing. “It’s been a good couple of months thus far since the elections. We’re going to keep fighting for equality day in and day out.”

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The MBFA’s efforts include producing a public service announcement and providing funding and support to Equality Maryland, Trans-United, the Maryland ACLU and other LGBT groups across the state. The organization also appeared in the film “Maryland Voices of Equality” that highlights issues facing LGBT Marylanders.

The last effort to bring marriage equality to Maryland ended when the Court of Appeals in Sept. 2007 upheld traditional marriage in a 4-3 decision. Chief Judge Robert Bell, the first black person to lead the court, dissented from the majority’s opinion. He noted while “there are important differences between the African American experience and that of gays and lesbians in this country [...] many of the arguments made in support of the anti-miscegenation laws were identical to those made today in opposition to same-sex marriage.”

Carrington supported Bell’s sentiments, adding gays and lesbians were some of the first to support the black civil rights movement.

“Back in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, lesbians and gays joined in the work of the civil rights movement to help African Americans get their full inclusion in our country and into our institutions,” he said. “I don’t see how you can turn your back on a group of folks that are fighting for a chance to have the same rights. As Dr. King had said, anytime that there is a threat to justice anywhere it’s a threat to justice everywhere.”

Read more at edgeboston.com

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WASHINGTON– Vice President Joe Biden said Friday that the country is evolving on the issue of gay marriage and he thinks it’s inevitable there will be national consensus.

He said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” the same thing is happening with the issue of marriage that happened with gays’ service in the military.

Changes in attitudes by military leaders, those in the service and the public allowed the repeal by Congress of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that will eventually allow gays to serve openly in the military.

Gay marriage is still not legal in most states. President Barack Obama recently said his feelings on the gay marriage issue are evolving, but he still believes in allowing strong civil unions that provide certain protections and legal rights that married couples have.

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A dramatic new chapter in the legal fight over Proposition 8 opens today, with debate over the purpose of marriage, the power of social convention and the rights of gay individuals televised live from federal court for the first time.

First, however, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco will hear an hour of debate over whether backers of California’s Proposition 8 even have the right to defend the voter-approved measure.

Discussion of the historic ruling and its constitutional soundness, set for the second half of a two-hour hearing, is sure to be emotional and capture public attention “because it’s sexier stuff, no pun intended,” said Vik Amar, a University of California, Davis, constitutional law expert.

But the debate over merits may matter less, Amar said, if the judges ultimately focus only on the question of standing. They could disqualify the proponents or Imperial County – or both – because they don’t pass the constitutional test for standing in federal court.

The 2008 proposition amended California’s constitution to declare marriage to be only between a man and a woman.

Read entire article at MiamiHerald.com

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On Sept. 22, Benjamin T. Jealous, the charismatic head of the NAACP, made history. On that Wednesday, Jealous spoke at Manhattan’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in Greenwich Village to promote the upcoming One Nation Working Together march on Washington, D.C.

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Glenn Beck thinks gay marriage is not a threat to America.

Why doesn’t Glenn Beck cover gay marriage? Because he doesn’t believe it’s a threat to the nation.

In a conversation with Bill O’Reilly on why he avoids culture war issues, Beck admitted that he doesn’t think marriage should be a political issue.

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SAN FRANCISCO — The federal judge who overturned California’s same-sex marriage ban ruled Thursday that gay marriages can resume starting Aug. 18.

The decision by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker means gay and lesbian couples will have to wait six days before they can get married. That gives gay marriage opponents time to appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If the appeals court fails to act by 5 p.m. local time next Wednesday, then gay marriages can go forward.

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Alveda King, a niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke at a rally for the antigay National Organization for Marriage and said marriage equality would lead to “extinction” and called it “genocide.”

King, who heads King for America, addressed a rally Saturday in Atlanta whose attendees were outnumbered by counterprotesters, according to theGeorgia Voice.

“King also spoke of her family’s commitment to strong marriages, including her uncle and ‘his lovely wife,’” reported the Voice. “She did not mention that Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s wife, spoke out in favor of gay marriage on several occasions and was a speaker at Atlanta’s Gay Pride festival in 1996.”

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Opponents of Gay Marriage Planning Appeal to Prop 8 Ruling

There were bitter foes in Bush v. Gore, but neither Ted Olson nor David Boies hesitated at the chance to work together on overturning Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California. Olson didn’t like government meddling in people’s private lives, and Boies had a long background with civil-rights litigation in the South that he believed applicable to gay marriage.

But many veterans of the gay-rights movement were very nervous about the legal case brought by these accomplished attorneys. For years, lawyers and activists had been chipping away, slowly and painfully, at the smaller laws and prejudices that prevented full equality for lesbian and gay Americans—relating to the military, employment protection, hate crimes, and marriage. Olson and Boies were new to the cause, and even blocked the formal participation of veteran gay groups as parties to the case. (The powerhouse legal duo felt they could be more successful operating as a smaller cohesive team.) Their hearts might be in the right place, but how could these newcomers possibly understand the complex nuances of fighting for LGBT rights on multiple fronts? Were Boies and Olson pushing a major court case on Prop 8 too quickly? Was the risk of failure—which might set back the marriage battle for years—too high?

Click here to read more from Newsweek,com

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Prop 8 Gay Marriage Ban Overturned By Judge

DC Legalizes Same Sex Marriage

A federal judge in San Francisco decided today that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry, striking down Proposition 8, the voter approved ballot measure that banned same-sex unions.

U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker said Proposition 8, passed by voters in November 2008, violated the federal constitutional rights of gays and lesbians to marry the partners of their choice. His ruling is expected to be appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Read more at LATimes

Click here to view photos of Black Gay Celebrities:

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Wanda Sykes Comes Out Against Prop 8, Is Gay And Married

Black Voters, White Progressives & Prop 8

From TheGrio.com:

If you know anything about gospel music the name Tonex will strike a chord. In 2004 he took the gospel world by storm when he released his Grammy nominated album Out The Box. Not only was it number one on the gospel charts, it also made a mark on the Top R&B charts.

While, Tonex, the artist was at the pinnacle of his career, Anthony Williams – the man -was facing controversy and turbulence.

In 2004, Tonex’s father passed away of a heart attack and then assumed the pastoral duties of his church.

“I was more of a skittish person then because I was torn between career and, and calling. And that’s the plight of many people who love God — have a calling to do something between the construct of the church and religion,” Tonex said.

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Woman Withdraws Lawsuit Against Church Over “Disgusting” Gay Marriage

D.C. Legalizes Same Sex Marriage, Couples Line Up For Licenses

WASHINGTON — It is a day of wedding bells for some gay couples in Washington as same-sex pairs began picking up marriage licenses on their first eligible day after the law changed last week.

Fifteen licenses were picked up in the first hour the marriage bureau was opened and two couples already got married and returned to pick up their certificates, courthouse spokeswoman Leah Gurowitz said.

Some couples planned ceremonies the same day at a gay rights group’s office while others said they’ll wait and have more elaborate celebrations.

Text continues after gallery …

About 150 couples were eligible to collect their marriage licenses Tuesday after applying on the first day the licenses were made available last Wednesday. The District has a mandatory three-business-day waiting period.

The District of Columbia, as the federal enclave is known, is the sixth place in the United States permitting same-sex unions. Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont also issue same-sex couples licenses. Once couples pick up their license, they have to have the person who performs their marriage sign it and then return it to the marriage bureau to be recorded.

Three morning weddings were planned at the office of the Human Rights Campaign, which does advocacy work on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. Later, a couple had a ceremony planned at All Souls Church — the same place where Mayor Adrian Fenty in December signed the bill legalizing the unions.

Other couples said they already had ceremonies and would simply wed at the courthouse, which has space for about 15 people in a ceremony room. Most of those celebrations will take place during the weeks of March 22 and March 29, courthouse spokeswoman Leah Gurowitz.

Normally, the courthouse has four to six weddings a day, but over the next several weeks they are expecting 10 to 12 per day. The court’s official marriage booklet has been updated so that the ceremony will end by pronouncing the couple “legally married” as opposed to “husband and wife.”

More than 300 people applied for marriage licenses from Wednesday to Friday, almost all same-sex couples, Gurowitz said.

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D.C. Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage, Couples Line Up For Licenses

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From the Washington Post:

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon a couple of years ago, we entered the sanctuary at Covenant Baptist Church and took our places in front of the altar, just as we had countless times before in our more than 20 years as partners in ministry. We had been united in holy matrimony ourselves in the same spot where we now stood to unite others.

As the couple walked down the aisle, we recalled the previous evening’s rehearsal, when we commended all the participants for their courage and prayed that God would be in our midst at the ceremony. When we pronounced the couple “partners for life,” we felt our prayers had been answered. It was the same feeling we had experienced so many times before when asking for God’s blessing of the union of a man and a woman. Only this time, the union was of a man and a man.

Our church is the first and only traditional black church in the District of Columbia to perform same-sex unions. We conducted our first two union ceremonies, one gay and one lesbian, in the summer of 2007. The rapid political developments that followed in our nation and our city have made us optimistic that by the summer of 2010, same-sex nuptials will be not only blessed by churches such as ours, but also sanctioned by law in the District.

Click here to read more.

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D.C. City Council Votes To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage

N.Y. State Senate Votes Down Gay Marriage Bill

WASHINGTON — The City Council voted Tuesday to legalize gay marriage, giving supporters a victory after a string of recent defeats elsewhere and sending the issue to Congress, which has final say over laws in the nation’s capital.

Mayor Adrian Fenty has promised to sign the bill, which passed 11-2, and gay couples could begin marrying as early as March if Congress allows it to become law. Democratic congressional leaders have suggested they are reluctant to get involved, though gay marriage opponents say they will try to get it overturned either in Congress or at the polls.

Federal lawmakers declined to weigh in the last time they had a chance, after the council voted in May to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere. Congress let that bill become law without taking any action, avoiding what could have amounted to a referendum on gay marriage.

RELATED: N.Y. State Senate Votes Down Gay Marriage Bill

The bill that passed Tuesday had overwhelming support among council members and the outcome was no surprise. Two members said “I do” when their turn came to vote, and a packed chamber erupted into cheers and clapping when the bill passed.

“Make no mistake, 2009 has been one hell of a year for marriage equality,” said David Catania, who introduced the bill and is one of two openly gay council members.

The “no” votes included former mayor Marion Barry, who said, “I don’t,” when it was his turn.

If the bill becomes law, the district will join Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont in issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. They will be able to wed in New Hampshire starting in January.

Gay marriage supporters have had less success elsewhere recently. Maine voters overturned the state’s same-sex marriage law last month. Earlier this month, the New York state Senate rejected a bill that would have allowed gay couples to marry. And New Jersey’s legislature, which had been working on a same-sex marriage bill, postponed a recent vote when the measure appeared headed for defeat.

RELATED: Maine Voters Repeal Law That Allowed Gay Marriage

Tuesday’s vote in the district came after several months of discussion, including two marathon council hearings at which some 250 witnesses testified.

Opponents included the Archdiocese of Washington, which said it might have to stop providing adoptions and other services because the law would force it to extend benefits to same-sex couples.

“Today the District of Columbia joined a handful of states where legislatures or courts have redefined marriage to include persons of the same sex,” the archdiocese said in a statement after the vote.

The law will likely take effect around St. Patrick’s Day in this city of 600,000, which is about 1/17th the size of Rhode Island. Congress has 30 working days to reject it, but that has happened with similar legislation just three times in the past 25 years.

Still, opponents plan to try. Members of a group called Stand4Marriage, led by local pastor Bishop Harry Jackson, have met with members of Congress to urge them to oppose the bill.

Attorney Cleta Mitchell said that after Fenty signs the bill, the group will ask a district elections board to put a referendum on the ballot asking voters to overturn it. She said in a statement before the vote that the law is a “decision for the people, not a dozen people at city hall.”

The group Mitchell represents made a similar request this summer, when the city passed a law recognizing gay marriages legally performed in other states. The board declined to put the issue on the ballot, saying that would violate a city human rights law.

Jackson said Tuesday he believed that the group had an “airtight legal case” and that “if it gets to the vote, we win.”

The group also has a lawsuit pending from earlier this year, when it tried to get an initiative on the ballot asking voters to define marriage as between a man and a woman. The elections board again cited the human rights law in saying no. A hearing in that case is scheduled for January.

ALBANY, New York — New York lawmakers rejected a bill Wednesday that would have made their state the sixth in America to allow gay marriage, disheartening advocates already stung by a similar decision by Maine voters just last month.

The New York measure failed by a wider-than-expected margin in a 24-38 decision by the state Senate. The Assembly had earlier approved the bill, and Gov. David Paterson, perhaps the bill’s strongest advocate, had pledged to sign it.

New York also doesn’t allow civil unions, but has several laws, executive orders and court decisions that grant many of the rights to gays long enjoyed by married couples.

The vote comes after months of delays and arm twisting of lawmakers sympathetic to the bill but representing conservative districts. It also follows a referendum in Maine that struck down a gay marriage law before it took effect.

Immediately after the vote, gay rights advocates chanted: “Equal rights now!” Many said they weren’t surprised by the decision. Most, including Paterson, said they at least wanted a floor debate and vote.

Gay marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont. A New Hampshire law takes effect Jan. 1.

“It’s certainly disappointing,” said Richard Socarides, a 55-year-old Manhattan lawyer and resident and former President Bill Clinton’s senior adviser on gay rights issues. “I’m surprised that it was not closer. We’ll have to take a hard look at what went wrong.”

Sen. Eric Adams of Brooklyn challenged lawmakers to set aside their personal religious beliefs. He asked them to remember that once even slavery was legal.

“When I walk through these doors, my Bible stays out,” Adams said.

“That’s the wrong statement,” said gay marriage opponent Sen. Ruben Diaz, a conservative minister from the Bronx. “You should carry your Bible all the time.”

Diaz was the only opponent among the 38 to speak. Eighteen senators gave impassioned speeches, often about family members who survived the Holocaust and discrimination and would want gays to be equal under law.

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OPINION: Black Voters Should View Gay Marriage As A Civil Rights Issue

OPINION: Stop Using Black People As Pawns In Gay Marriage Fight

From the Washington Post:

Their refrain was as familiar to me as dining hall food, and equally as offensive. All too often, white liberal classmates at the University of Virginia would ask, “Shouldn’t blacks, more than any other group, support gay rights?”

I never understood my classmates’ need to align the historical struggles of blacks with those of homosexuals and then push their quadratic equation of oppression on me. Was not one point of Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man,” a classic text for college seminars, that blacks deserve an existence free from an assigned role? That they should not be pawns in any social movement? And even if they hadn’t read the book, wasn’t it clear that stereotypical assumptions based on race are regressive?

RELATED: OPINION: Black Voters Should View Gay Marriage As A Civil Rights Issue

Hearing that from my white peers was one thing — they and I often viewed race through different lenses, with mine being one shade darker than rose. But last month, one of our greatest civil rights leaders also sang the same cacophonous tune in an attempt to peg African Americans’ morals and opinions to our socio-historical identities.

“Black people, of all people, should not oppose equality,” Julian Bond, the chairman of the NAACP, declared at the National Equality March in Washington.

RELATED: Black Voters Drove Gay Marriage Ban? Online Debate Rages

To be clear, Bond has used this line several times, and when he says “equality,” he isn’t talking about the right to vote, the right to eat at a public restaurant, the right to attend an integrated school or the right to a fair trial. He is talking about the right to change the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.

Click here to read more.

PORTLAND, Maine – Maine voters repealed a state law Tuesday that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed, dealing the gay rights movement a heartbreaking defeat in New England, the corner of the country most supportive of gay marriage.

Gay marriage has now lost in every single state — 31 in all — in which it has been put to a popular vote. Gay-rights activists had hoped to buck that trend in Maine — known for its moderate, independent-minded electorate — and mounted an energetic, well-financed campaign.

With 87 percent of the precincts reporting, gay-marriage foes had 53 percent of the votes.

RELATED: OPINION: Black Voters Should View Gay Marriage As A Civil Rights Issue

“The institution of marriage has been preserved in Maine and across the nation,” declared Frank Schubert, chief organizer for the winning side.

Gay-marriage supporters refused to concede, holding out hope that that the tide might turn as the final returns came in.

“We’re here for the long haul and whether it’s just all night and into the morning, or it’s next week or next month or next year, we will be here,” said Jesse Connolly, manager of the pro-gay marriage campaign. “We’ll be here fighting. We’ll be working. We will regroup.”

At issue was a law passed by the Maine Legislature last spring that would have legalized same-sex marriage. The law was put on hold after conservatives launched a petition drive to repeal it in a referendum.

The outcome Tuesday marked the first time voters had rejected a gay-marriage law enacted by a legislature. When Californians put a stop to same-sex marriage a year ago, it was in response to a court ruling, not legislation.

RELATED: NYC Marriage Bureau Turns Away Hundreds Of Gay Couples

Five other states have legalized gay marriage — starting with Massachusetts in 2004, and followed by Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Iowa — but all did so through legislation or court rulings, not by popular vote. In contrast, constitutional amendments banning gay marriage have been approved in all 30 states where they have been on the ballot.

‘A personal thing’
The defeat left some gay-marriage supporters bitter.

“Our relationship is between us,” said Carla Hopkins, 38, of Mount Vernon, with partner Victoria Eleftherio, 38, sitting on her lap outside a hotel ballroom where gay marriage supporters had been hoping for a victory party. “How does that affect anybody else? It’s a personal thing.”

The contest had been viewed by both sides as certain to have national repercussions. Gay-marriage foes desperately wanted to keep their winning streak alive, while gay-rights activists sought to blunt the argument that gay marriage was being foisted on the country by courts and lawmakers over the will of the people.

Had Maine’s law been upheld, the result would probably have energized efforts to get another vote on gay marriage in California, and given a boost to gay-marriage bills in New York and New Jersey.

Earlier Tuesday, before vote-counting began, gay-marriage foe Chuck Schott of Portland warned that Maine “will have its place in infamy” if the gay-rights side won.

Another Portland resident, Sarah Holman said she was “very torn” but decided — despite her conservative upbringing — to vote in favor of letting gays marry.

“They love and they have the right to love. And we can’t tell somebody how to love,” said Holman, 26.

In addition to reaching out to young people who flocked to the polls for President Barack Obama a year ago, gay-marriage defenders tried to appeal to Maine voters’ pronounced independent streak and live-and-let-live attitude.

The other side based many of its campaign ads on claims — disputed by state officials — that the new law would mean “homosexual marriage” would be taught in public schools.

Both sides in Maine drew volunteers and contributions from out of state, but the money edge went to the campaign in defense of gay marriage, Protect Maine Equality. It raised $4 million, compared with $2.5 million for Stand for Marriage Maine.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, voters in Washington state voted on whether to uphold or overturn a recently expanded domestic partnership law that entitles same-sex couples to the same state-granted rights as heterosexual married couples. With half the precincts reporting, that race was too close to call.

From The Root:

This week the voters in the state of Maine will go to the polls to decide on a gay marriage referendum that is widely considered a test case for the rest of the nation. This vote is so important that Californians who successfully organized in support of Proposition 8, and thus outlawed gay marriage there, have moved wast. Groups dedicated to the defeat of gay marriage have set up camp in Maine to deny consenting adults the right to legally wed.

This is a national scandal, but it moves the issue to the forefront again and gives the African-American community a chance to reaffirm its support for equal rights by supporting gay marriage. Black communities have a long, sad history of homophobia which has led many black people to oppose same-sex marriage, sometimes on religious or moral grounds. But after having served as the moral conscience of the nation during the long struggle for justice and equal rights in the last century, black Americans cannot be absent from, or take the wrong side in, this latest struggle for basic human rights.

Click here to read more.

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Just because the show is over doesn’t mean the politics are. Elenaor Holmes Norton and Roland continue to discuss the mounting issue of gay marriage.

CLICK HERE to watch the video.

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Why “Washington Watch” Is Needed Now

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama plans to address the nation’s largest gay rights group this weekend in an effort to mollify an uneasy Democratic constituency frustrated with the White House’s slow pace.

Obama plans to address Saturday’s Human Rights Campaign fundraising dinner gala, the organization and the White House announced Monday afternoon.

“It is fitting that (Obama) will speak to our community on the night that we pay tribute to his friend and mentor Sen. Edward Kennedy, who knew that as president, Barack Obama would take on the unfinished business of this nation — equal rights” for the gay community and for “every person who believes in liberty and justice for all,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

RELATED: Obama Promises To Fight For Gay Rights

The dinner falls on the eve of the National Equality March, expected to draw thousands of gay and lesbian activists to the National Mall. Many have been critical of Obama’s slow pace on redeeming campaign promises to end a ban on gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military and pushing tough nondiscrimination policies.

“Eleven months after his election, he has failed to deliver on any of his commitments to gay Americans, but even worse has been his refusal to engage around these issues,” said Richard Socarides, who advised President Bill Clinton’s administration on gay and lesbian policy.

“What he needs to do now is engage and deliver,” said Socarides. “Spend some of his political capital on ending the gay military ban, a hugely symbolic issue. And with no intellectually sound arguments left against it, come out squarely for gay marriage equality.”

Obama wasn’t likely to go that far, though, despite a rocky relationship with gay grass roots activists. He has taken a slow and incremental approach to the politically charged issues. He has expanded some federal benefits to same-sex partners, but not health benefits or pension guarantees. He has allowed State Department employees to include their same-sex partners in certain embassy programs already available to opposite-sex spouses.

But that remains far short of his campaign rhetoric.

RELATED: Obama Will Endorse UN Gay Rights Declaration
“At its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans,” Obama said a 2007 statement on gay issues. “It’s about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect.”
Since then, he publicly has committed himself to repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that allows gays and lesbians to serve in the military as long as they don’t disclose their sexual orientation or act on it. On Jan. 9, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs answered “yes” when asked whether the administration would end a policy that has seen the dismissal of more than 12,000 troops after their sexual orientation was revealed.

But as president, Obama hasn’t taken any concrete steps urging Congress to rescind the Clinton-era policy that some former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have acknowledged is flawed.

Yet the office of the current chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, signed off on a journal article that called for lifting the ban, arguing that the military is forcing thousands of military members to live dishonest lives.

Obama also pledged during the campaign to work for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which limits how state, local and federal bodies can recognize partnerships and determine benefits. But lawyers in his administration defended the law in a court brief. White House aides said they were only doing their jobs to back a law that was already on the books.

Even before Obama took office, he disappointed gay and lesbian activists who objected to the invitation to evangelist Rev. Rick Warren’s participation in the inauguration despite Warren’s support for repealing gay marriage in California.

Far from flowing rainbow flags, the sound of Lady Gaga and, quite honestly, white people, stands a nightclub just outside of Wicker Park in Chicago, Illinois, by the name of The Prop House.

The line to get in usually stretches down the block, and unlike many of the clubs in Boystown and Andersonville, this one plays hip-hop and caters to men who may or may not openly identify as gay, but without question are black and proud.

And a good number of them are tired of hearing how the gay community is disappointed in President Obama, because they are not.

In recent weeks, one would have thought the nation’s first black president was also the nation’s biggest homophobe. Everyone from Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black and radio personality Rachel Maddow to Joe Solmonese, the president of Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest gay advocacy group, seem to be blasting Obama for everything from “don’t ask don’t tell” to Adam Lambert not winning American Idol.

In their minds, Obama is not moving fast enough on behalf of the GLBT community. The outcry is not completely without merit — the Justice Department’s unnerving brief on the Defense of Marriage Act immediately comes to mind. I was upset by some of the statements, but not surprised. (After the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, President Ronald Reagan’s initial handling of AIDS and, more recently, Katrina, there is little that surprises me when it comes to the government and the treatment of its people.)

Still, rarely has criticism regarding Obama and the GLBT community come from the kind of person you would find standing in line at a spot like The Prop House, and there’s a reason for that.

Click here to read more.

The California Supreme Court ruled again on same-sex marriage. This time it did to uphold Proposition 8, restricting marriage to one man and one woman. In a 6-to-1 decision the justices decided that Proposition 8 would remain part of the state constitution. And the 18,000 same- sex couples that ran to the altar to legally consecrate their nuptials before November 4, 2008, well they’re the lucky ones, since our right to marry can be so easily taken away by the pull of a lever.

For a fleeting moment in 2008 we saw democracy work for same- sex couples in California. In a 4-to-3 decision, the California Supreme Court in May of that year ruled that a “separate and unequal” system of domestic partnership for same-sex couples is not only blatantly discriminatory, but it is also unconstitutional.

The Court upheld the democratic process, offering same- sex couples “marriage” and not “marriage -lite ” with civil unions and put forth the following statement:

“In contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual’s capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual’s sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual’s sexual orientation — like a person’s race or gender — does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights.”

But California’s same-sex couples and their allies knew the knot on this issue was not securely tied. Proposition 8, so rightly dubbed “Proposition Hate,” would be the determining factor. And it was.

With six months now passed since the historic day in November 4, 2008 that threw LGBTQ Americans under the bus, and symbolically removed black Americans, with the election of Barack Obama as this nation’s first African American president, from riding on the back of the bus, I’m confused in terms of where my seat is on this bus ride toward democracy being both African American and lesbian and bi-coastal.

Yes, I live in Massachusetts, the first state in the nation to legalize same- sex marriage. And on May 17 Massachusetts celebrated five years of marriage equality. But one of my jobs-coordinator of the Africa American Roundtable at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies and Ministry at the Pacific School of Religion – is in California. I’m free to marry as long as I stay within the five states that now offer me the right to.

The fight for marriage equality in the U.S. is similarly to my ancestors’ fight for freedom. In their day, before the Civil War in 1861, the U.S. consisted of nineteen free states and fifteen slave states. As a matter of fact, in the 2004 presidential race between John Kerry and George Bush where marriage equality was a hot-button issue, the election map results between Kerry’s blues states and Bush’s red states corresponded to the pre-civil war free states and slave states, respectively.

As LGBTQ Americans we’re not in slavery, but we are certainly in a civil war. Whereas President Lincoln acted on behalf of my ancestor’s civil rights, Obama is immovable on ours.

When Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked for a response to California’s ruling he told the Associated Press, “”I think the issues involved are ones that you know where the president stands.”

When society narrowly defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman, it is not only policing the sexual behaviors of lesbian and gay people, but society is also policing the sexual behaviors of heterosexuals. Handcuffing marriage to a heterosexual paradigm merely chokes its possibility of ever flourishing and lasting, especially as we are coming to understand the fluidity of not only gender and sexual identities but also of the constant changing configuration of family units.

But with heterosexual marriage being so sacred, opponents to same-sex marriage fail to see how it is constantly desecrated on any given weeknight by being slotted for family entertainment – television shows like “The Bachelor” that cavalierly join people together for high Nielsen ratings.

To me, democracy is an ongoing process where people are part of a participatory government working to dismantle all existing discriminatory laws that truncate their full participation in society. The work of democracy is rooted in justice and social change allowing us to see, along this troubling human time line, those faces and to hear those voices in society of the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected, and the dispossessed.

Democracy can only begin to work when those relegated to the fringes of society can begin to sample what those in society take for granted as their inalienable right.

A government is ethically bankrupt when it legally frames a minority group’s civil rights as a ballot question.

If I waited for slaveholders to free my ancestors predicated on a ballot vote, we all wouldn’t be living in the America we know today.

From The Washington Examiner:

Black Democrats in the District are split on recognizing same-sex marriages, based on the results of two recent straw polls.

Wards 5 and 8 are largely black communities. On Monday night, Democrats in Ward 5 rejected by a nearly 2-to-1 margin a resolution to support the D.C. Council’s vote to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions. This came two days after the majority of a small sample of Ward 8 Democrats said they would support legalizing same-sex marriages in D.C.

Both votes were held at forums sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Caucus of the Democratic Committee.

“We showed up last night to oppose gay marriage in D.C.,” said the Rev. Henry Gaston, president of the Missionary Baptist Ministers Conference of D.C., which helped mobilize opposition to the resolution in Ward 5.

Click here for more.

The media operates in cycles – cycles of obsession. Yesterday’s hot-ticket item was comedienne, Wanda Sykes’, borderline controversial performance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. A few of her Limbaugh jokes toed the line of tasteless. (Although, personally, I say “Go in!” He totally deserves it.)

But what I think is even more controversial than Sykes’ comedy is a comment from well-known critic, Christopher Hitchens, that almost slipped through the cracks.

In a brilliant article on The Daily Beast by Chris Rovzar and Jada Yuan which enumerates the unreported highlights of the Correspondents’ Dinner, buried wayyyyyy at the end is this nugget from Mr. Hitchens:

“The president should be squirming in his seat. Not smiling. The black dyke got it wrong. No one told her the rules.”

CLICK HERE to read the original post. *Scroll to the bottom for the quote.

Sound off! Is this an appropriate response to Sykes’ performance?

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Wanda Sykes ‘Comes Out’ Against Prop 8, Is Gay and Married

John Stewart criticized Marion Barry for his opposition to gay marriage on the Daily Show last night. Here’s what he had to say.

Marion Barry Casts Lone Vote Against Gay Marriage in D.C.

Black Voters, White Progressives & Prop 8

McCain Campaign Architect Wants GOP To Support Gay Marriage

Jennifer Curran could only sit in the pews of her Roman Catholic church over the years and watch as bride after bride – friends, her two sisters – walked down the aisle.

Now that her home state of Maine has approved same-sex marriage, she’s looking forward to inviting them to sit on the sidelines in a congregational church and watch her marry Carolyn Thompson, her partner of nine years.

“It’s been such a long time in coming,” said Curran, 41, of Falmouth. “I want to stand up in my church, surrounded by friends and family, and say, ‘I do.’”

Maine on Wednesday became the fifth state to approve gay marriage in a cliffhanger that was resolved when Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, who hadn’t indicated his plans, signed the freshly passed legislation behind closed doors.

New Hampshire’s Legislature voted soon afterward to allow gay marriage, but Gov. John Lynch hasn’t indicated whether he would sign it. If he does or lets it become law without his signature, Rhode Island would be the region’s sole holdout.

Both bills specify that religious institutions are not compelled to recognize same-sex marriages.

The vote by the Maine Senate was 21-13, with one lawmaker absent. The bill authorizes marriage between any two people rather than between one man and one woman, as state law currently allows. The House had passed the bill Tuesday.

“In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions,” Baldacci said in a statement read in his office. “I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage.”

The law is to take effect in mid-September but could be sidetracked before then. Opponents promise to challenge it through a public veto process that could suspend it while a statewide vote takes shape.

Sue Estler, of Orono, said she and her partner of 20 years, Paula Johnson, plan to get married. But she also thinks opponents might collect enough signatures to force the referendum.

A professor at the University of Maine, the 64-year-old Estler said she sent an e-mail to out-of-state friends and family members Wednesday saying “Oh, my god. The governor just signed the bill.”

“But I said, ‘Don’t make your travel plans for the wedding yet. There’s still probably a referendum to go,’” she said.

Legislative debate was brief.

Marion Barry Casts Lone Vote Against Gay Marriage in D.C.

Black Voters, White Progressives & Prop 8

McCain Campaign Architect Wants GOP To Support Gay Marriage

Republican Sen. Debra Plowman of Hampden argued that the bill was being passed “at the expense of the people of faith.”

“You are making a decision that is not well-founded,” warned Plowman.

But Senate Majority Leader Philip Bartlett II said the bill does not compel religious institutions to recognize gay marriage.

“We respect religious liberties. … This is long overdue,” said Bartlett, D-Gorham.

The activist group Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders has targeted all six New England states for passage of a gay marriage law by 2012, noting its porous borders, shared media markets and a largely shared culture.

Maine is now the fourth state in the region to allow same-sex marriages. Connecticut enacted a bill after being ordered to allow gay marriages by the courts, and Vermont passed a bill over the governor’s veto.

Massachusetts’ high court has ordered the state to recognize gay marriages. In Rhode Island, a bill to legalize same-sex marriage has been introduced but is not expected to pass this year.

Outside New England, Iowa is recognizing gay marriages on court orders. The practice was briefly legal in California before voters banned it.

If it comes to a statewide vote in Maine, Estler is confident gay marriage will prevail.

“I think Maine people will support it,” she said. “Part of the reason I say that is Maine is a state where people, regardless of party affiliation, really believe in live and let live.”

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