Here's the latest news on gay marriage from around the world. This week's main story - attacks on gay rights in Kalamazoo, MI, and Cleveland, OH - both cities with limited laws that have no relation to gay marriage. Just another case of telling us it's just the word marriage they want, and then coming at us with all guns blazing for any other small rights we manage to get from our city and state governments.
In addition to the news of the week, you'll find our weekly woody award, links to some great articles and columns from the last seven days, and of course you'll also find our ongoing recap of gay marriage happenings worldwide over the last four months - for a longer history, just click on one of the older Gay Marriage Watch blogs from our archives.To subscribe to this blog, or if you have any thoughts about how we can make this feature better or easier to use or any updates on the issues covered here, let me know at info@purpleunions.com
This week's Woody award honors goes to blogger Joe Carter, who quotes a "family scholar" to show us how wanting the right to marry our own partner is basically the same as wanting to prevent an interracial couple from marrying:
"If a white person of one sex aims to marry a black person of the other sex, we have not the slightest reason to believe that marriage’s fundamental forms are being weakened or violated, or that the institution’s fundamental purposes are being challenged or denied. On the contrary, we have every reason to assume that such a marriage would be fully consistent with the core institution. But whenever someone seeks to prevent an interracial couple from marrying—say by passing anti-miscegenation laws—that person is weakening the institution of marriage, because promoting racism by enforcing racial separation is not one of marriage’s public purposes."
What we have to learn as a movement is that these right-wing Christians are masters at portraying themselves as the victims, and when the voter feels like the victim, we lose every time. Mister Carter, it's gay abnd lesbian couples who have lost REAL, EXISTING, PRACTICAL RIGHTS here because of you and your ilk. This twisted little argument that you're the victim because the definition of a word has been "redefined" doesn't stack up against my community's loss - we arent guaranteed the right to visit one another in the hospital in miost of this country; we can't marry our loved ones if they are from abroad; we have no right to our partner's pensions if they die.
And this whole argument aboiut "why aren't civil unions good enough" just makes my blood boil. First, civil unions don't give us any federal rights. Second, they are not transferrable if wee move from state to state. And third, only a small number of states even offer them.
So enjoy your woody, mister Carter. It's more than we get.
Runner up is Celinn Vasquez, a twenty year old african-amerian woman who repeats the tired old line of logic that the gays didn't suffer exactly as much and exactly in the same ways that the blacks did, so they are not worthy of the rights of marriage:
"Do homosexual people have separate water fountains?" asked Vasquez. "Can they eat at the same restaurants? Theyre not being denied basic rights as human beings. (Black people) were denied everything."
True, but I have NEVER said about the African American Community "Do blacks get arrested in bars by the police because of who they are? Are straight black women raped to "cure" them of their heterosexuality?" Discrimination is discrimination, Miss Vasquez, no matter what the form or who the oppressor.
Sorry, no woody for you.
EVENTS OF THE LAST WEEK:
12/28/08:
Spain: Tens of thousands of people attended a Mass in central Madrid on Sunday designed to promote traditional family values and protest gay marriage in a predominantly Roman Catholic country that has legalized gay marriage and made it easier for people to divorce. Source
12/29/08:
USA, New Jersey: A church group that owns beachfront property discriminated against a lesbian couple by not allowing them to rent the locale for their civil union ceremony, a New Jersey department ruled. Source
USA, New York: Openly gay Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell is reportedly being considered for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat. Source
USA, South Carolina: Gay rights activists are urging Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman and City Council members to back a domestic partnership ordinance. Source
12/30/08:
Uganda: A court in Uganda has handed down a landmark ruling which is being hailed by gay rights activists around the world. The case involves the arrest and torture of two women, Yvonne Oyoo and Victor Juliet Mukasa, who were suspected of being lesbians. Source
USA, California: A new California campaign has started to try to change the anti-same-sex marriage mentality present across the states: GetToKnowMeFirst.org. The idea behind this campaign is to introduce Internet users and California TV viewers to non-traditional families. Source
USA, Louisiana: The state may try to ban gay adoption, gay rights advicates fear. Source
USA, Arkansas: At a Little Rock, Arkansas press conference this morning, more than a dozen families announced they would ask a court to strike down a new law that bans unmarried couples from adopting or fostering children. Source
USA, Utah:
--Bruce Palenske, a Park City gay-rights activist, has accused Salt Lake City newspapers of blocking him from running a political ad in both The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News, criticizing the LDS Church's efforts to ban gay marriage in California. Source
--The full-page advertisement did run in Park City's The Park Record, in which he said he was "appalled and dismayed" with what he sees as the role of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the dispute about Prop 8. Source
12/31/08:
USA: U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Dec. 23 “strongly objecting” to the refusal by the U.S. Mission to the United Nations to join 66 other nations Dec. 18 in signing a statement affirming that international human rights protections include sexual orientation and gender identity. Source
USA, Michigan: Petitions seeking the repeal of a newly adopted city ordinance that extends discrimination protections to gays and lesbians in Kalamazoo have been filed. Source
USA, New Hampshire:
--State Rep. David Hess (Republican) says he will introduce legislation that would repeal the part of the civil unions bill that recognizes legal gay marriages performed elsewhere. Source
--A bill to legalize gay marriage will likely be scheduled for a public hearing or sent to a committee after its introduction in the new legislative session on January 7. Source
USA, Ohio: Several local pastors have banded together in an effort to repeal Cleveland's recently passed domestic-partner registry. Source
1/1/09
Mickey Rourke on Sean Penn in Milk (in a text message): "Look seans an old friend of mine and I didnt buy his performance at all. Thought he did an average pretend acting like he was gay besides he's one of the most homophobic people I kno." Source
Spain: The controversial Dénia judge, Laura Alabau, who refused to carry out gay and lesbian weddings in the town has been transferred. She is being moved to another court which has no responsibilities for marriage. Source
United Kingdom: As of January 1, it is no longer legal for agencies to discriminate against gay and lesbian couples from adopting children in England, Wales and Scotland. Source
USA, Oregon: With the election of Sam Adams, Portland just became the largest city in the US with an openly gay mayor. Source
USA, Washington DC: Several gay rights groups are looking into promoting a March on Washington for gay marriage. Source
1/2/09
Prince on his anti-gay marriage comments in November: ""I have friends that are gay and we study the Bible together." Source
USA, Arizona: Arizona's new Governor, Jan Brewer, is opposed to giving health benefits to unmarried domestic partners and to adding sexual orientation to protected classes in antidiscrimination laws. Source
USA, New Mexico: When New Mexico’s state legislature convenes on Jan. 20, one of the first bills to be considered will be domestic partnership legislation. Source
