gay marriage

America's Inhumane Immigration Inequality

The Washington Post Editorial Page today urges support for a pending bill that would grant gay American citizens the right to have a permanent visa issued to their foreign national spouses (a right which, thanks to the Defense of Marriage Act, only heterosexual Americans currently enjoy):

Posted in civil rights, gay marriage, immigrant rights, lgbt

Uncle Sam Should Recognize All Marriages

A decade after falling in love, Massachusetts State Trooper Mary Ritchie and Kathy Bush became parents.

When Ryan was born, Bush postponed her career to be a stay-at-home mom. Not long afterward, Ryan was joined by brother William.

Once the sports-loving boys reached school age, Bush threw herself into the parent-teacher organization and into book fairs to raise money for their school. Ritchie, a crime scene investigator, continued to be the family's breadwinner.

Posted in gay marriage, lgbt

Fight for Marriage, Family is New Protest Focus

The crowd in front of City Hall on Thursday had a different vibe. It was there to watch the arguments before the state Supreme Court on the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. There was a big screen television, and the usual cast of characters showed up - the sign-holders, the costumed and the guys yelling out the windows of pickup trucks.

But there were others. Kids, couples, families. This debate is moving, quicker than a lot of people realize, away from political posturing.

Posted in civil rights, gay marriage

Justices Seem to Be Leaning in Favor of Prop. 8

SAN FRANCISCO - The California Supreme Court, which last year declared the right of gays and lesbians to marry, appeared ready Thursday to uphold the voters' decision to overrule the court and restore the state's ban on same-sex marriage.

"There have been initiatives that have taken away rights from minorities by majority vote" and have been upheld by the courts, said Chief Justice Ronald George. "Isn't that the system we have to live with?"

Posted in civil liberties, gay marriage, glbt, inequality, prop8

Married Gays in Mass. Sue US for Federal Benefits

BOSTON - Mary Ritchie, a Massachusetts State Police trooper, has been married for almost five years and has two children. But when she files her federal income tax return, she's not allowed to check the "married filing jointly" box.

That's because Ritchie and her spouse, Kathleen Bush, are a gay couple, and the federal Defense of Marriage Act makes them ineligible to file joint tax returns.

Posted in civil liberties, gay marriage, glbt, taxes

Same-Sex Marriage Movement Looks to 'Obamify'

As gay marriage supporters prepare for a noon demonstration today in Sacramento, a growing number are planning their next ballot campaign. Their new strategy: "Obamify" the gay marriage movement.

Posted in civil liberties, gay marriage, glbt

Gay Couples Protest at Marriage Bureaus Across US

SAN FRANCISCO - Same-sex couples seeking to wed showed up at marriage license counters nationwide Thursday to highlight a right they don't have in 48 states, part of an annual protest that took on renewed urgency given recent election setbacks.

In San Francisco, where same-sex marriage was legal for nearly five months last year before California voters approved a ban, many couples who came to City Hall had already tied the knot but wanted to express their gratitude and to show they're still part of the fight.

Posted in civil liberties, gay marriage, glbt

Gay Woman Fights over Hospital Visitation Rights in Miami court

MIAMI - As her partner of 17 years slipped into a coma, Janice Langbehn pleaded with doctors and anyone who would listen to let her into the woman's hospital room.

Eight anguishing hours passed before Langbehn would be allowed into Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center. By then, she could only say her final farewell as a priest performed the last rites on 39-year-old Lisa Marie Pond.

Posted in civil rights, gay marriage, lgbt

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 3, 2009
4:41 PM

CONTACT: Freedom to Marry
Evan Wolfson, Executive Director, Freedom to Marry
212-851-8418; Mobile: 646-263-5552
evan@freedomtomarry.org

New Web Campaign Helps Promote Conversations for Upcoming Freedom to Marry Week

Tell-Three.org Offers Tools to Support This Year’s Theme, 7 Conversations in 7 Days, for February 8-14

NEW YORK - February 3 - Join the Impact has partnered with other national LGBT groups to develop a web based public education campaign, www.tell-three.org, to encourage LGBT people and their supporters to have three conversations with friends and family to help build support for LGBT equality. The new web campaign can assist people across the country pledging to have 7 Conversations in 7 Days to celebrate Freedom to Marry Week, February 8-14, 2009.

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Freedom to Marry is the gay and non-gay partnership working to win marriage equality nationwide. Launched in 2003, Freedom to Marry is headed by Evan Wolfson, nationally recognized as a central "architect of the marriage equality movement." Freedom to Marry guides and focuses this social justice movement on a nationwide level, serving as a strategy and support center for national, state, and local partners, a catalyst that drives and shapes the national debate on marriage equality, and an alliance-builder fostering support from non-gay allies.

Posted in civil liberties, gay marriage, glbt

Gay but Equal?

PHILADELPHIA - As the country prepares to enter the Obama era, anxiety over the legal status and rights of gays and lesbians is growing. Barack Obama's invitation to the Rev. Rick Warren, an evangelical pastor who opposes same-sex marriage, to give the invocation at his inauguration comes just as the hit movie "Milk" reminds us of the gay rights activism of the 1970s.

Posted in civil rights, gay marriage, lgbt