- by OnTopMag.com
Mon. February 8, 2010

Des Moines, IA — A majority of Iowans do not believe gay marriage should be discussed by the Legislature, according to the latest Des Moines Register Iowa Poll.

Sixty-two percent of respondents told the paper that gay marriage doesn’t deserve the time of lawmakers, thirty-six percent said it did, and two percent were unsure.

The poll, which has a 3.5% margin of error, comes on the day that Republican lawmakers are expected to act on the issue.

Gay rights group One Iowa has warned that it believes Republicans will attempt on Monday to fish a bill that seeks to define marriage as a heterosexual union in the Iowa Constitution out of committee and put it up for a floor vote. Committee members have not acted on Democratic state Representative Michael Reasoner’s proposed bill that aims to overturn the Iowa Supreme Court’s April 3, 2009 ruling legalizing gay marriage.

The procedural move to pull a bill out of committee requires a 51 vote majority. Seven Democrats would have to cross the aisle and vote with Republicans for the procedure to succeed. At least one Democrat, Reasoner, is expected to do that.

Last year, Republicans made several attempts to bring a similar measure to the floor. Democratic leaders, however, managed to block the efforts.

Amending the Iowa Constitution is a lengthy process that requires the approval of two consecutive legislative sessions followed by a ballot initiative.

The survey is based on telephone interviews with 805 adult Iowans.

Article provided in partnership with On Top Magazine

- By The Associated Press
February 08, 2010

MONTCLAIR — New Jersey’s largest gay rights group is suspending donations to political parties after feeling spurned by Democratic lawmakers who failed to pass a gay marriage bill.

Garden State Equality is also asking its 65,000 members not to contribute to parties. The group has not said it will refrain from donating to individual candidates.

The organization’s leaders expected lawmakers would legalize gay marriage last month. But they saw support erode after Republican Chris Christie was elected in November.

Chairman Steven Goldstein said the contribution decision is to tell political parties they can’t take for granted the support of the state’s gays and their allies.

By RAY HENRY Associated Press Writer
Posted: 02/08/2010

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Both Democrats running for governor and former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, an independent candidate, will publicly pledge to sign a gay marriage bill if elected, gay rights activists said Monday.
Attorney General Patrick Lynch and General Treasurer Frank Caprio, the Democrats, and Chafee have been invited to make their promise public at a Statehouse rally scheduled for March 3, said Kathy Kushnir, executive director of Marriage Equality Rhode Island.

Republican John Robitaille has not responded to an invitation from Marriage Equality, and he did not return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment. Robitaille opposes gay marriage but has said he could support domestic partnerships.

Although the three candidates previously have said they support gay marriage, the pledges come as gay rights activists hope to capitalize on the departure of Republican Gov. Don Carcieri, a staunch social conservative who opposes such unions. State law requires him to leave office after finishing his second term early next year.

“I think that it’s really important that the people of Rhode Island understand that this can be a reality here sooner rather than later,” Kushnir said. “One of the major obstacles we face right now is a veto from the governor’s office, and that would be gone.”

Rhode Island is the only New England state besides Maine that does not recognize gay marriage. The movement to legalize it has hit a plateau. Legislation that

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would permit gay marriage has died in the Democratic-dominated General Assembly every year without getting a vote since it was first introduced in 1997.
It seems unlikely the state Supreme Court will legalize same-sex marriage as the courts did in Massachusetts and Connecticut. In 2007, Rhode Island’s top court refused to let a lesbian couple married in Massachusetts get divorced in their home state of Rhode Island because the court said lawmakers have never defined marriage as anything except a union between a man and a woman.

Carcieri has not been the only political obstacle to gay marriage. Many socially conservative Democrats also oppose it, including Senate President M. Teresa Paiva-Weed and House Speaker William Murphy, who intends to step down next year.

House Majority Leader Gordon Fox, a gay man who backs same-sex marriage, is seeking to replace Murphy.

- www.dcist.com Feb 5, 2010

No surprise here, but the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics has gone ahead and rejected the latest referendum petition on the issue of same-sex marriage. This is the third time the board has ruled that a ballot measure on gay marriage will not be allowed.

In an 18-page memorandum (download it here), the board concluded that an effort to suspend the implementation of the Civil Marriage Equality Act until it appears on the ballot is not a proper subject for a referendum. The legislation, which grants full marriage rights to same-sex couples, was passed by the D.C. Council and signed by Mayor Adrian Fenty last year.

The board once again used the District’s Human Rights Act, which prohibits the use of the initiative and referendum process to authorize discrimination, as its main point of argument. The difference is that the first of two previous efforts sought to derail a law that recognized same-sex marriages performed legally in other states, while the second attempted to place an initiative on the ballot that would redefine marriage as between a man and a woman. This time, the referendum’s petitioners, led by Bishop Harry Jackson, hoped to delay implementation of the Civil Marriage Equality Act, but the board found that the law was “clearly a legislative effort on the part of the Council to eradicate what it deems to be unlawful discrimination under the HRA.” As such, a referendum to stop it would itself violate the HRA.

In a separate and far more interesting component of the ruling, the board dealt somewhat of a blow to same-sex marriage proponents. Their pet argument du jour had been to point out that the Civil Marriage Equality Act is certain to generate tax revenue for the District. And since there is also a prohibition against referenda on acts that appropriate funds for the general operation budget, they argued that you can’t put this issue on the ballot for that additional reason. But the board ruled that this is not the case, determining that “such prospective fiscal impact is insufficient to transform the Civil Marriage Equality Act into an act appropriating funds for the general operation budget, i.e., budget request act.” In other words, just because gay marriage will make the city money, doesn’t mean it’s an appropriations bill.

MORE: I meant to add, Jackson and his cohorts will most certainly appeal this ruling, but, as the BOEE was keen to point out in today’s memorandum, the D.C. Superior Court has upheld both of its two previous rulings.

- The Associated Press
February 3, 2010

Members of a Maryland House committee on Wednesday shot down a bill that would prohibit Maryland from recognizing gay marriages validated by other states or countries.

The House of Delegates Judiciary Committee voted against the proposal from Baltimore County Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr.

The same committee has rejected similar measures introduced in other years. Its vote prevents the bill from going to the House floor for debate.

In neighboring Washington, D.C., gay couples will likely be able to apply soon for marriage licenses. The district’s City Council passed a bill in December legalizing same-sex marriage.

Congress oversees the district’s laws, however, and the bill must pass a period of 30-day review by Congress.

By On Top Magazine Staff

Published: February 05, 2010

Iowa House Republicans will attempt to bring about a vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on Monday, the Iowa Independent reported.

The paper is reporting that gay rights group One Iowa believes Republicans will attempt to fish a bill that seeks to define marriage as a heterosexual union in the Iowa Constitution out of committee and put it up for a floor vote. Committee members have not acted on Democratic state Representative Michael Reasoner’s proposed bill that aims to overturn the Iowa Supreme Court’s April 3, 2009 ruling legalizing gay marriage.

“While legislative leadership has stood firm in support of equality, extremists are attempting to overthrow House rules and push an anti-marriage amendment to the floor!” One Iowa said in an email alert.

The procedural move to pull a bill out of committee requires a 51 vote majority. Seven Democrats would have to cross the aisle and vote with Republicans for the procedure to succeed. At least one Democrat, Reasoner, is expected to do that.

Last year, Republicans made several attempts to bring a similar measure to the floor. Democratic leaders, however, managed to block the efforts.

Seattle 911: A police blog

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/seattle911/archives/193501.asp

Police detail homophobic assault on Capitol Hill
Two men told police they were the victims of a homophobic hate crime Saturday morning on Capitol Hill.

The incident happened about 2:15 a.m. near the intersection of 11th Avenue and East Pine Street. The two men who contacted police said they were walking home from Capitol Hill clubs when the passed the suspects and greeted them with “hay (sic) cutie,” according to a police report.

The suspect swore at the men, making homophobic slurs. The men yelled back at the suspects “you don’t (expletive) talk to us like that.” The disturbance grew and several witnesses heard yelling, police said. The suspect continued to use homophobic slurs.

“However the number of onlookers was increasing so the suspects began to walk away northbound on 11th Avenue,” Officer Michael Conners wrote in his report.

But once the majority of onlookers left, the suspects ran back and knocked both victims to the ground. One remaining witness yelled that police were being called, and the suspects fled yelling a homophobic slur.

One man had an abrasion on his right wrist, but both victims declined medical aid.

The suspects were white men in their late 20s or early 30s. One wore a white button-down shirt; the second wore a black jacket and blue jeans. Both had skateboards.

An extensive search for the suspect was unsuccessful, police said.

Posted by Casey McNerthney at February 5, 2010

John Carroll University refuses to include their LGBT students in the Universities non-discrimination policy. No longer willing to wait patiently until the University administration is suddenly enlighten, the students staged a sit-in at an University basketball game. Have a feeling we are going to see thousands of our best and brightest young people willing to engage in non-violent civil disobedience over the next year. Thank God for their courage and convictions and let us all support them. Because quite honestly, I have run out of patience too. Thanks to JoeMyGod for the video and the initial story.

As the band played Hot Stuff, students at John Carroll University occupied center court during a basketball game to protest the school’s decision to exclude LGBT people from its non-discrimination policy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc3ergeeZok

By The Associated Press
02.04.2010

From a press release from Lambda Legal:

(New York) Today, Lambda Legal released the first nationwide survey that examines health care discrimination experienced by LGBT people and people living with HIV.

“The results of this survey should shock the conscience of this nation and make clear that the system is broken when it comes to health care for many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and those living with HIV,” said Beverly Tillery, Director of Community Education and Advocacy and one of the authors of the report. “No one should be turned away or face discrimination when they are sick or seeking medical care.”

In spring 2009, Lambda Legal and over 100 partner organizations distributed a survey to LGBT people and people living with HIV across the country. When Health Care Isn’t Caring: Lambda Legal’s Survey on Discrimination Against LGBT People and People Living with HIV, is based on responses from approximately 5,000 people and provides a powerful snapshot of the experiences of a diverse cross section of members of the LGBT and HIV communities all over the country.

The survey included questions about the following types of discrimination in care: being refused needed care; health care professionals refusing to touch patients or using excessive precautions; health care professionals using harsh or abusive language; being blamed for one’s health status; or health care professionals being physically rough or abusive.

According to the results, almost 56 percent of lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) respondents had at least one of these experiences; 70 percent of transgender and gender-nonconforming respondents had one or more of these experiences; and nearly 63 percent of respondents living with HIV experienced one or more of these types of discrimination in health care.

We found that not only did sexual orientation or serostatus affect the respondents’ access to quality health care, but transgender or gender-nonconforming respondents faced discrimination two to three times more frequently than lesbian, gay, or bisexual respondents.

In nearly every category, a higher proportion of respondents who are people of color and/or low-income reported experiencing discriminatory and substandard care.

Close to 33 percent of low-income transgender and gender-nonconforming respondents reported being refused care because of their gender identity and almost a quarter of low-income respondents living with HIV reported being denied care.

In addition to instances of discrimination, respondents also reported a high degree of anticipation and belief that they would face discriminatory care.

Overall, 9 percent of LGB respondents are concerned about being refused medical services when they need them and 20 percent of respondents living with HIV and over half of transgender and gender-nonconforming respondents share this same concern. Nearly half of LGB respondents and respondents living with HIV and almost 90 percent of transgender respondents believe there are not enough medical personnel who are properly trained to care for them.

These barriers to care may result in poorer health outcomes because of delays in diagnosis, treatment or preventive measures.

Within the report, Lambda Legal provides key recommendations for health care institutions, government, individuals, and organizations to combat these issues. We recommend comprehensive cultural competency, inclusive policies, research and training for medical personnel, stronger laws, as well as advocacy and community education.

For the full report and the list of partners in Lambda Legal’s national Health Care Fairness Campaign, please visit www.lambdalegal.org/health-care-report

By On Top Magazine Staff
Published: February 04, 2010

The prospects for approval of a bill that would recognize gay couples with domestic partnerships in New Mexico have dimmed considerably after lawmakers decided to route the bill to a third committee, the New Mexico Independent reported.

Members of the Senate Public Affairs Committee agreed to send the 816-page bill to the Senate Finance Committee. The bill also needs the approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee before reaching the Senate floor.

Proponents say the move has likely doomed the bill.

“Three committee assignments would kill this bill,” State Senator Eric Griego, a Democrat from Albuquerque and gay marriage proponent, said before voting.

The detour is likely to slow down the bill, which already faces the daunting task of being approved by both chambers of the Legislature in the next 15 legislative days.

Much like Washington State, the bill seeks to grant nearly every right and obligation of marriage to gay and lesbian couples. Lawmakers in Washington State, however, gradually expanded on a minimal domestic partnership law approved in 2007.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a Democrat, supports the legislation, while the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops has expressed strong opposition.

Last year, ten Democratic senators crossed the aisle to join all fifteen Republicans in defeating a similar measure. Bills that would recognize gay unions have been defeated three straight years in a row.

New Mexico falls in the small category of states that have not acted for or against gay marriage. The state has outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity since 2003.