- By Christopher Brocklebank • May 27, 2010 www.pinknews.co.uk

The Massachusetts general, Martha Coakley, requested that a federal court in Boston yesterday strike down the federal ban on gay marriage, arguing that it interfered with the rights of individual states to define marriage and have those unions recognised by the federal government.

The Assistant Attorney General, Maura Healey, pointed out that historically, states have had the right to define marriage on their own terms and that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) could result in the denial of Medicaid and other benefits to same-sex married couples in the state.

However, Christopher Hall, a lawyer for the US Justice Department, said that the federal government was well within its rights to set eligibility requirements for federal benefits and that his included the law that such benefits would only go to opposite-sex married couples.

DOMA has been challenged twice in a federal court this month. A coalition of gay rights groups brought their cause before the same judge earlier in May, arguing that it was unconstitutional to deny federal benefits to gay couples when they were available to straight couples.

In her argument, Ms Healey spoke about a military veteran’s request that when he and his same-sex spouse die, they be buried together in a veterans’ cemetary – the right of every straight military couple. She said the state had decided to authorise the burial because “it was the right thing to do” despite the potential loss of federal money for the action.

Ms Healy also argued that not only did the law tresspass on an area of core state sovereignty, but that it “forces Massachusettes to discriminate against its own citizens.”

The state has allowed over 15,000 same-sex couples to marry since 2004.

- by By Sherry Tomfeld | Published 5/27/2010 www.associatedcontent.com

Wapello, Iowa — On April 3, 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in Varnum v. Brien that state laws prohibiting marriage on the basis of the partners’

gender are unconstitutional. On April 24, 2009, gay marriage or same-sex marriage was put into effect and legal. Now that the race for Iowa Governor is in full swing, will the same-sex marriage issue come to the forefront? You bet, the GOP is not happy with this ruling and there is no reason to think that if a Republican gets into office that they will let it go unchallenged. Read the rest of this article »

BY CARLOS SANTOSCOY
PUBLISHED: MAY 27, 2010 www.ontopmag.com

The Obama administration Wednesday defended its right to define marriage as a heterosexual union before a federal judge considering the constitutionality of the Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA), the AP reported.
The Massachusetts attorney general’s office is challenging the section of the law that denies married gay and lesbian couples federal benefits such as income tax credits, employment and retirement benefits, health insurance coverage and Social Security payments.
Representing the nearly 16,000 gay couples who have married in Massachusetts since gay marriage became legal in 2004, Assistant Attorney General Maura Healey argued that the right to define marriage has historically been held by the states.
“Never before has the federal government told a married couple that they are married under state law but not under federal law,” Healey said, adding that states “have always had exclusive control over defining and regulating marriage.”
DOMA also allows states to ignore legal gay marriages performed in other states, but the attorney general is not challenging this section of the law. A win then would only affect states that have legalized such unions.
Christopher Hall, a Justice Department lawyer, argued the federal government has the right to define marriage and set eligibility requirements for federal benefits.
Healey also argued that DOMA “forces Massachusetts to discriminate against its own citizens” because it interferes with the state’s authority to regulate marriage.
Hall disagreed, saying the law doesn’t forbid states from legalizing gay marriage.
In a brief submitted to the court, the attorney general also claims that the law “codified an animus towards gay and lesbian people.”
Two additional federal challenges to limiting marriage to a heterosexual union have already been heard.
The first federal trial to challenge the constitutionality of a gay marriage ban wrapped up in January after more than three week’s worth of testimony. Lawyers representing a gay and a lesbian couple argued that California’s gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, violates their constitutional rights. Closing arguments are expected to be heard in June.
A second federal challenge to DOMA has also been filed in Massachusetts by 17 gay men and lesbians who were married in the state. Judge Tauro is also presiding over that case.
Gay advocates believe all three cases will likely reach the Supreme Court.

by Michael A. Jones, May 25th, 2010 www.gayrights.blogspot.com

Survey after survey shows that most Americans don’t want to see LGBT people fired from their jobs, solely on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. We don’t want to see hotel workers fired because they’re gay — like what happened at a Tennessee hotel last year. Nobody wants to see lawyers fired because they’re rumored to be lesbian — like what happened to an attorney with the Department of Justice under President George W. Bush’s watch. And nobody wants to watch college administrators told to pack their bags because they’re transgender — like what happened at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire to a transgender woman in 2004. Read the rest of this article »

The Associated Press, May 25th, 2010

AUGUSTA — A federal magistrate judge is recommending that information about donors to a group that helped to finance a successful referendum campaign to repeal Maine’s gay marriage law last fall be turned over to a state election regulatory board.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Rich III said in a document dated Sunday that the National Organization for Marriage, which contributed $1.9 million to the campaign to repeal Maine’s gay marriage law, should turn over fundraising documents dating back to Jan. 1, 2009, to the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.

The ethics commission voted last October to examine the group’s contributions after it was accused of not reporting the names of many donors.

- SDGLN Staff | Tue, 05/25/2010

Like polar ice melting, Americans are slowly but surely changing their opinions about gays and lesbians.

A majority of Americans now believe that gay and lesbian relations are morally acceptable, 52 percent to 43 percent, according to a new Gallup Poll.

Gallup has been tracking the issue since 2001, when the inaugural poll showed that only 40 percent of Americans believed that gay and lesbian relations were morally acceptable and that 53 percent did not.

The 2010 poll is the first time that Gallup has found majority support on the issue.

By politics, Democrats and Independents approved by 61 percent, while Republicans approved by 35 percent.

Those who called themselves liberal approved by 78 percent, followed by moderates at 64 percent and conservatives at 33 percent.

By religion, those who aren’t religious supported by 88 percent, followed by other non-Christians at 84 percent, Catholics by 62 percent and Protestants by 42 percent.

On legalizing gay and lesbian relationships, the poll found that 58 percent supported the issue in 2010. Support was higher in 2003 (60 percent) and 2007 (59 percent), but Gallup’s trend line has generally been moving upward.

On the role of upbringing vs. environment in being gay, the issue continues to perplex most of those polled: 37 percent believed that upbringing and environment were factors in a person being gay and 36 percent felt that it was something a person was born with, while 12 percent thought it was a combination of both.

Bottom line

Gallup pollsters noted that there is a gradual cultural shift under way in Americans’ views toward gay individuals and gay rights. While public attitudes haven’t moved consistently in gays’ and lesbians’ favor every year, the general trend is clearly in that direction. This year, the shift is apparent in a record-high level of the public seeing gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable. Meanwhile, support for legalizing gay marriage, and for the legality of gay and lesbian relations more generally, is near record highs.

- Emily Pippin – SDGLN Intern | Wed, 05/19/2010

Gay men and women and the LGBT allies seem to be making strides in the realm of politics. From Kentucky to Oregon, gays are making an impact on today’s politics.

In Kentucky

An openly gay 24-year-old running for the Kentucky House of Representatives has won the Democratic primary.

Matthew Vanderpool beat a 50-year-old Air Force Veteran to win the primary.

Vanderpool dropped out of college after he was hit by a drunken boat driver while jet skiing.

He downplayed his sexual orientation during the campaign.

“I am not the gay candidate. I am the candidate who happens to be gay,” he told United We Stand.
His opponent, Stan Lee, has been described by LGBT groups as “Kentucky’s homophobic nightmare,” according to Chicago Pride.

In Oregon

An Oregon appeals court judge seen as gay-friendly has won an Oregon State Supreme Court seat.

Jack Landau wrote a history-changing opinion that extended gay and lesbian rights in Oregon.

In the case of Tanner v OHSU, Landau ruled that when providing health care benefits, employers cannot discriminate against gay and lesbian couples.

Landau, who has served as an Oregon appeals court judge for 17 years, beat administrative law judge Allan J. Arlow. The seat opened when Justice W. Michael Gillette retired.

In Ohio

Nickie Antonio’s only opponent in the Ohio state House race has dropped out, leaving her the only candidate.

She will be the first openly LGBT state lawmaker in Ohio.

Antonio is still up for election, but will be the only candidate on the ballot for this seat.

“Hopefully, once the first [openly gay] thing is done, there doesn’t need to be so much of a focus on that. How to best fix a hole in the budget — that’s not an issue where sexual orientation makes a difference,” Antonio told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

She currently sits on the Lakewood City Council and won the Democratic primary on May 4.

Ohio will no longer be on the list of states with no openly LGBT lawmakers once she is seated. There are 18 states left on the list.

In Iowa

Southern California political consultant Fred Karger is on the road and exploring the possibility of becoming a candidate for the presidential nomination from the Republican Party.

The openly gay Californian is unofficially campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination.

Fred visited Iowa and stopped in New Hampshire earlier this month. He has planned on people not knowing who he is.

“Fred Who?” are the words on the logo at the top of his website. His answer is “Fred Karger.”

Karger is the first openly gay person to seek the presidential nomination of either major party.

- May 19th 2010 http://voices.washingtonpost.com

The Senate could vote on a bill extending fringe benefits to the same-sex partners of gay federal employees “within weeks” and well before July 4, according to aides to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.).

The Nutmeg State senator is lead sponsor of the measure, which would cost an estimated $310 million through 2020, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

That’s a notable, but not terribly hefty price tag by Washington standards, and Lieberman is fine with the anticipated cost.

“This legislation would cost about two-hundredths of a percent of the federal government’s overall costs for the civilian workforce,” Lieberman said Tuesday. “That is a very small price to pay for the improvements we would see in recruitment, retention, and morale. OPM has committed to provide an offset for the legislation before it is enacted, making it that much more reasonable.”

Indeed those offsets — first requested by Lieberman and Senate Republicans in December — aren’t ready yet and won’t be until Lieberman is ready to introduce the bill to the full Senate, according to an OPM spokesman.

Lieberman’s bill may win some Republican votes, but a House version passed last year with no GOP support. The House bill also covers eligible federal retirees, giving it a heftier price tag that the GOP considers unacceptable.

“At a time when unemployment is at 9.9 percent, it’s absurd that Democrats would push a costly new benefit for federal employees when so many Americans in the private sector are out of work,” said Frederick Hill, a spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which first approved the benefits bill. “This legislation is a good example of how this Congress and administration have neglected efforts to rein-in spending and create jobs in favor of an agenda to satisfy their political base.”

By Ty Cobb
May 18th, 2010 at www.hrcbackstory.org

Setting aside his “personal convictions,” Portugal’s President Anibal Cavaco Silva announced Monday that he will ratify a law legalizing same-sex marriage in the country. Portugal’s parliament passed the bill in January, with strong support from all of Portugal’s left-of-center parties. Same-sex couples in Portugal have been able to enter into civil unions since 2001.

President Silva’s announcement comes only days after Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the predominantly Catholic country, during which the Pope characterized same-sex marriage as one of the most “insidious and dangerous” threats facing the world. Portugal is set to become the sixth European country to allow same-sex marriage, joining Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Norway. Outside of the Europe, South Africa and Canada are the only other countries that recognize same-sex marriages.

Local News, By Matt Akersten, 15th May, 2010
www.samesame.com.au

Over 2,000 people took to the streets in Melbourne, over 1,000 rallied in Sydney, and many more protested in Brisbane, Wollongong, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth this afternoon as the ongoing fight for same-sex marriage continues across Australia.

Lord of the Rings’ wizard star Sir Ian McKellen stirred the Melbourne crowd outside the Victorian State Library with his coming out story, telling the crowd why the ongoing struggle for LGBT equality around the world is so important to him. The assembled protesters also enjoyed a show from drag diva Pollyfilla (pictured).

Meanwhile in Sydney, gay radio personality and newsreader on 2dayFM Geoff Field MC’ed a 1,000-strong rally outside the Town Hall. An audio message from Dannii Minogue pledging her total support for the casue was played to the cheering throng. Armed with a mixture of signs, banners, and a giant rainbow flag, the rally then made its way noisily through the streets of central Sydney to Hyde Park, where a 100,000 signature petition supporting same-sex marriage was handed to a Green MP for presentation to Parliament.

Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) co-convenor Ben Cooper tells Same Same he’s very happy with the crowd numbers in Sydney, which are easily double those of the last rally back in March.

Other major Australian cities also held marches, with many including light-hearted ‘kiss in’ photo opportunities.

Another day of protest action is planned for 14 August, marking the anniversary of the date Prime Minister Kevin Rudd sought to outlaw same-sex marriage Australia-wide.

Check out Same Same’s gallery of images from this afternoon’s rally in Sydney. We’ll feature more photos and reports from other centres in coming days.