GENEVA — The United Nations issued its first condemnation of discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgender people on Friday in a cautiously worded declaration hailed by supporters including the United States as a historic moment.

Members of the U.N. Human Rights Council narrowly voted in favor of the resolution put forward by South Africa, against strong opposition from African and Islamic countries.

“You just witnessed a historic moment at the Human Rights Council and within the U.N. system with a landmark resolution protecting human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people,” U.S. ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe told reporters after the vote.

Couched in delicate diplomatic language, the resolution commissions a study of discrimination against gays and lesbians around the world, the findings of which will be discussed by the Geneva-based council at a later meeting.

The proposal went too far for many of the council’s 47-member states, including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Pakistan.

Read the full story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/17/un-gay-rights-protection-resolution-passes-_n_879032.html

ALBANY, June 15 (Reuters) – The New York state Assembly approved same-sex marriage on Wednesday and the bill is likely to face a vote in the Senate on Friday, where it only needs support from one more senator to pass.

The Democrat-dominated Assembly voted 80 to 63 in favor of the marriage equality bill introduced by Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat in his first year in office.

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

Read the full story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/15/new-york-gay-marriage-state-assembly-approves-bill_n_877889.html?ref=fb&src=sp

“We were shocked and appalled to learn of the statements made to two of our valued customers by one of our employees. This incident is personally offensive to me and to the rest of the men and women who proudly represent us in our stores. This goes against everything we believe and practice in terms of serving and welcoming our customers, and in being a part of the diverse communities we are privileged to serve. We are at a loss to explain how one of our employees, even one who has been on the job for less than a month, could consider this kind of behavior to be acceptable. The employee has been terminated.
Besides investigating the incident itself, we also are looking into the unsatisfactory response our customers received when they attempted to bring this to the attention of local store management. The complaint should have been dealt with immediately and we apologize that this was not the case.

We have reached out to the customers involved to extend our sincere apology. We are truly sorry this happened in our store and are taking decisive and urgent action to ensure it does not happen again to any customer in any of the communities we serve. No one should face what these customers faced, and we are humbly sorry it happened to them in our store.”

Read the full article here: http://dcist.com/2011/06/safeway_cashier_who_used_gay_slur_f.php

It’s about time.

Check out the amazing ad here: http://front.moveon.org/a-republican-who-supports-gay-marriage-and-doesnt-care-what-you-think-about-it/?rc=fb.fan

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqg4N5_VQes

A checker at a southwest D.C. Safeway store has apologized after calling two customers “fucking faggots.”

When Jason Morgan and his partner, Brendan Harrington, dropped into their neighborhood Safeway market in search of dinner Saturday night, they weren’t expecting to make the news.

“We put our groceries up on the conveyer belt, some frozen dinner and wine, and [the cashier] said, ‘Oh God, they’re faggots,’” Morgan told Metro Weekly. “And then Brendan said, ‘I’m sorry I didn’t hear what you said.’ And she said ‘You guys are fucking faggots.’”

The couple asked the checker for her name and she gave it to them.

“We just couldn’t believe it,” said Morgan. “She didn’t seem apologetic or anything. We asked her for the store manager and she just ignored us. So we ended up leaving our groceries where they were and we walked [away].”

On Monday, Morgan and Harrington filed a complaint with the Office of Human Rights.

Read the full story here: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/06/16/DC_Cashier_Apologizes_for_Gay_Slur/ 

Visit the video and leave her a comment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqg4N5_VQes&feature=player_embedded

Dear Senator Ball –

You, my state senator, are now among the last holdouts prohibiting me from legally marrying my fiancee at our religious Jewish ceremony in September. If this bill fails to pass, the State will be restricting my religious freedom. I know you may not have heard the issue described this way, so please allow me to explain.

Religion, you see, is on both sides of this issue. The first flaw God finds in creation is that “it is not good for man to be alone.” (Gen 2:18) The Bible tells us that “Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:8) I am aware that some religious people believe that a strict, expansive reading of Leviticus 18:22 and Romans1:27 is more important than these fundamental values. But they do not speak in the name of all religious people. I, for one, believe these values require us to read these obscure handful of verses narrowly. In my understanding of religion, they do not apply to loving same-sex relationships.

By insisting on carve-outs not only for religious organizations but for religious individuals who wish to discriminate against me, you are choosing some religious values over others. What about the rights of this religious person to follow the dictates of my religion and marry the person I love? Shouldn’t the state respect my religious freedom as well, and recognize that union as valid? Or should the state favor some people’s interpretation of religion over others? Is that really what we want our government to do: arbitrate among religious opinions, and tell people which one is right?

Read the full letter here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-michaelson/greg-ball-ny-marriage-equality_b_877207.html

So says the NY Daily News — all the more reason to keep the pressure up in the meantime:

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said if there is a gay marriage vote — and that will be decided by the conference tomorrow morning in a closed-door session — it will likely be on Friday, our Ken Lovett notes.

Despite there already being 31 votes, Skelos wasn’t prepared to say the bill will pass if it reaches the floor.

This means it’s not at all clear they have enough votes to pass their bill.

Read the full story and find out how you can help: http://www.nomblog.com/9894/ 

Founder’s Note: Yes I took this article from the National Organization of Marriage blog. I am not asking people to endorse bigotry by calling their New York representatives and saying they don’t want equal marriage rights. I used this article as a reference to show that NOM is losing their fight. Equality, love and peace are winning. With the help of some phone calls to our representatives in New York representatives we can make sure that love wins out. So if you live in New York call your legislators and tell them to vote for equal marriage rights!

In 1917, suffragette Alice Paul faced federal charges in court for picketing the White House. She was the last person to ever face such charges in court, until 2009. Then came Dan Choi. He got charged for chaining himself to the White House fence during a 2010 DADT protest. And today he’s still the lone individual still facing charges in court from that protest. The 12 other arrestees accepted an agreement to avoid a trial. So why has Choi decided to stay in court for his August 29th appearance?

Read the full story here: http://www.queerty.com/will-dan-choi-successfully-stare-down-the-white-houses-protest-charges-20110615/?utm_source=wordtwit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wordtwit

Read the full statement here: http://www.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=2416

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A U.S. judge’s gay relationship is no basis for tossing out his decision overturning California’s same-sex marriage ban, another federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

Doing otherwise would send a message that minority judges could not rule in civil rights cases, ruled Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware, who upheld the decision to overturn California’s gay marriage ban.

In pointed language, Ware slapped down the attempt to throw out his gay former colleague’s decision as an attack on standards of judicial impartiality, saying it ignored the idea that protecting the rights of minorities benefits all.

ProtectMarriage.com, the anti-gay marriage group defending California’s ban, will appeal Ware’s ruling, said Charles Cooper, an attorney for the group.

U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco last year struck down California’s same-sex marriage ban, known as Proposition 8, and supporters of the ban now say his ruling was compromised and should be vacated.

The case was immediately appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

It could set national policy if it reaches the U.S. Supreme Court and is being watched throughout the nation, where same-sex marriage is legal in only a handful of states.

In a written ruling, Judge Ware said Walker’s same-sex relationship was no reason to throw out his decision. Ware took over the case after Walker retired earlier this year.

Read the full story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_gaymarriage_california