The ACLU and Lambda Legal have filed lawsuits suing the state of Illinois for legal marriage. You met one couple who have been together for almost 50 years, time to meet the couples represented by Lambda Legal.
Click here for more information about the couples represented by Lambda Legal.
Ed Hamilton and Gary Magruder, they just want to marry before their 50th anniversary.
Get ready, the fight for Marriage Equality is gearing up for a slug-fest in Illinois, where Lambda Legal and the ACLU have just filed lawsuits demanding the legal right to marry. Here’s a clip from the Chicago Tribune:
A total of 25 couples from across the state are plaintiffs in the two lawsuits. Each couple tried to get a marriage license from the Cook County clerk’s office in May and was denied based on the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, which prohibits marriage “between 2 individuals of the same sex” and states: “A marriage between 2 individuals of the same sex is contrary to the public policy of this State.”
For more information click here!
What some call “the best gay bar in the world,” West Hollywood’s The Abbey has anounced they are banning bachelorette parties because of recent Marriage Equality setbacks like North Carolina’s Amendment One. From their press release:
“Every Friday and Saturday night, we’re flooded with requests from straight girls in penis hats who want to ogle our gogos, dance with the gays and celebrate their pending nuptials. They are completely unaware that the people around them are legally prohibited from getting married. Over the past 22 years, The Abbey has been a place that accepts everyone, gay, straight, lesbian, transgender, bisexual and everything in between. We love our straight girlfriends and they are welcome here, just not for bachelorette parties. It has long been a policy at The Abbey to deny admission to groups in costume, including Bachelorette regalia. Bachelorette parties had previously been allowed inside if they removed their costumes.
Via Getty Images
Devin Dwyer at ABC gives us a fantastic story about the first openly gay cadets graduating from the Air Force Academy.
“It’s just been really open, a lot of acceptance. I haven’t heard anyone say, ‘I hate this. I can’t serve in the military with this,’” said 3rd Class Cadet Kevin Wise, a second-year management major. “It’s a sense of ‘OK, this is their lifestyle, but they’re still the person I’ve spent 21 credit hours a semester next to or I’ve gone through this with,’” he said.
Wise said he knew several classmates who chose to come out in the past few months. “Honestly, for me, it was, ‘Oh well, I kind of had a suspicion since I’ve known you for two years now, but you just move on,” he said.
“There wasn’t any sort of repercussion against them or anything,” said 2nd Lt. Jenny Kavalstan of her gay classmates who graduated with her today. “I thought of them the same way I did before; most people do.”
Video after the jump! Continue reading
In a new campaign from New Zealand people are saying WTF to homophobia and asking for support to keep the LGBT supportive organisations running. You can help by donating and sharing the video with all you know. Check out their website for more info!
It seems the Target Corporation doesn’t know what to do with the issue of marriage equality. On the one side, the Minneapolis-based retailer has partnered with the Family Equality Council, donating all the proceeds from their Pride shirts up to $120,000. Now $120,00 is nothing to shake a stick at. However, back in 2010 Target donated $150,000 to the Republican PAC MN Forward, which backed anti-gay canidate Tom Emmer. So all things being equal, the pro-LGBT side of target is still owed $30,000.
Also something to note is the T-shirts are only being sold online, not in the stores. Continue reading
Qucik, who is Jack Antonoff? Here’s a hint.
As you probably already know, today is Harvey Milk Day. Today is a day for reflection. To reflect on how Harvey Milk and others advanced human rights, and the cost at which that progress sometimes comes. Stuart Milk, Harvey Milk’s nephew and president of the Harvey Milk Foundation, wrote about his uncle in the 3rd Official Harvey Milk Day Statement:
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Today my uncle would have been 82 years old, however, he gave us his life 32 years ago knowing that the first of any civil rights movement, who so clearly and loudly proclaim their right to equality, most often meets a violent and sudden end.
