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.”
Boston – A three judge panel of the First US Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled unanimously DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) unconstitutional.
Passed by Congress, and signed by President Clinton on September 21, 1996, the act prevented the Federal Government from recognizing same-gender marriages, and allowed states to refuse to recognize any such marriages legally performed by other states.
This created the novel legal situation where both the Federal Government and individual states could pick and choose which marriage licenses they would accept as valid, and which they would ignore. The courts have ruled that unconstitutional.
The Senate of the state of California has passed SB 1172, which bans reparative therapy for those under the age of 18. The bill must now pass the Assembly, and be signed by Governor Jerry Brown before it becomes law.
The bill prohibits any licensed mental health professional from engaging in sexual orientation change efforts, regardless of the willingness of the patient to undergo such treatment.
The bill’s author, Senator Ted Lieu (D-28th Senate District) said “Being lesbian or gay or bisexual is not a disease or mental disorder for the same reason that being a heterosexual is not a disease or a mental disorder. The medical community is unanimous in stating that homosexuality is not a medical condition.”
You can read the text of the bill as passed, here. NARTH (The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality) released an ‘action alert‘ in an attempt to stop the bill by flooding the phones of state Senators with calls urging them to vote “no”. It apparently had no effect.
Around the country, expressions of thanks, honor, and respect for those who have died while serving the United States in the military are in full swing. Grave sites of fallen service men and women are each marked with the flag of the country honored by their service and sacrifice. Parades, religious services, family gatherings, and the President’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery remind us all of the cost of our freedom.
Today is the first Memorial Day in the post-DADT era. As such, I’d like to take the opportunity to remember those who died in service, whether in combat or not, who were gay and lesbian. While the ultimate sacrifice of all who died is what we remember today, those who died during the tenure of DADT, and especially before, should be especially remembered by our community.
They made the ultimate sacrifice for a country who, as a matter first of military policy, then of national law, did not think them fit to serve.
On May 13, Pastor Charles Worley, of the Maiden, North Carolina, preached a sermon in which he said he had a “solution” to the gay problem. In essence, he said lesbians should be put in one concentration camp, and gay men in another, and in time there would be no more homosexuals, because they would be unable to reproduce. Aside from the obvious flaw in his reasoning – it’s somehow not heterosexuals who keep making more homosexuals – the anti-gay preacher seems oblivious to the images of the holocaust such language stirs.
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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.
Adair Lion, a rap musician from Texas, recently released a pro-gay video that included an intro remix of Michael Jackson’s “Ben”. UMG (Universal Music Group) decided, after 13 days and 156 thousand views, that Lion needed to pay large royalties for the few seconds of the Jackson song. Since the rapper wasn’t actually making any money from the video, but WAS making a big splash in the music world, he re-did it, without the original MJ track.
Adair has posted the altered video, with his own, original version of Ben. It’s still a powerful message for a traditionally homophobic genre.
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
