GayWrites.

Zoom

BUT ACTUALLY.

Source

Key West, FL offers domestic partner benefits

This week the Key West City Commission in Key West, FL voted in a measure giving people in domestic partnerships more rights.

The Equal Benefits Ordinance (EBO) will require vendors in the city to “provide employees’ domestic partners with benefits equal to those offered to spouses of married employees.” This is a big deal for Florida, where no state law exists to protect LGBT people from discrimination at work.

Baby steps.

02.24.12 ♥ 41

NY marriage equality boosted revenue

Numbers have come in showing recent revenue for the state of New York’s marriage bureau, and in the shocker of the century (not), the bureau made a lot more money after the state legalized marriage equality. From the NY Post:

Total revenue to the city’s marriage bureau jumped from $2.07 million from August through December 2010, to $2.26 million in the same period last year, after same-sex nuptials went into effect, according the City Clerk’s Office.

Okay, friends. Joke about gay bridal registries all you want, but you can’t argue with these numbers. Equality is good for the economy. (And, you know, it’s the right thing to do. But that’s not enough of an argument for some.)

02.24.12 ♥ 53

BREAKING: MARRIAGE EQUALITY IN MARYLAND

The Maryland Senate this evening approved a bill legalizing marriage equality in the state and the governor has already promised to sign it.

The measure passed 25-22. This makes Maryland the eighth state to legalize marriage equality - the fourth to do so in the last year.

YES! YES! YES!

02.23.12 ♥ 538

“ Amendment One has far-reaching negative consequences for our families, our children and our communities. North Carolina is one of the most business-friendly states in the nation, and this amendment would harm our state’s ability to recruit the innovators and businesses that are driving our economic recovery.

— North Carolina senator Kay Hagan’s roundabout way of opposing Amendment One, a bill that would outlaw marriage equality in her state. Better than nothing! More.

02.23.12 ♥ 25

Virginia allows discrimination in adoption

The state of Virginia has essentially passed legislation making it legal for private adoption agencies to discriminate against LGBT parents.

This bill would allow agencies to deny couples adoptions on the basis of a conflict with their religious or moral beliefs, subtly but surely pointing to homosexuality. Virginia’s state Senate and House have both passed the bill and Gov. Bob McDonnell has promised to sign it. Virginia would be the second state to pass this kind of measure, second after North Dakota.

The bill is “the first step toward actually outlawing adoption by LGBT people,” said Sen. Adam Ebbin, the legislature’s only openly gay member. The Child Welfare League of America and the American Civil Liberties Union also opposed the measure. It “in essence codifies state-supported discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, which is not only unconstitutional but also unconscionable as it will deny many parentless children the family placements they so desperately need,” Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, said in an email.

Children need loving homes. There are plenty of loving parents ready with open arms and open homes. What seems to be the problem?

02.23.12 ♥ 146

Zoom

:)

02.23.12 ♥ 462

Source

The weird new site everyone's talking about

Seen this one yet?

In response to recent debates over Mormons baptizing people into their faith post-mortem, a new web site popped up giving people the ability to “convert dead Mormons.”

It’s called All Dead Mormons Are Now Gay, and it lets you either enter the name of a deceased Mormon person or “choose a Mormon” and press a button to “convert” them. A disclaimer at the bottom of the site says that “Holocaust victims are not eligible for conversion.” Some historical background on that from the Advocate:

The denomination, formally known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has long been known to perform what it calls “proxy baptisms” of non-Mormons after death, but it has come under particular criticism recently when it was revealed it had posthumously baptized Rosa Wiesenthal, a Jewish victim of the Holocaust and mother of famed Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal, and her husband, Asher Wiesenthal, who was killed in action in World War I. Proxy baptisms of people who died in the Holocaust are against LDS policy, but a church member nonetheless performed the procedure for the Wiesenthals. LDS officials have apologized and disciplined the member.

Is this in bad taste or is this in bad taste?

02.23.12 ♥ 32

Ten members of Congress pose for NOH8

Adam Bouska’s iconic NOH8 photography campaign against Prop 8 has 10 new supporters: members of Congress who recently posed for photos for the campaign. Only one of them identifies as LGBT; the rest are allies.

Bouska set up an exclusive “NOH8 on the Hill” event for members of Congress, and ten members of Congress took photos and submitted statements of support for the campaign. The campaign was aimed at all members of Congress regardless of party affiliation, but only Democrats had their photos taken. See their names and photos at the HuffPo article linked above.

This is absolutely inspiring. NOH8 is becoming a really significant activist cause in this country and a really easy one to get involved with, and it speaks volumes that these individuals got involved. Bravo.

02.23.12 ♥ 67

“ As an actor, to portray this role on a show like this has been the most amazing opportunity that I could have asked for. I was incredibly happy that they were brave enough and honest enough to go there because I think it’s a very prevalent issue now in the world.

— Max Adler, who plays Dave Karofsky on Glee, about last night’s episode. More.

02.22.12 ♥ 56

Judge strikes down DOMA

A California judge struck down a “key provision” of the Defense of Marriage Act tonight in a case involving a federal employee seeking benefits for her same-sex partner - the first ruling like this since the Obama administration announced it would no longer defend DOMA.

From ABC:

Karen Golinski, a lesbian woman married to her spouse under California law, brought the suit after she was unable to secure federal health benefits for her same-sex spouse.

U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey S. White said, “In this matter, the court finds that DOMA, as applied to Ms. Golinski, violates her right to equal protection of the law under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution by, without substantial justification or rational basis, refusing to recognize her lawful marriage to prevent provision of health insurance coverage to her spouse.”

Woohoo! Every single news blurb like this represents a small but significant victory. We’re getting there.

02.22.12 ♥ 90