President Barack Obama is chipping away at his long list of promises to gay voters but has yet to earn the full-throated backing of the reliably Democratic voting bloc.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is chipping away at his long list of promises to gay voters but has yet to earn the full-throated backing of the reliably Democratic voting bloc.
The Obama White House has accomplished more than any other on gay rights, yet has drawn sharp criticism from an unexpected constituency: the same gay activists who backed the president's election campaign.
Instead of the sweeping change gays and lesbians had sought, a piece-by-piece approach has been the administration's favored strategy, drawing neither serious fire from conservatives nor lavish praise from activists.
Obama on Tuesday planned to tick through some of the accomplishments at a meeting with grassroots gay activists at the White House. On Wednesday, his administration planned to announce the Labor Department would order businesses to extend unpaid leave for gay workers to care for newborns or loved ones.
The move, coming less than five months before November's congressional elections, seemed likely to incite conservatives and Republicans who stood in lockstep against the Obama administration's earlier efforts to repeal a ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. It also appeared likely to be popular with loyal Democrats and organized labor.
Just not with some gay activists, who long ago stopped giving Obama the benefit of a doubt.
"We still need laws passed that achieve what these minimal efforts attempt to do piecemeal," said Lane Hudson, a gay activist who last year interrupted Bill Clinton as he defended his administration's handling of gays and lesbians in the military.
The White House boasts a long list of accomplishments to tout during meetings with gay and lesbian organizations, but their reach is limited.
For instance, Obama signed a hate crimes bill into law, expanded benefits for partners of State Department employees and ended the ban on HIV-positive persons from visiting the United States. He referenced families with "two fathers" in his Father's Day proclamation last week and devoted 38 words of his State of the Union address to repealing "don't ask don't tell," the ban on gays serving openly in the military.
"There've been some mixed signals from his staff from time to time, but at the end of the day we're on the path toward repeal," said Aubrey Sarvis, the executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network that is trying to end the military ban.
"Initially, we saw the president and his team were a bit cautious and measured, I think in large part because they didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the Clinton administration. That was understandable. But we're long past that," he said.
There's reason for the frustration.
Obama's campaign pledged to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," yet that goal remains years away. His Justice Department invoked incest in a legal brief defending the traditional definition of marriage, prompting some gay donors last year to boycott the Democratic National Committee. And just last week, a committee at his Department of Health and Human Services recommended the nation retain its policy barring gay men from donating blood.
"Two wars, a financial crisis, now an oil spill, plus a fundamental unwillingness to act boldly on gay rights, have rendered Obama agenda-less on this issue," said Richard Socarides, who advised Clinton on gay policies.
Obama's allies say the small-bore changes are the best activists can hope despite Democrats controlling the White House, the Senate and the House.
"The reason why these policy changes are important is because we do not have ironclad LGBT majorities in either house of Congress," said Fred Sainz, a vice president at the Human Rights Campaign, Washington's largest gay rights organization, using the acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
"People wrongly assume that having Democratic majorities in Congress means that your legislative goals will be met. That's not the case," Sainz said.
Gay constituents are hardly the only member of the Democratic bloc to come up disappointed with this White House. Environmental groups groan as a comprehensive climate bill has languished on the Hill. Organized labor saw its signature legislation that would make it easier for workers to form unions go nowhere without the White House's backing. And women's groups were in open revolt during the debate over the health care overhaul because of anti-abortion provisions.
It's small consolation for gay rights activists.
"The people in the White House have to realize that issues of equality are not controversial," Hudson said.
A Gallup poll last month found 70 percent of American favor allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. That same poll, however, included a reminder: 53 percent in that poll opposed legalizing gay marriage.
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church ordains its 2nd openly gay bishop
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LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) - The Episcopal Church has consecrated a woman
as its second openly gay bishop, seven years after stirring lingering
controversy by ordaining a man to a similar post.
The Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool, of Baltimore, was ordained and
consecrated on Saturday. It also makes her one of the first two female
bishops in the Diocese of Los Angeles' 114-year history.
She was installed at Long Beach Arena before 3,000 people, who burst
into applause at the end, church spokesman Bob Williams said.
Just before the ceremony began, a man stood, shouted about the need to
repent and held up a sign that read "Do not be deceived, homosexuals
will not inherit the kingdom of God."
After he was escorted out, a young boy in the same section rose holding a
Bible and shouted similar slogans. Security guards also led him out.
The Rev. Canon Diane M. Jardine Bruce, of San Clemente, Calif., was also
ordained Saturday.
The two women were elected last December to serve as assistant bishops
in the diocese's six-county territory but conservative Episcopalians had
urged the church not to ordain Glasspool. The decision to do so
highlights a continued Episcopal commitment to accepting same-sex
relationships despite enormous pressure from other Anglicans.
Bishop Jon Bruno, who gave a sermon at the ceremony, said he once
opposed ordaining women, but now would be happily serving alongside two.
Bruno defended the church's inclusive policies.
"The world's transformed only if we turn to each and every one of our
brothers and sisters and see the face of Christ superimposed on them,"
he told the audience. "The ones we disagree with most are the ones we're
obligated to share our lives and teach the most."
The Episcopal Church, which is the Anglican body in the United States,
caused turmoil in the church in 2003 by consecrating the first openly
gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
Breakaway Episcopal conservatives have formed a rival church, the
Anglican Church in North America.
Several overseas Anglicans have been pressuring Archbishop of Canterbury
Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans,
to officially recognize the new conservative entity.
In 2004, Anglican leaders asked the Episcopal Church for a moratorium on
electing another gay bishop while they tried to prevent a permanent
break in the fellowship.
Since the request was made, some Episcopal gay priests have been
nominated for bishop, but none was elected before Glasspool. In July
2009, the Episcopal General Convention, the U.S. church's top policy
making body, affirmed that gay and lesbian priests were eligible to
become bishops.
Glasspool and Bruce, who leaves her post as pastor of St. Clement's
Episcopal Church in San Clemente, will also be the 16th and 17th women
to be elected bishops since the first, Barbara Harris, was selected for
such a post in Massachusetts in 1988.
Harris was one of seven bishops who helped consecrate Glasspool at
Saturday's ceremony.
Glasspool, 56, an adviser, or canon, for eight years to the Diocese of
Maryland's bishop, said in an essay on the Los Angeles diocese Web site
that she had an "intense struggle" while in college with her sexuality
and the call to become a priest.
She did not speak Saturday, but told a gathering of media Friday that
the church's willingness to ordain women and gays shows a commitment
that goes beyond mere inclusive language.
"We are being the church we say we are," Glasspool said. "We're not just
saying it, we're doing it and there's something very powerful about
that."
Christian preacher arrested for saying homosexuality is a sin
A Christian street preacher was arrested and locked in a cell for telling a passer-by that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God.
Dale McAlpine was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after a homosexual police community support officer (PCSO) overheard him reciting a number of “sins” referred to in the Bible, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same sex relationships.
The 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Wokington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder, but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the word of God.
Police officers are alleging that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and have charged him with using abusive or insulting language, contrary to the Public Order Act.
Mr McAlpine, who was taken to the police station in the back of a marked van and locked in a cell for seven hours on April 20, said the incident was among the worst experiences of his life.
“I felt deeply shocked and humiliated that I had been arrested in my own town and treated like a common criminal in front of people I know," he said.
“My freedom was taken away on the hearsay of someone who disliked what I said, and I was charged under a law that doesn't apply.”
Christian campaigners have expressed alarm that the Public Order Act, introduced in 1986 to tackle violent rioters and football hooligans, is being used to curb religious free speech.
Sam Webster, a solicitor-advocate for the Christian Institute, which is supporting Mr McAlpine, said it is not a crime to express the belief that homosexual conduct is a sin.
“The police have a duty to maintain public order but they also have a duty to defend the lawful free speech of citizens,” he said.
“Case law has ruled that the orthodox Christian belief that homosexual conduct is sinful is a belief worthy of respect in a democratic society."
Mr McAlpine was handing out leaflets explaining the Ten Commandments or offering a “ticket to heaven” with a church colleague on April 20, when a woman came up and engaged him in a debate about his faith.
During the exchange, he says he quietly listed homosexuality among a number of sins referred to in 1 Corinthians, including blasphemy, fornication, adultery and drunkenness.
After the woman walked away, she was approached by a PCSO who spoke with her briefly and then walked over to Mr McAlpine and told him a complaint had been made, and that he could be arrested for using racist or homophobic language.
The street preacher said he told the PCSO: “I am not homophobic but sometimes I do say that the Bible says homosexuality is a crime against the Creator”.
He claims that the PCSO then said he was homosexual and identified himself as the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender liaison officer for Cumbria police. Mr McAlpine replied: “It’s still a sin.”
The preacher then began a 20 minute sermon, in which he says he mentioned drunkenness and adultery, but not homosexuality. Three regular uniformed police officers arrived during the address, arrested Mr McAlpine and put him in the back of a police van.
At the station, he was told to empty his pockets and his mobile telephone, belt and shoes were confiscated. Police took fingerprints, a palm print, a retina scan and a DNA swab.
He was later interviewed, charged under Sections 5 (1) and (6) of the Public Order Act and released on bail on the condition that he did not preach in public.
Mr McAlpine pleaded not guilty at a preliminary hearing on Friday at Wokingham magistrates court and is now awaiting a trial date.
The Public Order Act, which outlaws the unreasonable use of abusive language likely to cause distress, has been used to arrest religious people in a number of similar cases.
Harry Hammond, a pensioner, was convicted under Section 5 of the Act in 2002 for holding up a sign saying “Stop immorality. Stop Homosexuality. Stop Lesbianism. Jesus is Lord” while preaching in Bournemouth.
Stephen Green, a Christian campaigner, was arrested and charged in 2006 for handing out religious leaflets at a Gay Pride festival in Cardiff. The case against him was later dropped.
Cumbria police said last night that no one was available to comment on Mr McAlpine’s case.
Divorce dilemma: Texas says gays can't get
divorce
AP – Angelique Naylor stands near the Texas state capital in
Austin, Texas Monday April 12, 2010. She had …
By JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press Writer Jamie Stengle, Associated Press Writer
–
2 hrs 48 mins ago
DALLAS – After the joy of a wedding and the adoption
of a baby came arguments that couldn't be resolved, leading Angelique
Naylor to file for divorce. That left her fighting both the woman she
married in Massachusetts
and the state of Texas, which says a union granted in a state where
same-sex marriage is legal can't be dissolved with a divorce in a state
where it's not.
A judge in Austin granted the divorce, but Texas Attorney General Greg
Abbott is appealing the decision. He also is appealing a divorce
granted to a gay couple in Dallas, saying protecting the "traditional
definition of marriage" means doing the same for divorce.
A state
appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments in the Dallas case
on Wednesday.
The Dallas men, who declined to be interviewed for
this story and are known only as J.B. and H.B. in court filings, had an
amicable separation, with no disputes on separation of property and no
children involved, said attorney Peter Schulte, who represents J.B. The
couple, who married in 2006 in Massachusetts and separated two years
later, simply want an official divorce, Schulte said.
The drawn-out process has been frustrating for Naylor, who says she
didn't file for divorce as an equal rights statement — she just wants to
get on with her life.
"We didn't ask for a marriage; we simply asked for
the courtesy of divorce," said Naylor, 39, of Austin, who married Sabina
Daly in Massachusetts in 2004.
That year, Massachusetts became the first state to
let same-sex couples tie the knot. Now, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont and the
District of Columbia also allow them.
Gay and lesbian couples who turn to the courts when
they break up are getting mixed results across the nation. A
Pennsylvania judge last month refused to divorce two women who married
in Massachusetts, while New York grants such divorces even though the
state doesn't allow same-sex marriage.
"The bottom line is that same-sex couples have
families and their families have the same needs and problems, but often
don't have the same rights," said Jennifer Pizer, a lawyer for Lambda Legal, a national
legal organization that promotes equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender people.
"It really is an unenviable position that the courts
have put these couples in," said Karen Loewy, an attorney at the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and
Defenders.
Abbott, a Republican seeking re-election, declined to
be interviewed for this story. He has argued in court filings that
because the state doesn't recognize gay marriage there can be no divorce, but a
gay or lesbian Texas couple may have a marriage voided. Attorneys
representing such couples argue that voiding a marriage here could leave
it intact in other states, creating problems for property divisions and
other issues.
"OK, you're recommending voidance, but how does that
work?" asked Jennifer Cochran, Naylor's attorney. "Is it only void in
Texas and can you void a marriage that's valid in another state? The
attorney general I feel didn't answer those questions."
In 2005, Texas voters passed a constitutional ban on
same-sex marriage by a 3-to-1 margin even though state law already
prohibited it. Abbott has said he is appealing the Dallas divorce ruling
for two men to "defend the traditional definition of marriage that was
approved by Texas voters."
Abbott disagrees with the judge in that case, who
ruled in October that the same-sex marriage ban violates equal rights
guaranteed by the U.S.
Constitution.
Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel for the conservative
Liberty Institute in Plano, called that decision "outrageous judicial activism."
The institute has filed a friend of the court brief to the appeals
court on behalf of the two Republican state lawmakers who co-sponsored
the amendment banning gay
marriage: state Rep. Warren Chisum and former state Sen. Todd Staples.
"It's a backdoor run at establishing same-sex
so-called marriage against the people's vote," Shackelford said. "Once
you grant the divorce, you are recognizing that there was a marriage."
Dallas divorce attorney Tom Greenwald said he's
advising gay couples to wait and see how things play out in the courts.
"Getting the court of appeals to even accept the
issue is a step in the right direction in getting some clarity on this,"
he said. "We just don't know how to treat it."
As for Naylor and Daly — the latter declined to comment — they've been
trying to figure out what to do since separating in 2007 amid escalating
arguments.
The couple, who had real estate-related businesses and renovated homes,
toyed with the idea of one of them moving to a state where gay marriage is legal
until a divorce is finalized, but that didn't seem practical.
Naylor said that eventually, she and Daly worked out a custody
arrangement for their now 4 1/2-year-old son. Naylor said that when she
heard about the Dallas divorce, she thought it was worth a try and filed
for her own, even though several attorneys she spoke with weren't so
sure.
"They said it's too up in the air, wait and see for appeals," Naylor
said. "I didn't have a lot of time to wait and see."
Lesbian teen sues to force school to hold prom
AP – Constance McMillen, an 18-year-old senior at Itawamba County Agricultural High School, is photographed …
By SHELIA BYRD, Associated Press Writer Shelia Byrd, Associated Press Writer – 37 mins ago
JACKSON, Miss. – A lesbian student who wanted to take her girlfriend to her senior prom is asking a federal judge to force her Mississippi school district to reinstate the dance it canceled
The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi on Thursday filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Oxford on behalf of 18-year-old Constance McMillen, who said she faced some unhappy classmates after the Itawamba County School District said it wouldn't host the April 2 prom.
"Somebody said, 'Thanks for ruining my senior year.'" McMillen said of her reluctant return Thursday to Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton.
The lawsuit seeks a court order for the school to hold the prom. It also asks that McMillen be allowed to escort her girlfriend, who is a fellow student, and wear a tuxedo, which the school said also violated policy.
The district's decision Wednesday came after the ACLU demanded that officials change a policy banning same-sex prom dates because it said it violated students' rights. The ACLU said the district violated McMillen's free expression rights by not letting her wear a tux.
McMillen said she never expected the district to respond the way it did.
"A lot of people said that was going to happen, but I said, they had already spent too much money on the prom" to cancel it, she said.
McMillen said she didn't want to go back to the high school in Fulton the morning after the decision, but her father told her she needed to face her classmates.
"My daddy told me that I needed to show them that I'm still proud of who I am," McMillen told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "The fact that this will help people later on, that's what's helping me to go on."
The school board statement said it wouldn't host the event "due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events" but didn't mention McMillen. District officials didn't return calls seeking comment Thursday.
At least one supporter has offered to help McMillen and her classmates hold an alternate prom.
New Orleans hotel owner Sean Cummings told The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson he was so disappointed with the school board's decision he offered to transport the students in buses to the city and host a free prom at one of his properties.
"New Orleans, we're a joyful culture and a creative culture here and, if the school doesn't change its mind, we'd be delighted to offer them a prom in New Orleans," he told the newspaper. "Concluding your high school experience should be a joyful one. One shouldn't conclude that experience with all their friends on a negative note."
Same-sex prom dates and cross-dressing are new issues for many high schools around the country, said Daryl Presgraves, a spokesman for GLSEN: Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, a Washington-based advocacy group.
"A lot of schools actually react rather than do the research and find out what the rights of these students are," said Presgraves.
McMillen says she hopes her fight will make it easier for gay students at other schools facing discrimination.
"I want other kids to know that's it not right for schools to do that," she said on CBS's "The Early Show."
In 2002, a gay student sued his school district in Toronto to allow him to attend a prom with his boyfriend. A judge later forced the district to allow the couple to attend and stopped the district from canceling the prom.
U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., said a bill he's introduced in Congress would make it illegal to discriminate against gay and lesbian school students. He said at least 10 states have such laws, and his bill is modeled after those.
"This situation with the prom is a perfect example of why we need to protect students from discrimination. In this case it's a prom. It other cases, it's getting beaten up or killed," Polis said.
The school district had said it hoped a privately sponsored prom could be held.
Southside Baptist Church Pastor Bobby Crenshaw said he's seen the South portrayed as "backwards" on Web sites discussing the issue, "but a lot more people here have biblically based values."
Itawamba County is a rural area of about 23,000 people in north Mississippi near the Alabama state line. It's near Pontotoc County, Miss., where more than a decade ago school officials were sued in federal court over their practice of student-led intercom prayer and Bible classes.
Two Mexican women wed in Latin America first
Mar 11 03:23 PM US/Eastern
Two Mexican women were the first to wed in Mexico City on Thursday after the sprawling capital became a pioneer in Latin America by legalizing gay marriages.
Lol Kin Castaneda, 33, and Judith Vazquez, 45, wore matching ivory dresses as they led a multiple ceremony at the city hall in which four other gay couples, including two other lesbians, were also married.
Mexico City's left-leaning legislature approved gay marriage and opened the way for adoptions on December 21, provoking a wave of uproar from religious groups in the Catholic nation and conservatives including President Felipe Calderon.
The attorney general has lodged an appeal against the move at the Supreme Court and a string of states are seeking to apply measures to specifically prohibit gay marriages.
Two men were recently married in Argentina, the country's second gay marriage, after a judge approved the union ahead of possible legislation there too.
By PETE SAMSON, US Editor
Published: 2/18/10
JESUS was GAY - according to the gospel of SIR ELTON JOHN.
The singer makes his controversial claim about the Lord in a new US interview that will enrage America's bible belt.
Elton, 62, declares as he pours out his heart to a magazine: "I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems."
He adds: "Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don't know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East - you're as good as dead."
He goes on in the same interview to describe how he and DAVID FURNISH, 47 - now his "husband" - first got together.
The pop veteran tells Parade magazine: "I was attracted to David immediately. He was very well dressed, very shy. The next night we had dinner.
"After it, we fell in love very quickly."
He said of previous lovers: "I'd always choose someone younger. I wanted to smother them with love. I'd take them around the world, try to educate them.
"One after another they got a Cartier watch, a Versace outfit, maybe a sports car.
"They didn't have jobs. They were reliant on me.
"In six months they were bored and hated my guts because I'd taken their lives and self-worth away. I hadn't intended to."
AP – Same-sex couple Kris Perry, left, and Sandy Stier hold hands outside of the federal courthouse
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer Lisa Leff, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 14, 4:26 am ET
SAN FRANCISCO – Seeking to strengthen arguments against a ban on same-sex marriage, trial attorneys have introduced statements from a supporter of California's ban warning voters in 2008 that gay rights activists would try to legalize sex with children if same-sex couples had the right to wed.
The material was presented Wednesday in the third day of a trial brought by opponents of the state's same-sex marriage prohibition.
San Francisco resident Hak-Shing William Tam, a defendant in the case, discussed a letter to Chinese-Americans church groups during a legal deposition taped last month.
Tam wrote in the letter issued during the 2008 campaign that legalizing same-sex marriage was part of a broader gay agenda.
"On their agenda list is: legalize having sex with children," states the letter, which also cautioned that "other states would fall into Satan's hands" if gays weren't stopped from marrying in California.
Lawyers for two same-sex couples introduced the footage to buttress their contention that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional because it was fueled by deep-seated animosity against gays.
The case resumes Thursday with testimony from an economist for the San Francisco city government on the financial costs to the city of not allowing gays to marry.
During his deposition, Tam explained that he based his views on personal experience and a Web site that described a 1972 meeting of gay rights activists.
"My daughter told me her classmates chose to become lesbians and experiment with it after they noticed that same-sex marriage, they think it is a cool thing," Tam said. "They have some problem getting dates with boys, so same-sex marriage, since it is in the air, they think, 'Oh, why not try girls.'"
David Thompson, a lawyer for Proposition 8 backers, told Walker that despite Tam's official role as a sponsor of the measure, Tam had nothing to do with the campaign and "is attempting to withdraw to avoid precisely this kind of focus on his individual views."
The trial under way here is the first in a federal court to examine the constitutionality of laws limiting marriage to a man and a woman. Regardless of the outcome, Walker's ruling is likely to make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where a decision could uphold or overturn bans on gay marriage nationwide.
In other court action, a psychologist from the University of California, Los Angeles, testified on behalf of two same-sex couples in the lawsuit that her research showed gay and straight couples "are indistinguishable" in terms of the stability of and satisfaction with their relationships.
Based on her own and other studies, Letitia Peplau concluded that nothing suggests that extending marriage to same-sex couples would cause marriage rates to fall and divorces to rise for heterosexuals.
But she also acknowledged that her answers were not research-based because there has been no long-term study on the social impact of same-sex marriage.
After New Jersey defeat, gay marriage advocates turn to courts
Gay-rights activists in New Jersey said they would file a lawsuit following the defeat of the gay-marriage bill in the state Senate Thursday. But the effort to legalize gay marriage through the courts carries its own risks.
Hours after the New Jersey Senate voted against a bill Thursday to legalize same-sex marriage, a coalition of gay-rights advocates said they would make their case in the state’s Supreme Court.
With the nationwide campaign to legalize gay marriage suffering a series of setbacks in recent months – a ballot measure was defeated in Maine last November and a bill rejected by the New York Senate – many advocates see the courtroom as the most likely venue for opening marriage to gay and lesbian couples in the near term.
In San Francisco, a lawsuit in a federal court begins Monday that challenges the Constitutionality of Proposition 8, the 2008 voter-approved initiative that banned gay marriage in California. In US District Court in Boston, two lawsuits seek to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which limits the government’s definition of marriage to a union between a man and woman.
“[T]he New Jersey legislature defaulted on its constitutional obligation to provide same-sex couples in New Jersey equal protection, as unanimously mandated by the New Jersey Supreme Court in 2006...,” said Steven Goldstein of the gay-rights group, Garden State Equality, at a press conference following Thursday’s vote. He added, “Our side is going back to court to win marriage equality.”
Vote v. court
While the San Francisco trial is focused on Proposition 8, it could have an impact on the nationwide debate on gay marriage and eventually reach the US Supreme Court.
When the case was initially filed, a coalition of gay-rights groups issued a statement saying it was too early to challenge Proposition 8 in federal courts. They wanted to return to the polls to legalize gay marriage.
“A marriage case based on the federal Constitution may well not win the right to marry back in California. A loss would likely set back the fight for marriage nationwide,” said the statement by the country’s leading gay rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal.
That initial opposition to the lawsuit filed by two high-profile lawyers, who argued on opposite sides of the Bush v. Gore 2000 Supreme Court case, has since softened.
One of the lawyers in the case, Theodore Olson, told Time magazine, “[O]ur clients were made fully aware of the risks and chose to go forward. For them, the status quo is already failure. We had every reason to believe that someone was going to bring this case in any event – without the resources or experience that we can assemble.”
Courts have often been more willing to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. It was the courts that made gay marriage legal in Massachusetts, Iowa, and Connecticut, although legislatures in Vermont and New Hampshire have enacted same-sex marriage laws. In the District of Colombia, the city council voted to legalize gay marriage.
“Often we are able to ensure constitutional protections in courts before legislatures because we are a small minority,” says Jennifer Pizer, senior counsel and Marriage Project Director for Lambda Legal, a gay and lesbian rights group.
But in other states, such as California and Hawaii, courts have ruled against gay marriage.
Most still oppose gay marriage
Some legal experts say the gay rights movement has a lot at risk if the case against Proposition 8 goes to the Supreme Court before a majority of states – and Americans – accept gay marriage. The Supreme Court is often reluctant to be too far ahead of national attitudes, they say.
Though many polls show a growing acceptance for same-sex relationships, an October 2009 Pew Research poll found that 53 percent of Americans oppose gay marriage. Thirty-one states have voted against same-sex marriage at the polls.
“The reason that you don’t turn back to the courts too soon is that this can’t be a project of the legal elite,” says Marc Spindelman, a law professor at Ohio State University. “When the citizenry don’t recognize themselves in the [decision], there’s the potential for backlash.”
Salt Lake City's landmark protections for gay and transgender residents appear likely to take effect after surviving the last hurdle: the Legislature.
But most legislative leaders say it's doubtful those provisions against discrimination in housing and employment will be expanded statewide during the 2010 session -- despite a historic endorsement from the LDS Church.
"The Legislature is more inclined to give the Salt Lake City ordinance[s] a year," says Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, "just to kind of see how [they work] and if we need to work any bugs out before we sponsor anything statewide."
Still, Rep. Christine Johnson, D-Salt Lake City, plans -- for the third time -- to push a statewide fair housing and employment bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing state laws that bar bias based on a person's race, religion, sex, national origin or other characteristics. A recent poll shows 69 percent of Utahns support doing so.
It's one of two comeback bills from last year's expansive collection of gay-rights measures, dubbed the Common Ground Initiative. The initiative garnered support in public opinion polls and a Republican endorsement from then-Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. but wilted in the conservative Utah Legislature.
Brandie Balken, executive director of Equality Utah, says Common Ground, despite promises made last year, will not return as a campaign in the 2010 Legislature. Instead, she says, the
group will continue to work on the initiative's issues -- health care, anti-discrimination and probate rights -- at the community level.
There have been some successes.
In November, Salt Lake City passed two ordinances -- the first of their kind in Utah -- that ban housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Exemptions are made for religious organizations, their wholly owned subsidiaries and small employers and landlords. At a City Council meeting, LDS Church spokesman Michael Otterson said the measures are "fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage."
This past week, Salt Lake County followed Salt Lake City's lead, and Park City is on deck.
"I certainly understand the argument for observing how Salt Lake City and other municipalities succeed," says Johnson, one of the Utah House's two openly gay lawmakers. "But I think that we have nationwide examples of states that have implemented a statewide nondiscrimination policy and suffered no ills."
Johnson points to 21 other states, including Colorado and New Mexico, that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Most of those states, along with the District of Columbia, also bar gender-identity bias.
Stephenson says he supports Salt Lake City's ordinances, but he's not yet ready to endorse statewide measures.
"It's worth looking at," he says. Salt Lake City's policy "doesn't give a right of action for anyone [to sue], but it still acknowledges if somebody blatantly discriminates against someone because of gender [identity] or sexual orientation on housing or employment, there ought to be some consequences."
House Majority Leader Kevin Garn, R-Layton, says he expects Johnson's fair housing and employment bill to fare as well as it did in 2009. It died in committee.
"Nothing has changed," he says. "The result will probably be the same as last year."
Of course, one big change has occurred since then: The LDS Church backing Salt Lake City's ordinances. Even an LDS apostle, Jeffrey R. Holland, has suggested those measures are "shareable."
Garn expects Salt Lake City's anti-discrimination ordinances to survive unscathed. The measures were set to take effect in April after the legislative session.
"It reflects what they believe ought to be done in their city," Garn says. "I just don't think the Legislature is going to try to micromanage that decision by the Salt Lake City Council."
But the Sutherland Institute, which initially called on lawmakers to overturn the capital's ordinances, now is urging the Legislature instead to alter them. The conservative Salt Lake City-based think tank wants the religious exemption expanded to include religious adherents. A lawmaker has not yet agreed to carry the effort.
Such a change essentially would gut the protections, says Ben McAdams, senior adviser to Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker and an incoming Democratic senator.
At a City Council meeting last week, McAdams predicted the Legislature will not be "narrowing or broadening" the city's ordinances this year, allowing Salt Lake City to be a "laboratory" for anti-discrimination efforts.
But Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, is concerned that other communities, including Salt Lake County and Park City, aren't waiting for Salt Lake City's lab results.
"The Legislature is getting irritated that no one else is sitting back," he says. "I'm guessing we won't sit back either."
He adds, "If everybody's going to do it, we'd just as soon weigh in as wait. It's harder to overturn 20 than to overturn two or three."
Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, says he supports a "wait and see" approach on expanding Salt Lake City's protections for gay and transgender residents statewide.
"I don't have any desire to see [Salt Lake City's ordinances] overturned," Killpack says. "That would be a mistake."
McAdams says anti-discrimination ordinances in Salt Lake County and Park City also could serve as proving grounds for a statewide law.
"Protections at home and at work," he says, "are something that is a basic human right."
McAdams replaces gay-rights champion Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City, this session. The incoming senator plans to run McCoy's wrongful-death measure -- one of last year's failed Common Ground bills. The legislation, which will not bear the Common Ground moniker this year, would allow same-sex partners and others to sue when a breadwinner suffers a wrongful death.
"It speaks to the importance of life," McAdams says, "and recognizes that individuals who are in financially dependent relationships need security."
Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, D-Salt Lake City, promises to revive -- for a third run -- her adoption bill, which would restore the ability of gay and lesbian couples to adopt children. This year, she says, the bill could focus on second-parent adoptions: for instance, when a biological mom wants her lesbian partner to be the child's legal, second parent. (The adoption bill was not part of last year's Common Ground Initiative.)
Johnson plans to push a second bill related to gay-rights: a resolution calling on Congress and President Barack Obama to end the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which bans openly gay service members.
AP – In this photo distributed by the press office of Tierra del Fuego government, Alex Freyre, right, and …
By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA, Associated Press Writer Almudena Calatrava, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 29, 10:49 am ET
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – They had to travel to the ends of the Earth to do it, but two Argentine men succeeded in becoming Latin America's first same-sex married couple.
After their first attempt to wed earlier this month in Buenos Aires was thwarted, gay rights activists Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre took their civil ceremony to the capital of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province, where a sympathetic governor backed their bid to make Latin American history.
The couple exchanged rings Monday in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, closer to Antarctica than Buenos Aires. The informal ceremony was witnessed by state and federal officials.
"My knees didn't stop shaking," said Di Bello. "We are the first gay couple in Latin America to marry."
Di Bello, 41, an executive at the Argentine Red Cross, met Freyre, 39, executive director of the Buenos Aires AIDS Foundation, at an HIV awareness conference. Both are HIV-positive.
At the indoor civil ceremony, the grooms wore sport coats without ties, and had large red ribbons draped around their necks in solidarity with other people living with HIV.
Argentina's Constitution is silent on whether marriage must be between a man and a woman, effectively leaving the matter to provincial and city officials. The men tried to get married in Argentina's capital but city officials, who had earlier said the ceremony could proceed, refused to wed them citing conflicting judicial rulings.
Di Bello said Ushuaia initially declined to authorize the marriage, but went ahead after the couple received backing from Tierra del Fuego province.
Gov. Fabiana Rios said in a statement that gay marriage "is an important advance in human rights and social inclusion and we are very happy that this has happened in our state."
An official representing the federal government's antidiscrimination agency, Claudio Morgado, attended the wedding and called the occasion "historic."
Many in Argentina and throughout Latin America remain opposed to gay marriage, particularly the Roman Catholic Church.
"The decision took me by surprise and I'm concerned," Bishop Juan Carlos, of the southern city of Rio Gallegos, told the Argentine news agency DyN. He called the marriage "an attack against the survival of the human species."
But same-sex civil unions have been legalized in Uruguay, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and some states in Mexico and Brazil. Marriage generally carries more exclusive rights such as adopting children, inheriting wealth and enabling a partner to gain citizenship.
Legal analyst Andres Gil Dominguez said the Tierra del Fuego government appeared to base its authorization on a broad interpretation of the Argentine Constitution and obligations under international treaties.
Rios said her province's approval was based on a ruling by a Buenos Aires judge who declared two provisions of the constitution discriminatory and gave the go-ahead for the Dec. 1 marriage, which was then blocked by another judge's ruling based on civil law.
Individual provinces may not have final say over same-sex marriages for long.
A bill that would legalize gay marriage was introduced in Argentina's Congress in October but it has stalled without a vote.
Argentina's Supreme Court currently is analyzing appeals by same-sex couples whose marriages were rejected. A Supreme Court justice said on Monday that the high court would likely rule on issues of same-sex marriage sometime in 2010, but could defer to Congress if legislation moves forward.
Only seven countries in the world allow gay marriages: Canada, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. U.S. states that permit same-sex marriage are Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire.
Earlier this month, lawmakers in Mexico City made it the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage. Leftist Mayor Marcelo Ebrard was widely expected to sign the measure into law.
Houston biggest US city to elect openly gay mayor
Dec 13, 7:24 AM (ET)
By MONICA RHOR
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HOUSTON (AP) - Houston became the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor, with voters handing a solid victory to City Controller Annise Parker after a hotly contested runoff.
Parker defeated former city attorney Gene Locke with 53.6 percent of the vote Saturday in a race that had a turnout of only 16.5 percent.
"This election has changed the world for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. Just as it is about transforming the lives of all Houstonians for the better, and that's what my administration will be about," Parker told supporters after Locke conceded defeat.
Parker, 53, has never made a secret or an issue of her sexual orientation. But it became the focus of the race after anti-gay activists and conservative religious groups endorsed Locke and sent out mailers condemning Parker's "homosexual behavior."
Locke, 61, tried to distance himself from the anti-gay attacks while courting conservative voters who could tip the election in his favor. Meanwhile, gay and lesbian political organizations nationwide rallied to support Parker by raising money for her campaign and making calls urging people to vote.
Several other U.S. cities, including Portland, Ore., Providence, R.I., and Cambridge, Mass., have openly gay mayors, but none as large as Houston.
A little more than 152,000 residents turned out to cast ballots in the nation's fourth largest city, which has a population of 2.2 million. Of those voters, 81,743 chose Parker - some 11,000 votes more than Locke received.
Although Locke condemned the anti-gay rhetoric, two of his key supporters contributed money to a conservative political action committee that sent out an anti-gay mailer earlier this month, urging voters not to pick Parker because she was endorsed by the "gay and lesbian political caucus."
Campaign finance reports show Ned Holmes, finance chairman of Locke's campaign, and James Dannenbaum, a member of the campaign's finance committee, each gave $20,000.
Late Saturday, Locke offered his congratulations to Parker and urged the city to move on from the bruising campaign fight.
"Here's what our city needs now: It needs unity. It needs us to come together and heal like we've never healed before, and to move forward under a new administration," he said.
Parker and Locke, both Democrats in the nonpartisan race, advanced to the runoff after garnering more votes than two other candidates on Nov. 3. Parker will succeed Bill White, who is term-limited after serving six years and is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.
Houston is predominantly Democratic and about 25 percent black and one-third Hispanic. About 60,000 of its residents identify themselves as gay or lesbian.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles has elected a lesbian as assistant bishop, the second openly gay bishop in the global Anglican fellowship, which is already deeply fractured over the first.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, said Sunday that the choice raised "very serious questions" for the divided church and urged restraint.
The Rev. Mary Glasspool of Baltimore needs approval from a majority of dioceses across the church before she can be consecrated as assistant bishop in the Los Angeles diocese.
Still, her victory Saturday underscored a continued Episcopal commitment to accepting same-sex relationships despite enormous pressure from other Anglicans to change their stand.
"Any group of people who have been oppressed because of any one, isolated aspect of their persons yearns for justice and equal rights," Glasspool said in a statement, thanking the diocese for choosing her.
The head of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, is scheduled to consecrate Glasspool on May 15 in Los Angeles, if the church accepts the vote.
The Episcopal Church, which is the Anglican body in the United States, caused an uproar in 2003 by consecrating the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
Breakaway Episcopal conservatives have formed a rival church, the Anglican Church in North America. Several overseas Anglicans have been pressuring Williams to officially recognize the new conservative entity.
In 2004, Anglican leaders asked the Episcopal Church for a moratorium on electing another gay bishop while they tried to prevent a permanent break in the fellowship.
Since the request was made, some Episcopal gay priests have been nominated for bishop, but none was elected before Glasspool. Last July, the Episcopal General Convention, the U.S. church's top policy making body, affirmed that gay and lesbian priests were eligible to become bishops.
Williams on Sunday reminded Anglicans that church leaders believed "a period of gracious restraint in respect of actions which are contrary to the mind of the Communion is necessary if our bonds of mutual affection are to hold."
He said Glasspool's election "raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the Communion as a whole." But he noted the election has yet to be confirmed and could still be rejected by U.S. dioceses.
The Anglican Communion is a family of churches that trace their roots to the missionary work of the Church of England. Most overseas Anglicans are Bible conservatives.
The Rev. Kendall Harmon of the traditional Diocese of South Carolina, which recently voted to distance itself from the national church, said Saturday's vote would further damage relations among Episcopalians, their fellow Anglicans and other Christians.
"This decision represents an intransigent embrace of a pattern of life Christians throughout history and the world have rejected as against biblical teaching," said Harmon, an adviser to the diocesan bishop.
Jim Naughton of The Chicago Consultation, a group of Episcopal and Anglican clergy and lay people who advocate on behalf of gays and lesbians, called Glasspool's election "a liberation."
"We've been around this issue for 30 years," said Naughton, an adviser to the bishop of Washington. "It's unreasonable to expect us to refrain from acting on the very prayerful conclusions that we've reached, especially when we think there are issues of justice involved."
Robinson said he told Glasspool before the election that he was grateful she was willing to put herself in the stressful position of running for bishop.
"One of the reasons she is so the right person for this is that she knows who she is and she knows she belongs to God and she knows everything else falls in place when you keep that central," Robinson said in a phone interview. "She's no stranger to people who think she shouldn't be a priest because she's a woman, or think she shouldn't be a priest because she's a lesbian."
Glasspool, 55, an adviser, or canon, for eight years to the Diocese of Maryland's bishop, said in an essay on the Los Angeles diocese Web site that she had an "intense struggle" while in college with her sexuality and the call to become a priest.
"Did God hate me (since I was a homosexual), or did God love me?" she wrote. "Did I hate (or love) myself?"
She said she met her partner, Becki Sander, while working in Massachusetts, and the two have been together since 1988. When a colleague recently asked for permission to submit Glasspool's name as a candidate in Los Angeles, she agreed because she believed it was time "for our wonderful church to move on and be the inclusive church we say we are."
Glasspool was elected on a seventh ballot that included two other candidates. She won 153 clergy votes and 203 lay votes, giving her just enough to emerge as the winner.
The election began Friday with six candidates vying for two vacancies for assistant bishops.
The winner for the first vacancy was the Rev. Diane M. Jardine Bruce, rector of St. Clement's-By-The-Sea Episcopal Church in San Clemente. As the balloting progressed for the second vacancy, two other candidates eventually withdrew.
A graduate of Dickinson College and Episcopal Divinity School, Glasspool was ordained in 1981, and has led parishes in Annapolis, Md., Boston and Philadelphia.
Los Angeles Bishop Jon Bruno, who leads the diocese, urged Episcopal dioceses to approve Glasspool's election and not base their decision on fear of how other Anglicans will react.
The Los Angeles diocese has 70,000 members and covers six Southern California counties. Jardine and Glasspool, whose titles will be suffragan bishops, are the first women bishops in the Los Angeles diocese.
Editor's note: Description of the musical's content includes examples of its profane, lewd and possibly racist material, which may be objectionable to some readers.
Students at a high school in Massachusetts are opening theater doors today for a free performance
of scenes from their upcoming musical, a tale about a bisexual father torn between his family and his "gay" lover.
Seven students of Concord-Carlisle High School in Concord, Mass., are cast in the school's rendition of "Falsettos," a Tony-award-winning production described by a local newspaper as "a musical comedy about life, love and loss in which the characters renegotiate their definitions of family."
But one organization in Massachusetts is objecting to how the plot redefines "family" and pointing to some of musical's content – including the songs "My Father's a Homo", "Everybody Hates His Parents" and "Four Jews in a Room B----ing" – as blatantly offensive.
"Community residents are very concerned about the production's vulgar sexuality and anti-family message," writes MassResistance – a local group that counters promotion of homosexuality in the state – on its blog entry. "Not content with inflicting this on the community in the weeks before Christmas, the school has added a sneak preview scheduled on Thanksgiving Day."
Though full performances aren't scheduled for another two weeks, Concord-Carlisle High School is welcoming author of "Falsettos" William Finn today to preview a few of the scenes and interact with the cast. The forum is free and open to the public.
The musical, however, includes a number of potentially offensive lyrics, including jokes about sexually transmitted diseases and the following lines, among others:
Don't make noise, but Daddy's kissing boys
Marvin was never mine, he took his meetings in the boys' latrine
Great, men will be men – let me turn on the gas – I saw them in the den with Marvin grabbing Whizzer's a--
Four Jews in a room b----ing (wheee!), four Jews talking like Jewish men. I'm neurotic, he's neurotic, they're neurotic, we're neurotic. B----, b----, b----, b----, funny, funny, funny, funny.
"This is what they have high-school students memorizing and singing," quipped a MassResistance email.
But while MassResistance is raising objections and urging concerned people to contact the school's administrators about the musical's content, the city of Concord, on the other hand, has a history of pioneering the homosexual movement.
Kevin Jennings, President Obama's safe-schools czar, was a teacher at the Concord Academy preparatory school when he founded the nation's first 'gay-straight alliance,' before shortly thereafter founding the national Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
At Concord-Carlisle High School, math teacher and director of "Falsettos" Peter Atlas is a former board member of GLSEN who once told a Boston Globe interviewer that homosexual kids who turn up at his classroom aren't only asking questions about coming out and getting support.
"They want to know where they can meet boys!" he reportedly said with a laugh.
Concord's public high school also caught the attention of MassResistance, when, on Palm Sunday in 2006, it hosted a performance of the Boston Gay Men's Chorus.
"Public-school officials in Massachusetts," wrote a MassResistance email at the time, "seem to be looking for creative ways to push the homosexual agenda in the most offensive ways possible."
Lesbian Student Fights for Yearbook Tuxedo Photo
Thursday , October 15, 2009
JACKSON, Miss. —
Everyone at Wesson Attendance Center knows 17-year-old Ceara Sturgis is gay because she's never tried to hide it.
But when Sturgis — an honor student, trumpet player and goalie on the school's soccer team — wanted her senior photograph in a tuxedo used in the 2009-10 yearbook, school officials balked. Traditionally, female students dress in drapes and males wear tuxedos.
Now, the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi has gotten involved, issuing a demand letter to Principal Ronald Greer to publish the picture of Sturgis in the tuxedo. The ACLU says it's giving the school until Oct. 23 to respond before pursuing court action, said Kristy L. Bennett, the ACLU's legal director.
A secretary for Greer referred questions to Copiah County Schools Superintendent Rickey Clopton, who declined to comment on Thursday.
Sturgis said she should get to decide how she looks in the senior photo.
"I feel like I'm not important, that the school is dismissing who I am as a gay student and that they don't even care about me. All I want is to be able to be me, and to be included in the yearbook," Sturgis said in a statement.
Veronica Rodriguez, 47, said school officials are trying to force her daughter — who doesn't even own a dress — to appear more feminine.
"The tux is who she is. She wears boys' clothes. She's athletic. She's gay. She's not feminine," said Rodriguez during an interview Thursday at the ACLU office.
Rodriguez said Sturgis took her pictures over the summer instead of with the other students last year, but she used the same studio.
In August, Rodriguez said she received a letter from the school stating that only boys could wear tuxedos. Rodriguez said she met with assistant Superintendent Ronald Holloway who told her he didn't see regulations about the issue in the student handbook.
But when she talked with Greer, she said he told her it was his "conviction" that Sturgis wouldn't appear in the yearbook in a tuxedo.
Bennett said the teenager's constitutional rights are being violated. Bennett said similar cases, including same-sex prom couples and girls wearing tuxedos to proms, have been successfully challenged in court in other states. ACLU officials said they were unaware of any other constitutional disputes involving gay teens at Mississippi schools.
"You can't discriminate against somebody because they're not masculine enough or because they're not feminine enough. She's making an expression of her sexual orientation through this picture and that invokes First Amendment protection," Bennett said.
There's no state policy that deals with the yearbook photo issue, said state Department of Education spokesman Pete Smith.
The deadline for the photo to be accepted for the yearbook was Sept. 30. But advertisements for the publication are still being taken so Sturgis has time for her photo to be included, Bennett said.
Sturgis lives with her grandparents in Wesson, a town of about 1,700 founded during the Civil War in southwest Mississippi. The town's Web site said residents "pride ourselves on our quiet way of life."
Schwarzenegger signs bill honoring gay-rights activist
Story Highlights
Bill commemorates Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician elected in California
Each year, governor would proclaim May 22 as day of significance across state
Milk, a San Francisco supervisor, and Mayor George Moscone assassinated in 1978
Schwarzenegger got more than 100,000 e-mails, phone calls about bill
(CNN) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill commemorating Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician elected to public office in the state, a spokesman for the governor said Monday.
"He really saw this signing as a way to honor the gay community in California," spokesman Aaron McLear told CNN in a telephone interview.
Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill last year, saying he believed Milk should be recognized at the local level.
But since then, "Milk has become much more of a symbol of the gay community," McLear said, citing the eponymous movie starring Sean Penn, Milk's posthumous receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and his induction into the California Hall of Fame.
Milk served briefly as San Francisco's supervisor before he and the city's Mayor George Moscone were assassinated in 1978.
Under the measure, the governor each year would proclaim May 22 -- Milk's birthday -- as a day of significance across the state.
The bill was one of 704 signed Sunday -- most of them near the midnight deadline -- by Schwarzenegger, said spokesman Aaron McLear.
The legislation passed the state Senate in May and the state Assembly last month.
Milk served briefly as San Francisco's supervisor before he and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, a city supervisor who had recently resigned but wanted his job back.
The legislation has been divisive, with the governor's office receiving more than 100,000 phone calls and e-mails, most of them in opposition, spokeswoman Andrea McCarthy said last month.
But she added that most of the Twitter posts the governor received were in favor of the bill.
Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill last year, saying he believed Milk should be recognized at the local level.
Milk was a "unique" historical figure who led a civil rights movement and then was "assassinated in his public office for being who he was," State Sen. Mark Leno, a Democrat, told CNN last month.
The day of significance would not close schools or state offices, according to its text.
However, Randy Thomasson, the president of SaveCalifornia.com, said the bill was vague and could allow for a number of things at schools, including gay pride parades or "mock gay weddings."
"Harvey Milk was a terrible role model for children," said Thomasson, whose organization opposed the bill.
"The reality is Harvey Milk is a hero to so many people and a great role model," said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, the group that backed the bill introduced by Leno.
"It's very appropriate that the state he worked in and passed the first gay rights bill in the country should honor him."
He said the bill marks the first time any state has officially honored an openly gay person.
Leno said that claims that the bill would lead to schools holding gay-pride parades and similar activities were "hyperbole." The bill "mandates nothing," he said, although it "affords an educational opportunity."
President Barack Obama posthumously honored Milk with a Presidential Medal of Freedom this year, and Sean Penn portrayed him in this year's film "Milk," for which he received an Oscar for best actor.
Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/12/harvey.milk/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House voted Thursday to make it a federal crime to assault people because of their sexual orientation, significantly expanding the hate crimes law enacted in the days after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968.
With expected passage by the Senate, federal prosecutors will for the first time be able to intervene in cases of violence perpetrated against gays.
Civil rights groups and their Democratic allies have been trying for more than a decade to broaden the reach of hate crimes law. This time it appears they will succeed. The measure is attached to a must-pass $680 billion defense policy bill and President Barack Obama - unlike President George W. Bush - is a strong supporter. The House passed the defense bill 281-146, with 15 Democrats and 131 Republicans in opposition.
"It's a very exciting day for us here in the Capitol," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., saying hate crimes legislation was on her agenda when she first entered Congress 22 years ago.
She said it's been 11 years since the gay Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard, whose name was attached to the legislation, was murdered.
The late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was a longtime advocate of the legislation.
Many Republicans, normally stalwart supporters of defense bills, voted against it because of the addition of what they referred to as "thought crimes" legislation.
"This is radical social policy that is being put on the defense authorization bill, on the backs of our soldiers, because they probably can't pass it on its own," House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said.
GOP opponents were not assuaged by late changes in the bill to strengthen protections for religious speech and association - critics argued that pastors expressing beliefs about homosexuality could be prosecuted if their sermons were connected to later acts of violence against gays.
Supporters countered that prosecutions could occur only when bodily injury is involved, and no minister or protester could be targeted for expressing opposition to homosexuality.
The bill also creates a new federal crime to penalize attacks against U.S. service members on account of their service.
Hate crimes legislation enacted after King's assassination defined hate crimes as those carried out on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin. It also limits the scope of activities that would trigger federal involvement.
The proposed expansion would include crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It eases restrictions on federally protected activities.
Some 45 states have hate crimes statutes, and the bill would not change the current situation where investigations and prosecutions are carried out by state and local officials.
But it would provide federal grants to help with the prosecuting of hate crimes and funds programs to combat hate crimes committed by juveniles.
The federal government can step in after the Justice Department certifies that a state is unwilling or unable to follow through on a purported hate crime.
While Republicans voted against the defense bill because of the hate crimes addition, openly gay Democrat Jared Polis of Colorado said he would vote for it despite his opposition to U.S. military presence in Iraq. The reason hate crimes are so odious, he said, "is that they are not just crimes against individuals, they are crimes against entire communities and create environments of fear in entire communities."
Tom McClusky, vice president of the conservative Family Research Council's legislative arm said the next step likely would be contesting the legislation in court. "The religious protections are pretty flimsy," he said. He contended that Democrats were trying to move their "homosexual agenda" this year because it would prove unpopular with voters next year.
The FBI says there are some 8,000 hate crimes reported around the country in a year. More than half of those are motivated by racial bias. Next most frequent are crimes based on religious bias at around 18 percent and sexual orientation at 16 percent.
The Paris Foot Gay team says Tuesday it received an e-mail from the Creteil Bebel club canceling a match scheduled for last Sunday.
"Because of the principles of our team, which is a team of devout Muslims, we can't play against you," the e-mail said, according to Paris Foot Gay. The e-mail received Saturday said, "Our convictions are much more important than a simple football match."
Paris Foot Gay said in a statement that it asked the amateur league to sanction Creteil Bebel.
Zahir Belgarbi, identified as a spokesman for Creteil Bebel, told France-Info radio he apologized if "anyone felt upset or hurt." Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Judge: Texas Ban On Gay Marriage Unconstitutional
Ruling clears way for two gay Dallas men to divorce
State District Judge Tena Callahan said the state’s bans on same-sex marriage violates the constitutional guarantee to equal protection under the law.
While the Texas attorney general had stepped into the case to say that because a gay marriage isn’t recognized in Texas, a Texas court can’t dissolve one through divorce, Tena denied the intervention.
The two Dallas men in the case married three years ago in Massachusetts, the first state to allow gays to marry.
Ruling Clears Way for Gay Dallas Couple to Divorce
"This is the first time that a same-sex marriage is allowed to be divorced in Texas, which is big," said Pete Schulte, the attorney who represents one of the men.
Schulte said Texas was the only place where they could file for divorce because they live in the state and have established residency.
"I have a feeling there are going to be opponents who say this is going to allow the floodgates of gay marriage to open, and I disagree that," he said. "Gay marriage and gay divorce are two different things."
“The laws and constitution of the State of Texas define marriage as an institution involving one man and one woman. Today's ruling purports to strike down that constitutional definition -- despite the fact that it was recently adopted by 75 percent of Texas voters,” he said.
Lashard Williams, a supporter of gay marriage, said he believes the judge's ruling is a step in the right direction.
"One day, I might decide to get married, and I'm born and raised here in Dallas, and I'd like to do it here in Texas," he said
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