As gay marriage begins in Washington, opponents vow to fight / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

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As gay marriage begins in Washington, opponents vow to fight / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

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Gay rights groups celebrated the start of same-sex weddings Tuesday in Washington, D.C., but gay marriage foes say the issue is not yet settled.
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Before the Washington City Council finalized its decision to legalize same-sex marriage last year, a coalition of the area’s religious leaders tried to put the question to voters through a citywide referendum.

That move was blocked by the city’s board of elections and later by the a D.C. Superior Court judge (The Monitor covered the ruling here). But same-sex marriage opponents are now trying to put the question on the ballot through the District’s initiative process, which gives voters the opportunity to weigh in on existing legislation.

“It’s not over in D.C. by any means,” wrote Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, on the group’s blog. “The people of D.C. have a right, granted by Congress in their charter, to vote to overturn legislation passed by elected officials, just as people in many states (like Maine) have that right.”

In an interview, Mr. Brown said a case over the initiative is pending in the D.C. Court of Appeals.

If the ballot initiative is allowed, many expect that voters would overturn gay marriage. Same-sex marriage has been defeated in the 31 states where the question was put to voters.

Before the city’s law took effect last week – the District granted same-sex marriage licenses last Wednesday, but Tuesday was the first day for gay marriage ceremonies – opponents of the new marriage law asked the US Supreme Court for a temporary injunction. In the court’s decision not to get involved, Chief Justice John Roberts said the case should be handled in the local courts, but that gay marriage opponents had “some force” to their arguments.

“Clearly the law is on our side, and I think the courts will be sympathetic,” says Brown, regarding the effort to have a ballot initiative on the gay marriage question.

In California, voters outlawed gay marriage through a ballot initiative about five months after it was legalized by the state Supreme Court. That vote is now being challenged in federal court on the grounds that it violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples.

Brown says that Congress, which has so far refused overturn to the District’s same-sex marriage law, can at any time undo gay marriage in Washington. “Congress never loses its ability to act on any question in the District,” he says.

Same-sex marriage becomes legal in DC - Gay marriage - Salon.com

Same-sex marriage becomes legal in DC - Gay marriage - Salon.com

By JESSICA GRESKO, Associated Press

Same-sex couples can start applying for marriage licenses Wednesday in Washington.

Supporters say couples planned to line up before the city's marriage bureau opened at 8:30 a.m., and officials at the courthouse were expecting 200 or more people.

At least 16 couples were waiting at 7:15 a.m. inside the city's Moultrie courthouse, which houses the marriage bureau and is just blocks from the U.S. Capitol.

Sinjoyla Townsend, 41, and her partner of 12 years, Angelisa Young, 47, claimed the first spot in line just after 6 a.m.

"It's like waking up Christmas morning," Young said.

Washington will be the sixth place in the nation where gay marriages can take place. Because of a mandatory waiting period, however, couples won't actually be able to marry in the District of Columbia until March 9. Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont currently issue licenses to same-sex couples.

To deal with the expected crowd Wednesday, the marriage bureau will bring in temporary employees to help its regular staff, courthouse spokeswoman Leah Gurowitz said.

U.S. Census to allow same-sex couples in N.J. to identify themselves as married | - NJ.com

U.S. Census to allow same-sex couples in N.J. to identify themselves as married | - NJ.com

Allen Neuner and his partner, Bill Stella, share a home in Somerville. They share expenses. They also share, as Neuner put it, "our lives with each other."

But with New Jersey among the 45 states that do not recognize same-sex marriage, the two have never been able to legally identify themselves as a married couple. Now, for the first time, they will have the opportunity to call their union a marriage in an official government document.

In a policy shift experts say could radically reshape demographic profiles of the gay community, the U.S. Census this year will let same-sex couples label themselves as husband or wife even if their relationships are not recognized by law.

"Right now, we’re as married as a couple can be, so I’m not going to have any trouble checking the husband box," said Neuner, 58, an event planner who has been with his partner for a decade.

Neuner is among those hailing the change, which will appear on Census forms due to be mailed out next week. The forms do not explicitly recognize civil unions, which are legal in New Jersey. Instead, the documents offer one of two boxes for same-sex couples — "husband or wife" or "unmarried partners."

The census bureau plans to leave it to responders to characterize their own relationships.

"We have a policy of self-identification," said Igor Alves, a media specialist with the agency. "If they want to put husband or unmarried partner, that is up to them. We basically want to tally what they select."

The new policy took effect last summer, when the Commerce Department released a legal opinion that argued the federal government could tabulate and release same-sex marriage data under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.

In the last decennial count, officials re-coded same-sex husband or wife answers to "unmarried partners," since no state in the country recognized same-sex marriage at the time.

Since then, the legal landscape has changed. Five states — Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire — and the District of Columbia now allow gay couples to legally marry, leaving census tabulators in a new bind.

"The truth is that the number of kinds of legally married couples in this country is a very complicated situation," said Gary Gates, a demographer with the University of California, Los Angeles. "How do you keep up with that?"

Despite the form’s inflexibility, Gates believes the census effort will offer a rich source of data about how same-sex couples describe themselves, as well as their family structure.

The Census will release a special report about its data on same-sex couples next year, Alves said.

The new numbers could drastically affect political debates on gay issues, said Steven Goldstein, chairman of the gay-rights group Garden State Equality.

"Politicians use the Census as a yardstick for a community’s power," he said. "That in turn affects the enactment of public policies."

Staff writer Mark Mueller and the Associated Press contributed to this repo

Supporters of ousted state Sen. Hiram Monserrate say Jose Peralta is puppet of 'rich gay fanatics'

Supporters of ousted state Sen. Hiram Monserrate say Jose Peralta is puppet of 'rich gay fanatics'

Supporters of ousted state Sen. Hiram Monserrate are claiming his rival, Assemblyman Jose Peralta, is a pawn of "mega-rich gay fanatics" in an anti-gay flyer being handed out at churches in their Queens district.

Monserrate and Peralta - both Democrats - and several other candidates will face off in a special election next Tuesday to fill Monserrate's old seat. He is running to win back the job he was booted from by colleagues last month after being convicted of misdemeanor assault on his girlfriend.

The flyer says Peralta, who has the support of many gay leaders and groups, is the "leading spokesperson for the gay community's [sic] in N.Y.C." It says those groups "are dedicated to destroying our way of life and creating same sex marriage."

In a statement, Peralta shot back: "This flyer is just another example of how Hiram Monserrate thrives on bullying and hate-mongering."

Gay and lesbian groups have targeted Monserrate for his opposition to gay marriage. "With each hate-mongering, fear-rattling, equality-stunting volley, Hiram Monserrate digs another foot down into his political grave," said Valerie Berlin, a spokeswoman for the gay advocacy group Fight Back New York.

Monserrate, whose campaign could not be reached yesterday, has aligned himself with conservative church leaders opposed to gay marriage. He also has aligned himself with President Obama's "Yes We Can" slogan and logo - a move that drew a rebuke from Washington.

"The use of the logo is neither approved nor supported by Organizing for America. The [Monserrate] campaign did not seek nor do they have permission to use it. We are asking them to remove it from their materials," Obama campaign spokeswoman Linda Tran said.

The Psychiatric Damage of Banning Same-Sex Marriage | Gay Rights | Change.org

This is an important study

The Psychiatric Damage of Banning Same-Sex Marriage | Gay Rights | Change.org

There's a reason why professional health associations like the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Psychological Association (APA) support same-sex marriage. Sure, it could be that both of these organizations like to support civil rights, and believe in the dignity of all loving relationships. In addition, it could also be that these organizations recognize that when you ban same-sex marriage, you send a message that could have disastrous effects on a person's or a couple's psychiatric well-being.

Such is the conclusion of a new study issued by the Columbia University School of Public Health, in co-operation with Harvard University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Those are three pretty big names, lending their reputations to support findings that indicate an increase in psychiatric disorders among the lesbian, gay, and bisexual population living in states that ban same-sex marriage.

No surprise, eh? You tell two people that their relationship doesn't mean anything and shouldn't be legally recognized, and you can almost predict the negative consequences that arise. Depression, isolation, sadness, and anxiety ... and that's just to name a few. That makes banning same-sex marriage not only damaging to moving civil rights forward, but also bad for public health, too.

The study itself looked at states that banned gay marriage in 2004 and 2005. Researchers looked to see if gay, lesbian and bisexual people in these states experienced higher degrees of psychiatric disorders over the past five years.

"Before this study, little was known about the impact of institutional discrimination toward lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals in our society," said Deborah Hasin, a Professor at Columbia University and the senior author behind the study. "The study highlights the importance of abolishing institutional forms of discrimination, including those leading to disparities in the mental health and well-being of LGB individuals."

Incidentally, the authors also found that psychiatric disorders rose slightly among heterosexual couples in states that ban gay marriage. Though rates for straight couples weren't nearly as high as for same-sex couples, the point is pretty clear: there are just no good psychiatric side effects from criminalizing gay marriage, both for straight and queer folks.

This goes hand-in-hand with countless reports, mostly authored by the Williams Institute at UCLA, that show how economically speaking, banning gay marriage hurts states. States lose out on money from same-sex weddings and tourism, not to mention costs related to marriage applications and license fees.

Couple that with this psychiatric study, and really: Is there one good reason to ever ban same-sex marriage?

Opponents of same-sex marriage may be vocal. But let's see them turn up one reputable study that suggests their position has any scientific or economic gravitas behind it.

Crowd Heckles Ford Jr. On Gay Marriage Stance - NY1.com

Crowd Heckles Ford Jr. On Gay Marriage Stance - NY1.com

Possible U.S. Senate candidate Harold Ford Junior received an icy welcome Wednesday from a leading gay Democratic club over what he called misguided votes on same sex marriage. NY1's Josh Robin filed the following report.

Harold Ford Junior got a verbally mixed reception Wednesday night in the West Village.

While speaking to the Stonewall Democratic Club, some audience members held up signs that read "Liar." Others interrupted him on several occasions chanting "Anti-Choice, Anti-Gay, Shame on Harry, Go Away!"

At issue is Ford's voting record as a Tennessee congressman, where he twice supported an amendment to the constitution that would bar same sex marriage.

Eyeing office in New York now, he said he was wrong. To many, the gesture oozed insincere politics -- and they let him know it.

"I voted twice in favor of it and I was wrong. I now recognize the wrongness of my ways," said Ford Junior.

"Here's somebody who took very anti-gay positions, and took very Republican positions and joined with the Bush White House in trying to make us political scape goats, and that's why people are so angry, that's why so people are so hostile," said gay rights activist Jeffrey Campagna.

Though Ford denied it Wednesday, activists have accused him of misleading Tennessee voters when the amendments were being debated.

Two gay activists in Memphis said in telephone interviews Wednesday that Ford's office had informed them he was voting against the amendment.

Adding fuel to charges of insincerity is a heavily-circulated ad from his failed 2006 Senate race in Tennessee in which he touts his stance against gay marriage.
Crowd Heckles Ford Jr. On Gay Marriage Stance

While the record isn't entirely clear, Gillibrand insists says she has supported same sex marriage since she entered the House of Representatives to represent a conservative upstate district.

What is clear is that she has been a forceful supporter of gay rights since Governor David Paterson tapped her to fill the Senate seat early last year.

"It's very problematic to vote to enshrine in the Constitution discrimination. And I find that extremely problematic," said Gillibrand.

Ford's remarks Wednesday were the most extensive on the fateful votes and comes as he realizes the strength of the gay vote in a Democratic primary.

During an appearance last month upstate, Ford reiterated his stance saying, "My support for civil unions is longstanding. I support same sex marriage. And if you want to ask me more about it, I'm probably not going to answer the question."

Ford is expected to make a decision this Sunday as to whether or not he intends to seek New York's junior Senate seat.

Maryland AG Releases Opinion In Favor Of Gay Marriage | On Top Magazine :: Gay & Lesbian News, Entertainment, Commentary & Travel

Maryland AG Releases Opinion In Favor Of Gay Marriage | On Top Magazine :: Gay & Lesbian News, Entertainment, Commentary & Travel

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler released a long-awaited opinion on gay marriage Wednesday morning, the Washington Post reported.

Gansler, a Democrat, concluded that Maryland's highest court is likely to decide in favor of recognizing gay marriage performed in other states.

The Court of Appeals “will likely apply the principle that a marriage is valid in the place of celebration is valid in Maryland,” Gansler said in a 45-page opinion.

“The opinion reaches this conclusion in light of the evolving state policy, reflected in anti-discrimination laws, domestic partner laws and other legislation, that respects and supports committed intimate same-sex relationships,” he added.

Proponents of gay marriage are likely to use the opinion, which is only an interpretation, to persuade state agencies and courts to rule in their favor.

Maryland currently bans gay marriage by law. Earlier in the month, a key House committee killed a bill that would have prohibited the state from recognizing legal gay marriages performed in other states.

A gay marriage law in the District of Columbia, which cuts into Maryland's western border, is expected to take effect on March 3.