Gay Marriage

Iowa Justices Ousted Over Gay Marriage Given JFK Award

Eric Lach | May 7, 2012, 11:55AM

Three former Iowa Supreme Court Justices who were ousted in 2010 after that court's unanimous decision to legalize same-sex marriage in the state are being honored today in Boston with the 2012 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

The award is being presented by Caroline Kennedy at a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Read more »

Proposition 8

Watch George Clooney, Brad Pitt Star In A Play Based On Proposition 8 Battle

Jillian Rayfield | March 5, 2012, 10:33AM

George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen and other celebrities starred in a reading of 8, a play based on the court proceedings over California's ban on same sex marriage.

Read more »

Proposition 8

Prop 8 Supporters Ask For Full Ninth Circuit Review

Jillian Rayfield | February 22, 2012, 11:17AM

Supporters of Proposition 8, California's ban on gay marriage, are asking the Ninth Circuit to review the decision by a three-judge panel that declared the measure unconstitutional.

Read more »

Minnesota

Millions To Be Spent In Minnesota's Gay Marriage Fight

David Taintor | February 15, 2012, 6:15AM

Washington state has legalized gay marriage, New Jersey might not be far behind, but just over the horizon a bruising battle over marriage equality is looming in Minnesota, where special interest groups are preparing to spend big to affect the outcome.

Read more »

Proposition 8

Ninth Circuit Rules Prop 8 Is Unconstitutional

Jillian Rayfield | February 7, 2012, 12:59PM

Gay rights activists celebrate following a federal court's overturning of Prop 8, California's same-sex marriage law.

A federal appeals court in California has upheld a lower court's ruling that Proposition 8, the state's ban on gay marriage, is unconstitutional, writing that the law "serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples."

Read more »

New Hampshire

New Hampshire Republicans Fight Over How To Take Marriage Away From Gays

Jillian Rayfield | February 2, 2012, 6:24AM

The New Hampshire legislature is gearing up for a fight over whether to repeal the state's marriage equality law, but the fate of the bill will come down to how the divided Republican caucus dukes it out.

Read more »

Gay Marriage

Christie On Gay Marriage: Southern Blacks Would Have Been Psyched To Have Vote On Their Rights

Jillian Rayfield | January 26, 2012, 5:14PM

Black lawmakers in New Jersey have sharply criticized Republican Gov. Chris Christie for comparing a ballot referendum on gay marriage to the civil rights movement thusly: "The fact of the matter is, I think people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South."

Read more »

Alliance Defense Fund

Anti-Gay Legal Guns For Hire: How The Right Uses 'Religious Liberty' To Fight Discrimination Suits

Jillian Rayfield | January 12, 2012, 5:48AM

Phyllis Young, the owner of the Aloha Bed And Breakfast in Oahu, Hawaii says that being gay is "detestable" and "defiles our land." That's why she denied a lesbian couple a reservation in 2007, and that is why the couple filed a discrimination suit against her in December.

But Young's got a little high-powered help. Her attorney, from the Alliance Defense Fund, argues that the lawsuit threatens Young's religious freedom because "no business owner should be forced to violate his or her religious beliefs because someone is offended by those beliefs."

This argument is a mainstay with the ADF -- which has for years attached itself to similar legal battles across the country -- as well as the broader movement against anti-discrimination suits by members of the right-wing.

Read more »

Gay Rights

The Battle Over Gay Marriage Set To Go Nationwide

Jillian Rayfield | January 5, 2012, 5:51AM

Washington is the latest state to start up a battle for marriage equality, in a year that was already going to be full of major fights for gay rights.

Read more »

National Organization for Marriage

Anti-Gay Groups Struggle, Make Year-End Pleas For Financial Help

Jillian Rayfield | December 30, 2011, 5:00AM

This holiday season, give the gift of support to your favorite struggling anti-gay group.

Read more »

Proposition 8

CA Gay Rights Group Cleared For Push To Repeal Prop 8

Jillian Rayfield | December 19, 2011, 12:01PM

Gay rights activists celebrate following a federal court's overturning of Prop 8, California's same-sex marriage law.

A gay rights group was cleared by the California Secretary of State to begin collecting signatures for a repeal of Proposition 8, the state's constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Read more »

Gay Marriage

Anti-Gay Marriage Groups Lose Another Battle To Keep Supporters Secret

Jillian Rayfield | November 29, 2011, 5:08AM

Gay marriage opponents are fighting (and, for the most part, losing) the battle to keep their supporters and donors secret from the "homosexual lobby" that they claim is seeking to intimidate them.

Read more »

National Organization for Marriage

Anti-Gay Marriage Group Pretends Obama Rally Is Anti-Gay Marriage Protest

Jillian Rayfield | October 25, 2011, 2:01PM

The anti-gay group National Organization for Marriage was caught trying to pass off a picture of a rally for President Obama as that of an anti-gay marriage rally.

Read more »

DOMA

Emotional Testimony From Gay Partners At Senate Hearing On Repealing DOMA (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | July 20, 2011, 7:05PM

The day after President Barack Obama threw his support behind repealing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996 law preventing the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the issue featuring emotional testimony from people who have been harmed by the law.

Read more »

Gay Marriage

CA Lawmakers Pass Bill To Teach History Of Gays And Lesbians In Schools

Jillian Rayfield | July 6, 2011, 10:40AM

California lawmakers have passed a bill that would require public schools to include lessons about the historical contributions of gays and lesbians in their curriculum.

Read more »

Minnesota

NOM Loses Bid To Keep Anti-Gay Marriage MN Donors Concealed Out Of 'Harassment' Fears

Jillian Rayfield | July 6, 2011, 6:00AM

Anti-gay marriage protesters

The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board rejected the National Organization for Marriage's bid to keep corporate donors anonymous in the state's gay marriage fight, which it argued was to protect the donors from "harassment, property damage, a chilling effect."

And regardless of that decision, lobbying records examined by the Minnesota Independent show some of the biggest individual donors behind the effort for a ballot initiative that would ban gay marriage. Among them, the owner of a DVD company who is a big contributor to Republicans, the meat mogul Rodney Huisken, and staffers for the Minnesota Family Council.

Read more »

Proposition 8

Prop 8 Supporters Appeal Ruling Over Judge's Sexuality

Jillian Rayfield | June 28, 2011, 11:35AM

Proponents of the Proposition 8 gay marriage ban are appealing a federal judge's refusal to vacate Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling on the measure, because, as they have argued, the decision represents a conflict of interest because Walker is gay.

Reuters reports that Matthew McGill, who is representing two same-sex couples challenging the measure, called the appeal part of a "smear campaign" against Walker.

"The only thing surprising about this development is doing so in the face of such a well-reasoned opinion," McGill said.

Read more »

National Organization for Marriage

New York Gay Marriage Decision Another Blow To NOM

Ryan J. Reilly | June 28, 2011, 5:45AM

NYS Senator the Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr., left, marches with Brian Brown, right, of the National Organization for Marriage

The National Organization for Marriage has a flair for the dramatic. Their much-mocked advertisement against gay marriage featured literal clouds forming over the heads of actors portraying regular American citizens whimpering at the thought of an impending gay marriage-acalypse.

If they'd chosen a cinematic interpretation of the "D-Day" metaphor they used in emails to anti-gay marriage supporters before their big loss last week, it might feature flamboyant soldiers invading the shores of the Hamptons.

Read more »

Gay Marriage

Minnesotans Evenly Split Over Vote To Constitutionally Ban Same Sex Marriage

Jon Terbush | June 2, 2011, 12:22PM

Demonstrators both for and against a constitutional ban on same sex marriage inside the Minnesota State Capitol

As California's constitutional ban on same sex marriage winds its way through the courts, a showdown over a similar marriage-defining referendum is brewing in Minnesota. And according to a PPP poll released this week, that battle could be hotly contested, as it found voters there are evenly split on the issue.

In the poll, 46% of registered voters said the state should amend its Constitution to stipulate that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, while 47% said they opposed such an amendment.

Read more »

Proposition 8

Prop 8 Supporters Contest Ruling On Grounds Judge Has Same-Sex Partner

Jillian Rayfield | April 26, 2011, 12:36PM

Supporters of Prop 8 in 2008

Supporters of Proposition 8, California's ballot-approved ban on same-sex marriage, filed a motion this week contesting Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling that the ban is unconstitutional, because he's gay man who may have wished to marry his partner.

Read more »

Iowa

Iowa GOPers Attempting To Impeach Four Judges Who Overturned Same-Sex Marriage Ban

Jillian Rayfield | April 22, 2011, 6:13PM

Five GOP lawmakers in the Iowa House have introduced four resolutions, each one to impeach one of the four remaining state Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in 2009.

Read more »

Gay Marriage

Supreme Court Rejects Gay Marriage Challenge In D.C.

Rachel Slajda | January 18, 2011, 11:03AM

The Supreme Court today rejected, without comment, a challenge to the legalization of same-sex marriage in Washington, D.C.

The rejection means the law will stand.

Bishop Harry Jackson, a pastor from Maryland, wanted the high court to hear his case against the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics. The board refused to put a marriage initiative on the ballot, arguing that such a move would amount to discrimination.

Read more »

Gay Marriage

Prop 8 Case: Appeals Court Asks CA Supreme Court For Help

Rachel Slajda | January 4, 2011, 3:14PM

A federal appeals court has asked the California Supreme Court to help answer a question about who has standing to fight same sex marriage in the courts.

At issue is whether the anti-gay groups who put Proposition 8 on the ballot in California have the legal standing to appeal a decision that Prop 8 -- which outlaws same sex marriage in the state -- is unconstitutional. Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is hearing that appeal, asked the California high court to decide whether the proponents have standing under state law.

Read more »

Gay Marriage

Prop 8 Arguments Hinge On Whether Anti-Marriage Groups Have Right To Appeal

Rachel Slajda | December 7, 2010, 8:48AM

A three-judge panel heard oral arguments yesterday in the legal challenge against Proposition 8, the ballot measure that made same-sex marriage illegal in California. The arguments, made before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, hinged on two things: First, whether the same-sex marriage opponents who filed the appeal actually have the standing to do so; and second, whether the ban is constitutional.

Read more »

Iowa

Iowans Split On Whether To Drop Supreme Court Justices

Rachel Slajda | November 1, 2010, 5:18PM

The "Judge Bus"

As we told you last week, the question of whether Iowa will retain or fire three of its Supreme Court justices has drawn hundreds of thousands of dollars from third-party groups. The Des Moines Register is now out with a poll that shows Iowans are still split on the question, with a slight edge to those who would throw the judges out.

According to the poll, 37% of likely voters said they'd vote to remove the three justices. Another 34% said they'd vote to retain them, and 10% said they'd remove at least one.

Read more »

Don't Ask Don't Tell

Obama Suggests His View On Gay Marriage May 'Evolve'

Rachel Slajda | October 28, 2010, 10:07AM

President Barack Obama

President Obama, who has said time and again that he is in favor of civil unions over same-sex marriage, yesterday suggested that his view may "evolve."

Obama, who has drawn the ire of the LGBT community most recently by fighting to enforce Don't Ask, Don't Tell even while trying to repeal it, was grilled by Joe Sudbay of AMERICABlog during a meeting with progressive bloggers yesterday.

"I just really want to know what is your position on same-sex marriage?" Sudbay asked, according to a transcript.

Read more »

Same sex marriage

The Campaign You're Not Watching -- But Anti-Gay Groups Are

Rachel Slajda | October 26, 2010, 10:19AM

The "Judge Bus"

Last year, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled unanimously to allow same sex marriage in Iowa. This year, Iowans will vote on whether to keep or boot three of the seven justices who decided that case -- and the campaign has attracted hundreds of thousands of dollars from national anti-gay groups.

In Iowa, judges are appointed, not elected. But at the end of every judge's term, he or she goes up for "retention," meaning the populace votes whether to keep them around or throw them out.

The National Organization for Marriage, the American Family Association and the Family Research Council have seized on the chance to "fire" three of the justices, including Chief Justice Marsha Ternus, and are spending money -- more than $700,000 so far -- asking people to vote against retention. The campaign has also drawn cash from those who support gay marriage, and the justices themselves; the overwhelming majority of independent expenditures in the state, in fact, have been directed at the judicial retention race.

Read more »