|
|
By Bob Egelko on SF Gate.com
The government’s denial of all federal benefits to same-sex married couples is an irrational and unconstitutional act of discrimination, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, a step toward a likely Supreme Court test of the law known as the Defense of Marriage Act.
DOMA is based on unfounded assumptions about marriage and the suitability of gays and lesbians as parents and was enacted in 1996 by a Congress avid to show its disapproval of homosexuality, said U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of San Francisco.
Continue reading »
By Sam Stein on The Huffington Post
WASHINGTON — The frontiers of the gay marriage debate keep on expanding.
On Tuesday, Governor Susana Martinez (R-N.M.) lost a hairstylist who refused to clip her locks out of disgust with her opposition to marriage equality.
Antonio Darden, who had cut Martinez’s hair on three occasions and runs Antonio’s Hair Studio in Santa Fe, N.M., re-crafted the notion of civil disobedience […]
By Teresa Masterson on NBC Philadelphia
 Villanova University has canceled a workshop by an often provocative gay performance artist, saying his shows don’t match up with the school’s Catholic values.
Tim Miller tells The Philadelphia Inquirer he was told about the cancellation of next month’s planned workshop on Sunday, and though he says it didn’t come as a big surprise, he told the Inquirer that, “Times have changed” since the era when Villanova staged Angels in America – the Pulitzer Prize-winning play about AIDS.
Continue reading »
 Hey folks we’re back. Sorry for being late and sorry for leaving you waiting with baited breath for the second half of the Feminist Agenda podcast. I started my champagne bath and then never wanted to get out. No. Actually, we had some technical issues and lost the whole thing. Very sad, as we had some funny moments with Amber Rowland but that’s ok because this week we have […]
 Jonathan Kipp When long time local LGBT newspaper Just Out abruptly announced that it would cease publication last December it came as a shock. But many people in the community (including us) have come forward to make sure local queer news and events are still covered. So it was, perhaps, an even bigger shock when it was announced this Tuesday that Just Out was making a comeback. It seems like many plans are still in the works but qPDX had a chance to ask new publisher Jonathan Kipp of Glenn-Kipp Publishing, well known for starting Portland Bride and Groom magazine, some questions about bringing the 30 year old news source back to life.
qPDX: What prompted you to take over Just Out and when did you decide to do so? Why do you feel it’s important to continue this publication with the same name?
Jonathan Kipp: I’ve wanted to be the Publisher of Just Out since I walked into the Just Out office many years ago as a freelancer. And over the years I’ve asked if Just Out was for sale a few times. It wasn’t because it was a thriving publication. When that changed I reached out to express my concern. And then I shared my vision about how I thought our community could keep Just Out. The rest is history.
Continue reading »
By Neal Broverman on Advocate.com
 Jason Somerville, a professional card player who won the 2011 World Series of Poker, came out on his blog on Valentine’s Day.
The Stony Brook, N.Y.-based player wrote that poker is welcoming to different races and genders, but yet there is not one high-profile gay male player. Somerville decided he would become the first.
“I always knew I wasn’t straight, but I never spoke a word of it for twenty two years, and nobody really ever knew otherwise,” Somerville writes.” I dated women exclusively through my teens and early 20s, doing my best to convince myself that it wasn’t something I had to pursue, that maybe I’d grow out of it, that I’d be happier with women anyway, that I just should focus on other things.
Continue reading »
 On the eve of the launch of new queer Portland publication PQ Monthly, Just Out has announced that they will be resuming publication under a whole new team. On the JO Facebook page today new publisher Jonathan Kipp of Glenn-Kipp Publishing, Inc, had this to say:
GOOD NEWS PORTLAND/VANCOUVER/WORLD: Just Out is coming back!!! That’s right. You didn’t think an iconic publication like JO would just walk off into […]
  Washington governor Chris Gregoire, left, and congressman Jamie Pedersen celebrate the bill's passing last week. Elaine Thompson / AP Today our neighbors to the north made gay marriage officially legal when Governor Christine Gregoire signed the landmark legislation into law amidst the cheers of gay couples and supporters making it the seventh state (as well as the District of Columbia) to allow same-sex marriage.
“My friends, welcome to the other side of the rainbow,” said state Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, before Gregoire signed the bill.
“This is a very proud moment,” Gregoire said, “I’m proud our same-sex couples will no longer be treated as separate but equal.”
However, changes won’t go into effect for 90 days meaning that opponents have until June 6th to gather enough signatures, 120,577, to put it on November’s ballot. If they do not marriages can begin June 7, but if they do they will be put off until the election.
Continue reading »
  After Washington state passed a bill through the Senate last week we knew that the road to gay marriage in our neighbor to the north was only a matter of time. Today we are one step closer, that is, pretty much there, with the House passing the HB 2516 by 55-43. All that’s left now is for Gov. Gregoire to sign, seal and deliver it, which she is expected to do.
However, because there is no emergency clause on the bill, the law wouldn’t take effect for 90 days giving opponents time to get a referendum on the ballot. This would effectively stall gay marriages until after the November election meaning none of those troublesome “grandfathered” unions like the couples who married in California before Pop 8 was passed.
Continue reading »
  Following a decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that California’s Prop 8 is unconstitutional, Basic Rights Oregon Executive Director Jeana Frazzini released the following statement today:
“Today’s ruling is a victory for all loving and committed same-sex couples in California and across the nation,” “We applaud the 9th Circuit for standing on the right side of history. Today’s ruling, if upheld will restore the freedom to marry in California and add our nation’s largest state as another engine of progress for the country.”
“Here in Oregon this issue will be decided not in a courtroom by judges, but in the court of public opinion by the voters of our great state. The Court’s decision adds momentum to our effort to win the freedom to marry at the ballot box in Oregon.”
Continue reading »
|
|
