marriage

Mormons Largely Out Of Marriage Equality Battle

Submitted by ONE Community on May 12, 2013 - 10:09pm

The fight over marriage equality is going very well, and has been going rather well for a bit now. The problem might be more than just that the anti-gay groups are starting to collapse. Part of this has to do with the fact that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has largely abandoned the fight. After many years of funding anti-gay groups, the Mormon Church has pretty much pulled out.

Former Republican Presidential contender Fred Karger has been working to fight the National Organization for Marriage, a group that served largely as a front for the Catholic and Mormon Churches. He has uncovered evidence showing that the Mormons had 77 people working full time at their headquarters to get Proposition 8 passed. Read more »

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Gay Marriage 2013: It's Not the End-All For the LGBT Rights Movement

Submitted by ONE Community on May 11, 2013 - 3:03pm

This past week, there has been a massive media flurry about marriage equality, with both Delaware and Rhode Island both passing marriage equality laws and the Minnesota House voting to legalize same-sex marriage. News networks have been lauding the progress made by the LGBTQ movement, and to be fair, I was pretty excited myself. I mean, three states in one week isn't too shabby. I was starting to think that, just maybe, LGBTQ equality could become a reality in the United States.

Then I saw this infographic. Read more »

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In Hollywood, Republican National Committee expected to double down on gay marriage

Submitted by ONE Community on April 13, 2013 - 8:26am

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Rob Portman changed his mind and many GOP leaders would just as soon change the subject. But socially conservative Republican National Committee members gathering in one of the most gay-friendly places in the country are pushing the party to redouble its opposition to gay marriage.

They may well succeed.

Republican National Committee members here for their spring meeting are set to vote Friday on a resolution reaffirming the party’s official position that marriage should be solely between one man and one woman. It is expected to pass overwhelmingly. Read more »

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Gay Marriage Law Passes Crucial Vote In France

Submitted by ONE Community on April 11, 2013 - 9:35am

Gays and lesbians in France may soon be able to marry and become parents.

The marriage equality bill currently before lawmakers would grant French same-sex couples the right to wed and jointly adopt children.

Although the first article of the bill, which removes all gender references from marriage applications, was approved in the National Assembly on Feb. 2, opponents added more than 5,000 amendments in order to slow down the legislation's passage. Final approval of the whole bill occurred on Feb. 12 with a vote of 329 to 229, the CBC reported. Read more »

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How Gay Marriage Won

Submitted by ONE Community on March 28, 2013 - 11:13pm

Eager to be eyewitnesses to history, people camped for days in the dismal cold, shivering in the slanting shadow of the Capitol dome, to claim tickets for the Supreme Court’s historic oral arguments on same-sex marriage. Some hoped that the Justices would extend marriage rights; others prayed that they would not. When at last the doors of the white marble temple swung open on March 26 for the first of two sessions devoted to the subject, the lucky ones found seats in time to hear Justice Anthony Kennedy — author of two important earlier decisions in favor of gay rights and likely a key vote this time as well — turn the tables on the attorney defending the traditionalist view. Read more »

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Justices signal they might strike down federal marriage law

Submitted by ONE Community on March 27, 2013 - 1:26pm

Hearing a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, which allows federal benefits to go only to heterosexual married couples, the Supreme Court appeared skeptical of the statute and indicated that it might strike down a section of the 1996 law.

At issue in Wednesday’s oral argument was the Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, passed by overwhelming margins in both houses of Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton.

A section of the law, in effect, bars federal agencies from recognizing same-sex marriages, even in the states where they are legal.

After the oral arguments, NBC News Justice Correspondent Pete Williams reported that there seemed to be the five votes on the court that would be needed to invalidate the law. Read more »

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Starbucks CEO ground on gay marriage

Submitted by ONE Community on March 26, 2013 - 3:03pm

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz dug in his heels about gay marriage after an investor complained that the company's support was eroding its bottom line.

"If you feel respectfully that you can get a higher return [than] the 38% you got last year, it's a free country," said Schultz, during the annual shareholders meeting on March 21. "You could sell your shares at Starbucks and buy shares in other companies."

In January 2012, Seattle-based Starbucks joined two other Washington-based companies, Microsoft and Nike, in announcing support of a state bill to legalize same-sex marriage, which ultimately passed. Read more »

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CNN Poll: 'Rob Portman effect' fuels support for same-sex marriage

Submitted by ONE Community on March 25, 2013 - 6:01pm

One day before the Supreme Court hears a high profile case on same-sex marriage, a new national poll indicates that the percentage of Americans who say they have a family member or close friend who is gay or lesbian is on the rise. And that increase matches a jump in the percent of the public who support legal same-sex marriages.

According to a CNN/ORC International survey, 57% say they have a family member or close friend who is gay or lesbian, up 12 points from 2007. Read more »

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Hillary Clinton announces her support for gay marriage

Submitted by ONE Community on March 18, 2013 - 8:07pm

In a move that could have implications for a 2016 White House campaign, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed gay marriage on Monday, saying she supports it “personally, and as a matter of policy and law.”

“LGBT Americans are our colleagues, our teachers, our soldiers, our friends, our loved ones,” Clinton says, speaking directly to the camera, in a nearly 6-minute video released by the Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights group. “And they are full and equal citizens and deserve the rights of citizenship. That includes marriage. … I support it personally, and as matter of policy and law.” Read more »

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Tribe marries same-sex couple but state won't recognize it

Submitted by ONE Community on March 17, 2013 - 11:45am

Gene Barfield and his partner, Tim LaCroix, celebrated their 30th anniversary by getting married.

The two met when they were both serving in the Navy, and last week, the military veterans became the first same-sex couple to be legally married by a tribe in Michigan.

The pair exchanged vows on a cold but sunny morning at the government headquarters of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.

LaCroix is a citizen of the LTBB, a federally recognized Native American tribe.

Earlier this month, the LTBB tribal council voted to recognize same-sex unions as long as at least one member of the couple was a citizen of the tribe. LaCroix and Barfield were married the same morning that the tribal chairman signed the legislation into law. Read more »

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