gay rights

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Vermont House Passes Gay Marriage Bill

Measure now headed for likely veto by governor

(Newser) - The Vermont House of Representatives has followed the state senate in voting to legalize gay marriage, reports the Wall Street Journal. The bill will now head to Gov. James Douglas, who has promised to veto it. The 95-52 House vote falls short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a...

Sweden Legalizes Gay Marriage
 Sweden Legalizes Gay Marriage 
Apr 2, 2009 6:53 AM CDT

Sweden Legalizes Gay Marriage

Parliament passes law 261-22

(Newser) - Sweden’s Parliament legalized gay marriage yesterday, becoming the fifth European country to do so, CNN reports. Registered partnerships were already permitted in the country, but the new law will allow same-sex couples to officially tie the knot starting May 1. The only party to oppose was the Christian Democrats,...

Frank Calls Justice Scalia a 'Homophobe'

(Newser) - Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank called Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a "homophobe" in a recent interview with the gay news Web site 365gay.com. The Democratic lawmaker, who is gay, was discussing gay marriage and his expectation that the high court would some day be called upon to decide...

New York's Schumer Flips, Backs Gay Marriage

(Newser) - Sen. Charles Schumer now supports full marriage rights for same-sex couples, the New York Daily News reports. The New York Democrat, who was on the record as a proponent of civil unions, also wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which he himself voted for. “It’s time,...

US to Sign UN Gay Rights Declaration

Decision to back global decriminalization reverses Bush policy

(Newser) - The Obama administration will endorse a UN declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality that President Bush refused to sign, reports AP. The US was the only western government that refused to back the declaration last year, triggering stinging criticism of the Bush administration. Some 70 UN nations still...

Prop. 8 Fix: Dump Legal 'Marriage' Altogether

Gov't could create civil unions, while marriage would be religious

(Newser) - Confirmations, bar mitzvahs—religious institutions mark a number of rites of passage, but marriage is the only one the government has mucked with. As the heated debate over gay marriage continues, two professors ask: Why not take the government out of the equation? Officially, any couple could have a civil...

Married California Gays Face Lonely Future

Banning gay marriage but allowing existing unions will leave couples on 'marriage island'

(Newser) - The California Supreme Court's expected decision to uphold a ban on gay marriage but still recognize existing unions will leave the state's 18,000 married gay couples in a strange situation, the Los Angeles Times reports. Couples are relieved that their marriages are likely to survive, but they see legal...

Judges Appear Likely to Let Prop 8 Stand

(Newser) - It looks like California's ban on gay marriage will stand. Based on their questions today during arguments over Proposition 8, justices on the state's Supreme Court seem inclined to uphold the voters' decision in November, reports the Los Angeles Times. However, the justices also appeared willing to allow same-sex marriages...

Penn Fights for 'Harvey Milk Day'

Holiday would honor activist's birthday

(Newser) - Sean Penn today joined the push to recognize Harvey Milk's birthday in California, Variety reports. State senator Mark Leno is re-introducing a bill seeking a statewide “day of significance” on May 22, the birthday of the gay activist Penn won an Oscar for portraying. Schools would be encouraged to...

Chinese Soften on Same-Sex Marriage
Chinese Soften on Same-Sex Marriage 
Feb 25, 2009 10:25 AM CST

Chinese Soften on Same-Sex Marriage

Pressure to marry can trump opposition to homosexuality

(Newser) - Gay men and lesbians took to the streets of Beijing in tuxedos and wedding gowns last week to voice their support for same-sex marriage, the Guardian reports. Acceptance is growing in China, which only a decade ago criminalized gay sex and listed homosexuality as a mental illness. But the Chinese...

Iranian Lesbian Wins Asylum in Britain

Refugee fled after girlfriend sentenced to death by stoning

(Newser) - A woman who fled Iran for Britain after her girlfriend was arrested has won her battle for asylum in the UK. In 2007 Pegah Emambakhsh was refused asylum, but gay rights groups claimed that she would be executed if she was forced to return to Iran and led a campaign...

Sykes to Roast Obama at Press Dinner

(Newser) - Wanda Sykes has been tapped to roast Barack Obama at this year’s White House Correspondents' Dinner on May 9. The lesbian comic will likely skewer the President’s anti-gay-marriage stance, but she has some skeletons of her own, the Los Angeles Times reports. After hearing about the engagement, “...

'Womyn's Lands' Dwindle as Gays Go Mainstream

(Newser) - So-called "womyn's lands" are quietly persisting across North America but face a cultural shift as modern gays embrace mainstream society, the New York Times reports. Founded in the 1970s to give lesbians man-free, safe, non-judgmental communities, the roughly 100 groups have seen membership dwindle and populations age. “In...

Lesbian Fiction's Hot New Stars: Secret Service Agents

Security more desirable than love: Thomas

(Newser) - Secret Service agents have become popular protagonists in lesbian romance mysteries because they embody traits readers covet, June Thomas writes for Slate. "They are the ultimate strong, silent type—they fade into the background without hiding, they keep their mouths shut, and they have your back," she...

Obama Has Met Only Half of Rick Warren
Obama Has Met
Only Half of Rick Warren
Opinion
Jan 19, 2009 1:51 AM CST

Obama Has Met Only Half of Rick Warren

Evangelical's split personality includes 'bland Pastor Rick' and arch conservative

(Newser) - Evangelical Rick Warren has fooled many Americans, Barack Obama included, with his lifelong attempt at creating a double personality, Amy Sullivan writes in Time. There's Pastor Rick—the apparently progressive anti-poverty, concerned-about-AIDS persona Obama invited to deliver the inaugural invocation, and there's the divisive staunch conservative the president-elect should quickly...

Maine Mulls Dueling Gay Marriage Laws

State could become third to legalize same-sex unions

(Newser) - A Maine legislator introduced a bill yesterday that would legalize same-sex marriage, redefining marriage as a union between two people rather than a man and a woman, Reuters reports. The legislation is sure to face fierce opposition—a Republican lawmaker is already drafting a bill to write the one-man-one-woman definition...

Obama Will End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Former supporters turned against Clinton-era policy

(Newser) - The end is near for “don’t ask, don’t tell,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Rolling back the 1993 policy keeping gay, lesbian, and bisexual members of the military from serving openly was one of Barack Obama's campaign pledges, but some feared he was backing off. But...

Blackwell Calls Homosexuality a 'Compulsion'

Would-be RNC chair says gays can just say no to rogue urges

(Newser) - Another candidate for the position of Republican National Committee chair may have put his foot in his mouth: Ken Blackwell, the former Ohio secretary of state, told gay radio host Michelangelo Signoreli that gays and lesbians suffer from a “compulsion” that they “can choose to restrain.” Blackwell...

Obama's Early Picks Disappoint His Base
 Obama's Early Picks 
 Disappoint His Base 
ANALYSIS
Dec 23, 2008 3:15 PM CST

Obama's Early Picks Disappoint His Base

Cabinet tally, inauguration choice upset minority groups

(Newser) - Barack Obama has already slighted some of his most vehement campaign supporters. Women's groups are unimpressed by his Cabinet tally: 15 of 20 spots went to men. And the gay constituency is enraged that Obama chose anti-gay marriage evangelical Rick Warren to lead prayer in his historic inauguration. Instead...

The Case for and Against Rick Warren

WaPost does the dueling op-ed thing

(Newser) - Liberals should be neither shocked nor appalled by Barack Obama’s inaugural invitation to anti-gay pastor Rick Warren, EJ Dionne writes in the Washington Post. His colleague Richard Cohen begs to differ, however, so the two duke it out in their columns today. Cohen says Obama has decided to “...

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