Gay Marriage passed in New York! Yah!

I know, this is (almost) old news, but I had to post it anyway.  Really, having same-sex marriage in New York State is a tremendous hurdle that we in the LGBT community have done. 

Of course, I'm reading about a "liberal backlash" against New York Governor Guomo who has been as a progressive, but reportedly a Democrat, but who's acting like a pro-business Republican.  So he's reportedly NOT a progressive person.  Well you know what?  I DON'T CARE! Are you listening to me?!?! 

I'm also reading the there will be a conservative religious right backlash.  As in:
--"Gay marriage in New York?!  What's next, marriage to horses and cows?!" (heard that dumb argument?)
OR
--"If the gays overthrow marriage, it'll RUIN the country!  Out beloved nation will flushed down the toilet in evil of all kinds!" (yeah, right!) 
OR
--"We must fight to SAVE marriage from the gays!" ("save" marriage when reportedly 50% of straight marriages end up in divorce?! Excuse me, I'm I missing something here?)

Computer and phone screw-ups. Unable to post .

Hey everyone,

I've had connection problems when I downloaded a AVG Free update on Thur, June 16, 2011.  From then until Sunday, July 3, my PC computer became slower and slower until it froze up upon being booted up on Tues, July 28.  From then until that Sunday July 3, I couldn't use my computer online or off until it did a CHKDSK thing on that July 3 Sunday morning and now my PC is working great (for now)! 

Fortunately, I saw what was happening, and starting saving all the files I wanted to save to my external hard drive.  So now I"m doing backups between daily or up to three days max.

Now the problem is with the phone (I got dial-up for Internet and AT & T for my phone).  The phone cord is outside on the ground instead of buried because all the rain we had in March & April (I live in central Arkansas) ruined the phone lines back in approx. Jan 2011.  So the phone techs left the phone wire above the ground "temporarily" (6 months is temporarily?!).  Now apparently, the lawn service (I live in a condo) got the phone cord caught in their lawn mower and it's now a twisted and mangled mess!

So I'm writing this in a community college PC lab.  I should have phone service back up by this Friday night of July 8 (ugh! a long time!). 

Nevada governor signs transgender nondiscrimination bills

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed into law three transgender nondiscrimination bills that “prohibit discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on gender identity” and gender expression.

These laws make Nevada the 14th state to enact statewide nondiscrimination laws. There are more than 130 local jurisdictions (DC, county/parish/borough, city, town, etc) that are covered, which now includes 42 percent of the American population live under one of these jurisdiction laws.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) was teamed up with the Las Vegas group, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) to pass these protections for transsexual Nevadans. This means sending people to the Task Force Academy for Leadership and Action to help local activists, along with financial support.

REFERENCE:

Nevada governor signs three transgender nondiscrimination bills (2011-06-02)
http://www.thetaskforce.org/press/releases/pr_060211

ORGANIZATIONS:

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF)
http://www.thetaskforce.org/

Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN)
http://www.planevada.org/

Task Force Academy for Leadership and Action
http://www.thetaskforce.org/our_work/academy

Gay Marriage States and Other LGBT Relationship Recognition in the USA

The following are states with gay marriage (or gay marriage states). There are those who are against gay marriage, but anti-same sex arguments are not as effective as they once were. Of course, those same sex couples who have gay marriages in these states have gay marriage support.

States with full marriage equality (5 states + DC)

Massachusetts (2004); Connecticut (2008); Iowa (2009); Vermont (2009)1; New Hampshire (2009); District of Columbia (2010) 2

“1 = VT will honor existing civil unions, but will not issue new licenses. Civil unions will not automatically convert to marriages.”

“2 = DC will continue to honor and issue domestic partner licenses and will convert domestic partnerships to marriages for those who wish.”

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States which recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states (4 states)
New York (2008); Maryland (2010); Rhode Island, New Mexico (2011)

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States with broad relationship recognition laws (9 states)

“A ‘broad relationship recognition law’ is one that extends to same-sex couples all or nearly all the rights and responsibilities extended to married couples under state law, whether titled a ‘civil union’ or ‘domestic partnership’ law. Other relationship recognition laws offer more limited rights and protections.”

Civil unions: Vermont (2000); New Jersey (2006); Illinois (2011) [2], Hawaii, Delaware (2012) [2]
Domestic partnerships: California (2005)4; Oregon (2007); Washington (2007[2]/2008); Nevada (2009);

“4 = CA recognizes same-sex marriages legally registered in or out of CA prior to Nov. 5, 2008 as marriages, and those registered out of CA on or after Nov. 5, 2008 as domestic partnerships.”

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States with limited relationship recognition laws (6 states)

Designated beneficiaries: Colorado (2009)
Domestic partnerships: Rhode Island (2001); Maine (2004); Maryland; (2008)3; Wisconsin (2009);
Reciprocal beneficiaries: Hawaii (1997)

“3 = In 2008, MD created domestic partnerships, but does not maintain a registry. In 2010, the attorney general determined that out-of-state marriages should be recognized.”

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STATE GRAND TOTAL: 24 states (plus DC)


=======================================================
References:

[1] = Relationship Recognition for Same-Sex Couples in the U.S. (2011-04-01)
(Unless otherwise noted, all quotes and references are of no. [1])
http://www.thetaskforce.org/downloads/reports/issue_maps/rel_recog_4_11_color.pdf

Relationship Map home: 
http://www.thetaskforce.org/reports_and_research/relationship_recognition



[2] = Relationship_Recognition_Laws_Map (2011-05--27 via HRC) 
http://www.hrc.org/documents/Relationship_Recognition_Laws_Map.pdf

Relationship Map home
http://www.hrc.org/issues/marriage.asp

Brazil, Same Sex Marriage, and Civil Unions, Part 3 (of 4) [May 2011]

After Brazil’s highest court ruled in favor of civil unions for same sex couples, there are a many in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (“GLBT”) community that are happy to accept the civil unions and leave it at that.

These civil unions provide all the rights of marriage except adoption (Bear comment: What is this about us gays and the no adoption business?! Please don’t tell me straights can take care of kids better than gays! Yeah, right! This is just plain ‘ole prejudice that’s become legalized discrimination!)

But there’s a growing movement among many GLBT people that want to be legally married. Julio Moreira, president of Arco-Iris (Rainbow), stated that civil unions are “a great victory”1 for the gays of Brazil. However, he felt it was important that Congress pass a civil union law in synch with the Supreme Court’s decision that also includes adoption.

Unfortunately, a civil rights law has been stuck (translation: no progress being made) in Congress since 1995 due to the strong opposition of the Roman Catholic Church (which is the majority religion in Brazil).

Even though civil unions are suppose to be the same as marriage, there is still a difference between the gay civil unions and straight marriage, with the latter always having more rights than the former.

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Reference

1 = Despite Historic Victory, Gay Rights Struggle Far from Over (2011-05-16)
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55661

Gay_Troops_to_Hold_Las_Vegas_Convention

Gays, lesbians, and bisexuals who are presently in active in all branches of the military will have an Armed Forces Leadership Summit on October 13-16, 2011 (Thurs. to Sun.) in Las Vegas, NV. The summit will be located at the New York New York Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.1 The convention weekend costs between $150 to $300.1 It’s sponsored by “OutServe, an underground network of more than 3,000 gay troops” 2. The theme will be: "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." 2

Hopefully, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) federal law will be history by the time the summit begins in October. The training for the military is suppose to be finished by August 15, there will be a 60 day period after that, and then DADT should be fully repealed sometime in October.

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Reference

1 = OutServe
http://outserve.org/summit/

2 = DADT Repeal: Gay Troops to Hold Las Vegas Convention (2011-05-25)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/25/dadt-repeal-gay-troops-las-vegas_n_866559.html

Brazil,_Same_Sex_Marriage,_and_Civil_Unions,_Part_1_(of_4)_[Nov_2009]

It all started in Buenos Aires, Brazil in November 2009. Judge Gabriela Seijas ruled for same sex marriage on November 13, 2009 in that city ruled and Mayor Mauricio Macri refused to repeal it. A gay couple (Alex Freyre and Jose Maria Di Bello) were given their marriage license on November 16 and would marry on December 1.

“In the case filed by the gay couple Freyre and Di Bello, Judge Gabriela Seijas ruled that it is unconstitutional not to treat everyone equally under the law.” Amen!

Freyre runs the Buenos Aires AIDS Foundation, while Di Bello is employed at the Red Cross.

There are local civil union laws for same sex couples in Buenos Aires and the province of Rio Negro.

The archdiocese in the Buenos Aires Roman Catholic criticized Seijas’ ruling, claiming that keeping gays from marriage is not “discrimination” (Bear: yeah, right! [teenage eye roll]).


Reference:

International: Same-sex marriage legalized in Buenos Aires (2009-11-26)
http://www.pridesource.com/article.html?article=38911