The Gay News

Our top stories, or at least the ones that peaked my interest.....

Gay marriage is illegal in Ohio. Oh, they made certain of that when they voted five years ago to place a same-sex marriage ban in their Constitution; that's right, their Constitution contains legal discrimination.

But now, Congressman Tyrone Yates, a Democrat from Cincinnati, is proposing a new vote to take it out. This week he introduced a resolution that would eliminate Section 11, Article 15 of the Constitution, an amendment known by supporters as the Defense of Marriage Act.

Defense of marriage? Pfffffft.

And while Yates is trying to fight the good fight, his is an uphill battle. The resolution is expected to fall far short of the three-fifths vote in both houses that it will need to become a ballot issue.

But I applaud Congressman Yates and urge him to keep trying.

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This next story chaps my hide.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington D.C. announced on Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law.

That's right. The Catholics will take away all the aid, both financial and otherwise, to homeless shelters, adoption agencies, and health care, if the gays in D.C. can get married. see, if marriage equality happens in D.C. the church might then be forced to work with gay people and they won't have that.

How fucking Christlike. But why else can we expect from a church that pays off victims of child abuse and hides away pedophiles in their own midst.

How dare they call themselves men and women of God, when they seek to punish innocent bystanders because of a law they don't like?

They can all go to Hell.

And I'm sure they are.

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I saw this story on Wonderman's blog, but it bears repeating and repeating.

Will Phillips is eleven. He wants to be a lawyer when he grows up. And he knows gay people.

it's because of his family's friendships with gay people that Will and his family have become straight allies for the LGBT community. They go to Pride parades, stand up for their LGBT neighbors and are upset that the right to marry and adopt are not available to the gay community.

With all that he's seen, Will saw a problem with the Pledge of Allegiance.
After asking his parents whether it was against the law not to stand for the pledge, Will decided to act, and on October 5th, when the other kids in his class stood up to recite the pledge of allegiance, he stayed seated. The teacher, a substitute that day, tried to get him to stand, but he refused. And he refused the next day, too.

“She got a lot more angry and raised her voice and brought my mom and my grandma up...I was fuming and was too furious to really pay attention to what she was saying. After a few minutes, I said, ‘With all due respect, ma'am, you can go jump off a bridge.' ”
He was sent to the principal's office, who called his mother. And when she learned that her son was being punished for refusing to stand for the pledge--something even the principal admitted was within the boy's rights--she demanded that the teacher apologize to her son.

The principal did not agree.

Well, word got around about the eleven-year-old Arkansas boy who won't stand until there is "liberty and justice for all."

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Meanwhile, on the marriage equality front:

Okay, so we lost in Maine, but we gained a foothold, well, maybe a toehold, in Washington state, and may get equality in New York and D.C. But what about Connecticut? They've been a non-discriminatory state for just about a year now, with gay folks saying I do just about everywhere. Did the sky fall? Did a hurricane smite them? Were there boll weevil infestations?

No?

Oh, well then, what did happen?

For one, Matthew Malok and William J. Whitaker III got married in Stratford last year, after 35 years together. Yes, thrity-five years as a couple and they were finally allowed to be recognized as married.

Thank you, Connecticut.

But then the two went back to their hometown, Atlanta, and once again, they were unrecognized. They describe their marriage in Connecticut as an emotional union, though not a legal one in their own state. Too bad, I say, that they don't take they gay tax dollars and get the hell out of Georgia and move to Connecticut where they can be accepted as legally married.

And theirs isn't an unusual story. Couples came to Connecticut last year from all over the United States and from around the world. They came to Connecticut to be married, to feel that sense of recognition in at least one place on the planet. Then, sadly, they all went home, where that marriage license really means nothing.

But at least we have Connecticut. And Massachusetts and Iowa and Vermont, and, come January, New Hampshire.

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From the soapbox......

So, there you have it. A lone congressman struggling in Ohio for the rights of the LGBT community. He has a fight on his hands, but, hey, at least he's fighting for us, right? He's standing up and demanding that true equality be the right of all the people.

And if that isn't good enough, we have good Will Phillips. He might be just eleven, but little boys grow up, and little boys, and girls, who take a stand for equality now, will surely be fighting for equality in the future. I have faith in Will Phillips, and I'd be sitting down right next to him during the pledge, too.

Connecticut is a mixed bag, Good for us, that we can marry there, and good for them that they have proven to the asshats and Maggie Gallaghers and Carrie Prejeans and NOMs that marriage equality doesn't sink anyone into the fiery abyss of Hell. But it's a shame that that little piece of paper that means so much to people that they are willing to travels sometimes thousands of miles to get, means nothing at all in their own hometown.

And it means nothing because of the Catholic church and their ilk, and their followers. People who do not practice what they preach; who would rather let the unfortunate suffer than allow equality to be the law of the land.

Now, i have nothing against folks who feel their religion is anti-gay marriage. That's their right; something called freedom of Religion, I think. I even stood up for Carrie Prejean because she was allowed her religious viewpoint; I sat down once she became a hypocritical-porn-star. But she, and all other religions have their rights to believe what they choose.

Just keep your church out of the law.

They don't go together.