News From The Front

Washington D.C. mayor, Adrian Fenty, signed the bill to allow the District of Columbia to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions.

Coming just one day after City Council members voted 12-1 to back the bill, the mayor's signature clears the way for the measure to go to Capitol Hill, where Congress will begin a 30-day legislative review of the measure as required under the D.C. City Charter.

Fenty signed the bill after a group of black ministers vowed to work for the defeat of each of the 12 City Council members who voted for the measure during Tuesday's Council session.

Now, I wonder, as I often do, how these black ministers might have felt if, say, oh I don't know, forty-some-odd years ago, I'd come out and vowed to remove from office any elected official who voted for, or approved of, interracial marriage.

Because there is no difference.

Rights is rights.

Freedoms is freedoms.

Y'all

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Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa. the great state of Iowa, now says he's changed his views on gay marriage and would oppose any effort to overturn an Iowa Supreme Court decision last month that legalized same-sex unions.

Speaking on the public television program "Iowa Press" last week, Harkin said that if a constitutional amendment were put to voters to ban gay marriage, he would vote no.

Some Repugnants have promised to make gay marriage a key issue in the 2010 election, but Harkin says other concerns will matter more to voters, such as the economy and health care.

It's the same old game plan, for some of the Repugs. Strike fear into the hearts of people over one galvanizing issue rather than discuss what's really going on; work for discrimination and against making this country all that it was intended to be.

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Governor John Baldacci said the past week will be remembered for the action Maine took to "break down inequality" by enacting legislation to recognize same-sex marriages. In his weekly radio address, Baldacci said he was fulfilling his constitutional duty in signing the bill, citing the Maine Constitution, which states that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor be denied the equal protection of the laws, nor be denied the enjoyment of that person's civil rights or be discriminated against."

Baldacci again reiterated that the new law does not force any religion to recognize a marriage that falls outside its beliefs, although he acknowledged that the issue may be far from settled because a people's veto campaign has been set in motion.

Listen to him people of Maine, and people from everywhere.

This is what common sense sounds like.