The gay marriage wdfall - May. 10, 2012

Contents:

• WHY AMERI CHANGED S MD ON GAY MARRIAGE
• THE GAY MARRIAGE WDFALL
• ANRSON COOPER SHAR WHEN HE REALIZED HE WAS GAY: 'ONE OF THE GREAT BLSGS OF MY LIFE'
• GAY MARRIAGE TIMELE

WHY AMERI CHANGED S MD ON GAY MARRIAGE

They clud Judh Kasen-Wdsor, widow of gay rights activist Edie Wdsor; Matthew Hayn, -owner of Club Q, the LGBTQ club Colorado Sprgs where a gunman last month killed five people a mass shootg; Club Q shootg survivors Jam Slgh and Michael Anrson; and a number of platiffs om s that culmated the landmark civil rights se Obergefell vs. Philanthropist and Democratic donor David Boht, who has been an outspoken gay- and transgenr-rights activist and longtime supporter of Bin, told CNN that Tuday’s bill signg uld not e at a more ccial moment. The se ma s way to the US Supreme Court, which dismissed an appeal 2013 over same-sex marriage on jurisdictnal grounds, lg private parti did not have standg to fend California’s voter-approved ballot measure barrg gay and lbian upl om state-sanctned wedlock.

Kennedy has wrten the opn signifint gay rights s and when he uttered the key sentence that same-sex upl should be able to exercise the right to marry all stat, people the Court’s public gallery broke to s and some wiped tears om their ey. Hundreds of same-sex marriage supporters flood the plaza and siwalk ont of the Court to celebrate the lg, proudly wavg rabow flags and banners wh the Human Rights Campaign’s equal sign, which have e to reprent the gay rights movement.

Attorney John Bursch, servg as Michigan’s Special Assistant Attorney General, fend four stat’ bans on gay marriage before the Court, argug that the se was not about how to fe marriage, but rather about who gets to ci the qutn. “It is simply untenable – untenable – to suggt that they n be nied the right of equal participatn an stutn of marriage, or that they n be required to wa until the majory cis that is ready to treat gay and lbian people as equals. And this month, Thailand edged closer to beg the first place Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex unns when lawmakers passed four different bills aimg to provi greater rights to gay upl, such as the abily to adopt children and manage assets jotly.

THE GAY MARRIAGE WDFALL

Three-quarters of Amerins now say they have a relative, iend or -worker who is gay and lns have bee ed to sympathetic gay and lbian characters on televisn and to openly gay talk-show hosts and entertaers. Once beme a vlatn of dividual rights to prevent prisoners, ter-racial upl, flight attendants, and female teachers om marryg, gays and lbians uld argue that they, too, should have the right to marry a partner of their choice.

The northern Italian cy of Padua has started removg the nam of non-blogil gay mothers om their children’s birth certifit unr new legislatn passed by the “tradnal fay-first” ernment of Prime Mister Grgia Meloni.

“There is no discrimatn agast children, ” Fay Mister Eugenia Roccella told parliament when she troduced the bill June, explag that the children of gay upl would have accs to school and medil servic jt like those who only have one livg parent. But only about 50, 000 same-sex upl have married, acrdg to the Williams Instute for Sexual Orientatn Law and Public Policy at more stat legalize gay marriage, all of that pent-up mand uld trigger a weddg boom, sparkg enomic activy as more upl book venu, buy weddg k, jewelry and marriage licens, and secure hotel rooms for guts.

ANRSON COOPER SHAR WHEN HE REALIZED HE WAS GAY: 'ONE OF THE GREAT BLSGS OF MY LIFE'

Coupl spend $27, 021 on average on a weddg, acrdg to a survey of gay and straight newlyweds by Although same-sex upl generally spend ls, that still leav room for a signifint wdfall to the $74 billn weddg dtry if more upl marry.

Print Obama's support of marriage equaly for same-sex upl uld spur more stat to allow gay upl to legally marry and the eventual repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 feral law that rerv marriage for a man and a same-sex marriage rights were granted natnwi, same-sex weddgs would generate a $1 billn each year for the Feral budget over the next 10 years, acrdg to a 2004 report by Congrsnal Budget Office.

"I'm not sure I knew the word 'gay' at the time, but I realized somethg was up, " Cooper said a Q&A ssn Monday on CNN's "Full Circle, " addg that he began to tell iends when he was high school but still stggled through llege wh fully lovg himself.

GAY MARRIAGE TIMELE

" He me out as gay to the public on July 2, 2012, allowg iend and wrer Andrew Sullivan to publish an email om him, sayg 'd bee clear that remag silent on the topic had given the false imprsn that he had somethg to hi. "The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I uldn’t be any more happy, fortable wh myself, and proud, " he has sce weled a son, Wyatt Man Cooper, born April 27, 2020 via surrogate. In 2015, veteran gay rights activist Chi Chia-wei – who has spent 30 years fightg for marriage equaly – filed a requt to the Constutnal Court askg for a lg on an article the island’s civil statg that marriage is between a man and a woman.

In maland Cha, where homosexualy is legal but prejudic and discrimatn agast LGBT people persist unr Communist Party le, an thor of same-sex erotic fictn was sent to jail for 10 years November. Reporters wrote about what Fortunato and Schwandt lled a holy unn, which was ntroversial not bee there was talk of legalizg gay marriage but bee the two men publicly ask for -- and were nied -- the blsg of the Epispal Church.

"The New York State Court of Appeals clar that a lbian or gay uple livg together for a least ten years n be nsired a fay for purpos of rent ntrol protectn, the first time a state's hight urt l that a gay uple n be lled a fay... The California Bar Associatn urg that lbian and gay marriage be legally regnized and Seattle, San Francis and other ci, 'partners' regulatns extendg certa protectns and rights to unmarried upl, straight and gay, are adopted.

"Jt as Hawaii's high urt seemed poised to allow same-sex marriag, gay activists have seen their visns of legal weddgs on the beach of Mi disappear as voters approved Constutnal Amendment 2, givg the legislature power to 'rerve marriage to oppose-sex upl. "Rabbis belongg to the biggt and most liberal branch of Judaism the Uned Stat have voted to regnise the partnerships of gay and lbian Central Conference of Amerin Rabbis, which is part of the Jewish Reform movement, has agreed to sanctn relig ceremoni for same-sex Print of the Conference, Rabbi Charl Kroloff, said that gay and lbian people served the regnn and rpect due to people created the image of God. The upl are barred om adoptg children overseas bee of potential objectns om untri that do not accept gay the new legislatn, all referenc to genr laws erng matrimony and adoptn will be leted favor of the ntral-genr term, partner.

"Before the lg [Supreme Court lg that laws makg gay sex a crime were unnstutnal], supporters the Hoe [US Hoe of Reprentativ] of a nstutnal amendment that would more formally rtrict marriage to the unn of a man and a woman were havg trouble attractg sponsors. "A unty clerk issued marriage licens Friday to at least 15 gay upl, some of whom then exchanged vows outsi the urthoe, as more same-sex upl led up for a chance to tie the Mexi law f marriage as a ntract between ntractg parti but do not mentn genr.

In back-to-back ceremoni on the steps of the Cy Hall rotunda, Kuehl, California's first openly gay state legislator, pronounced her close iends and polil lleagu married to tears and shouts of jubilatn. If the se is permted to go to trial, San Francis officials said their brief, the cy will prent evince that 'relegatg same-sex relatnships to ferr, send-class stat severely stigmatiz gay men, lbians and their fai. "CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 17 -- Ameri's first gay marriage fully thorized by law took place here this morng when Tanya McCloskey, 52, and Marcia Kadish, 56, exchanged vows at the Cambridge Cy Hall.

"Thoands of marriag sanctned San Francis earlier this year were void Thursday when the California Supreme Court led that cy's mayor overstepped his thory by issug licens to gay and lbian upl. 24, 2004] while makg his most revealg public ments so far about the sexual orientatn of his gay his posn on the subject at a town hall meetg here, Cheney replied: 'Lynne and I have a gay dghter, so 's an issue that our fay is very faiar wh.... 4, 2005) that a state law that effectively nied gay upl the right to marry vlated the state Constutn, a cisn that raised the possibily that the cy would beg issug marriage licens to same-sex upl as soon as next month.

In her 62-page cisn, she wrote that the state's Domtic Relatns Law, which dat to 1909 and lims marriage to unns between oppose-sex upl, prived gay upl of equal protectn and due procs rights unr the state Constutn. "In a cisn likely to stoke the ntent electn-year bate over same-sex marriage, the New Jersey Supreme Court has led that state lawmakers mt provi the rights and benefs of marriage to gay and lbian upl. 'In view of the substance and signifince of the fundamental nstutnal right to form a fay relatnship, ' he wrote, 'the California Constutn properly mt be terpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex upl as well as to oppose-sex upl.

Proposn 8 was the most expensive proposn on any ballot the natn this year, wh more than $74 ln spent by both measure's most fervent proponents believed that nothg ls than the future of tradnal fai was at stake, while opponents believed that they were fightg for the fundamental right of gay people to be treated equally unr the years ago, Californians voted 61% to fe marriage as beg only between a man and a California Supreme Court overturned that measure, Proposn 22, s May 15 cisn legalizg same-sex marriage on the grounds that the state Constutn required equal treatment of gay and lbian upl. District Judge Vghn Walker found that the ban on same-sex marriage vlated the nstutnal due procs and equal protectn rights of a pair of upl - one lbian and one gay - who judge orred an junctn agast enforcement of Prop. Sent a letter to Congrs on Wednday sayg that the Jtice Department will now take the posn urt that the Defense of Marriage Act should be stck down as a vlatn of gay upl’ rights to equal protectn unr the law.