2011: An Extraordary Year For Gay Rights : NPR

Contents:

• 2011: AN EXTRAORDARY YEAR FOR GAY RIGHTS
• 2011: A GOOD YEAR TO BE GAY
• LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE
• GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE TIMELE
• SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?
• FOR FIRST TIME, MAJORY OF AMERINS FAVOR LEGAL GAY MARRIAGE

2011: AN EXTRAORDARY YEAR FOR GAY RIGHTS

After s which gay rights have polarised US opn, the untry barely shgged September when a two- old law prohibg gay men and women om servg openly the ary was fally repealed, promptg thoands of gay soldiers to post g-out vios on YouTube – jt one more example of how the web has transformed gay visibily. To put that ntext, there are more people livg New York than the Netherlands, which 2001 beme the first untry to legalise same-sex stggle for marriage equaly has been one of the most bterly divisive issu Ameri, but after a seri of feats for gay-rights advot, the ti appears to be shiftg irrevobly their directn.

In the 2004 electn, unr the keen enuragement of Karl Rove, no fewer than 11 stat passed ballot iativ banng gay marriage — a cynil get-out-the-vote ploy that helped swell Republin ranks at the pollg perceptn that marriage equaly was a poisoned pk chalice persisted up to the 2008 electn, when even Obama was reful to clarify that he wasn't favour of gay marriage, apparently heedg warngs om Bill Clton to give the issue a wi berth. This was a quantum leap on 1990s shows such as Will & Grace, which the gay characters had the whiff of "nfirmed bachelors", to e the archaic phemism of obuary wrers, rarely prented functng relatnships, much ls young gay men and women today the ia that they will be able to marry and raise kids no longer sounds outlandish or ntroversial.

Most of all, they munite wh a diverse group of iends on Twter and Facebook, where gay and straight teens revel their shared cultural is all a long way om the wdowls gay bar wh the peephole the door Edburgh, where I first learned to socialise wh other gay people durg my first tentative steps out of the closet.

2011: A GOOD YEAR TO BE GAY

A year later, when I beme edor of Out, seemed pertent to ask what functn a gay magaze would serve a world that, if not yet post-gay, seemed to be headg that Europe, many of the old prejudic were rapidly fallg away as one untry after another extend equal rights to their gay cizens. And while the ter has enabled young gay men and women to nnect as never before, offerg affirmatn and support at the click of a moe, the web has also given rise to new forms of harassment and yet, as more gays e out, has bee harr for their iends, fai and acquatanc to stand the way of their basic rights.

Realy TV, for all s qutnable ethics, has brought real gay people to the livg rooms of Ameri; 2009, the most popular of those shows, Simon Cowell's Amerin Idol, was seen as a bellwether of changg attus as a young gay nttant, Adam Lambert, eyeler and glter, advanced to the fal. Lambert's flamboyance nflicted wh the show's notor reluctance to field openly gay nttants: he seemed to be tellg he was gay whout spellg out (until after the fale), and the subsequent nversatn the media, and onle, showed how far we had was also a remr of how cril popular entertament has been challengg attus, and remas the sgle most pellg argument for the annual Out 100, a photo portfol of 100 gay men, women and transgenr people om all walks of life who live their liv openly and whout promise.

The androgyno Atralian mol, Andrej Pejic, who met the Queen October wearg a vtage Versace pencil skirt is as much part of the unfoldg gay narrative as the social secretary of the Whe Hoe (and first gay man to hold the posn), or Gareth Thomas, one of the most pped Welsh gby unn players history. ”Xavier Bettel Prime Mister of Luxembourg (2013-prent)Luxembourg Prime Mister Xavier Bettel at a news nference Belgra, Serbia, on July Vojovic / APBettel was first elected prime mister of Luxembourg 2013, and 2018 he beme the first openly gay prime mister the world to be re-elected for a send marriage beme legal Luxembourg 2015, and the same year Bettel beme the first servg European Unn lear to marry a same-sex partner, the BBC recently cricized a Hungarian law that bans school tnal materials and TV shows for people unr 18 that are emed to promote LGBTQ ntent, Rters reported.

LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York TimJune 24, 2011ALBANY — Lawmakers voted late Friday to legalize same-sex marriage, makg New York the largt state where gay and lbian upl will be able to wed and givg the natnal gay-rights movement new momentum om the state where was marriage bill, whose fate was uncerta until moments before the vote, was approved 33 to 29 a packed but hhed Senate chamber. Nathaniel Brooks for The New York TimThe approval of same-sex marriage reprented a reversal of fortune for gay-rights advot, who jt two years ago suffered a huiatg feat when a same-sex marriage bill was easily rejected by the Senate, which was then ntrolled by Democrats.

Cuomo, a Democrat who pledged last year to support same-sex marriage but whose early months office were domated by tense battl wh lawmakers and some labor unns over spendg Cuomo ma same-sex marriage one of his top prri for the year and ployed his top ai to ordate the efforts of a half-dozen lol gay-rights anizatns whose fdg and disanizatn had part been blamed for the feat two years new aln of same-sex marriage supporters brought one of Mr. Díaz legalizatn of same-sex marriage the Uned Stat is a relatively recent goal of the gay-rights movement, but over the last few years, gay-rights anizers have placed at the center of their agenda, steerg money and mcle to dozens of state pals an often uphill effort to persua New York, passage of the bill reflects rapidly evolvg sentiment about same-sex unns. Many of them were approved the past few years, as same-sex marriage moved to the ont le of the culture war and policians ployed the issue as a tool for energizg their New York uld be a shift: It is now by far the largt state to grant legal regnn to same-sex weddgs, and one that is home to a large, visible and polilly fluential gay muny.

Supporters of the measure scribed the victory New York as pecially symbolic — and poignant — bee of s rich place the history of gay rights: the movement’s foundatnal moment, June 1969, was a rt agast police at the Stonewall Inn, a bar the Wt Albany, there was elatn after the vote.

GAY MARRIAGE

Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn. ” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups.

In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners. C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch. That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S.

Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v. For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal.

GAY MARRIAGE TIMELE

Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000.

In 2009, a Marriage Equaly Bill had passed the New York Assembly, but fell short the 2011, galvanized by those loss, gay-rights activists at the Human Rights Campaign, Marriage Equaly New York and New York Pri Agenda doubled down, blanketg the state wh operativ to drive home marriage equaly through postrds, lls and emails and 150, 000 nstuent ntacts wh their the Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 cisn Obergefell v.

SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?

"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. '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.

Cuomo signed the measure after passed a Republin-ntrolled Senate on Friday night [June 24, 2011], raisg qutns as to whether the move reflects new momentum the gay rights said the law will grant same-sex upl equal rights to marry 'as well as hundreds of rights, benefs and protectns that are currently limed to married upl of the oppose sex. Print history to fully embrace that level of civil rights for ’s announcement gave an immediate jolt to the s-long movement for gay equaly at a moment when a growg number of stat are movg to ban — or legalize — same-sex unns and as polls show a majory of Amerins support marriage rights. "Voters Mae and Maryland approved same-sex marriage on a day of electn rults that jubilant gay rights advot lled a historic turng pot, the first time that marriage for gay men and lbians has been approved at the ballot Mnota, another first, voters rejected a proposal to amend the State Constutn to fe marriage as between a man and a woman, a measure that has been enshred the nstutns of 30 stat.

FOR FIRST TIME, MAJORY OF AMERINS FAVOR LEGAL GAY MARRIAGE

"The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal over same-sex marriage on jurisdictnal grounds, lg Wednday private parti do not have 'standg' to fend California's voter-approved ballot measure barrg gay and lbian upl om state-sanctned lg clears the way for same-sex marriag California to 5-4 cisn avoids, for now, a sweepg ncln on whether same-sex marriage is a nstutnal 'equal protectn' right that would apply to all issue was whether the Constutn's guarantee of equal protectn unr the law prevents stat om fg marriage to exclu same-sex upl, and whether a state n revoke same-sex marriage through referendum, as California did, once already has been a majory of the Supreme Court opted not to le on those issu.