Weekly Political Update

• Eureka Springs, Arkansas became the first town in the state to recognize same-sex couples. On June 13th, it will begin a domestic registry for both same- and opposite-sex unmarried couples. The registry has no legal standing, but is a sign of support for same-sex couples and other non-traditional families.
• Colorado is now the 10th state to allow second-parent adoptions. Both same- and opposite-sex unmarried couples may now adopt children together. Despite pressure from conservative religious groups, Governor Bill Ritter signed the bill, along with one to eliminate abstinence-only sex education (though abstinence may still be taught along with information about contraception and STDs).
• The Connecticut Supreme Court heard arguments for and against changing the state’s civil unions to marriages. The justices focused on whether sexual orientation gave the plaintiffs “status as a ‘suspect class’ of people, entitled to greater protection due to a history of long-term discrimination and political powerlessness.” If so, the Court would look more closely at why the state distinguished between civil unions and marriage, an approach also used by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in their historic decision.
• As Massachusetts celebrates three years of same-sex marriage, the state may be only four votes away from permitting a ballot question in November that would let voters decide whether to ban such marriages. National Democrats are stepping in to help prevent the creation of a rallying point for social conservatives, NPR reports.
• Even if same-sex marriage remains legal, there’s still work to do in Massachusetts. Fifty transgender people gathered at the Statehouse Thursday to push for a new bill adding “gender identity or expression” to the state’s anti-discrimination laws.
• A Superior Court judge in Massachusetts ruled that same-sex couples from New York who married in Massachusetts before July 6, 2006, were not in violation of Massachusetts law. Massachusetts forbids out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying in the Bay State if their home states ban same-sex marriage. The New York Court of Appeals ruled in July 2006 that same-sex marriage was not legal in New York. Prior to that, it was unclear, hence the Massachusetts ruling.
• North Carolina Republicans are trying to revive a bill that would put a same-sex marriage ban in the state constitution. The bill is now stuck in committee, but there are procedural maneuvers that could bring it to the floor for a vote.
• Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed an executive order banning workplace discrimination against state employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. He said it would be hard to pass such a measure for the private sector because of the same-sex marriage ban in the state constitution. Strickland did not support the ban, but said it is his duty as governor to uphold the constitution.
• The Rhode Island State Senate heard further testimony on legalizing same-sex marriage, with supporters and opponents almost evenly numbered. One of the opponents, Rabbi Yehoshua Laufer, declared that the first letter of the word “government” also “stands for the word God” and the government gets its authority from God. I feel like I’ve just stepped back into my medieval political theory class.

Around the world:

• Breitbart.com/Agence France-Presse has an article on Arab Israeli and Palestinian lesbians, and the founding of Aswat (“Voices”), an association campaigning for lesbian Arabs to be accepted in Israeli and Palestinian society.
• Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz Walz defied the Polish national government and approved a gay pride parade in the capital.
• In Russia, St. Petersburg has followed Moscow in banning a proposed pride parade.
• On Thursday, the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), UK Foreign Office Minister Ian McCartney said Britain was committed to the decriminalization of homosexuality around the world, and announced the development of a new UK strategy on international LGBT rights.
• A proposed new UK bill on in vitro fertilization (IVF) would revoke current laws that require fertility clinics “to consider the baby’s need for a father before providing treatment,” making it easier for lesbian couples to use such services. The bill would also (among other things) give same-sex couples in civil partnerships the same rights as opposite-sex, married parents.

(Thanks to the Victory Fund SmartBrief for the Massachusetts (transgender) and Aswat stories.)