- The media-ally award of the week goes to Bloomberg’s Ann Woolner, who wrote the gleefully sarcastic If Gays Can Marry, I Just Might Cancel My Wedding. No new arguments here for those of us who’ve been following the marriage equality battle, but it’s always good to see another person make the case.
- Woolner is, of course, writing in response to the California Supreme Court’s hearing of the case for marriage equality in the state. They must rule within 90 days. (Could it be a hopeful sign that that could put their announcement at the start of Pride Month?)
- Maryland state lawmakers, fearful they will not be able to pass a full marriage-equality or civil union bill, are considering alternative legislation that would grant same-sex couples a more limited set of rights.
- The Massachusetts legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary heard testimony on a House bill that would add gender identity and expression to the state’s civil rights laws. Governor Deval Patrick, Attorney General Martha Coakley and Congressman Barney Frank, among others, all announced their support. The Judiciary Committee has until March 19 to determine what action it will take.
- A bill in the Mississippi senate would bar cohabiting unmarried same- and opposite-sex couples from adopting children. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Phillip Gunn, says he wants to prevent same-sex couples from adopting because “We’re talking about taking a child and putting them into an environment where they are taught habits and exposed to lifestyles that are clearly detrimental to the child.” Being a single parent, however, he says, “is not a bad way to raise a child.” (Because obviously single parents are too busy to think about sex, much less find time to have it.)
- 78 percent of registered New York voters support passing a bill that protects transgender people from discrimination in employment, housing, education and other areas of everyday life, according to a new poll released by the Empire State Pride Agenda.
- This coming Tuesday, March 11, the Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee will consider the “Marriage Protection Amendment” banning marriage of same-sex couples. Equality Advocates Pennsylvania has information on how to contact state senators and ask them to help stop this bill. I received this information via a listserv; the only news items covering it so far are from far-right organizations.
- The Columbia, South Carolina became the first municipality in the state to enact laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in housing and public accommodations.
- Utah state lawmakers approved Salt Lake City’s domestic partner registry, as long is it isn’t called a domestic partner registry. They claim such a name would violate the state constitution which bans marriage of same-sex couples. The Senate has already approved the bill, which now heads to the governor. (Egads. If “domestic partnership” is so close a term to “marriage” that we can’t use it for fear of confusion, why not just call it “marriage” already?)
- For the second year in a row, the Virginia General Assembly has killed a bill to allow cities and counties that self-fund health insurance to provide that benefit to “any other class of persons” as agreed to by the locality and the policyholder. Covered persons could include live-in in-laws, siblings, grandparents, domestic partnerships or unmarried opposite-sex partners.
- The Washington State Senate passed a measure to give registered same-sex domestic partners an expanded set of rights. The bill now goes to Governor Chris Gregoire, who is expected to sign it.
Around the world:
- A Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) heard arguments on the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships, and discussed freedom of assembly and expression for LGBT people in member states.
- An Iranian lesbian who is seeking asylum in Britain has lost an appeal for a full hearing of her case. She faces deportation back to her homeland where her girlfriend was arrested and sentenced to death. Dutch judges are still considering the case of gay Iranian Mehdi Kazemi, who escaped Britain for the Netherlands after being refused asylum. Iranian officials executed his boyfriend in 2006.
- Choi Hyun-sook, chair of the committee for sexual minorities in Korea’s Democratic Labor Party (DLP), announced her run for parliament, making her the country’s first out candidate.
- A gay Malaysian man living in Canada is scheduled to be deported after being refused refugee status. He is asking the federal government to let him stay, saying he fears persecution in Malaysia because he is gay.
- The Supreme Court of Justice in Venezuela, ruled that same-sex marriages cannot be considered constitutional even if the Venezuelan constitution prohibits “any form of discrimination, including that which is based on sexual orientation.”