Marriage Equality Bills Introduced in Rhode Island

We are only a week into the New Year and there are already exciting developments. Two brand new marriage equality bills for Rhode Island have been introduced. Also, while the vote on same sex marriage stalled in Illinois, the bill will be presented again and may be voted on as soon as February. Marriage News Watch covers the above as well as the latest news on a Congressional bill to repeal DOMA in the video below. 2013 will be an exciting year indeed.

Oregon Couple Shares Their 60 Year Love Story

oregon couple

Eric Marcoux, left, and Eugene Woodworth, photographed in Chicago in 1955 by photographer Jo Banks, have been a couple for almost 60 years.

This is a wonderful article about a couple that has been together for 60 years.  When they met, their relationship was illegal.  Now, marriages are being performed in the state next door.  Read the article here.

My favorite quote:  “There wasn’t anything else. Really. There was nothing else for me to do other than spend my life with him. From that very instant that we met. That was it.”

 

Watch: Video from Theramin Trees

httpv://youtu.be/kAIpRRZvnJg

This is a great short video from  Theramin Trees.  The “about” section on YouTube reads, ”

People who don’t want you to think are never your friend

All I require of my fellow human is an ability to separate their ‘stuff’ — personal opinions, hopes, needs, beliefs, etc. — from other people’s.

A good reminder that we need to respect one another…. and that everyone should be treated equally – especially under the law.

Fighting Homophobia in Sports

Today, the sports world is still a struggle for gays. While studies show that society’s perspective is evolving-approval of same sex marriage has gone from 11% in 1988 to 46% in 2010-there is still a perception that homosexuality and sports do not mix. In  fact, more often than not, homosexuality is ignored in sports. Yet there are a few athletes that are taking grand steps to change that.

Brendon Ayanbadejo, a linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens, and Matt Jarvis, a professional European soccer player, have both stepped up to advocate for gay rights and are fighting homophobia in sports.

Ayanbadejo joined Athlete Ally, a program designed to challenge homophobia in sports through athletes speaking to management, coaches, and players. Ayanbadejo stated, “Athlete Ally is about respect and ensuring people the opportunity to be themselves. There’s nothing more fundamental than that when it comes to football.”

Jarvis, a married and well known soccer player, stood up for gay rights by posing on the cover of Attitude, the best-selling gay magazine in Britain. He discussed the fear that a gay footballer would have and yet affirmed that there would be a large amount of support for anyone that did come out.

Hopefully, this is just the beginning of athletes taking a stand for equal human rights. Read more from the full article on Ayabbadejo in Outsports, Or learn more about Jarvis from The Independent, in the full article here.

athletes fighting homophobia

 

 

 

 

 

Tammy Baldwin Sworn In – Becomes First Openly Gay Senator

Tammy Baldwin was sworn in today as a senator from Wisconsin, making her the first openly gay person to serve in the senate.

Chuck Wolfe of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund said: “LGBT Americans have finally broken through a glass ceiling that held firm for more than two centuries.”

Baldwin previously served in the congress along side other LGBT legislators Barney Frank of Massachusetts, David Cicilline of Rhode Island and Jared Polis of Colorado (my rep!)

The 113th congress, which begins today, does so without Frank, who retired after the last term. There are four more LGBT members joining Polis and Cicilline: Mark Pocan, who won his bid to fill the 2nd Congressional seat being vacated by Baldwin, Kyrsten Sinema, of Arizona, becoming the first openly bisexual member of Congress, Sean Patrick Maloney, of New York and
Mark Takano, of California, becoming the first openly gay Asian-American in Congress. Takano’s newly created 41st Congressional District includes the Inland Empire, a region located east of Los Angeles.

Our momentum just keeps building!

Watch: ESPN Airs Pro Bowler Scott Norton Kissing His Husband

httpv://youtu.be/HOqJVNw_eK8

 

Jim Buzinski from Outsports posted this video yesterday of professional bowler Scott Norton kissing his husband after winning the PBA Chameleon Championship in Las Vegas.  The competition took place in November, but was aired this past Sunday.

According to Jim, this is the first time ESPN has aired a same sex kiss.  Not only that, but the announcers treated the champion’s relationship as a non issue.  They simply referred to the Scott’s husband as “husband” and “spouse” interchangeably

The best way to show progress is to have our relationships acknowledged without explanation or fanfare.  It just “is”.

Read Jim’s entire post here.

Macklemore Same Love

As the year comes to an end we look back at all of the leaps and bounds marriage equality has had. One of the best illustrations of progress is the Hip Hop culture. Previously labeled as homophobic, we are seeing an evolution of minds and perspectives.

Top Hip Hop artist Frank Ocean admitted this year that his first love was a man and rapper, Macklemore, currently at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 with his hit Thrift Shop, has embraced same-sex marriage and gay rights with his song, Same Love.

In 2013, we know that things are only going to get better. If you have not watched Macklemore Same Love yet, well, you don’t know what you are missing.

 

Obama Urges IL Lawmakers to Legalize Gay Marriage

Barack Obama has endorsed marriage equality in his home state of Illinois.

White House spokesman Shin Inouye told the Chicago Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet Sunday that the president “believes in treating everyone fairly and equally, with dignity and respect” and that, were he still a member of the Illinois state legislature, “he would support this measure that would treat all Illinois couples equally.”

Obama’s endorsement comes a month before state legislators plan on bringing a bill to the floor. Passage of the bill would make Illinois the 10th state to allow same sex marriage.

The tides have turned. Poll after poll have shown public opinion rapidly shifting in support of same sex marriage. In November, three states voted for marriage equality, Washington, Maine and Maryland.

Read the full article from the Huffington Post here.

A Year in Review – Marriage Equality in 2012

Marriage News Watch’s Matt Baume brings us full circle as 2012 draws to a close. He takes us back through the year to review the progress the country has made towards marriage equality in 2012. With the amazing strides made in one year we are excited to see what 2013 brings in our movement to full marriage equality and equal human rights.

Richard Adams, an Early Fighter for Gay Marriage, Dies

Richard Adams, pushed for gay marriage forty years before it reached the national attention is has today. Adams passed on December 17th after a brief illness at the age of 65 in his home with Tony Sullivan, his partner of 43 years.

In 1975, four years after they met, the couple heard about a country clerk in Boulder, Colo., Clela Rorex, who was granting marriage licenses to gay couples after learning that there was no Colorado law that directly forbade it.

The two were among the first couples to come to Colorado to marry before Clela Rorex was ordered to stop. After their marriage they sought residency for Sullivan, an Australian. The response was less than desirable, reading ” “You have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots.”

Adams fought the courts and filed a the first federal lawsuit seeking gay marriage recognition.

The couple is a subject of the upcoming documentary, “Limited Partnership,” and before Adam’s death they were actually working on a challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Adams was an early fighter for gay marriage and a true pioneer. Read more about this story in the original article on Mercury News.