It's That Time Again... Another Gay Marriage News Roundup
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Written by jay
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Friday, 18 July 2008 04:05 |
Just to prove to you all that we aren't completely cynical killjoys about this whole gay marriage thing, here's a quick roundup of notable news items from this week in California's Summer of Gay Marriage.
First off: A new poll shows that opinions may be shifting when it comes to approving a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would ban gay marriage. 51% of voters now say they are against the amendment-which will be on the ballot in November as Prop 8 -with 42% saying they are for it. Back in 2000, 68% of voters approved Prop 22, which ostensibly defined marriage as between a man and a woman and which the CA Supreme Court (you may have heard) recently deemed unconstitutional. We look forward to about 900 similar polls to follow.
Next: On Wednesday, the CA Supreme Court rejected a bid to remove the anti-gay-marriage amendment from the ballot. Civil rights groups like the ACLU filed a legal challenge to the ballot measure (citing, among other things, that constitutions probably shouldn't be amended to take away civil rights)
Also: There is dissension among the ranks of gay haters in CA and the gay press has been quite thrilled all around. Apparently, the folks behind ProtectMarriage.com are trying to sidestep their association with Campaign for California Families, calling the latter "extremists" who previously had backed a different amendment that would have severely curtailed many other gay rights. To clarify, the ProtectMarriage.com people only want to strip away one civil right, not all of them, so they don't want to be called bigots.
Then: A bunch of California ministers from the United Methodist Church are defying church rules and performing ceremonies for gay couples, despite threats of defrocking (we love that word).
Lastly: The U.S. Census Bureau is going to remain firmly decades behind larger cultural trends in the 2010 Census, after declaring that they must, like the rest of the federal government, abide by the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and cannot recognize same-sex married couples as anything but "unmarried partners." Our question, however, is why the sexual orientation question is still going to remain taboo, when no proper census of the LGBT community has ever been conducted. Sure, there'll always be the closet, but fuck! Isn't it about time in 2010 that we start getting some firm demographic data on out gays?
RELATED:
MyPartner.com To Sacrifice 5 Happy Men To Needy Marriage God
Maybe Someday This Whole Marriage Thing Will Blow Over
I Do Therefore Izod: The Sword Looks at Gay Wedding Fashion
Songs for the Marrieds: A Sword Mixtape in Honor of Gay Marriage Day in CA
Field Poll: Majority of California Voters Oppose Prop. 8 (The Advocate)
Bad Nup News... (Queerty)
Dissension Among California Opponents of Same-Sex Marriage (GayCityNews)
Calif. Pastors Defy Church, Marry Gay Couples (365gay.com)
Census Won't Recognize Gay Marriages in 2010 Count (AP)
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