Equal Marriage Updates

A few things floating out on the web today, just a quick run down:

• Maine: Opponents to equality have announced that they have reached the 55,000+ signatures necessary to force a "People's Veto" referendum on the equal marriage law in that state. A rarely used law -- less than 30 times in the state's history -- allows the voters to veto any law put into place by the legislature. The movement is being spearheaded by the group, Stand for Marriage Maine. Per polls, Maine would have a rough fight at the polls as, though the legislature voted for it, the voter base is slightly against it. The ME law is due to go into effect Sept. 12, though will be delayed if the signatures are filed.
• Massachusetts: The Attorney General of Massachusetts has filed one of the strongest federal suits against the Defense of Marriage Act, claiming that it interferes with states' "soverign authority to to define and regulate marriage." LawDork, 2.0 has a great run down of the suit, including a copy of the suit.
• New Hampshire: Gov. John Lynch is experiencing a bit of a polling backlash after signing the equal marriage bill into law. His numbers have dropped to a measly 62%. Actually, the change may make him vulnerable as it will be the first time in his whole tenure where his approval rating dropped below 70%. Kevin Smith of Cornerstone Policy Research has this to say: "The governor assured voters time and time again that he did not support gay marriage, but when it reached his desk he broke his word to the voters... What we're seeing here is a trend where this governor is really tied into the far left wing of his party. And people are now starting to wake up to that fact, and that's why his poll numbers are dropping."
• New York: Former Democratic gubernatorial primary candidate, Tom Suozzi, has come out in favor of full marriage equality. Meanwhile, rumors are growing that the Republicans in the state senate of this state forced the gay marriage issue in an orchestration of the recent Republican coup. WTF is up in NY?

And, finally, the National Education Association, the nation's largest union, has come out in supprt of equal marriage. From the notes of the 2009 Representative Assembly:

NEA will support its affiliates seeking to enact state legislation that guarantees to same-sex couples the right to enter into a legally recognized relationship pursuant to which they have the same rights and benefits as similarly-situated heterosexual couples, including, without limitation, rights and benefits with regard to medical decisions, taxes, inheritance, adoption, and immigration.

They also support anti-discrimination.

Though, I will say, it's nice that everyone seems to be on our side, the question is when will someone show some leadership?

Marriage Anniversary

Five years ago, Massachusetts began marrying same-sex folks legally.

One year ago, two days, California began marrying same-sex folks legally. 

In Massachusetts, support for same-sex nuptuals is through the roof, as people found that it's no big deal.

In California, voters overturned the ruling with the now-infamous Proposition 8, and support in that state has stalled to about the same percentages as voted for/against the measure. 

We fight on -- winning in Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa, and Maine... and possibly soon in New York and New Hampshire. We find that, as people marry, the less people care if other people are marrying. 

And so we fight on. California, we'll be back. We'll celebrate, again, and we'll win, again.

Thank you to all who are fighting, will be fighting, and have fought. But we aren't done.

Image from Mother Jones.

Push for Trans Rights Moves Forward in Three States

Have you been following trans-rights in this country? I know I haven't been keeping as close of an eye as I usually do, so let me do a quick round up for everyone that's interested on three different states:

• Massachusetts and New Hampshire: Both are trying to move gender identity and expression protections through their statehouses.
• New Hampshire: Originally, the bill died in the House in a 181-149 vote, but the body reconsidered it and voted 188-187 to pass it on to the Senate.
• Connecticut: The protections bill died recently in the House judicial committee, but activists are organizing to take it to the floor.

Hrm. Is this weird to anyone else -- Mass and Conn both have equal marriage, and New Hampshire seems like the next one to go (with Maine)... but they don't have protections for gender? Weird.

Trans-Rights?

Cincinnati has protections for gender identity/expression. 

Did you know that both Massachusetts and Connecticut were gearing up for a fight to gain protections in those states? The story: Mass/Conn are good on marriage, bad on trans-rights; Cincinnati is good on trans-rights, bad on marriage.

Weird. I'm actually really surprised by this. 

And so it begins...

Three very significant developments this week in the fight for equality:

• The Supreme Court fight has begun: Eight couples, and three gay widowers, have brought suit against the federal government for recognition of their marriages. Even though it is only coming out of Massachusetts, the implications are fascinating. If the Supreme Court says that the federal government has to recognize marriages as defined by a state, then that essentially knocks down the 1996 Federal DOMA. The question, of course: is it time?
• Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) has introduced a bill to the US House of Representatives repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, stating that it is ineffective and has impeded military readinness. On her bill, the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, she says: "This bill will once and for all end the discriminatory practices of the Department of Defense and men and women who have been administratively discharged would be allowed to have the opportunity to serve again if they want. There is no evidence to support a continued ban on open service, and every reason to allow lesbian and gay Americans to serve our country." President Obama is currently meeting with the Department of Defense on how to best deal with a possible repeal.
• And the right is gearing up to fight "David's Law," which is expansion of hate crimes protections to cover sexual orientation, as well.

Things to watch for...

Oh, and via JMG, Pelosi is promising the passage of a trans-inclusive ENDA. Thank jeebus.

I just realized how expansive this post is... lot of good stuff :-).

Trans-Rights Happening... and fast!!!

There are lots of news stories from the last week of huge jumps the "gender identity and expression" movement has made... so quick run down (I'm doing a lot of Google news searching this evening, can you tell? :-)):

• The University of Cincinnati will add gender protections to their non-discrimination policies! Congratulations to GenderBloc for all of their hard work! (George Washington University is trying to do much the same!)
• The ACLU has filed suit in court to have two women's gender appropriately listed on their birth certificate in Illinois. Apparently there seems to be some question as to whether or not they have gone through the surgery, and a case of bureaucrats selectively deciding when they can and can't do certain things.
• Connecticut is looking to become the next state to protect trans-identified and gender variant individuals. I freaking love the source that you have linked there -- it's a Christianist source, and this is my new favoritest (insane) arguments evar:

  "People who have had sex-change operations; people who are cross-dressers," he offers. "Essentially [it means] people who are confused about their gender, their sexual identity, and think they should have been born the opposite sex from the one that God gave them."
  
  The proposal would bar discrimination based on "gender identity" or "gender expression." Similar laws have been enacted in several states, including California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Oregon.
  
  But one critic in the Connecticut House has expressed concern about the effect the measure could have on the state's public schools, saying it would impact the learning environment. For example, a male elementary school teacher could have surgery and return to classes dressed and acting as a female.
  
  "This is something that's still classified in the medical books to this day as a mental illness," Wolfgang reveals. "These folks want to raise their mental illness to the level of a protected class -- like race or sex." And impose acceptance on the rest of society, he adds.

• Massachusetts, apparently, does not already have a transgender civil rights bill, but it's on the plate for this year.

I would like to point out, too, that Cincinnati does protect people based on their gender identity and expression, and "transgenderism" appears in the Ohio Revised Code in such a way as it could be considered as under "sexual orientation."

In short: we're ahead of Massachusetts?

Was anyone else in the world surprised when they found out Minnesota was the first state to pass gender protections? I'm still flabbergasted.

Really? Minnesota? They can't even decide on a Senator.

Yes, we want marriage; just not us, specifically

Proposition 8, and its legality, is going to the Supreme Court of California. I've not made comment on this for two reasons: 1) I think it will fail, and 2) we should pursue the voters again. Otherwise, we end up with Roe v. Wade all over again -- that is, people bitter that "the will of the people was supplanted by the will of the judiciary." Blah blah balh. And you know that's going to be said.

But it's going to be back in court on March 5th:

The California Supreme Court will hear the legal showdown over gay marriage on March 5, ensuring a decision on the future of same-sex nuptials across the state will arrive before summer.

In a statement released Tuesday, the high court set three hours of arguments for its calendar in San Francisco, setting the stage for the justices to consider a series of legal challenges to voter-approved Proposition 8. Civil rights groups and a number of cities and counties, led by San Francisco and Santa Clara County, sued after the November election, arguing that the ballot initiative is invalid and should be struck down.

In related news...

Julie and Hillary Goodridge (you know, of Massachusetts' Goodridge, et al. v. Department of Public Health) are getting a divorce.

No words.