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Gay couples wed as same-sex marriage dawns on nation’s capital

Posted Tuesday, March 9, 2010, Filed under: District of Columbia

Gay marriage has arrived in nation’s capital.

Angelisa Young and Sinjoyla Townsend wed Tuesday in D.C. (Image: CNN)

Same-sex couples began marrying in Washington D.C, on Tuesday, with some lining up as early as 3:30 a.m. to pick up their licenses from D.C. Superior Court.

More than 300 same-sex couples have applied for a license since the application process began last Wednesday.

Angelisa Young, 47, and Sinjoyla Townsend, 41, were the first couple in line Wednesday to apply for a license, and were the first couple to officially wed in D.C. on Tuesday morning in a ceremony at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters in downtown Washington.

Watch their ceremony, courtesy CNN:

The 13-member D.C. Council voted in December in favor of the Marriage Equality Act, making D.C. the sixth jurisdiction in the country to legalize gay marriage — joining Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Opponents of the legislation tried unsuccessfully to stop it from passing, including asking the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a temporary injunction.

Tagged with: District of Columbia • Gay Marriage • HRC • Washington DC
 
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Florida bill seeks to deny tax credits to films that feature gay characters

Posted Monday, March 8, 2010, Filed under: Film, Florida

File this under “WTF?”

Florida lawmakers are hoping to pass a $75 million incentive package to attract movie studios to film in the sunshine state, but a little noticed provision could deny tax credits to movies that feature gay characters or other “non-traditional” families.

Current state law gives tax credits on productions that are “family friendly,” i.e. no smoking, sex, nudity, or profane language.

But the new bill, proposed by Republican Stephen Precourt, would not only increase the tax credit, but expand the field of disqualified productions to include any which “exhibit or imply any act” of “non-traditional family values” and films with “gratuitous violence.”

Florida Family Policy Council President John Stemberger said non-traditional family values could include anything from “drug abuse to excessive drunkenness to homosexual families.”

(That’s what he said — users, boozers and queers.)

“Let me define it in the positive,” said Gov. Charlie Crist. “A traditional family is a marriage between a man and a woman. That’s traditional.” (Like she would know!)

Precourt claimed he’s not targeting the gay community, but said he doesn’t want to invest public dollars in shows with gay characters.

Tagged with: Familiy Values • Film • Florida • Non-Traditional Families
 
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Sean Hayes comes out: ‘I am who I am’

Posted Monday, March 8, 2010, Filed under: Celebrities, Coming Out

It’s been four years since Will & Grace ended it’s eight year run on NBC, and now Sean Hayes, who played gay sidekick “Jack McFarland,” finally reveals he is gay, in what the Advocate calls “the interview you’ve waited 12 years to read.”

And while Hayes finally opens up, he never quite gives a “Yes, I’m gay” soundbite.

“I am who I am,” Hayes told the Advocate. “I was never in, as they say. Never.”

But offering a few choice words for the gay press, including The Advocate — which long criticized his silence — Hayes dismisses any notion that he should have come out sooner.

“Nobody owes anything to anybody,” he says. “You are your authentic self to whom and when you choose to be, and if you don’t know somebody, then why would you explain to them how you live your life?”

(more…)

Tagged with: Advocate • Coming Out • Sean Hayes • Will & Grace
 
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California GOP state senator reveals he is gay, but still won’t support gay rights

Posted Monday, March 8, 2010, Filed under: California

A Republican state senator from California with perfect record for voting against gay rights, acknowledged Monday that he was gay.

“I am gay,” said state Sen. Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield, breaking his silence on a conservative AM talk-radio show. “Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long.”

Ashburn

The admission follows days of intense scrutiny and ended mounting speculation that began last week when Ashburn was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving on March 3.

A Sacramento television station reported that Ashburn was at a popular gay dance club that night and several people have said they have seen the senator at gay bars in the city.

Ashburn’s sexual orientation is at issue because he has one of the staunchest records of voting against bills that would expand rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Californians.

He defended his voting record, saying he cast votes that his constituents wanted.

“I felt my duty — and I still feel this way — is to represent my constituents, not my own point of view, not my own internal conflict,” Ashburn told KERN Radio host Inga Barks.

Geoff Kors, Executive Director of Equality California, said Monday that he hopes the senator’s revelation will lead him to change his voting patterns.

“Equality California looks forward to working with the Senator to use his experience to educate the people in his district on why he deserves the same rights and privileges as a gay man as any other Californian,” Kors said in a statement.

Ashburn said he does not plan to run for any public office after his term ends this year.

Tagged with: California • Gay Rights • Roy Ashburn
 
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Roseanne Barr blames Mormon church for Marie Osmond’s son’s suicide

Posted Friday, March 5, 2010, Filed under: Celebrities, Religion

Barr

In a post on her blog Thursday, outspoken comedian Roseanne Barr has pulled no punches in her comments on the recent suicide of Marie Osmond’s son, Michael Bryan (a.k.a. Blosil), saying it had nothing to do with depression, and everything to do with the Mormon church’s position on homosexuality.

Writes Barr:

Marie Osmond’s poor gay son killed himself … because he had been told how wrong and how sick he was every day of his life by his church and the people in it. Calling that “depression” is a lie!

Yet the Osmonds still talk lovingly about their church, saying nothing about its extremely anti-gay Crusade. Marie also has a gay daughter! Hey, I want her and all the gay kids in the world to know that they are just fine being gay and that they deserve love and respect instead of insults and rebuke! I have gay people in my family and my circle of friends and I am kicking bigot ass and taking names!

Barr adds that she knows so many Mormon kids who were gay and committed suicide, and that she “just cannot and will not stay quiet in order to not offend bigots anymore. It is all so terribly depressing.” (more…)

Tagged with: Death • Marie Osmond • Michael (Blosil) Bryan • Mormons • Roseanne Barr • Suicide
 
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