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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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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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Virginia AG seeks to remove LGBT protections from state colleges

Posted Friday, March 5, 2010, Filed under: Virginia

Cuccinelli

In the latest move by Virginia’s new, anti-gay Republican leadership, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has urged the state’s colleges and universities to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

In a letter Thursday to the presidents, rectors and boards of visitors of Virginia public colleges, Cuccinelli said that the law and public policy of Virginia “prohibit a college or university from including ‘sexual orientation’, ‘gender identity’, ‘gender expression’ or like classification, as a protected class within its non-discrimination policy, absent specific authorization from the General Assembly.“

Most of the state’s public universities have policies prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Today they were exploring how to react to Cuccinelli’s letter. (more…)

Tagged with: Bob McDonnell • Discrimination • Ken Cuccinelli • Virginia
 
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Utah lawmaker won’t seek re-election, citing hypocrisy in state legislature

Posted Thursday, March 4, 2010, Filed under: Utah

Johnson

Rep. Christine Johnson, one of Utah’s two openly gay lawmakers, will step down from her seat in the State House at year’s end, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

“I’m not leaving because I’m giving up on the fight in Utah,” the two-term Salt Lake City Democrat said Thursday after announcing she won’t seek re-election.

“We have so many budding leaders (in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community) that I’m anxious to see who’s going to step up next.”

As a single mom and a surrogate for a gay couple — the baby is due in June — Johnson expressed some displeasure at what she sees as hypocrisy in the Legislature.

“For the past four years, I have stood with my colleagues each morning of the session, placed my hand over my heart and pledged ‘liberty and justice for all,’ ” she said in a statement, “and yet repeatedly witnessed blatant disregard of those so in need of equal protections in the name of ‘family values.’ “

Johnson, 41, expressed satisfaction with her efforts to pass statewide gay-rights measures, which have faced universal defeat in the Legislature.

Tagged with: Christine Johnson • Politics • Utah
 
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