Once upon a time in the PNW

It is hard to believe that it has already been 8 years this coming week since the joyous surprise occurred of Multnomah county Oregon opening their doors to issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. We stood in line at the Multnomah County Court house with  thousands of other folks in the rain for a few hours, and then walked over to Keller Auditorium and stood in another line briefly until one of the many officiants provided by Basic Rights Oregon performed our ceremony.
However, thanks to G.W.Bush and the 2004 election, that equal standing lasted just over one year. It was a good year nonetheless.
We are coming up on another election later this year, and I have to admit I am not at all encouraged by the prospects -- the 2012 candidates -- who likely do not have equality for all law-abiding Americans as part of their platform. Oh well, life is not a fairy tale... and that's why I am hard pressed to believe in gay marriage anymore.

Marriage & Relationship Recognition
same sex marriage
gay marriage
domestic partnership

Separation of Church and State

Does anyone else ever wonder about the sanctity of marriage argument in a Country where there is supposed to be "separation of church and state"? I mean honestly, why are atheists or Buddhists (etc.) able to enter into the sacred institution of marriage... and yet for religious reasons "marriage" is kept out of reach of same-sex couples? That is why I said that I am not for gay marriage anymore. It's all disingenuous posturing and double standards. The argument is invalid.

Marriage & Relationship Recognition

GLBT

same sex marriage

same-sex-relationships

lgbt

I am not for gay marriage...

... anymore ...

But I still believe in love.
And I definitely believe in equal rights for all law-abiding Americans.
Will that ever happen?

Marriage & Relationship Recognition

GLBT

same sex marriage

same-sex-relationships

lgbt

Imagine...

Marriage & Relationship Recognition

GLBT

same sex marriage

same-sex-relationships

lgbt

Seventy-two

Welcome to the bridge travels today. It's time for a good old fashioned "building or burning bridges blog" equal rights rant. "I am the 99%!" But it's not what you think. It's not about the occupy movement. No, I am among the 99% who usually don't give a flip what the Kardashians are doing. 

This week one of the family members made news beyond the "E!" channel. The same channel that devoted an entire 2 episode special to cover "Kim's Fairytale Wedding." "Over the course of two days, 10.5 million people spent four hours watching Kim Kardashian and NBA player Kris Humphries tie the knot." (10.5 million people? Wow. That is a fairly large % of the 307 million people in the USA. I wonder if that number is worldwide viewers, but I digress). 

Fast forward, and already Kardashian has filed for divorce from her husband of 72 days. 72 days? Most high school freshmen date longer than that. I bet it took longer than 72 days for Kim to plan for her "Fairytale Wedding." I am simply shaking my head. 

And still we live in a country where committed same-sex couples have no federal rights or protections for their committed relationships. Although there are several states in the United States that allow same-sex unions.  

Any 2 opposite-sex individuals who are not blood related can get married (after knowing each other for mere hours) and are immediately afforded 1138 rights and protections for their pairing. Wait, before you give me the biblical mandate that marriage is for "one man & one woman," in this "One Nation Under God" it is not simply one man & one woman who are the privileged class who can be legally married in the USA. No, you can be legally married in America as long as you have surgery to reassign your gender, and then marry one who then has the opposite gender on paper. Even if you are "half male," as long as your gender has been changed on paper, you can be born a woman and eventually legally marry a woman. Or, if you were born male and have gender reassignment surgery and become a female, you can stay married to the woman you originally married. Now, I have no issue with transgender individuals! I do have an issue with the disingenuous "values" crowd who protect the "sanctity of marriage" like it is the "holy grail" -- but only protect it from certain groups of American citizens.  

72 days?? I have been in a relationship with my partner for greater than double 72 months. And yet, we now live in a State where we have zero rights. If one of us dies (or is injured), the other partner is not entitled to SSI, to make medical decisions, to survivor benefits, to the belongings of the other (if family members decide to come in and take over). 
How does any of that make sense? How are the current laws of our Country even defensible? How can politicians in our Country still win elections pretty much on the platform of "protecting traditional marriage"?

Who knows when the change will come. But for now, I have to get back to work to support the family my Country does not acknowledge or protect. Where's the "occupy" protest for that cause?


PS-- Kardashian Apologizes to queers who can't marry — Sort Of ...

Marriage & Relationship Recognition

GLBT

same sex marriage

same-sex-relationships

lgbt

kardashian divorce   occupy movement

Get a fire going

Yes, I am a child of the 70′s. I spent many a summer night around a campfire with my guitar and my peers singing camp songs. One of the songs I remember is “Pass it on.”

“It only takes a spark to get a fire going, and soon all those around can warm up in its glowing.”

I thought of that song this recently when I saw that there is one Senator in the large state of Pennsylvania who is bold enough to introduce legislation to bring full marriage equality to Pennsylvania. Senator Daylin Leach is one little spark of hope in the otherwise (mostly) equality unfriendly state of Pennsylvania. In fact, there already others who are attempting to introduce an amendment to the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage (it is currently already banned legislatively). You can listen to senator Daylin Leach in a recent debate over marriage equality for Pennsylvania.

Here is hoping that this small spark can indeed become what is needed to fuel the fires of equality in the Keystone state.

An UPDATE: on protection of PA citizens: 

“As Pennsylvania’s top enforcer of the law, Pennsylvania Attorney General, Tom Corbett should be aggressively advocating for laws that protect ALL of Pennsylvania’s citizens,” Hoeffel charged Monday, calling on Corbett to support two statehouse bills that would create equal protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens of Pennsylvania.

HB 300, introduced by Rep. Dan Frankel (D- Allegheny County), would amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” as protected classes. If passed, this bill will prohibit discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in housing, employment, and public accommodations.

HB 745, introduced by Rep. Josh Shapiro (D- Montgomery County), expands the definition of a hate crime to include crimes motivated by malicious intent toward an individual’s or group’s ancestry, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or gender or gender identity.

A recent poll showed that half of Pennsylvanians are in favor of marriage equality, so it's time to get a fire going for relationship recognition in Pennsylvania.

Marriage & Relationship Recognition

GLBT

same sex marriage

domestic-partnership

same-sex-relationships

lgbt

Dare we dream: DOMA down?

Well, no. Not yet. But at least now there is a glimmer of hope that at the National level one day DOMA indeed could go down as a "was" instead of a present reality hindering equality as law of the land.

It's no longer too far fetched to dream that one day in America LGBT adults may actually have the same privilege of being married across State lines to their chosen partner. Here are just some of the 1138 reasons why marriage equality matters.

Now, for the news from yesterday. The Obama administration said it will no longer defend the constitutionality of a federal law banning recognition of same-sex marriage: DOMA. To make that point, the White House instructed the Department of Justice to stop defending DOMA in court. Of course, this doesn't mean that the DOMA battle is over. But this signals that perhaps now the defeat of DOMA can begin in earnest.

Marriage & Relationship Recognition

same sex marriage

same-sex-relationships

lgbt

Legalization Is 'Inevitable'

The subject title of this post is based on a recent quote by Vice President Biden, who declared same-sex marriage "all but inevitable in the U.S." (a claim that may be news to President Obama).

"I think the country's evolving and I think there's an inevitability for a national consensus on gay marriage," he said in comments also reported by the New York Daily News. 

Read more about this here where you'll also see a brief clip of George Stephanopoulos' interview with the Vice President.

Well, hope springs eternal, but this may be a tall order with DOMA in place and only 2 years left in the Obama/Biden administration.
Time will tell. I wish our leaders would evolve already on some of these human rights issues!