07.13.06
Posted in Gay Rights at 2:09 pm by pikapp44
Greensboro, North Carolina The chair of Guilford County’s Republican Party is refusing to back down from comments that link homosexuality with pedophilia.
“In America today our churches have degraded their beliefs so much that the ordinary citizen sees no need to attend a worship service, because he sees and hears the same thing on Opra and Dr. Phil everyday. We now say that homosexuality is ok. That it is natural. Yes it is as natural as pedophilia,” Marcus Kindley wrote in an article on declining morals in America that appeared in GOP his blog, The Chairman’s Corner.
North Carolina Advocacy Coalition, an LGBT civil rights group has demanded a apology.
On Wednesday afternoon, after NCAC issued its demand for an apology Kindley amended his blog to say his views aren’t connected to the Republican Party.
But he is holding his ground, insisting that “never compared homosexuals to pedophiles.” Kindley says he was making an observation about American morals.
“I never attacked Homosexuals, I only made an observation about what is natural and what is not,” says Kindley.
Thursday morning Kindley appeared on a local radio show where he refused to apologize. During the interview he called homosexuality a “lifestyle choice” and compared being gay to the choice of being overweight.
Kindley’s views on homosexuality are not foreign to the N.C. Republican Party’s position.
The state party platform says: “We believe homosexual behavior is not normal and should not be taught as an acceptable ‘alternative’ lifestyle either in public education or in public policy.”
Permalink
07.11.06
Posted in Gay Portal at 2:30 pm by pikapp44
Supporters of same-sex marriage are gearing up with their own campaign to make Florida’s marriage laws gay-friendly while a Wednesday deadline looms for opponents to file a ballot measure that would prevent marriage equality. The Florida Coalition To Protect Marriage has been passing around a flurry of petitions to try to meet their deadline to get enough signatures to force a constitutional amendment question onto Florida’s 2008 ballot.
Meanwhile, a Florida gay-rights group has begun a campaign to educate voters about the upcoming ballot. Equality Florida says that the anti-marriage coalition is finding the signature-gathering process is not so easy.
Still, according to the Sun-Sentinel, Equality Florida believes the organizers are likely to get enough signatures by the deadline, so in response, members are preparing their own campaign, called FairnessForAllFamilies.org, to oppose the amendment.
Equality thinks the majority of Floridians approve of gay unions: A poll the group commissioned last year found 55 percent of state residents favored “legal domestic partnerships” that would provide gay and lesbian couples the same benefits, such as health insurance, that married heterosexuals get.
Permalink
07.10.06
Posted in Gay Rights at 12:59 pm by pikapp44
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Monday ruled that Attorney General Thomas Reilly did not act illegally when he certified the wording on a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would ban same-sex marriage.
The ruling was the third major setback to gays and lesbians across the country in less than a week.
Massachusetts is the only state where gay marriage is currently legal.
GLAD, the LGBT legal organization that won the right for same-sex couples to wed challenged Reilly’s certification alleging that it violated a constitutional provision which in effect would overturn an existing ruling by the high court - the right to marry.
The Supreme Court said that the provision restricting overturning cases must be narrowly applied and the GLAD case did not fit the requirement.
“There was no error in the Attorney General’s certification of the petition,” the ruling said.
“We remand the case to the county court for entry of a judgment declaring that the Attorney General’s certification of the petition is in compliance with the requirements.”
Permalink
07.08.06
Posted in Gay Rights at 2:01 pm by pikapp44
Pope Benedict XVI wasted no time in defending the Vatican’s vision of marriage as a union of man and woman.
“The family is a unique institution in God’s plan, and the church cannot fail to proclaim and promote its fundamental importance,” Benedict said on his arrival.
Even before arriving, the pope said on his plane that according to human nature, it is man and woman who are made for each other and give humanity a future.
Permalink
07.07.06
Posted in Gay Rights at 9:01 pm by pikapp44
Tennessee FBI investigators probing a cross burning in front of the home of a gay couple said Friday that even if the people responsible are caught they cannot be prosecuted under federal law.
The flaming cross was discovered by Brandon Waters on his front lawn earlier this week.
Waters said that the cross was about 7 feet tall and a hate message bearing homophobic epithets was found nearby.
He said he has no doubt that the cross burning was a hate message, targeting him because he is gay.
Meigs County Sheriff’s Department called in the FBI along with state police to investigate.
The federal officers said that under federal hate crime law there is no provision for crimes against gays, lesbians or the transgendered.
Legislation that would have included crimes against gays and lesbians in federal hate crime laws was been dropped in the Senate in May.
A House version of the hate crime bill passed the House earlier this year.
The bill would have allowed the Department of Justice to assist local authorities in investigating and prosecuting cases in which violence occurs.
Extending hate crimes law to include members of the LGBT community is endorsed by more than 175 law enforcement, civil rights, civic and religious organizations, including: the National Sheriffs’ Association, International Association of Chiefs of Police, U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association.
Permalink
07.06.06
Posted in Gay Rights at 10:20 am by pikapp44
New York’s highest court ruled Thursday that gay marriage is not allowed under state law, rejecting arguments by same-sex couples who said the law violates their constitutional rights.
Hours later, the Georgia state Supreme Court reinstated that state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage. It reversed a lower court judge’s ruling, deciding unanimously that the ban did not violate the state’s single-subject rule for ballot measures. Seventy-six percent of Georgia voters approved the ban when it was on the ballot in 2004.
New York’s Court of Appeals, in a 4-2 decision, said New York’s marriage law is constitutional and clearly limits marriage to between a man and a woman.
Any change in the law would have to come from the state Legislature, Judge Robert Smith said.
Permalink
07.05.06
Posted in Gay Portal at 1:23 pm by pikapp44
A Florida church launched a campaign this week to identify supporters of a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage by publishing the names and addresses of 400,000 Florida residents in 60 counties.
The Internet campaign by Christ Church of Peace, a nondenominational church in Jacksonville, has been denounced by groups that support a state ballot initiative that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
Gary Debusk, pastor of Christ Church of Peace, said the church began the ‘Know Thy Neighbor’ effort Monday to encourage dialogue and prevent voter-signature fraud. As the head of a congregation that supports same-sex marriage, Debusk said he also wanted to add a new perspective to a debate that he said has been dominated largely by religious conservatives. ‘It’s time for another voice that is Christian to be heard,’ he said.
The Web site, knowthyneighbor.org/florida, is linked to the church’s home page and contains a searchable database of names. The names on such petitions are part of the public record, according to the Florida Department of State.
Christian groups such as the Fort Lauderdale-based Center for Reclaiming America and the Florida Family Policy Council have denounced the Web site as a misguided effort to intimidate activists.
Permalink
Posted in Gay Rights at 1:13 pm by pikapp44
New York’s Court of Appeals, the highest in the state, is expected to rule this week on whether same-sex couples can marry. Decisions in several other cases were handed down today, but the marriage ruling could come on Thursday, lawyers say.
The court heard arguments in May in four different lawsuits brought by 44 gay and lesbian couples, which were combined into a single one for the purpose of this ruling. In three of the cases, lower court judges upheld the current ban on same-sex marriage, but in the fourth, New York City judge Doris Ling-Cohan ruled that the New York State Constitution guarantees basic freedoms to lesbian and gay people, and that those rights are violated when same-sex couples are not allowed to marry.
That ruling was overturned in a mid-level appeals court. The justices will be determining how broadly the state constitution should be interpreted.
An April poll showed a majority of people across New York State in support same-sex marriage.
Permalink
Next entries »