Target Corp. Gives Big Money to Support Anti-Gay Governor Campaign

Gay.com announced that last week, the Target Corporation gave $150,000 to Minnesota Forward, an anti-gay group supporting Republican Tom Emmer's campaign for Minnesota governor. According to a CBS News report, "Emmer is a fiery conservative who opposes gay marriage, lauds Arizona's strict approach to illegal immigration, once advocated chemical castration for sex offenders and wants to lower taxes.

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Iceland's Lesbian Prime Minister Marries Her Girlfriend

Iceland's prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir made history last week when she married her longtime partner writer Jonina Leosdottir, at a church service on Sunday.

On June 12th, 2010, Iceland's parliament had unanimously adopted legislation that legalized same-sex marriage. This law came into effect this past Sunday, the day in which the Prime Minister and her partner chose to wed.

The couple had previously been in a civil partnership for 8 years and chose to apply to have it converted into a formal marriage as soon as the new law was passed.

Johanna Sigurdardottir is the world's first head of government to enter into a same-sex marriage.

First Same-Sex Marriage Law Takes Effect in Latin America

The AP news announced that many of Mexico City gay and lesbian couples registered for marriage licenses Thursday, the day Latin America's first gay-marriage law took effect.

The first same-sex weddings will take place within a week to 10 days, after the paperwork is processed.

Mexico City's legislature approved the first law explicitly giving gay marriages the same status as heterosexual ones in December. The change will allow same-sex couples to adopt children, apply for bank loans together, inherit wealth and be included in the insurance policies of their spouse, rights they were denied under civil unions allowed in the city.

"This is great, it is a feeling of relief, of celebration, everything," said Daniel Ramos, 20, a medical student planning to marry his boyfriend, Temistocles Villanueva, on March 12.

"For Latin America, this is not only a precedent, but an example to follow," he added.

For now the law applies only to residents of Mexico City, though a marriage performed in one Mexican state must be recognized in the rest of the country.

While activists are trying to get the law extended to the rest of Mexico's 31 states, conservatives say they will seek to pass a constitutional reform so that other states won't have to recognize marriages that do not conform to their laws.

For the time being, it appears easy to circumvent the residency requirement, because the city accepts a phone or utility bill as proof of address — often even if the bill is in someone else's name.

Activist Jaime Cobian showed up Thursday with a sheaf of required documents — birth certificates, official IDs and residency documents — in a bid to get marriage licenses for 16 gay and lesbian couples in states where no such law exists.

"What we still have to do is take this battle to all the states in the country," Cobian said.

An Argentine couple participated in Latin America's first gay wedding in December. But interpretations vary on whether Argentine law allows same-sex unions, and the question is now before that country's supreme court.

Argentina's constitution is silent on whether marriage must be between a man and a woman, effectively leaving the matter to provincial officials, who approved the wedding. A law specifically legalizing gay marriage has stalled in Argentina's Congress since October.

The Mexico City law is being challenged by the federal government in Mexico's Supreme Court on constitutional grounds, but remains in effect while the appeal is heard. The Roman Catholic Church has hotly criticized the new law, which allows same-sex couples to adopt children — something several couples said they were thinking of doing.

David Razu, the Mexico City legislator who proposed the law, said he is confident the Supreme Court will uphold the law.

"There is always a wave of reaction to these kinds of measures, but we are prepared to face it," said Razu, a member of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party.

Gay couples entered the city government building and submitted their documents to the clerks amid hundreds of heterosexual couples doing the same thing.

Patria Jimenez, 54, waved a multicolor gay pride flag outside the building, shouting: "Freedom! At last, we have freedom!"

But she said she must overcome other, more personal obstacles before she can register for her own marriage license: "I still have not convinced my companion. I don't know if she will say 'yes.'"

Source: AP News

Maryland House Committee Rejects Anti-Same-Sex Marriage Bill

On Wednesday, members of the Maryland House committee shot down a bill that would have prohibited Maryland from recognizing same-sex marriages that were legal in other states and countries.

The vote was 12-8 to reject the legislation sponsored by Del. Emmett Burns, a Democratic Baltimore County minister. The same committee has rejected similar measures introduced in earlier years. Their vote prevents the bill from going to the House floor for debate.

During the hearings last week, more than 20 people testified against Burns’ bill, including Candace Gingrich-Jones, the half-sister of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, while only five people including Burns spoke in support.

Congress oversees the district's laws, so the bill must pass a period of 30-day review by Congress.

Gay Marriage Trial Back Up On YouTube Tuesday - Sort of

After the Supreme Court blocked video broadcast of the federal trial to decide the constitutionality of California's gay marriage ban last Wednesday, John Ireland, a freelance journalist and filmmaker, decided he would produce his own version of the trial and post it on YouTube.

“People want to see this drama unfold and there is a tremendous narrative that was propelled by that first day of testimony,” Ireland told the press. “This is the first time that gay and lesbian people have talked about their lives in federal court. It's historic from that point of view.”

Ireland said he's would be basing his story on the accounts of bloggers who have been and will continue t0 be at the San Francisco trial that started last Monday

“I don't think you have to be gay or lesbian to see that there is a tremendous human story being told but so few people are actually hearing it,” Ireland said.

Ireland filming began over the weekend after casting the trial's main characters. Opening day of the trial is set to air on YouTube this Tuesday, with daily updates starting on Wednesday.

“We've been in a fast and furious process of auditioning yesterday, confirming and booking last night, late into the night, and this morning at 9:30 we were all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and started filming,” said Ireland.

Ireland has a personal stake in the trial. In 2004 he married Duncan Crabtree in San Francisco City Hall after Mayor Gavin Newsom instructed the County Clerk's office to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Newsom's decision began a domino effect that eventually led to voters approving Proposition 8 four years later.

Prop 8 Plantiffs Fight for Right to Marry - Video

Federal Prop 8 trial plaintiffs Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo appeared on the Today show.

What is A Heterosexual Woman's Right to Marry In New York Worth?

I saw this great article on Queerty this morning and knew I had to share it with you all!

"Homos aren't the only ones livid over yesterday's marriage defeat in New York. Jamie Frevele, a heterosexual New Yorker gal, is pissed too. Jamie, you see, was born with the right to marry the person she loves, because she is a straight person. But she's a single gal in the big city, and believes it's unlikely she'll be exercising that right anytime soon. So she's auctioning it off to the highest bidder. We'd say something about how the auction is "open to all," but let's be honest: While homos can bid, they can never win.

Before eBay takes it down — immutable rights can't be sold, can they? — go here to see the auction item. Jamie, a media industry vet, tells Queerty that any proceeds will go to The Point Foundation, the mentoring group for LGBT youth. For the curious:

New York State has voted down marriage equality. A lot of people just don't believe all adults should be allowed to get married, usually for religious reasons, which is silly because you need to obtain a license from the state to get married, and there's a separation of church and state in this country, so denying someone the right to get married based on their sexual orientation is actually against the Constitution. The 14th Amendment, actually: Section. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

I'm an unmarried heterosexual woman, and since I probably won't be using my right to get married, I would like to give it away. I would like to sell it to the highest bidder and donate the proceeds to an organization that supports LGBT rights since the government designed to protect all of us is picking and choosing based on what they think is icky, weird, or unkown to them.

Bid now, and you can have my super wonderful privilege and legal ability to get married as many times as you want in a classy place like the one pictured. You don't have to know the person, you don't have to like them, you don't have to think through your decision to get married or anything – you can just do it! Because you can! Come on, it's cool to get married, and think of the pictures you'll have to show people of this person that they will definitely think is so wrong for you and probably is! But heavens to BETSY, do NOT marry someone of the same gender because that would be a mockery of the institution of marriage.

And if it doesn't work out, just get divorced. Half the cool people who get married do that anyway.

I will write you up a fancy, wonderful, articulate proclamation handing over my right to get married. I have no official documentation because this is something I was born with since I was born heterosexual. Unfortunately, this is only a symbolic gesture. However, since I'm picky and difficult, it's probably something that, if a physical object, would have been considered pristine and shiny after some dusting. Your bid, on the other hand, is real, and the donation you make to an organization that supports those who have been treated as second-class citizens will be well worth it.

I have not named an organization yet because I thought I would see if anyone wanted to join me on this journey rather than drag them into something they're not serious about, ready for, etc.

Happy Bidding!

Jamie Frevele

Free shipping included.

Argentine Congress Considers Same-Sex Marriage

The Associated Press just reported that Argentina may ready to become Latin America's first nation to legalize gay marriage.

Gay and lesbian activists think so — and they have a growing number of supporters in Congress, which opened debate Thursday on whether to change dozens of laws that define marriage as a union between a "man and woman."

"We can't expect social equality if the state is legitimizing inequality," said Maria Rachid, president of Argentina's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Federation. "We now have the social and political context necessary to change the law."

It remains to be seen whether they have enough votes to overcome opposition from religious groups. The Roman Catholic Church remains a driving force in Argentina, where presidents were required to be both married and Catholic until a 1994 reform.

Some Catholic and evangelical Christian groups have accused the government of trying to subvert the natural order of life, promote perversions and destroy the family as an institution.

"This should not be understood as the denial of anyone's rights," said Archbishop Jose Maria Arancedo of Santa Fe, who took a gentler tone in a recent radio address. "It's possible both to be progressive and to defend the family, founded on the institution of marriage."

Argentina's capital established its gay-friendly reputation in 2002 by becoming the first Latin American city to legalize same-sex civil unions. Four other Argentine cities later did the same, and such unions also now are recognized in Mexico City and some Mexican and Brazilian states. Uruguay alone has legalized civil unions nationwide.

Canada is the only nation in the Americas where gay marriage is now legal; in the Spanish-speaking world, only Spain has taken this additional step.

The capital's civil unions law was initially celebrated as a huge victory for gay and lesbian rights, but such partnerships don't confer many rights exclusive to married couples, such as the right to adopt children in the name of both parents, to enable a partner to gain citizenship and to inherit wealth or be included in insurance policies.

"A civil union is a link that grants certain rights, but not those available to a married couple, which only a national law can grant," the bills' co-sponsor, Rep. Vilma Ibarra, told The Associated Press. "This is the first round in a long process, but it is already a success to have it out there."

Rep. Julian Martin Obiglio is among lawmakers who would rather expand the rights that apply to civil unions than alter the definition of marriage.

"I don't think the term should be the same for a union between a man and a woman and two people of the same sex," Obiglio told The AP.

Rachid said more than 20 lawmakers have signed on as supporters of same-sex marriage, and they believe they have enough votes in committee for a full vote in the lower house. It would then go to the Senate.

Rachid and her partner, Claudia Castro, were among the first same-sex couples in Buenos Aires to form a civil union — and the first to test Argentine law by applying for a marriage license in 2007. Their suit over the denial is pending at the Supreme Court.

"The opinion of religious leaders who dictate how other people should lead their lives should apply only to those who share their creed, and not to the rest of society," Rachid said during an interview with Castro in the Buenos Aires apartment they share with their dog, Lola.

"We don't need a law to define us as a couple — we've already been a couple for more than 10 years," Castro added. "We just want to have equal rights."

If the law passes, they plan to be first in line for a marriage license.