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Global push for same-sex marriage

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Author Topic: Global push for same-sex marriage  (Read 15603 times)
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« Reply #90 on: January 10, 2015, 07:05:04 am »

Vietnam Drops Ban On Same-Sex Marriage

Last week, Vietnam became the first country in Southeast Asia to support same-sex marriage when the communist country's National Assembly struck down the ban.

According to LifeSiteNews, the country's motivation to strike down the ban came from pressure to attract homosexual tourism and the influence of U.S. foreign policy, which features Ted Osius, an active homosexual, as the new US ambassador to Vietnam.

"We could get more support from civil society in Vietnam because the American ambassador is gay," said Luong The Huy, a lawyer with the homosexuality-advocating Institute for Studies of Society. "He promotes a very good image of a very successful person who is gay," he said.

Though the government does not ban the union, it still does not formally recognize it or provide any legal support system.

“It’s getting out that Vietnam is a more friendly place,” the director of a homosexual advocacy group called Utopia Asia told the Bangkok Post. “Gays in Vietnam are certainly becoming more open. It has not ruffled any feathers as it might in some other countries in Southeast Asia. It will have a positive effect on tourism.”

"[The law] indicates to everyone that Vietnam is opening up more and welcomes everyone," said the owner of Gay Hanoi Tours. "Vietnam is changing very quickly. There are bigger gay communities and gay events."

One apparent venue of "gay events" just so happens to be the American Club in Hanoi.

Vietnam lifting the ban stands in stark contrast to other socially conservative countries in Southeast Asia, including Singapore, which recently reaffirmed its ban on homosexual behavior in 2014 and reiterated that any attempts to lift the ban must be made by legislators, not judicial activists. 

http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/vietnam-drops-ban-same-sex-marriage
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« Reply #91 on: January 12, 2015, 04:58:16 pm »

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/golden-globe-goes-series-about-lesbians-adultery-sm-and-transgender-dad
Golden Globe Goes to Series About Lesbians, Adultery, S&M and Transgender ‘Dad’
January 12, 2015 - 3:24 PM

(CNSNews.com) – Hollywood, gay activists, and the media that cover them are crowing about Amazon.com’s Transparent show getting the Golden Globe award for Best Comedy on Sunday.

Actor Jeffrey Tambor who plays the lead character in amazon.com's series "Transparent." (Photo: Amazon.com)

“To have the best new show of the fall airing not on a television network, not even on a cable channel, but on a service where you can also buy underwear, that is a revolutionary moment,” Brian Stelter, CNN correspondent, said of the series.

The show, created by Jill Soloway, features three grown children and their father, who is a transgender woman. One daughter is married but has a lesbian affair. Another daughter likes S&M, illegal drugs, and three-somes. The son has multiple sexual relationships. There is much drinking, drug use, and sexual promiscuity and deviancy in the show.

In accepting the award, Soloway recognized her father, who is a transgender woman, and a transgender woman, who recently committed suicide, according to CNN.

“This award is dedicated to the memory of Leelah Alcorn and too many trans people who die too young,” Soloway said in accepting the award. “And it’s dedicated to you my transparent. My Mapa.

“You’re watching at home right now, and I just want to thank you for coming out because in doing so you made a break for freedom,” Soloway said. “You told you truth.

“You taught me how to tell my truth and make this show,” Soloway said. “And maybe we’re going to be able to teach the world something about authenticity and truth and love.”

“To love,” Soloway said as she hoisted the Golden Globe statuette.

Soloway also thanked Jeffrey Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com and owner of the Washington Post.

Jeffrey Tambor, the man who plays the transgender woman in the Amazon.com series and who won Best Actor in a Television Comedy, also touted the transgender community in accepting his award.

"Thank you for your courage," Tambor said. "Thank you for your inspiration. Thank you for your patience. And thank you for letting us be a part of the change."
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« Reply #92 on: January 20, 2015, 06:28:27 am »

Male Witches Celebrate First Same-Sex Pagan Wedding in U.K.



Janet, Lady Glamis, burned in 1537, and Janet Horne, burned in 1637, would be delighted at the change in Scotland these days, although much of traditional Christendom might have a different perspective. On Sunday, in Edinburgh, two male witches celebrated the first pagan same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom.

The BBC reported that Tom Lanting, 34, and Iain Robertson, 39, who have lived together for 12 years, tied the knot in a ceremony in Edinburgh’s 16th-century Marlin's Wynd. Both men are hedge witches; the ceremony included rituals such as handfasting, sharing mead and jumping the broom.

According to handfastings.org, handfasting literally means tying the knot: “After the bride and groom both declare their intent to enter into this union, the hands of the couple are clasped and fastened together with a cord or cords just before, just after, or during their vows are made to one another.” The site also explains that the ceremony isn’t exactly the type of commitment found in traditional weddings: “A handfasting can either be a legal marriage (depending on state law), or a commitment for "as long as love shall last.”

Lanting and Robertson stated:

    Getting married in a legal pagan ceremony means so much to both of us. The new equal marriage law means that we finally have equal recognition and acceptance of our relationship, and it opens the door for all LGBTI couples to take the same step. As hedge witches we always wanted to have a pagan marriage ceremony in line with our beliefs and it was really important to us to be able to share this ceremony with our friends and family.

Unlike England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, Scotland allows pagans to wed legally; the Pagan Federation in Scotland has celebrated heterosexual pagan marriages since 2005.

Louise Park, the presiding officer for the Pagan Federation (Scotland), who presided over the wedding, ejaculated, "I am absolutely over the moon to have been able to conduct Scotland's - and the UK's - first pagan same-sex marriage for Tom and Iain, who hold a special place in the hearts of Scotland's pagan community."

http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/male-witches-celebrate-first-same-sex-pagan-wedding-uk

hmmm, what could possibly be next? Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters marrying Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...
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« Reply #93 on: January 21, 2015, 06:22:06 pm »

http://www.cnsnews.com/node/878251
Obama in State of Union: Same-Sex Marriage is ‘America at Its Best’
January 21, 2015 - 9:07 AM

(CNSNews.com) - When he was running for president seven years ago, and appearing in a nationally televised forum held by a Christian pastor at a Christian church, Barack Obama said he believed that marriage was a “sacred union” that was “between a man and a woman.”

On Tuesday night, in his State of the Union Address, Obama said that legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States is one of the things he has seen that represents “America at its best.”

“I still believe that together, we can do great things, even when the odds are long,” Obama said. “I believe this because over and over in my six years in office, I have seen America at its best.

“I’ve seen the hopeful faces of young graduates from New York to California, and our newest officers at West Point, Annapolis, Colorado Springs, New London,” he said. “I’ve mourned with grieving families in Tucson and Newtown, in Boston, in West Texas, and West Virginia.  I’ve watched Americans beat back adversity from the Gulf Coast to the Great Plains, from Midwest assembly lines to the Mid-Atlantic seaboard.  I’ve seen something like gay marriage go from a wedge issue used to drive us apart to a story of freedom across our country, a civil right now legal in states that seven in 10 Americans call home.

“So I know the good, and optimistic, and big-hearted generosity of the American people who every day live the idea that we are our brother’s keeper and our sister’s keeper,” he said. “And I know they expect those of us who serve here to set a better example.”

On Aug. 17, 2008, two and a half months before the 2008 presidential election, Obama and his opponent, Sen. John McCain, were interviewed back-to-back by Pastor Rick Warren at the Saddleback Church in Southern California.

Warren asked Obama: “Define marriage.”

“I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman,” Obama said. “Now, for me as a Christian--for me--for me as a Christian, it is also a sacred union. God's in the mix.”

“Would you support a Constitutional Amendment with that definition?” Warren asked.

“No, I would not,” said Obama.

“Why not?” asked Warren.

“Because historically, we have not defined marriage in our Constitution,” said Obama. “It's been a matter of state law. That has been our tradition. I mean, let's break it down. The reason that people think there needs to be a constitutional amendment, some people believe, is because of the concern that--about same-sex marriage. I am not somebody who promotes same-sex marriage, but I do believe in civil unions. I do believe that we should not--that for gay partners to want to visit each other in the hospital for the state to say, you know what, that's all right, I don't think in any way inhibits my core beliefs about what marriage are. I think my faith is strong enough and my marriage is strong enough that I can afford those civil rights to others, even if I have a different perspective or different view.”

On Nov. 1, 2008, just three days before the 2008 election, Obama again stated that he did not believe in same-sex marriage.

MTV asked him his view on Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative that amended the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage.

“I think it’s unnecessary,” Obama said. “I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage. But when you start playing around with constitutions, just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that’s not what America’s about. Usually, our constitutions expand liberties, they don’t contract them."
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« Reply #94 on: January 26, 2015, 05:32:14 pm »

http://www.gazzettadelsud.it/news/english/126041/Pope-receives-Spanish-transsexual--girlfriend---update.html
1/26/15
Pope receives Spanish transsexual, girlfriend - update

Vatican City, January 26 - Pope Francis on Saturday received in a private audience a Spanish transsexual and his girlfriend after the man wrote to him saying he had been cast out of the church in his native city, Spanish daily Hoy reported Monday. The transgender male, Diego Neria Lejarraga, a 48-year-old former woman, wrote to the pope some time ago saying he had been "marginalised" by Church officials in the city of Plasencia, in the southwestern region of Estremadura, Hoy said. Neria, a believer and a practising Catholic, said he had been rebuffed by elements of the local clergy and claimed the parish priest had called him "the Devil's daughter", Hoy reported. Francis phoned him twice in December, setting up Saturday''s meeting in St Martha's House, the Vatican guesthouse the pontiff lives in, Hoy said. The pope has said the Catholic Church should be more accepting of gays but recently failed to muster a big enough majority of cardinals to change doctrine on the issue. Asked about the reported meeting, official Vatican sources declined to comment.
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« Reply #95 on: January 31, 2015, 07:52:18 pm »

Yet another MK Ultra psyop...

https://tv.yahoo.com/news/report-bruce-jenner-transitioning-woman-160159121.html
Report: Bruce Jenner Is Transitioning to a Woman
1/31/15

Bruce Jenner's evolving appearance has been the source of speculation for more than a year, and now People reports that the former Olympian "will soon be living life as a female."

"Bruce is transitioning to a woman," a source close to the Jenner family confirms to the magazine. "He is finally happy and his family is accepting of what he's doing. He's in such a great space. That's why it's the perfect time to do something like this."

Another insider adds that Jenner will document his transition for a docu-series to be released later this year, a claimed backed up by Us Weekly and Variety's similar reports. "It will air when he is ready to be open about his transition," the source says. "But he's acting more and more confident and seems very happy."

Since splitting with his wife of 23 years, Kris Jenner, in 2013, the reality star has grown out his hair, has been spotted with painted nails and wearing lip gloss and underwent surgery to pare down his Adam's apple. According to the source, Jenner decided to transition slowly in part to help his family adjust to the change. However, "not everyone is 100 percent on board," one insider says. "Different people have different reactions. But everybody loves him."

It does seem that whatever Jenner is going through, his stepdaughter Kim Kardashian gives him her full support. When asked about Jenner on ET, Kardashian simply made it clear that it was Jenner's life and he was the only one with a right to discuss it. "I think everyone goes through things in life, and I think that story and what Bruce is going through, I think he'll share whenever the time is right," Kardashian said.

In addition to Kim, Jenner has three other stepchildren, Kourtney, Khloe and Rob Kardashian. He also has six children of his own, Kendall and Kylie, with Kris Jenner, Brody and Brandon, with ex-wife Linda Thompson, and Cassandra and Burt, with ex-wife Chrystie Crownover.
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« Reply #96 on: February 01, 2015, 12:05:11 pm »

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/01/huckabee-gay-marriage_n_6589410.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
2/1/15
Huckabee: Gay People 'Can Be My Friends'

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) said on Sunday that even though he opposes gay marriage for religious reasons, he has plenty of gay friends -- just like he has friends who drink, curse and enjoy ballet.

"People can be my friends who have lifestyles that are not necessary my lifestyle," Huckabee said on CNN's "State of the Union." "I don't drink alcohol, but gosh, a lot of my friends, maybe most of them do. I don't use profanity, but believe me, I've got a lot of friends who do. Some people really like classical music and ballet, opera -- it's not my cup of tea."

Huckabee, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, reiterated Sunday that he would like to run for the Republican nomination, joking that his ideal scenario would be for all other GOP candidates to drop out of the primary and let him win. He said his opposition to gay marriage is no more conservative than President Barack Obama's was when he won his first presidential term.

"Obama had the same position I had when he spoke about it in 2008, and for the same reason," Huckabee said. "He said it was because he was a Christian and because God is in the mix."


Obama's views on the subject have since evolved, and he said in 2012 that he supports same-sex marriage.

Republicans, particularly younger ones, have also been warming to the idea of gay marriage. But Huckabee said his views won't change "unless I get a new version of the Scriptures."

"This is not just a political issue, it's a biblical issue," he said. "It's like asking somebody who's Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli."
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« Reply #97 on: February 08, 2015, 09:32:41 pm »

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/08/slovak-conservatives-fail-gay-marriage-ban
2/7/15

Slovak conservatives fail to cement gay marriage ban in referendum
Ban on gay marriages and child adoptions failed because the vote attracted less than the minimum 50% of voters necessary to make it valid




Slovak conservatives failed to cement a ban on gay marriages and child adoptions in a referendum on Saturday because the vote attracted far less than the minimum 50% of voters necessary to make it valid, partial results showed.

Votes counted from 87.23% of the central European country’s voting districts showed turnout of just 21.07%, the statistics office said, far from the legal limit and well below expectations.

The EU member does not allow gay marriages or civil unions, nor adoptions by same-sex couples. The grassroots conservative movement that backed the referendum sought to strengthen those bans through a popular vote that would make it more difficult to change the legislation in the future.

The campaign was part of a conservatives’ push in Eastern European countries, including Hungary and Croatia, against what they see as overly liberal policies spreading eastwards in the two decades since the European Union expanded to include former Communist states.

Around 90% of those who took part in the vote said yes to the referendum’s three questions: whether marriage can only be a union of a man and a woman, whether same-sex couples should be banned from adoptions, and whether children can skip classes involving education on sex and euthanasia.

Liberal elites, gay rights activists and part of the media advised voters to defeat the referendum by not taking part, a strategy that worked.

The low turnout pleased the country’s gay community.

“I am happy for the result. The referendum was about limiting the rights of a minority by the majority, so it should not have taken place at all,” said activist Hana Fabry.

The group behind the referendum, Aliancia pre rodinu (Alliance for the Family), argued that the traditional family is under threat and points to an increasing number of countries, including neighbouring Austria and the Czech Republic, that allow various forms of same-sex unions, or child adoption by gay couples.

It put a brave face on the result, saying holding the referendum was a success in itself.

“The most important thing is that the family became the topic of the day and perhaps the topic of the year,” said the alliance’s Anna Veresova.

The referendum was backed by the Catholic church, a powerful institution in the country of 5.4 million people.

Slovakia is one of the most religious countries in Europe. But statistics show that the percentage of children born out of wedlock is only slightly lower than in neighbouring Czech Republic, which is one of the least devout nations in Europe, and the number of births per woman is even lower.

Final referendum results are expected on Sunday.
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« Reply #98 on: February 10, 2015, 01:05:46 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/jenner-drama-comes-pivotal-time-transgender-rights-081226504.html
2/10/15
Jenner speculation comes at key time for transgender rights

NEW YORK (AP) — Whether or not Olympic legend Bruce Jenner becomes its new champion, the transgender-rights movement is making remarkable strides on many fronts — ranging from mass-media visibility to legal protections. Yet despite the gains, activists say many transgender Americans, far more so than gays and lesbians, remain vulnerable to violence, discrimination and lack of understanding.

"We see transgender rights as the next wave of the work we need to do, after marriage equality," said Katherine Franke, director of Columbia Law School's Center for Gender and Sexuality Law.

"Getting protections on paper is important," she said. "But the day-to-day lives of many transgender people won't be affected — they're unemployed, they're experiencing violence in the streets, in shelters, in schools."

Allyson Robinson, an activist working to end the military's ban on transgender people serving openly, said gains for transgender rights in some areas have triggered a backlash from some social and religious conservatives who feel they've lost the fight against same-sex marriage.

"Transgender people and their identities and communities are under siege right now on multiple fronts," she said, citing as an example recent bills proposed in state legislatures that would make it illegal for transgender people to use a bathroom that doesn't correspond with their biological gender.

The mix of advancement and adversity forms a backdrop to what promises to be an intriguing melodrama over the coming months regarding Jenner, the 1976 decathlon gold medalist who was featured on Wheaties boxes and more recently has appeared as a real-life stepfather on "Keeping Up With The Kardashians."

Though Jenner himself has declined public comment, those in his inner circles have not challenged the mounting speculation that he is preparing to live as a woman and perhaps will appear in a new reality series about his transition.

His mother, Esther Jenner, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she had spoken with her son about his private and public journey.

"He said, 'I want to be honest about my identity, and I know this is coming out in the press,'" Esther Jenner said. "He started by saying, 'We need to have a long, serious talk.' I am at peace with what he is and what he's doing."

Among activists and bloggers who focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, there's widespread sentiment that Jenner alone should dictate the pace and the details of any disclosure he wants to make. Yet there's also keen interest in what sort of impact he might have were he to confirm a transition that would make him arguably the most famous American ever to openly identify as transgender.

Depending on how Jenner's story is presented and received, the revelation that a lauded athlete and member of one of the nation's most visible families is transgender could be comparable to the cultural shifts that accompanied the news that movie star Rock Hudson was gay and died of AIDS-related complications and that basketball great Magic Johnson, a heterosexual, was HIV-positive.

"In the long term, we'd say the disclosures were helpful for the movement to normalize homosexuality and bring better medical attention to AIDS/HIV," Franke said. "When celebrities came out as being members of these communities, it ended up shifting the national narrative."

The narrative at the moment, for transgender Americans, is complex. On one hand, they have many recent breakthroughs to celebrate, including:

— Several positive, high-profile portrayals of transgender people on popular TV shows, including the prison inmate played by Laverne Cox on "Orange is the New Black," and the transgender woman played by Golden Globe winner Jeffrey Tambor in "Transparent."

— Moves by at least nine states to ensure that health insurers cover transgender treatment that's deemed medically necessary. In a related move, the federal government ended a Medicare exclusion of coverage for services related to gender transition.

— Steps by some states to eliminate requirements that transgender people had to undergo surgery before being allowed to change the gender on their birth certificates.

— Moves by many schools and colleges to make transgender students feel more welcome — adopting new policies related to bathroom designations, sports teams, living quarters and other matters. Several women's colleges have adjusted admissions policies to accommodate transgender applicants.

— New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's call in his recent state of the state speech for an amendment to the state's civil rights law to add discrimination protections for transgender New Yorkers. Discrimination based on gender identity is already prohibited in 18 other states.

However, Dru Levasseur, Transgender Rights Project director of the LGBT-rights group Lambda Legal, said new laws and policies aren't enough.

"For all the legal work we do, it's really a hearts and minds battle," he said. "The true test of our humanity is how much compassion and understanding we afford these people."

"It just comes down to explaining what it means to be transgender — how it's not a choice," Levasseur said. "It's a person coming to terms with who they are, and the hurdles they face on a systemic basis are immense."

The hurdles include a high rate of homelessness and family rejection among transgender young people, whose rates of suicide and attempted suicide far exceed those of other youth. There's also a persistent problem of violence, notably attacks targeting black and Latina transgender women.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, a leading national LGBT-rights organization, 13 transgender people were murdered in 2014 and four more so far this year, all but one of them black or Latina.

Part of the challenge for transgender people is that many other Americans don't know any of them personally. According to demographer Gary Gates of the UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute, an estimated 3.4 percent of American adults identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, while only one-tenth that many — about 700,000 — are transgender.

"Not many people know a trans woman or a trans man," said Dana Beyer, executive director of Gender Rights Maryland and former a candidate for state Senate. "I hope Jenner doesn't add to the weirdness quotient about us with this."

She fears that any TV show devoted to Jenner's physical transition might be a setback after her community's recent gains.

"I'm worried this reality series will focus on the physical transformation in a way that sexualizes us and brings us back to a time when that is what defined trans people instead of their humanity," she said.

"I'm hopeful," Beyer added. "But my worst fear is they will use language which will permeate the culture that is archaic, like 'becoming a woman' or transition 'into a woman,' and this will be a missed opportunity to educate that gender identity is a natural function of all human beings and sometimes it doesn't match up."

Over the weekend, Jenner was in an unwelcome spotlight as one of the drivers in a four-car crash in Malibu, California, that claimed a woman's life. The spotlight on him could grow more intense in the months ahead.

Allyson Robinson, who is policy director for the LGBT military group SPARTA, said she grew up idolizing Jenner in the 1970s and thinks his possible transition holds both promise for the transgender community and peril for Jenner personally.

"With great visibility comes great responsibility, and along with that comes a tremendous amount of pressure and anxiety," she said. "Transition is difficult enough, frankly, for many or most of us without the added pressure of having to represent an entire community of people to the great American public."
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« Reply #99 on: February 13, 2015, 05:11:14 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/oregon-governor-resists-mounting-pressure-resign-085601228.html
Oregon Gov. Kitzhaber announces his resignation amid scandal
2/13/15

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned Friday, giving in to mounting pressure to abandon his office amid suspicions that his fiancee used her relationship with him to land contracts for her green-energy consulting business.

In a lengthy statement, the state's longest-serving chief executive insisted he broke no laws. He said the resignation would be effective Wednesday.

"Nonetheless, I understand that I have become a liability to the very institutions and policies to which I have dedicated my career and, indeed, my entire adult life," he said.

The decision capped a wild week in which Kitzhaber seemed poised to step down, then changed his mind, but ultimately bowed to calls from legislative leaders that he quit the state's top elected position.

The announcement is a stunning fall from grace for a politician who left the governor's office in 2003 and then mounted a comeback in 2010 and won back his old job.

Secretary of State Kate Brown, a Democrat like Kitzhaber, was expected to assume the office and become the first openly bisexual governor in the country. Unlike most states, Oregon does not have a lieutenant governor, and the state constitution puts the secretary of state next in line.

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« Reply #100 on: February 22, 2015, 05:18:46 pm »

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/south-carolina-republicans-no-negative-marriage-equality
South Carolina Republicans: No ‘negative’ in marriage equality
2/21/15

South Carolina Republicans have weighed in on the issue of marriage equality in their state, and the majority see no negative in it.

Sixty-one percent of Republicans note that the legalization of marriage equality – which came to the state last November – has not negatively impacted them, according to new numbers by Public Policy Polling. That figure is compared to 60% of respondents who feel that legal same-sex marriage hasn’t impacted their lives at all and the 31% who claim it’s had a negative impact on their lives.

South Carolina famously became the 35th state where marriage equality became legal after the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stay a federal ruling that struck down the state’s same-sex marriage ban and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant a stay to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.

The poll results come as the Supreme Court gears up to take up the issue of national marriage equality when it hears all cases from the Sixth Circuit and as Texas grapples with the issue.

Similarly, a recent Marist poll shows that only 45% of potential South Carolina Republican voters find it acceptable for a candidate to oppose marriage equality.

Before it was struck down, South Carolina enacted a ban on marriage equality in 1999, which voters reaffirmed through an amendment in 2006.
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« Reply #101 on: February 22, 2015, 07:04:31 pm »

http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/22/cnn-contributor-im-gay-and-i-want-my-kid-to-be-gay-too/
2/22/15
CNN Contributor: ‘I’m Gay. And I Want My Kid To Be Gay, Too’

Sally Kohn, a CNN contributor and progressive activist, says she hopes her 6-year-old daughter will turn out to be gay.

Kohn, who has previously described herself as a “butch lesbian,” copped to the preference in an opinion piece for the Washington Post.

“I’m gay. And I want my kid to be gay, too,” wrote Kohn, who also contributes to The Daily Beast.

Kohn defended her position, arguing that it’s normal for parents to want their children to follow in their footsteps, whether it involves extracurricular activities, political outlook or sexual orientation.

“More often than not, we define happiness as some variation on our own lives, or at least the lives of our expectations. If we went to college, we want our kids to go to college. If we like sports, we want our kids to like sports. If we vote Democrat, of course we want our kids to vote Democrat,” wrote Kohn, who lives with her partner Sarah Hansen and their daughter Willa Hansen-Kohn in the “liberal bubble of Park Slope, Brooklyn.”

Kohn made it clear in the essay that though she ultimately wants her daughter to be happy whatever her sexual orientation, she plans to do everything she can to encourage her daughter to avoid adhering to gender norms.

“When my daughter plays house with her stuffed koala bears as the mom and dad, we gently remind her that they could be a dad and dad. Sometimes she changes her narrative. Sometimes she doesn’t. It’s her choice,” Kohn wrote.

The activist highlighted her dilemma with a story about how her daughter recently developed a crush on an older boy who rides her school bus.

“Time will tell, but so far, it doesn’t look like my 6-year-old daughter is gay. In fact, she’s boy crazy. It seems early to me, but I’m trying to be supportive,” Kohn exclaimed.

When Kohn’s daughter said she wanted to buy the boy presents and a card, the essayist asked another student’s mother for advice on what to do.

“Bet it wouldn’t bother you so much if her crush was on a girl,” the mother told Kohn.

“She was right,” Kohn wrote. “I’m a slightly overbearing pro-gay gay mom. But I’m going to support my daughter, whatever choices she makes.”

Kohn has displayed a penchant for making controversial statements.

In an essay for CNN last summer, she argued that using the word “illegal” to describe undocumented immigrants was like calling an African-American “the n-word.”

An in an essay at The New York Times last month, which Kohn advertised on her website as “Butch Lesbian Mom Takes Daughter To Princess Makeover,” the pundit lamented that her daughter gravitates towards dolls and dresses rather than jeans and sports.

“Even in the midst of our hyper-liberal and hyper-diverse neighborhood with girls and boys of all kinds on display every day, it happened,” Kohn wrote. “Did I do something wrong? Is feminism mysteriously skipping a generation? Meanwhile, I have to bribe her to wear jeans.”
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« Reply #102 on: February 23, 2015, 04:35:05 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/us-names-first-envoy-gay-rights-211447354.html
US names first envoy for gay rights
2/23/15

Washington (AFP) - In a ground-breaking move the United States on Monday appointed the first US special envoy for gay and lesbian rights in a bid to help eradicate discrimination around the world.

"Defending and promoting the human rights of LGBT persons is at the core of our commitment to advancing human rights globally -– the heart and conscience of our diplomacy," US Secretary of State John Kerry said.

He named Randy Berry, the current consul-general in Amsterdam, as the new envoy, saying he believed Berry would "significantly advance efforts under way to move towards a world free from violence and discrimination" against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

Berry's role will be to help coordinate US strategy on rights for gay people, as well as to highlight such issues around the world.

In some 75 countries, many of them in Africa, consensual same-sex activity is banned.

"Too often, in too many countries, LGBT persons are threatened, jailed, and prosecuted because of who they are or who they love," Kerry said in a statement.

"Too many governments have proposed or enacted laws that aim to curb freedom of expression, association, religion, and peaceful protest."

But he highlighted that many nations were beginning to recognize gay rights "so while this fight is not yet won, this is no time to get discouraged. It's time to stay active."

"It's time to assert the equality and dignity of all persons, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity," Kerry added.
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« Reply #103 on: March 02, 2015, 07:44:59 pm »

http://qz.com/329575/chinas-homowives-are-becoming-unlikely-champions-for-gay-rights/
China’s “homowives” are becoming unlikely champions for gay rights
3/2/15

After her marriage was over, just looking at a wedding photo would make Qiu Xuan feel awful. The 29-year-old, a video editor at a communications company in Guangzhou, could tell by the picture that she wasn’t half of a happy couple that day, even though she was the one wearing a white veil.
The photo shows the bride and groom with their best man, who was standing in between them, hanging one arm over the groom’s shoulder, and leaning his head towards him. Qiu said her yearlong sexless and loveless marriage can be explained in that one image—her husband was in love with his best man, not her.

The term “beard” to describe a woman who is used, knowingly or unknowingly, to disguise her partner’s homosexuality has been used as slang in the United States for many decades.

But acknowledgement that such marriages even happen is a recent phenomena in China. In China, a “beard” is known straightforwardly as a  同妻(Tongqi), or ““homowife”—the abbreviation of “the wife of a homosexual” in Chinese.

There are millions of gay men married to women in China, academics believe. According to an estimate by Zhang Beichuan, one of the first Chinese scholars to study sexuality, China has 20 million male homosexuals of marriageable age—and 80% of them will marry a woman. In contrast, according to a 2010 Economist report, 15 to 20% of gay men in America have married heterosexual women.

The women in these marriages are quietly becoming an unlikely force in China’s nascent gay-rights movement. If men are free to openly have relationships with other men, sham marriages like theirs will no longer happen, they say. Being “homosexual is not wrong,” said Qiu in an interview. “What’s wrong is to marry a heterosexual to make a tragedy.”
Why China has millions of “homowives”

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« Reply #104 on: March 05, 2015, 05:03:57 pm »

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-hunter/dr-ben-carson-i-support-civil-unions-gay-couples
Dr. Ben Carson: 'I Support Civil Unions for Gay Couples'
March 5, 2015 - 2:25 PM

CNSNews.com) - In a Facebook post following his interview with CNN’s “New Day,” Dr. Ben Carson issued a statement, apologizing for saying people who change their sexual orientation after going to jail shows that “being gay is a choice.”

“In a recent interview on CNN, I realized that my choice of language does not reflect fully my heart on gay issues,” Carson said. “I do not pretend to know how every individual came to their sexual orientation. I regret that my words to express that concept were hurtful and divisive. For that I apologize unreservedly to all that were offended.”

As CNSNews.com previously reported, Carson said homosexuality is a “choice,” because “a lot of people who go into prison, go into prison straight, and when they come out, they’re gay.”

Carson, a retired neurosurgeon from Johns Hopkins Hospital, said in his statement on Facebook: “I'm a doctor trained in multiple fields of medicine, who was blessed to work at perhaps the finest institution of medical knowledge in the world. Some of our brightest minds have looked at this debate, and up until this point there have been no definitive studies that people are born into a specific sexuality.

“We do know, however, that we are always born male and female. And I know that we are all made in God's image, which means we are all deserving of respect and dignity,” he added.

“I support human rights and Constitutional protections for gay people, and I have done so for many years. I support civil unions for gay couples, and I have done so for many years. I support the right of individual states to sanction gay marriage, and I support the right of individual states to deny gay marriage in their respective jurisdictions,” Carson said.

During the CNN interview, Carson indicated that civil issues like same-sex marriage should be left up the states.

“Here’s what I would do. I would do what the Constitution says. Constitution says: civil issue of that nature should be determined at the state level. Why does it say that? Because the judicial system at the state level has to answer to the people,” he said in the interview.

Carson also suggested that two people - regardless of sexual orientation - should be legally allowed to determine property rights and visitation rights.

“Here’s what’s important: Why do gay people want to get married? Because they want to have various rights – property rights, visitation rights,” he said in the interview.

“Why can’t any two human beings--I don’t care what their sexual orientation is--why can’t they have the legal right to do those things?” Carson asked in the interview.

In his Facebook post, Carson said “marriage is a religious institution.”

“Religious marriage is an oath before God and congregation. Religious marriage must only be governed by the church. Judges and government must not be allowed to restrict religious beliefs,” he said.

“I am not a politician and I answered a question without really thinking about it thoroughly. No excuses. I deeply regret my statement and I promise you, on this journey, I may err again, but unlike politicians when I make an error I will take full responsibility and never hide or parse words. As a human being my obligation is to learn from my mistakes and to treat all people with respect and dignity,” Carson concluded in his Facebook post.
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« Reply #105 on: March 08, 2015, 07:15:38 pm »

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/cnsnewscom/obama-we-re-gay-americans-whose-blood-ran-streets-san-francisco
Obama: 'We’re The Gay Americans Whose Blood Ran in the Streets of San Francisco’
March 8, 2015 - 11:23 AM

From President Barack Obama’s speech yesterday in Selma, Ala., celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches:
That’s what it means to love America.  That’s what it means to believe in America.  That’s what it means when we say America is exceptional.

For we were born of change.  We broke the old aristocracies, declaring ourselves entitled not by bloodline, but endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights.  We secure our rights and responsibilities through a system of self-government, of and by and for the people.  That’s why we argue and fight with so much passion and conviction -- because we know our efforts matter.  We know America is what we make of it.

Look at our history.  We are Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea, pioneers who braved the unfamiliar, followed by a stampede of farmers and miners, and entrepreneurs and hucksters.  That’s our spirit.  That’s who we are.

We are Sojourner Truth and Fannie Lou Hamer, women who could do as much as any man and then some.  And we’re Susan B. Anthony, who shook the system until the law reflected that truth.  That is our character.

We’re the immigrants who stowed away on ships to reach these shores, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free –- Holocaust survivors, Soviet defectors, the Lost Boys of Sudan.  We’re the hopeful strivers who cross the Rio Grande because we want our kids to know a better life.  That’s how we came to be.  (Applause.)

We’re the slaves who built the White House and the economy of the South.  (Applause.)  We’re the ranch hands and cowboys who opened up the West, and countless laborers who laid rail, and raised skyscrapers, and organized for workers’ rights.

We’re the fresh-faced GIs who fought to liberate a continent.  And we’re the Tuskeegee Airmen, and the Navajo code-talkers, and the Japanese Americans who fought for this country even as their own liberty had been denied.

We’re the firefighters who rushed into those buildings on 9/11, the volunteers who signed up to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. We’re the gay Americans whose blood ran in the streets of San Francisco and New York, just as blood ran down this bridge. (Applause.)

We are storytellers, writers, poets, artists who abhor unfairness, and despise hypocrisy, and give voice to the voiceless, and tell truths that need to be told.

We’re the inventors of gospel and jazz and blues, bluegrass and country, and hip-hop and rock and roll, and our very own sound with all the sweet sorrow and reckless joy of freedom.

We are Jackie Robinson, enduring scorn and spiked cleats and pitches coming straight to his head, and stealing home in the World Series anyway.  (Applause.)

We are the people Langston Hughes wrote of who “build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how.”  We are the people Emerson wrote of, “who for truth and honor’s sake stand fast and suffer long;” who are “never tired, so long as we can see far enough.”

That’s what America is.  Not stock photos or airbrushed history, or feeble attempts to define some of us as more American than others.  (Applause.)  We respect the past, but we don’t pine for the past.  We don’t fear the future; we grab for it.  America is not some fragile thing.  We are large, in the words of Whitman, containing multitudes.  We are boisterous and diverse and full of energy, perpetually young in spirit.  That’s why someone like John Lewis at the ripe old age of 25 could lead a mighty march.

And that’s what the young people here today and listening all across the country must take away from this day.  You are America.  Unconstrained by habit and convention.  Unencumbered by what is, because you’re ready to seize what ought to be.
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« Reply #106 on: March 09, 2015, 08:48:27 pm »

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/09/gay-marriage-support_n_6835710.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
3/9/15
A Record Number Of Voters Support Gay Marriage, New Poll Finds

A record number of voters now support gay marriage, a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Monday found.

The poll shows that an all-time high 59 percent of American voters support same-sex marriage -- nearly double the amount of voters who supported it in 2004. Support has also increased among conservative voters, with 35 percent now saying they back same-sex marriage, an increase of 9 percentage points from April 2013.

Fred Yang, a Democratic pollster who conducted the survey with Republican Bill McInturff, told the Wall Street Journal that support for gay marriage was increasing among voters faster than attitudes towards interracial marriage, now supported by 87 percent of Americans.

Despite the increase in support among conservatives, the poll found that it's still unclear how a GOP candidate's position on same-sex marriage would affect their chances with the electorate. Fifty percent of Republican primary voters said that they would view a candidate who supported gay marriage less favorably, while just 19 percent said that they would view the candidate more favorably.

Republicans seem to be taking a somewhat softer tone on gay marriage, and the party's 2016 hopefuls recently have seemed reluctant to talk about the issue.

The poll comes as courts consider the legal fate of gay marriage. Last week, the Alabama Supreme Court ordered probate judges in the state to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses even though a federal judge ruled the state's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court will consider next month whether state bans on same-sex marriage violate the Constitution.

The NBC-WSJ poll, conducted March 1-5, surveyed 1,000 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
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« Reply #107 on: March 13, 2015, 05:14:23 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/making-history-st-patricks-parade-welcomes-2-gay-181719924.html
Making history: St. Patrick's parade welcomes 2 gay groups
3/13/15

BOSTON (AP) — The St. Patrick's Day parade in Boston will make history this Sunday as two gay and lesbian groups join the fun.

The advocacy group Boston Pride and OutVets, a group of gay military veterans, have been welcomed by the organizers.

"This is a tremendous leap forward," Boston Pride organizer Sylvain Bruni said Friday.

Until now, gay rights groups have been barred by the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council from marching in the parade, which draws as many as a million spectators each year. Twenty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the organizers' right to keep gays out.

But Brian Mahoney commands the council now, and he's shrugging off questions about sexual orientation.

Just like Pope Francis, he says, "Who am I to judge?"

This Sunday's parade through the traditionally Irish-American enclave also will be shorter than years past: So much snow remains piled on sidewalks after the brutal winter that the city has had to cut the route in half.

And for the first time in two decades, a Boston mayor plans to be marching, too.

"With this year's parade, Boston is putting years of controversy behind us," Mayor Marty Walsh said Friday.

Boston's mayors have boycotted the event since 1995, when the council took its fight to exclude gay groups all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and won. The justices ruled unanimously that it would violate the free speech rights of private citizens who organize a parade if they are forced to include a group that doesn't share its message.

"They're not going to shove something down our face that's not our traditional values," said the council's leader at the time, John "Wacko" Hurley, a year before the landmark 1995 ruling.

It would be eight more years before Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage, a trend that has since spread across most of the United States. Today, more than 70 percent of Americans live in states where gay marriage is allowed.

The council's current leaders voted 5-4 in December to welcome OutVets as one of about 100 groups in this year's parade. Boston Pride announced Friday that it also received an acceptance letter from the council this week.

"We're excited to be there," said Bryan Bishop, a 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran who founded the group representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender veterans. "We've received nothing but positive feedback, from the mayor all the way down."

Not everyone agrees with the change. While some Roman Catholic groups are still participating, others have pulled out, organizer Timothy Duross says.
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« Reply #108 on: March 20, 2015, 02:31:55 pm »

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/20/san-francisco-vs-birmingham-the-big-metros-with-the-most-and-fewest-lgbt-adults/
3/20/15
San Francisco vs. Birmingham: the big metros with the most and fewest LGBT adults

The San Francisco area, with its long history of gay rights and progressive politics, has the highest share of LGBT adults of any large metro in the country, according to a massive new Gallup survey out today that included interviews over the course of two years with 374,000 people. More than 6 percent of adults living in the Bay Area identify themselves this way. And San Francisco is followed, perhaps unsurprisingly, by Portland, Austin, New Orleans and Seattle.



San Francisco's lead isn't, in fact, enormous, nor all that far from the national average (about 3.6 percent of adults identify as gay). The difference between the largest and smallest gay populations among the 50 largest metros in the country is only a few percentage points — Birmingham comes in at at the bottom at 2.6 percent. But the list of cities that appear the least gay-friendly here is noticeably full of Southern and Midwestern cities in parts of the country where gay rights have not yet expanded as fast as they have in places like San Francisco (San Jose is an exception here). Birmingham's appearance at the very bottom is notable given the very public intransigence of public officials in Alabama lately on marriage equality.



This is a lot less geographic variation than we see with other demographic groups, a pattern mirrored at the state level, too. But these modest metro-level differences may matter to you even if you don't identify yourself as LGBT — or even know anyone who does — because acceptance of gays is a good stand-in for the broader degree of tolerance in a city.

If gays are welcome, so too often are other kinds of minorities (or simply non-conformers). These are places where social norms (as well as legal protections) discourage discrimination of many kinds. And Richard Florida has argued that it's no coincidence the tolerant cities listed above are among the country's most economically dynamic, particularly as the semblance of tolerance may play a role in making cities attractive to young and creative workers.

The distinctions between cities at the top and bottom here also might be more pronounced, Gallup suggests, if this SURVEY looked only at central cities and not metropolitan areas, sprawling geographies that include suburbs and exurbs. But you'd need to survey an even larger group of people to make that calculation. This factor no doubt matters, too:

These rankings could also reflect differences across metro areas in the willingness of residents to identify as LGBT to interviewers. LGBT people who live in MSAs where they experience greater levels of social acceptance and often the legal protections that come with that may be more likely to identify themselves as such compared with LGBT adults living in areas in which there is less acceptance of people of differing sexual orientations. While San Francisco may be one of the most desirable areas in the country for LGBT people to live, it also may be an area where residents feel more comfortable in identifying themselves as LGBT.

Gallup's full ranking is below. If you're surprised by Salt Lake City near the top, Gallup points out the otherwise conservative state recently passed a law that gives LGBT residents greater protection from employee and housing discrimination than they get in many states (that law, though, does include some religious exemptions).



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« Reply #109 on: March 20, 2015, 10:51:35 pm »

Puerto Rico ends its defense of gay marriage ban
3/20/15
http://news.yahoo.com/puerto-rico-ends-defense-gay-marriage-ban-230234857.html

SAN JUAN (Reuters) - The Puerto Rican government will no longer defend a law that bans same-sex couples from marrying and does not recognize the validity of such marriages performed in other jurisdictions, the U.S. commonwealth's attorney general announced on Friday.

The announcement coincided with the filing of a government brief before the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, where the Puerto Rico law is being challenged.

The Caribbean island, which is a U.S. territory, said it would no longer defend Article 68 of its Civil Code which contains the same sex marriage rules.

"The decision recognizes that all human beings are equal before the law," Justice Secretary César Miranda said. "We believe in an equal society in which everyone enjoys the same rights.”

The move paves the wave for the recognition of gay marriages in Puerto Rico, and was welcomed by gay singing star Ricky Martin, who is beloved in his native Puerto Rico.

“Today is a great day for my island,” Martin said in a Twitter message. “My heart is beating out of my chest. How proud I am to live in a country of equality.”

Gay marriage bans have been toppled in a growing number of states following a Supreme Court ruling two years ago that invalidated a federal law that restricted benefits to heterosexual couples.

Oral arguments are scheduled before the U.S. Supreme Court next month on the constitutionality of gay marriage bans in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, a Democrat who is a practicing Catholic, said in a statement that the spread of laws in several U.S. states had pointed to an "undeniable consensus that does not allow discriminatory distinctions as that contained in our Civil Code with respect to the rights of same sex couples."

"Everyone knows my religious beliefs but political leaders should not impose their beliefs," said Garcia Padilla, who has defended the traditional definition of marriage in the past.

The decision by Puerto Rico came on the last day that it had to answer arguments presented by five same sex couples and the group Puerto Rico Para Tod@s, who were appealing a decision by U.S. District Court Judge Juan Perez Gimenez last October that dismissed their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Puerto Rico Civil Code.
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« Reply #110 on: April 14, 2015, 06:25:24 am »

Chile recognises same-sex civil unions

The Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet, has signed into law a bill recognising civil unions between same-sex couples. The law - which will come into effect in six months - gives same-sex and unmarried couples many of the rights enjoyed by married couples. Several Latin American countries already recognise civil unions.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-32296246
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« Reply #111 on: May 22, 2015, 07:21:43 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/irish-vote-gay-marriage-landmark-referendum-110758359.html
High turnout seen favoring Yes in Irish gay marriage vote
5/22/15

By Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish voters turned out in droves to cast ballots in a gay marriage referendum on Friday, with the high turnout likely to favor the Yes side seeking equality just two decades after the country decriminalized homosexuality.

With the once mighty Catholic Church's influence ravaged by child abuse scandals, opinion polls indicated the proposal would pass by as much as two-to-one, making Ireland the first country to adopt same-sex marriage via a popular vote.

Irish national broadcaster RTE said it appeared to have been one of the highest ever turnouts for a referendum in the country, with turnout likely to reach 60 percent in Dublin. Only 39 percent voted nationally in an unsuccessful bid to abolish the upper house of parliament in 2013.

"It's looking as if there's a strong vote in urban areas, which would be more beneficial to the Yes side," said Mattie McGrath, one of just two of Ireland's 166 members of parliament who campaigned for a No vote.

"It's all to play for tomorrow, but the Yes vote might shade it," he said. There was no national exit poll and the first indications of the result were expected mid-morning on Saturday.

Yes campaigners also said the high turnout was a good sign.

"[I'm] beginning to dare to hope," said Rory O'Neill, also known by his drag queen stage name Panti Bliss, who has been one of the faces of the Yes campaign.

The result may depend on whether younger voters, tens of thousands of whom registered as the campaign gathered momentum, turn out to cast their ballots.

The result, which will likely be declared late Saturday afternoon, may also reveal an urban/rural split. When voters legalized divorce by a razor thin majority in 1995, only five of the 30 constituencies outside Dublin backed the proposal.

International interest made the hashtag #VoteYes the top trending issue on Twitter and thousands of Irish expatriates made the trip home from Britain and as far afield as New York and Sydney to vote, groups encouraging the 'Yes' vote, using the hashtag #hometovote, said.

"I've been genuinely overwhelmed by the scale and the scope of the hometovote movement," said Joey Kavanagh of the Get The Boat 2 Vote group, as he and about 50 others made the eight-hour journey by train and ferry from London to Dublin.

"It's a very festive, celebratory atmosphere. At the moment we're hanging up posters in the lounge and stringing up balloons. People are just very eager to get back."

Gay marriage is backed by all political parties, championed by big employers and endorsed by celebrities, all hoping it will mark a transformation in a country that was long regarded as one of the most socially conservative in Western Europe.

The Catholic Church, whose doctrine teaches that homosexuality is a sin, has mainly limited its 'No' campaigning to sermons to its remaining flock, a marked contrast with active public opposition to similar moves in France and elsewhere.

Instead, lay groups have led the opposition, raising concerns over parenthood and surrogacy rights for gay couples. Many believe the recognition of the legal rights of same-sex couples in 2009 is sufficient.

"I don't think it's necessary because it's covered in the civil partnership arrangements," said Sean, a retiree voting in the leafy Dublin suburb of Blackrock. Only a couple of his friends were voting 'Yes', he said.

"I'm not convinced, I think it's wrong and I don't agree with it."

(Editing by Janet Lawrence, Bernard Orr)
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« Reply #112 on: May 24, 2015, 06:15:37 am »

Irish voters back gay marriage in 'social revolution'

Irish voters backed same-sex marriage by a landslide in a referendum marking a dramatic social shift in the traditionally Catholic country, government ministers and opponents of the bill said on Saturday. 

http://news.yahoo.com/ireland-appears-voted-same-sex-marriage-equality-minister-083328527.html
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« Reply #113 on: May 30, 2015, 02:14:47 pm »

Obama uses 5-year-old to promote same-sex 'marriage'

That is disgusting, but what do you expect out of this sodomy loving devil

President Barack Obama’s evolution to wholeheartedly support same-sex “marriage” has turned a new leaf, as he used a five-year-old’s letter posted on social media last week to champion his administration’s aggressive homosexual agenda.

A Closer LookTweeting a letter to the president recently written by Yasmeen, her five-year-old niece, the girl’s aunt publicized her message for the world to see.

“A letter from my 5 year old niece,” the aunt posted on her Twitter account. “Right out of the mouths of babes!”

In the letter heralded by her aunt, Yasmeen asked Obama to “stop war” before urging him to forward his agenda to expand same-sex marriage to all Americans in every state.

“[P]lease give a speech to tell everyone that can marry who they want," Yasmeen pleaded to the president in her personal note made public.

Using the young and the innocent

Elated to see his LGBT “civil rights” campaign reach the youth generation all the way to preschool, Obama seized the moment to strategically promote his marriage-for-all agenda — the month before the United States Supreme Court rules on whether “gay” marriage will be legal in all 50 states.

In response to Yasmeen’s prompt for the president to be more vocal in promoting same-sex marriage for all in his speeches, Obama Tweeted his appreciation for her being on board with his campaign.

“Tell your niece I really like her letter,” Obama posted on his presidential Twitter account on May 22 just hours after the post from Yasmeen’s aunt. “Couldn’t agree more!”

‘Gay’ agenda fast forward

Obama’s progression to become what many in the LGBT community dub as “the first gay president,” has been evident during both his terms in the White House.

One year before announcing his evolution to support “gay” marriage, Obama , Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral  Mike Mullen sent a certification to Congress in 2011 to officially repeal former President Bill Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to normalize homosexual behavior in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Not long after being elected to serve his second term in office, Obama made it clear to Americans that redefining marriage from coast to cast as a top priority of his administration. His administration has taken action since then to fast-track America’s acceptance of the controversial and unbiblical practice — oftentimes inciting state officials to break the law to promote its cause.

“[F]ormer Attorney General Eric Holder told state attorneys general that they could ignore state laws promoting actual marriage, and Obama has said that federal contractors must provide the same benefits to "married" same-sex couples that they provide to married heterosexual couples,” LIfeSiteNews.com reports.

Just last month, Obama signed an executive order to christen gender-neutral restrooms in the White House as a statement of its full-fledged support of the LGBT agenda.

When Obama took office in January 2009, only one state — Massachusetts — legalized same-sex marriage. Today, more than a year away from the end of the president’s second term, 37 states have legalized the controversial unions.

However, this rapid acceptance of same-sex marriage is not fast enough for the Obama administration, as White House officials are fully behind Supreme Court Justices who are looking to legalize the unions in all 50 states — an anticipated decision that is slated for next month.

Just last week, Ireland became the 20th nation in the world to legalize same-sex marriage nationally, with Greenland close behind in its wake, becoming the 21th country to allow the highly contended unions nationwide. In the end of June, advocates of homosexual behavior are hoping that the U.S. will be number 22.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/politics-govt/2015/05/30/obama-uses-5-year-old-to-promote-same-sex-marriage#.VWoLTkZrWk4
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« Reply #114 on: June 14, 2015, 07:21:29 pm »

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/15/world/americas/with-little-fanfare-mexican-supreme-court-effectively-legalizes-same-sex-marriage.html?_r=0
6/14/15
With Little Fanfare, Mexican Supreme Court Effectively Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

MEXICO CITY — His church turned him away, his family discouraged him from a public fight and the government of the state where he lives vowed it would never happen.

But it did. Hiram Gonzalez married his boyfriend, Severiano Chavez, last year in the northern state of Chihuahua, which, like most Mexican states, technically allows marriage only between a man and a woman.

Mr. Gonzalez and dozens of other gay couples in recent months have, however, found a powerful ally: Mexico’s Supreme Court.

In ruling after ruling, the court has said that state laws restricting marriage to heterosexuals are discriminatory. Though the decisions have been made to little public fanfare, they have had the effect of legalizing gay marriage in Mexico without enshrining it in law.

“When I heard the judge pronounce us legally married, I burst into tears,” said Mr. Gonzalez, 41, who, like nearly all gays marrying in Mexico, needed a court order enabling him to exchange vows.

As the United States awaits a landmark decision on gay marriage by the Supreme Court, the Mexican court’s rulings have added the country to a slowly growing list of Latin American nations permitting same-sex unions.

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« Reply #115 on: July 29, 2015, 08:30:07 am »

Rev. Graham: USA 'Now Exporting The Acceptance of Immorality Via Our President'

In reference to President Barack Obama's trip to Kenya where, during a press conference he expressed support for gay rights and equated legal restrictions on homosexuality to Jim Crow laws and slavery, Reverend Franklin Graham said the United States was "now exporting the acceptance of immorality" through Obama.

"While visiting Kenya, Barack Obama publicly lectured Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta about gay rights yesterday [July 25]," said Rev. Graham in a July 26 post on Facebook.

"I didn’t know that we were sending our president halfway around the world to promote the gay & lesbian agenda!" he said.

"Samaritan's Purse has an office in Kenya and has worked there many years, and I can tell you that the churches in Kenya know what the Bible says about homosexuality -- it is a sin," continued Rev. Graham. "Sin should not be embraced, but recognized truthfully for what it is and for its serious consequences."

"God’s Word says, 'the wages of sin is death,'" said Rev. Graham.  "Thankfully though, sin does have a remedy -- forgiveness is available through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior."

"As a world leader, the United States of America is now exporting the acceptance of immorality via our president," said Franklin Graham.  "What will the cost of that be?"

During his July 25 press conference with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday, President Obama was asked about homosexual rights and he, in part, said "the state should not discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation." He then added, "as an African-American in the United States, I am painfully aware of the history of what happens when people are treated differently, under the law, and there were all sorts of rationalizations that were provided by the power structure for decades in the United States for segregation and Jim Crow and slavery, and they were wrong."

For his part, Kenya's president said his country and the United States share "many values" but "there are some things that we must admit we don't share -- our culture, our societies don't accept."

"It is very difficult for us to be able to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept," said President Kenyatta, whose country's population is 84% Christian and which has strong laws against homosexual behavior. In fact, 36 of Africa's 54 states have laws against same-sex acts.

"[T]he fact remains that this [homosexuality] issue is not really an issue that is on the foremost mind of Kenyans, and that is the fact,” said President Kenyatta.

Franklin Graham, 62, is the son of world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham.  Franklin Graham is president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and also runs the international Christian aid group Samaritan's Purse. Rev. Franklin Graham is married, has five children, and lives in Boone, N.C.  He regularly preaches in evangelistic crusades in the United States and around the globe.

http://cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/rev-graham-usa-now-exporting-acceptance-immorality-our-president
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« Reply #116 on: August 17, 2015, 12:43:27 pm »

Gay marriage bill introduced to Australian parliament

A controversial bill to legalise same-sex marriage has been introduced to the Australian parliament. The private member's bill comes amid heated debate among government MPs about whether to change the law or put the matter to a plebiscite. The government's official position is that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.   

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-33955375
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« Reply #117 on: September 17, 2015, 04:06:35 pm »

http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?p=35614
DORITOS RAINBOWS LAUNCHED TO PROMOTE THE RADICAL LGBT AGENDA
Geoffrey Grider | September 17, 2015 | 58 Comments

DORITOS IS PRODUCING RAINBOW-COLORED CHIPS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NONPROFIT IT GETS BETTER.

“And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel…” 1 Samuel 4:21 (KJV)

There is simply no escaping the New World Order’s push of the radical LGBT Mafia’s agenda. Even our beloved junk food is no longer safe from it’s insidious reach. Doritos Rainbows are a limited-edition version of its Cool Ranch-flavored tortilla chips to show the chip maker’s support of the LGBT community. The chips come in shades of green, blue, purple, red, and orange inspired by colors of the Pride flag. Who are the main consumers of Doritos products? The ultra-impressionable 18-24 year old age group. No surprise there. Since gays cannot reproduce, they must indoctrinate and recruit.



Despite pockets of resistance in areas across the country, America as a nation has fully embraced the LGBT lifestyle and all it represents. From the United States Supreme Court, all the down to a maker of junk snack food, everywhere you look Sodom and Gomorrah are being brought back to life. We say that we are doing it to be tolerant, open-minded and inclusive, but nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that God’s restraining Hand has been taken away, our protective covering lifted in judgment against us, and we don’t even know it.

ICHABOD HAS BEEN WRITTEN ACROSS THE DOORPOSTS OF AMERICA

America in 2015 is not a Christian nation. Under Obama we have become a secular, pagan nation that worships all gods except the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob. We have forgotten that God completely destroyed both Sodom and Gomorrah for doing less than we are doing right now. The glory has departed from America, and we cannot see it. In the Bible, Eli the High Priest of Israel, and his two wicked sons Hophni and Phinehas, brought God’s judgment upon their nation because of their actions. When Phinehas wife died giving birth to his child, they named the boy Ichabod, which means that the glory, God’s glory, had departed from Israel. That’s exactly where America stands right now. We are so used to having God’s blessing, favor and protection, which has made us the mightest nation on earth, that we have taken it totally for granted. We think we will always remain on top, but the wolf is already at our door.

We elected a Muslim president who right now, at this very moment, is flooding America with tens of thousands of ISIS war fighters. Obama calls them Muslim migrants, and they are being shipped to every state in our nation. What you are now seeing in Europe is only a very short time away from being an everyday reality here in America. Have you ever read how God judged nations in the Bible? He raised up other nations against them. What’s that, you say? You cannot imagine America overrun with Muslims and beheadings happening daily on our streets? Just think about that while you break open a nice, big bag of Doritos Rainbows chips. Just think about the myriad of health issues with artificial rainbow-colored food items.

“And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.” Genesis 19:28 (KJV)

So eat up, America, stuff your face with cancer-causing junk food that glorifies the Satanic LGBT Agenda, force the states to perform same-sex sodomite marriage ceremonies, and keep killing millions of babies each year and sell their limbs for financial gain.

Because Judgement Day is coming.
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« Reply #118 on: November 16, 2015, 08:46:19 am »

http://news.yahoo.com/ireland-gay-marriage-law-comes-force-043531644.html
11/15/15
Ireland gay marriage law comes into force
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« Reply #119 on: January 25, 2016, 06:47:00 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/berlin-open-lgbt-refugee-center-194130876.html
Berlin to Open LGBT Refugee Center
By Samantha Cowan | Takepart.com
January 24, 2016 2:41 PM

While some European nations have installed barbed-wire fences or threatened to confiscate valuables to deter refugees, Germany’s welcoming policies have made it something of a promised land for many asylum seekers fleeing violence in nations such as Syria and Afghanistan. But LGBT refugees, who thought they could be open about their sexual orientation or gender identity once in Europe, have continued to face persecution.

After hundreds of reports of violence against LGBT refugees, German gay rights organization Schwulenberatung Berlin is set to open a center specifically for LGBT asylum seekers, Reuters reports.

“We have heard a lot of stories about discrimination and crimes against LGBT people in the last two years,” Stephan Jäkel, Schwulenberatung’s manager of refugee affairs, told Reuters. “They were frightened and scared after being beaten or spat on, and one survived a murder attempt. We heard a lot of horrible stories.”

Nearly 100 instances of violence against LGBT refugees were reported to the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany between August and December 2015. The Berlin center will house roughly 125 LGBT refugees, although the Schwulenberatung organization estimates there are 3,500 LGBT asylum seekers in Berlin alone.

Although Germany does not recognize same-sex marriage, it is widely considered a gay-friendly nation. But LGBT refugees have found that the mind-sets and cultural norms of fellow refugees from countries where being gay can be a death sentence didn’t immediately change once they entered the European Union.

“I thought, I am in Europe now. In Germany, I should not have to hide anymore,” Rami Ktifan, a gay Syrian refugee living in Dresden, told The Washington Post. Once Ktifan revealed his sexual orientation, he was subjected to verbal and physical assault, including an attempt to burn his feet, while living in a refugee center.

RELATED:  Phrasebook for Refugees Aims to Ease the Path to Asylum

Attacks on LGBT refugees are not unique to Germany—asylum seekers in Amsterdam have experienced similar assaults in refugee centers. But as Germany welcomed more then 1 million refugees in 2015, these instances are more common and speak to the broader difficulties of immersing a large group of people into a foreign nation with widely different values.

While the LGBT center, which opens in March, will provide a safe space for some refugees, others are attempting to integrate the newcomers into German culture through media. Television series Marhaba (“hello” in Arabic) teaches refugees about German cultural norms, from avoiding late-night phone calls to treating women as equals. Newspapers are also sending messages to refugees about Germany’s values of equality.

“You must forget what you learned at home about what is right or wrong,” commentator Harald Martenstein wrote to refugees last year in the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel. “You must accept the equality of women. You must learn that homosexuals and Jews are just like everyone else.”
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