The Equal Love campaign, organised by gay rights activist Peter Tatchell and OutRage!, will see the couples registering to hold ceremonies they are not entitled to and taking legal action if they are turned away.

Mr Tatchell said: “Starting on November 2nd, eight couples will file applications at their local register offices. Four same-sex couples will apply for civil marriages and four heterosexual couples will apply for civil partnerships. Every week, through to December 14th, one couple will make an application.

“If the couples are turned away, we plan to take legal action. We will argue in the courts that in a democratic society gay and straight couples should be equal before the law. Both civil marriages and civil partnerships should be open to everyone without discrimination.”

The Equal Love campaign’s legal case is being prepared by Robert Wintemute, Professor of Human Rights Law at Kings College London.

“If the couples are refused, we will mount a legal challenge. These bans violate the UK’s Human Rights Act and are open to challenge in the courts,” said Professor Wintemute.

He added: “There is no longer any justification for excluding same-sex couples from civil marriage and different-sex couples from civil partnership. It’s like having separate drinking fountains or beaches for different racial groups, even though the water is the same! The only function of the twin bans is to mark lesbian and gay people as inferior to heterosexual people.”

Civil partnerships give gay couples all of the rights of marriage. There are some minor differences in the ceremonies, and gay couples cannot currently have a civil partnerships in a religious setting.

The lead gay couple in the challenge are Rev Sharon Ferguson and Franka Strietzel, while the lead straight couple are Katherine Doyle and Tom Freeman.

Ms Doyle and Mr Freeman made the national news earlier this year when they tried to have a civil partnership at Islington registry office.

Mr Tatchell added: “Our aim is to secure equality in civil marriage and civil partnership law. We want both systems open to all couples, gay and straight, so that everyone has a free and equal choice.

“Denying couples the right to civil marriage and civil partnership on the basis of their sexual orientation is wrong and has to end.”

A recent PinkNews.co.uk poll of 800 readers found that 98 per cent wanted the right to marry. Seventy-seven per cent agreed that marriage and civil partnerships should be open to everyone, while 23 per cent said that marriage should be the only form of recognition for all couples.

Labour leader Ed Miliband and deputy prime minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg have both said they support marriage equality.

A Populus opinion poll in June 2009 found that 61 per cent of the public believe that ‘gay couples should have an equal right to get married, not just to have civil partnerships’. Only 33 per cent disagreed.

Nitzan Horowitz

Speaking last week at a London meeting of young members of the Zionist Federation as well as a separate audience of LGBT Jews, Mr Horowitz spoke of his experiences as a gay politician and how they have informed his campaigning for human and gay rights across the middle east.

“If you solve the issues about separating religion from the state you can solve a lot of the issues relating to LGBT rights,” he told both groups.

“Through the courts, but not through parliament, we have very good LGBT rights in Israel already. Because of the religious power in parliament, it was always going to be impossible to pass legislation specifically to protect LGBT rights, especially with this horrible right-wing government. So we go through the courts, using the aspirations of equality within the Israeli Deceleration of Independence as the basis for our claims.

“Actually, the situation on the ground is not bad, better than here in the UK in many respects. For example, if you live with someone for just three months, it is enough under Israeli law to be considered as a ‘common law marriage’, with no marriage ceremony or registration and it makes no difference whether the couple is gay or straight. So if something happens to me and I die, my partner gets all his inheritance without any tax, just as he would if we were actually married.

“But there is a real danger with things being decided by court precedents rather than by Parliament, because if another judge, who is less liberal, makes a different ruling, then rights could be taken away, just like that. This is something we have to try and avoid on a daily basis. But the real problem isn’t gay rights in my opinion, it’s tolerance. Rights are guaranteed by the court but if people are beaten in the streets, or there is hate crime, obviously that’s also illegal but it doesn’t stop it ruining or in the tragic case of a shooting in an LGBT youth centre, ending gay peoples’ lives.”

Part of the reason why Israel protects unmarried couples as if they were married is because of the complex system of religious law that underpins a Jewish country with a significant Muslim and Christian minority.

Mr Horowitz explained: “Israel is a messy legal system with personal law being determined by different religious courts. There are the Jewish courts, the Muslim courts and 13 different denominations of Christianity have their own religious courts. We inherited this system from the British, who in turn inherited it from the Ottoman Empire. What it means is that so many religious institutions have a say about how I can live my life, how the law applies to me, that there is no provision for secular personal law.

“So, a Jew can’t marry a Christian within Israel, nor can a Christian marry someone of no faith. And a Jewish man with the surname Cohen [in biblical times the name for a priest] cannot marry a divorced woman. They are all, like gay couples forced to marry outside of Israel. The state does recognise all of these marriages and gives the couples legal protection, but it is wrong that the ceremonies themselves, particularly civil ceremonies can’t be done inside Israel.”

Mr Horowitz also pointed out that the religious groups within Israel are united in their opposition to homosexuality.

“The first time the country’s three religious leaders; the Chief Rabbi of Israel, the Catholic-Latin patriarch of Jerusalem and the chief mufti of the Muslim congregation have ever got together in history was in their opposition of World Pride coming to Jerusalem,” he said. “They got together and sat on the same table because of their hatred of gays.”

Speaking to PinkNews.co.uk, Mr Horowitz explained how gay Muslims are treated within Israel and the Palestinian Territories. “When I talk about gay rights to an enlightened Arab politician, who agrees with me about every other human rights issue, they simply say ‘no we don’t have this phenomenon, it is only the Jews who have homosexuals, we don’t have this problem.’ How far from the truth they are.”

Mr Horowitz added: “The gay Palestinians fear for their lives. They leave their homes in Gaza and Ramallah and come to Tel Aviv where there is a very big gay community and nightlife. The problem is that in Tel Aviv, they are living as illegal immigrants. But if you send them back to Palestine, they might be killed by their own families. So what I’m doing in some of these cases is working with like-minded politicians to find them a suitable country where they can live safely outside of the Middle East. I have helped some gay people get refugee status in Sweden, Norway and Canada. There are all sorts of solutions to enable to them actually stay alive. But some of them do remain in Israel of course and that is right and we must help and support them.

“As for the Arab countries around us, this is a big problem. They are fundamentally very undemocratic and oppressive societies that do not respect the human rights of any kind. But it should be a topic that is raised by other countries as we’re not in a position to influence them, they often don’t even recognise the State of Israel. The problem with non-Palestinian refugees is if they live in an enemy country of Israel like Syria, the border is closed and it is almost impossible for them reach us. Egyptians and Jordanians can come because we have diplomatic relations with them, but it is not very easy for gay people from those countries to live in Israel, because unfortunately, our own religious establishment is not very tolerant to gays either. The interior minister, Eli Yishai, the man responsible for issuing visas to asylum seekers hates gays, so it is impossible to talk to him about cases, it is very complicated, but I try my best that I can.”

Mentioned earlier this year, it seems Portugal might soon become the sixth European country to allow same-sex marriage. Back in January, their Parliament passed a gay marriage bill with the support from their left-of-center parties.

And in even better news, this past Thursday, Portugal’s highest court ruled that the proposed law should be enacted! This now leaves only their conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silva, who has the power to ratify or veto, to decide within the next 20 days.

The president’s signature is the final step before their country can be free to have the equal rights they all deserve.

Original posting: http://perezhilton.com/2010-04-09-portugal-might-soon-allow-gay-marriage

Baldwin, brother of Alec, Daniel and Billy, is a born again Christian, with a history of drug and alcohol addiction.

During the interview Baldwin is asked how he’d react if one of his daughters became a lesbian, and the other a stripper.

“Jesus or no Jesus, if my kid started working in a strip club, I’d beat her ass,” he says, in a very un-Christian-like fashion. “Now, the other question is interesting and culturally relevant. I have two or three very dear friends who are homosexual and they know I’m born again and we have an understanding that we’re just not going there…”

The journalist writes: “For the next 20 minutes, we have an intense discussion – argument, really – during which Stephen reveals that he’s all for gay men who, through their faith, reject their homosexuality and get married: ‘To turn away from that lifestyle is astonishing.’ Yes, Stephen, it is. And he’s definitely not for gay marriage.”

When the journalist asks about gay marriage, he says: “I believe that the family unit has fundamentally been the most positive thing for society and I don’t believe that any minority has the right to create changes that impact on the majority. That’s really the only issue for me.”

In the past Baldwin has said that gay marriage is not in line with God’s word, and that homosexuality is not normal and should be kept out of the public education system.

In 2008 Stephen’s brother Alec criticised Stephen’s views in an interview with The Advocate, saying: “Well, in the modern political world, people like that – whether or not I’m related to them – only help us raise money. They want to ban gay marriage because those people are incapable of having a biological family – that’s their only argument. You can ban gay marriage, but if you’re going to make it fair, then you have to ban marriage for everybody else who won’t produce children. But they just single out groups of people that they hate.”

Original Source Text:

www.samesame.com.au

The guy obviously is a smooth politician. He refuses to come out and say he supports the ban on gays serving openly in the military, even though his scorecard from the anti-gay Massachusetts Family Institute says otherwise.

As unsurprised as I am by a Republican not supporting LGBT rights and equality, the thing that worries me most about this type of non-commitment to an issue, is that as so many times, using the the “religious right” as an example, those who take a stand against LGBT equality, don’t do it directly, but rather they tend to blame their homophobia and/or bigotry on a higher power, or in the case of the religious right, God. Anti-gay people tend to blame their dislike of LGBT’s on things outside of their own character.  They don’t want to label themselves as a “bigot” so they rely on outside influences to pardon their intolerance.  In this case, Brown appears to be saving his “reason” to support maintaining the ban on the higher power of military leaders.

In his interview with Walters, he states he’s going to leave the decision of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” up to leaders in the field…almost as though he has a blatant disregard for the fact he serves as a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army National Guard.

My direct impression is Scott Brown, simply put, is a coward, not wanting to admit his stance against LGBT equality and looking for a “reason” to display his homophobia. There’s not a lot of gray area here, either you believe LGBT deserve the right to serve openly in the military or you don’t. Waiting for others to exhale your intolerance shows a lack of character and integrity. My direct impression is that Scott Brown is no different from any other anti-gay Republican politician, seeking others to blame his homophobia on. I think it’s time for Scott Brown to “man-up” and come on out of the anti-gay closet. He needs to go on record as another Republican who hates the gays. He may become a little more respectable if he’s honest.

Original Source Text:

www.gayagenda.com

Lynch’s manager has not confirmed if the reports are true, telling Access this week that, “Jane is currently in a relationship and there is no related news to that relationship.”

Lynch, 49, is also known for roles in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Two And A Half Men.

Embry was successfully involved in a high-profile same-sex custody lawsuit in Florida last year, for which she won the National Centre For Lesbian Rights’ Justice Award.

Original Source Text:

http://www.samesame.com.au/news/international

Courtesy of Democrats.org:

Today our nation will commemorate the life and work of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

Over 40 years ago, Dr. King’s words inspired Rep. John Lewis to join the civil rights movement — and sparked an amazing journey.

This year, Rep. Lewis has recorded a short message about what Martin Luther King Day means to him — and to all Americans.

Watch Rep Lewis’s message and share it with friends and family.

Source Text:

www.gayagenda.com

Passing easily through Parliament thanks to the majority the governing Socialist party and left-of-centre parties have,  the billwill now go to a parliamentary commission before returning to the Parliament for final approval.

Once this has occurred, the legislation will go to the President who can choose to either sign or veto the legislation. If he does the latter then it would return to Parliament who are able to overturn his decision.

Source Text:

www.queeried.com

Best man at his brother’s wedding in Vancouver in the late summer of this year, the bash in Dublin gave Colin, friends and family from their home town a chance to celebrate the couple’s marriage, with the decision to marry abroad being due to the Irish Government’s reluctance to bring in same sex marriages, and instead, like the UK, introduce Civil Partnerships

Speaking at the time of their marriage, Eamon said “We have to get married abroad…It’s absolutely terriblge. We have to go somewhere legal, which narrows it down to about five countries..”Who wants a civil union? It’s just so legal. I want to be able to get married.”

Source Text:

www.queeried.com

From Jason Shaw:

Mexico City has become the first city in Latin America to legalise gay marriage, giving same sex couples a lot more rights, including allowing them to adopt children. The bill was passed the capital’s local ruling assembly by 39 votes to 20 on Monday 21 December, the city’s mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, of the Democratic Revolution party, had been tipped for some time to sign the measure and make it into law.

The bill called for a change of the definition of marriage in the city’s civil code, it’s was defined as the union of a man and a woman, the new wording will be “the free uniting of two people”. This amendment will enable gay couples to adopt, apply for bank loans, inherit wealth, be included in the insurance policies of their partner, all rights that were denied under the cities civil union laws.

“We are so happy,” said campaigning film student,Temistocles Villanueva, outside the city assembly after the law was passed, similar thoughts and sentiment was expressed by gays and lesbians all over the city.

“For centuries, unjust laws banned marriage between blacks and whites or Indians and Europeans. Today, all barriers have disappeared.” Said Victor Romo from the DRP in a statement.

However, Armando Martinez, the president of the College of Catholic Attorneys, complained that politicians had “given Mexicans the most bitter Christmas – They are permitting adoption and in one stroke of the pen have erased the terms mother and father,” he said.

Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital was the very first Latin American city to legalise same sex civil unions for gay and lesbian couples back in 2002. It took a while, but in 2007 four other Argentine cities did the same. Mexico City was the first city in Mexico to introduce a similar civil union for same sex couples in the same year, 2007.

However, many people in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America remain opposed to gay marriage, and the Roman Catholic church has announced its opposition, as has the National Action party, led by the Mexican president, Felipe Calderón.

Mexico City is perhaps one of the most liberal and enlightened of the major Latin American cities, where homosexuality is increasingly accepted in Mexico. The annual gay pride parade attracts tens of thousands of people each year and the city has a vibrant gay scene.

Source Text:

www.gayagenda.com