BBC News - Gay man and transgender woman wed in Cuba

"A Cuban man and transgender woman have married in what is being seen as the country's first 'gay wedding'.

Same sex marriage is illegal in Cuba, but bride Wendy Iriepa is legally a woman after undergoing one of the first state-sponsored sex changes in 2007.

Her fiance, Ignacio Estrada, is a noted dissident and gay rights activist in Cuba and is also HIV positive."

- video at BBC News

Same-sex marriage demo in Dublin

"Thousands of people are expected to take to the streets of Dublin to march for civil marriage equality.

Singer Brian Kennedy will join members of the LGBT - lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender - community, their family and friends for the demonstration."

- full report at Belfast Telegraph

Two-thirds of Scots support gay marriage

"EQUALITY campaigners have called for swift legislation to allow Scots the right to same-sex marriages, after a new study showed the number who support the move has soared.

The Scottish Social Attitudes Survey has revealed that in 2010 almost two-thirds of people (61%) supported same-sex marriage, up from 41% in 2002.

The report comes after a split emerged in the SNP over the issue of same-sex marriages. SNP MEP Alyn Smith criticised colleagues only days after John Mason, a nationalist colleague tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament, backed by three other nationalist MSPs, stating that no one should be forced to approve of same-sex marriage."

-Herald Scotland

Australian minister announces lesbian partner is pregnant as gay marriage debate gathers heat - The Washington Post

Penny Wong and partner Sophie Allouache are expecting a baby, due in December. Source:AdelaideNow

"A senior government minister in Australia has announced that her lesbian partner is pregnant. Finance Minister Penny Wong said in a statement Tuesday that her partner, Sophie Allouache, had conceived through in-vitro fertilization and is expecting her first child in December."

The announcement comes as pressure mounts on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to support overturning her center-left Labor Party’s ban on gay marriage. The policy change will be voted on its annual national conference in December.

- The Washington Post

Suquamish Tribe approves same-sex marriage

"The Suquamish Tribal Council formally changed its ordinances Aug. 1 to allow for same-sex marriage. The move extends equal marriage rights to gay couples on the reservation and other places where same-sex marriage is recognized. The final vote was unanimous in favor of recognizing same-sex marriage."

-full report at Liberation

August 10: Andrew Sullivan

b. August 10, 1963

Andrew Sullivan is an author and journalist who regularly appears on national television and whose commentary is featured in major national publications. He is a leading advocate of same-sex marriage.

"The most successful marriages, gay or straight, even if they begin in romantic love, often become friendships. It's the ones that become the friendships that last."

Andrew Sullivan was born in South Godstone, a small town in southern England, in 1963. After earning a B.A. in modern history from Oxford University he received a fellowship to study at Harvard University, where he earned a masters degree in public administration and a Ph.D. in government.

In 1986, he began at The New Republic (TNR) and in 1991, he was named the magazine's editor, the youngest in its history. In the five years Sullivan was at the helm, the magazine's circulation grew and advertising revenues increased. Sullivan expanded TNR's sphere beyond politics to cover such cultural topics as same-sex marriage and affirmative action. He created a stir by publishing excerpts from the controversial study on race and IQ, The Bell Curve.

In the 1990's Sullivan became known for his writing on gay issues. His article "The Politics of Homosexuality" has been called the most influential article of the decade in gay rights. Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality was the first book to advocate civil marriage rights for gay couples. Sullivan also publishedLove Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex, and Survival and edited a reader,Same-Sex Marriage: Pro and Con.

As a practicing Catholic, Sullivan has challenged the Roman Catholic Church's position on homosexuality. In Virtually Normal he takes the position that the Bible forbids homosexuality only when it is linked to prostitution or pagan ritual.

Sullivan started his blog, The Daily Dish, in 2000. His articles have appeared in The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Postand Esquire. He is a regular guest on The Chris Matthews Show, Charlie Rose, Anderson Cooper 360°, Meet The Press, Face the Nation, Nightline, NPR's Fresh Airand Larry King Live.

Bibliography:

• TIME Magazine Bio

Selected works by Andrew Sullivan:

• Love Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex, Survival. Vintage, 1999.
  
• Same-Sex Marriage, Pro and Con. Vintage, 2004.
  
• The Conservative Soul. HarperCollins, 2006.
  
• Virtually Normal. Vintage, 1996.

Marriage Equality Coming Closer in Maryland

Nationally, the picture for progress to LGBT equality which emerged on election night was gloomy. At state and local level, there were some bright spots. Maryland was one of them. In the state Senate, the Dems increased their majority, after replacing in the primaries some of their members opposed to gay marriage. In the lower house, they increased the number of openly gay or lesbian delegates. 

Richard  Madaleno, the only openly gay State Senator, is hopeful that the legislature will approve marriage equality legislation in the firs few months of 2011. If it does, Governor Martin O'Malley has promised to sign.

 From Gay Politics:

“Guardedly optimistic.”  That’s how openly gay Maryland State Sen. Richard Madaleno (D) described his feeling about the posibility the state legislature will pass a marriage equality bill in its next 90-day session, which runs from January to mid-April of next year.

On a scale of 1 to 10, “we’re in the six, seven, eight range,” Madaleno told Gay Politics.

His optimism stems from a number of developments on Election Day 2010, some of which ran absolutely counter to national trends.  In the Maryland Senate, Democrats actually expanded their majority to a 35-12 advantage over Republicans.  And some Democrats who lost their seats did so in primary fights with more progressive challengers, many of whom vowed to be even stronger champions for marriage equality.

Madaleno also said a significant expansion in the number of gay and lesbian state legislators, from four to seven, could have a tremendous effect on fence-sitting colleagues.  ”Just by having out people there to participate in the conversation fundamentally alters the discussion.  The tenor of the conversation changes.  It humanizes it,” Madaleno said.

The Maryland House of Delegates next year will include five out lesbians and one openly gay man.  Madaleno is still the only out state senator.

A Washington Post poll last May found growing support in the state for legal marriage for same-sex couples.  Among registered voters, 48 percent supported marriage equality and 43 percent were opposed.  Governor Martin O’Malley has pledged to sign a bill if it reaches it desk.

“In the Senate, I’m confident we are where we have to be to end debate and pass a bill,” Madaleno said, adding that it was harder to predict how new Delegates in the House will vote.

Madaleno was the first openly gay person ever elected to the state legislature.  First elected in 2002, he represents District 18, which includes some Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C

Related articles

• Equality Maryland Endorses Governor Martin O'Malley (lezgetreal.com)
• Primary Elections Advance Marriage Equality (itsaqueerworld.blogspot.com)

Second Poll Confirms: US Majority Support Gay Marriage.

When a CNN poll last month showed for the first time that a majority of Americans supported gay marriage, I was a little cautious. A single poll can always be an aberration, the wording was unusual, and the small tiny (in a split sample, just 250 - half of a sample of 500). However, a new poll with more conventional wording and a more robust sample has produced an almost identical result: 52% support full marriage equality (and 46%
 against, with only 2% "don't know").

This is an outright majority, but a narrow one and within the statistical margin of error. However, there are a few features of this poll that are even more encouraging than the bare numbers.

There is a clear and continuous upward trend in support. The 52% in favour, and favourable margin of 6%, contrasts markedly with just 46% in favour and a deficit of 7% in the comparable survey just a year ago.

Unusually, the question was applicable to legal recognition by the federal government, not just at state level. I would see this as more important and powerful, politically.

• Support for equal treatment under the law for same sex couples, without necessarily invoking that word marriage, is substantial: 58% for, to 38% against. That is clear majority support, without any qualification whatever.
• Elsewhere in the survey. was a question on judicial decisions, which has relevance here. Asked if judges should restrict their verdicts to narrow legal interpretations, or should consider the broader interests of society, a clear majority agreed with the latter view. This does not augur well for those who are trying to unseat the "activist judges" of Iowa.

(Read the full poll report from AP/GfK)

From Politico:

The first national poll suggesting the majority of Americans back same-sex marriage looked like a fluke.

Today, a second poll finds that a 52% majority back federal legal recognition for same-sex marriage.

In both cases, the questions weren't totally straightforward.

This one asked: "Should the Federal Government give legal recognition to marriages between couples of the same sex, or not?"

In response, 52% said yes.

The earlier CNN poll had gotten almost identical numbers from this question:

"Do you think gays and lesbians should have a constitutional right to get married and have their marriage recognized by law as valid?"

That isn't the same as saying your state should marry same-sex couples. But it's a pretty clear explanation of why this isn't an effective political issue any more. And it suggests that appeals to the Supreme Court may not be as out of step with public opinion as many on both sides of this fight had assumed.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Marriage equality gaining support (washingtonmonthly.com)
• The Second Poll Shows A Majority For Marriage Equality (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)

Yet Another Court Victory for Gay Marriage, Family Equality:

In barely a week, there have been four important court judgements in three American countries that represent important victories for gay marriage and family equality. Immediately after the celebrated judgement in California striking down Proposition 8, the Mexican court ruled that the legal provision for gay marriage in Mexico City was fully constitutional. Yesterday, that same court ruled that marriages in Mexico City must be recognized, and the associated benefits granted, right across all Mexican states. Also yesterday, the court in Costa Rica ruled that a proposed national referendum on civil unions, may not go ahead. There may well be another important advance coming within days: the Mexican court is due to pass judgement on a matter concerning gay adoptions, possibly as soon as tomorrow.

Superficially, the Costa Rican decision may appear the least significant of all three decisions, but I disagree. Although it concerns only civil unions, not full marriage, and the population numbers affected are relatively low, this decision was explicitly based on a fundamentally important matter of principle: the rights of a minority cannot be decided by a majority vote.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="269" caption="A Rainbow Future for Costa Rica"][/caption]

The Constitutional Court's 5-2 decision released Tuesday says such a referendum would put a minority at a disadvantage in a largely Roman Catholic country. It also says gay civil unions is a legislative issue and not an electoral one. The court says it considers homosexuals a group that is at a disadvantage and the target for discrimination, requiring government authorities to protect their rights.

It is still too early to say what is the future for gay marriage in Costa Rica. There may be no progress in the short term, or the legislature may feel emboldened by the progress in Argentina, coupled with this decision, to move ahead.

Whatever the Costa Rican politicians decide for now, one thing is clear: across Latin America, the momentum is now on the side of family equality. Sooner rather than later, same sex marriage and gay adoption will spread right across the continent - and the Catholic church will be no more able to prevent it than they were in Argentina. Then, faced with a fait accompli, the bishops in the region with more Catholics than any other, will have to work with the reality all around them.

What Irish Catholics Believe

This is getting monotonous, but it must be stated again. What Catholics believe and practice on matters of sexual ethics, as a matter of empirical fact, is simply not what the (nominally) celibate bishops in their ivory towers would like us to believe, or falsely proclaim as “Catholic” belief, when it is in fact no more than Vatican doctrine.

The latest evidence, in a long line of similar research, comes from Ireland. This makes it all the more notable, given that country’s long reputation until recently as a “priest-ridden country”, where the dictates of the clergy meant that even contraception was forbidden by law, and people would journey across the island to Belfast just to buy condoms.

In a marked turnaround, the Irish people do not simply tolerate pre-marital sex, they believe it is desirable for young couples to spend time living together before committing to marriage. The bishops, on the other hand, maintain that all sex outside of marriage and not “ordered to procreation” is sinful, and presumably support their American colleagues’ pronouncement that cohabitation before marriage, like homosexuality, is gravely disordered.

The Irish politicians have come a long way in standing up to moral bullying by the church officials, notably over the investigations into clerical sexual abuse, but have some way yet to go. They have succeeded in passing civil partnership legislation, which will come into effect early;next year, but lag well behind their voters. Fully two thirds would support full marriage equality.

From the Irish Times:

Two-thirds support gay marriage, poll finds

JUST OVER two-thirds of people (67 per cent) believe gay couples should be allowed to marry, according to an Irish Times /Behaviour Attitudes social poll.

It is one of a series of findings in a poll on “sex, sin and society” that indicates Irish people have adopted a more liberal attitude towards personal relationships and sexual behaviour.

In addition showing strong support for gay marriage, a significant majority (60 per cent) also believe civil partnerships for gay couples will not undermine the institution of marriage. A large majority (91 per cent) also say they would not think less of a person if they revealed they were gay or lesbian.

These numbers are consistently high across most age groups, as well as in urban and rural areas.

People are divided, however, on whether gay couples should be allowed to adopt children. Some 46 per cent support such a move, while more than a third (38 per cent) are opposed. Younger people, urban dwellers and women are more likely to be supportive of the idea.

The findings also indicate there is a growing consensus that living together before marriage is likely to result in a more stable marriage. A majority (57 per cent) believe cohabitation is a positive development. This view is reflected consistently across most age groups.

Even higher numbers (79 per cent) do not regard sex before marriage as immoral. When broken down by religion, most Catholics – again, 79 per cent – did not see anything wrong with the practice.

Just 15 per cent, mostly older people or those living in rural areas, see it as immoral.

There are also significant differences across the generations in attitudes towards issues such as celibacy and virginity. In total, just under half (48 per cent) of people admire those who choose to be celibate for moral or religious reasons.

A majority of older people (62 per cent) aged 65 or more are much more likely to admire celibacy, while this falls to well under half among younger and middle-aged people.

Even among Catholics, respondents are just as divided. While 51 per cent of Catholics admire celibacy, the remainder either do not (33 per cent), or say they do not know (16 per cent).

Not all the poll findings point to increasingly liberal attitudes, however. The average age most people feel teenagers should begin to have sex at is 18 years, above the current age of consent which is 17.

Also:
Survey reveals more relaxed attitude to sex
Two-thirds support gay marriage, poll finds

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• LGBT Inclusion in Church: A Study in Contrasts (queertheology.blogspot.com)
• The Brits Debate Celibacy (enlightenedcatholicism-colkoch.blogspot.com)
• Minnesota Catholics For, Against Gay Marriage (rooting-for-gay-marriage.blogspot.com)

Out in Asia: Gay Equality, Nepal

Progress towards queer equality has been remarkable in recent decades, with gay marriage or civil unions now achieving legal recognition in a rapidly increasing number of countries, and protection from discrimination and hate crimes being written into many statute books. Few countries though, have seen a turnaround quite as dramatic as that in Nepal, which has gone from persecution to imminent constitutional protection in just ten years.

First Gay Pride in Nepal, 2010

Gay marriage has been promised, and legal provision for it will shortly be built into the new constitution which is currently being drafted – but even ahead of the legal formalities, same-sex marriages are being conducted. Much of the credit for the remarkable transformation should go to the Blue Diamond gay  rights group, as Thai Indian reports:

Gay rights movement celebrates decade in Nepal

By Sudeshna Sarkar

Kathmandu, Sep 12 (IANS) The only country in South Asia to recognise same sex marriages, Nepal Sunday celebrates a decade of the gay rights movement pioneered by a single group amid widespread persecution.

The Blue Diamond Society (BDS), Nepal’s first gay rights organisation founded in 2001 by the country’s first openly homosexual MP Sunil Babu Pant, has been at the forefront of the sexual minorities’ right movement with such innovative campaigns as a tourism agency promising gay weddings and honeymoons in the lap of Mt Everest and an annual gay pride march in the capital.

On Sunday it celebrates its 10th birthday by holding, for the first time in the entire South Asia, the Mr Lesbian pageant as another remarkable way of spreading awareness about the diversity among the sexual minorities.

“People have this perception of homosexuals as effeminate men wearing women’s clothes,” says Pant, the recipient of several international gay rights awards. “We thought it is time to educate society about the diversity in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.”

Every year, Nepal hosts dozens of beauty pageants for women and now, there is a growing number of contests for men as well. About three years ago, BDS started the Miss Pink contest for transgenders - men who say they are women trapped in a male body - and the winner goes to the final leg of the contest in Thailand to represent Nepal.

“But there are also transgenders who were born female but consider themselves male,” says Pant.

“Male” transgenders started hitting the headlines from 2007 after a trainer in the Nepal Army, Bhakti Shah, was dismissed along with another woman recruit, for an alleged lesbian relationship.

BDS is helping Shah to fight her dismissal in court and get reinstated.

Like the Nepal Army, their arch foe, the opposition Maoist party has also been homophobic. Its People’s Liberation Army dismissed a combatant - now calling herself Manish - for the same reason.

This year, Ramina Hussain, a traffic constable, was suspended after her partner’s family brought a charge of kidnapping in a bid to separate the couple.

However, after intervention by BDS and the media, Hussain has been reinstated.

-(Read The Full article)

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