Finocchio

Schwarzenegger To Veto Marriage Bill

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who rode into the governor's office on nothing but celebrity and an actor's persona of courage and resolve, has announced that he will avoid making any actual decision at all -- least of all a principalled decision -- and will veto the marriage equality bill the elected legislature recently passed.

Schwarzenegger said the legislation, given final approval Tuesday by lawmakers, would conflict with the intent of voters when they approved a ballot initiative five years ago. Proposition 22 prevents California from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states or countries.

"We cannot have a system where the people vote and the Legislature derails that vote," the governor's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said in a statement. "Out of respect for the will of the people, the governor will veto (the bill)."

As KipEsquire points out, however, the legislators who voted on the marriage bill were all elected by the California electorate subsequent to the Proposition 22 initiative.

[E]very single legislator involved in the same-sex marriage vote Tuesday night, regardless of how they voted, was elected by "the people" after the Knight Initiative.

Clearly, "the people" changed their minds.

Therefore, the idea that this "activist legislature" acted contrary to the will of "the people" is the worst kind of nonsense.

Marriage Equality In California -- Time For The Governor's Decision

Now that the California legislature has approved a bill securing marriage equality for same-sex couples, it is time for California's "new Republican" governor to take a stand in favor of fairness and justice.  Some speculate, however, that the Governor will instead veto the bill.

The legislation could be vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has expressed an acceptance of gay marriages but said it's an issue that should be decided by voters or the courts.

"He will uphold whatever the court decides," spokeswoman Margita Thompson said Tuesday after the state Assembly approved the same-sex marriage measure, 41-35. The Senate had approved it last week.

A state appellate court is considering appeals of a lower court ruling that overturned California laws banning recognition of gay marriages. And opponents of same-sex marriage are trying to qualify initiatives for the 2006 ballot that would amend the state Constitution to ban gay marriages.

Marriage Equality In California

By a vote of 41-35, California's legislature approved a bill granting marriage equality to same-sex couples.  The bill now goes to Gov. Schwarzenegger for signature.

Canadian Senate Supports Gay Marriage

After years of debate, the Canadian Senate has, on a 47-21 vote, approved legislation extending marriage equality to gay men and lesbians nationwide.

"The legislation puts Canada on a quite different course to its powerful neighbour to the south.

In the US, President George W Bush is seeking a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Hundreds of foreigners, including Americans and Israelis, have gone to Canada for civil unions since gay marriage was first allowed in some provinces in 2003."

The Senator's Collaborator

Every minority group that suffers discrimnation at the hands of a majority callously uninterested in fairness or common humanity encounters the problem of those of its members who act against the interests of the group and give support to exactly those individuals and organizations that are responsible for harms done to the group.  Gays and lesbians are no different in this regard.  The disturbing example of Arthur Finkelstein is paradigmatic (see here and here).  Collaborators in the nastiest bigotry against gays and lesbians.  A more recent example, though, is Robert Traynham, the openly gay man who serves as Director of Communications for Sen. Rick Santorum.

"Senator Santorum, who trails the presumptive Democratic nominee by double digits in a recent Quinnipiac College poll, has been a staunch opponent of lesbian and gay rights and one of the Senate's strongest supporters of the Federal Marriage Amendment. The amendment would prohibit lesbian and gay couples from ever achieving marriage equality in the United States by requiring that all marriages be between one man and one woman.

'Isn't that the ultimate homeland security? To defend the sanctity of marriage?' asked Senator Santorum during last year's debate on the cloture motion to force a vote on the Amendment. The statement was seen by many gay and lesbian community members as a way to tie the struggle for lesbian and gay equality to the President's 'war on terror.'

In an interview with the Associated Press, the Senator suggested that the government has the right to prohibit gay and lesbian individuals from expressing love for each other physically. 'The idea is that the state doesn't have rights to limit individuals' wants and passions. I disagree with that,' said the Senator, 'I think we absolutely have rights because there are consequences to letting people live out whatever wants or passions they desire. And we're seeing it in our society.'"

First Same-Sex Marriage Celebrated In Spain

Emilio Menendez and Carlos Baturin German have become the first same-sex couple to be legally married in Spain.  The couple has been together for 30 years.

"'The happiest day of our lives was when we fell in love with each other. We have been together for 30 years, there have been many wonderful days, today is yet another wonderful day,' said Mr Menendez.

[Pedro Zerolo, the government's top official for social issues], said a dream had become reality, as the dignity of homosexuals had been recognised."

Marriage Equality, Religious Freedom And Constitutional Amendments

The most vociferous opposition to marriage equality for gay men and lesbians comes from those who found their objections in religious conviction.  At its most benign, such opposition insists that marriage is, by nature and definition, exclusively between "one man and one woman" (setting aside the historical and biblical inaccuracy of this claim).  Less benignly, the opposition deepens, insisting, against all reason and all evidence, that gay and lesbian persons do not exist, and that homosexuality is merely a behavior, distasteful and sinful.  This position is belied by the vicious intolerance and hostility that its adherents hold toward those whom they identify as being gay or lesbian -- making plain the dishonesty in the claim that it is somehow only behavior that it is the issue.

But an issue that is generally absent in discussions of same sex marriage and GLBT rights generally is that the world's churches and religions do not speak with a single, unified and disapproving voice.  Here, in Philadelphia, with our long Quaker history of tolerance, it is notable that the Society of Friends has long accepted its gay and lesbian members fully and has long blessed gay and lesbian unions.  The Canadian and American Episcopal Churches have made news in recent years by building upon their traditions of acceptance and affirming the value and integrity of gay men, lesbians and their families.  Other denominations and individual congregations have shown similar acceptance of gay families.  Most recently, the United Church of Christ, with 1.3 million members, voted to affirm the church's commitment to equal marriage rights for all couples, regardless of gender (see here and here).

In their statements in support of a proposed federal constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages (disingeniously couched in terms of merely defining marriage as between "one man and one woman," in order to insist that it is doing something positive, instead of being an amendment seeking to circumscribe the rights of a minority -- gay men and lesbians), the federal marriage amendment is proposed as a conservative measure, preserving the status quo.  But the FMA in fact takes a radical form of action which Americans -- gay or straight -- cannot countenance, much less support, since the FMA employs the Constitution to violate the fundamental principle of religious liberty by federalizing one specific minority view of marriage.  The FMA further violates all principles of federalism, whereby states retain power to legislate and govern in traditionally local and individual matters, marriage being one such area.

Gay men and lesbians are individuals and citizens, little different (no different in most respects) from their fellow citizens.  Gay families are families, like other families.  Gay men and lesbians are religious, are spiritual and are secular as individuals, no different from their brothers and sisters and colleagues and friends and neighbors.  This is far from being a radical or even a minority statement.  On this Independence Day, as we celebrate the beginnings of modern government and the shaking off of the yoke of old burdens, let us remember our commonality, our common humanity, and our common desire to live free and genuine lives.  Out of many, we are one -- on this day of all days, let us remember and honor this basic and essential political principle of tolerance and respect.

"Freedom And Equality": Marriage Equality In Spain

Refusing to bow to pressure from the Vatican, Spain has become the third nation in the world to legislatively extend full marriage rights to same-sex couples.

"The measure passed the 350-seat Congress of Deputies by a vote of 187-147 with four abstentions. The bill also lets gay couples adopt children and inherit each others' property. . . .

The Netherlands and Belgium are the only other two nations that allow gay marriage nationwide. Canada's House of Commons passed legislation Tuesday that would legalize gay marriage by the end of July as long as the Senate also passes the bill, which it's expected to do. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero noted that in debate before the vote.

'We were not the first, but I am sure we will not be the last. After us will come many other countries, driven, ladies and gentlemen, by two unstoppable forces: freedom and equality,' he told the chamber.

Zapatero said the reform of Spanish legal code simply adds one paragraph but means much, much more.

He called it 'a small change in wording that means an immense change in the lives of thousands of citizens. We are not legislating, ladies and gentlemen, for remote unknown people. We are expanding opportunities for the happiness of our neighbors, our work colleagues, our friends, our relatives.'"

Canadian Parliament Passes Gay Marriage Legislation

Ratifying what the Canadian courts mandated several years ago, the Canadian House of Commons has passed legislation granting full marriage equality to gay men and lesbians.  Once the legislation is passed by the Canadian Senate, will Canada become the third nation -- after the Netherlands and Belgium -- to enact marriage equality legislatively.  Prime Minister Paul Martin observed that:

"We are a nation of minorities and in a nation of minorities, it is important that you don't cherry pick rights. A right is a right and that is what this vote tonight is all about."

As The Washington Post reports,

"'The big peaceable kingdom on the U.S. border will demonstrate that it is absolutely possible for religious freedom to coexist with the end of discrimination against gay and lesbian people,' said Alex Munter, a gay rights advocate who gathered with other supporters at Parliament Hall in Ottawa to watch the vote.

'Many couples already come from America to get married, and thousands of more will come.'"

The Vatican On The March

The Vatican has mobilized Catholic clergy across Spain to march (hat tip: Andy Towle) in opposition to the Spanish government's proposed legislation that would extend equal marriage rights to same sex couples (see here, here, and here). 

"Spain's senior bishops are to lead a mass demonstration of Catholics in Madrid tomorrow against a law introducing gay marriage and adoption by gay couples.

Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela, the archbishop of Madrid, announced that he, three bishops from his diocese and two more from neighbouring dioceses, would join the march. 'If it is the state itself that establishes a law which ignores the essence of marriage, then the damage it causes to the true family, to children and society as a whole will be incalculable,' he said."

The dishonesty and frivolity of the Church's assaults on gays and lesbians, on same-sex relationships and gay and lesbian families is profoundly disturbing, and just as disturbingly consistent.  Civil marriage for same-sex couples in no way impairs the ability of any church to circumscribe the qualifications.  What it does impair is the bigoted sense of privilege that comes from the power to exclude others and to safeguard for oneself a superior right and position.