Gay Marriage Headed Back to Court in NJ

The six gay couples who sued New Jersey for the right to marry in 2002 are taking their case and are heading back to court.

The couples along with the surviving partner from a seventh couple filed a motion earlier today claiming that even though the state offers civil unions to same-sex couples, the law which states they are not allowed to marry is discrimination.

The 2002 law suit was lost by one vote by the state’s Supreme Court in 2006 and after efforts to get lawmakers to pass a bill earlier this year fail, the couples decided to take the issue up with the courts again.

Opponents of marriage equality in the garden state claim gay and lesbian couples do not have the constitutional right to marry and cite that civil unions are working.

Fight Back New York Ups the Ante

After same-sex marriage was voted down earlier this year in the New York state legislature, Tim Gill, a software entrepreneur and openly gay philanthropist created Fight Back New York with his own money and has vowed to back pro-marriage equality candidates with hundreds of thousands in an effort to get them elected to the state’s Senate this coming November.

Advocates for LGBT equality have set their sites on bringing the issue back to the Senate floor as early as next year, and will added support, it could pass. Three months ago, the state’s legislature reject a gay marriage bill by a vote of 38 to 24.

Alex Navarro-McKay, a spokesperson for the group stated:

“There is definitely a theme of punishment in our work.”

Fight Back NY will be targeting the eight Democrats who voted against the bill as well as all 30 Republicans who voted no.

Earlier this week Gill’s group claimed victory when a candidate who supports marriage equality won a special election to succeed Hiram Monserrate, one of the state’s Senators who voted against the marriage bill and was expelled from the state’s Senate after he was convicted of assault.

In a statement Fight Back said, “One down, seven to go.”

However, equality’s biggest foe, Maggie Gallagher, the president of NOM, countered by saying gay rights advocates are out numbered and out financed.

Gallagher retaliated:

“They (equality advocates) are no longer are persuading people that gay marriage is a good idea. I don’t think it’s very credible to claim that this victory is some sort of bellwether for the popularity of gay marriage in elections in New York.”

Hopefully the group will be able to prove Maggie wrong and her money will become the wasted funds!

UVA Research Request: Engaged Couples Needed!

Engaged volunteers needed!

I am looking for volunteers for a study of attitudes towards marriage and parenthood among engaged couples. The study consists of a 25-30 minute online survey. To qualify for the study, you must be 20-35 years old, live in the U.S., and plan to marry or have a commitment ceremony within the next 365 days. You and your romantic partner must not have children, and this must be the first marriage for both of you.

You can:

-Help a doctoral candidate.

-Increase the pool of scientific knowledge.

-Support research on marriage and families…and

-Spend some time thinking about your relationship!

I am working with Dr. Charlotte J. Patterson, a Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. This study has been approved by the University of Virginia Institutional Review Board #2009025800.

If you and/or your romantic partner are interested in participating or want further information, please email me at survey.couples@gmail.com. I will send you a link that you can use to access the study.

Thanks!

Cristina Reitz-Krueger

Doctoral Student

University of Virginia

survey.couples@gmail.com

(Please note in the email you send you found this request on gayagenda.com.  Thank you!)

PhillyBurbs: Marriage Ban Dies in Senate

Not exactly stellar news, but better than the alternative.  It looks as though an effort to change Pennsylvania’s state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage has died in the state’s senate.

According to PhillyBurbs.com:

The latest effort to amend Pennsylvania’s constitution to effectively ban gay marriage appeared dead today after three senators who supported an even broader measure two years ago changed their vote in committee.

Read more here!

Greenberg: What We Lose Without Equality

The other night my husband and I got together with some friends. Although we always look forward to an evening with this particular couple, lately our dinners, which were once so carefree, are now conducted in the shadow of sadness and potential loss. Our close friends might be forced to leave the country.

As same sex partners, not only do they lack the basic rights of any couple in love to marry, since one person is an immigrant on a student visa, they may have to move to another country that acknowledges gay rights and marriage.

Read more of this moving post by Tamara McClintock Greenberg at: Huff Po!

I could only wish that more straight people were sensitive to the reasons as to why marriage is such an important issue for members of the LGBT community…who also happen to be U.S. tax payers.

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