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!

Cynthia Nixon is Fighting Back…Are You?

“I’m supporting Fight Back New York so we can finally show these anti-equality senators that there are consequences to their actions. That they can lose their seats for voting against our rights. Read more

Project 1138 Web Site Launched

Equality Forum, a national and international gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) civil rights organization, has launched a Project 1138 Web site, (www.Project1138.com) along with Facebook (www.facebook.com/Project1138) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/Project1138) pages to create awareness about the 1138 benefits denied GLBT couples.

There are 1138 federal rights, benefits and privileges provided to married opposite sex couples that are denied to same-sex couples – even in states where same-sex marriage is legal.

These include tax and military benefits, employment rights, family protections and access to federal benefits and services.

“Our nation treats same-sex couples as second-class citizens,” stated Malcolm Lazin, Executive Director, Equality Forum. “As the Black civil rights movement demonstrated, separate is not equal.”

Corporal Dennis Engelhard, a Missouri Highway Patrolman, lived with his male partner Kelly Gossip for nearly 15 years. In 2009, Engelhard was killed in a highway accident in the line of duty. His partner is not entitled to death benefits provided to the families of fallen law enforcement officers.

Carmen Machado and her partner Anisia, a New Jersey couple, have been together for over 30 years. Anisia has no health insurance. Carmen can’t claim her as a spouse, and as a consequence, Anisia is not covered under Carmen’s health insurance.

In New York, John Langan and Conrad Spicehandler were together for 15 years when Spicehandler was killed in a work-related car accident. Because they could not marry, Langan has not received any benefits entitled to a “surviving legal spouse.”

Visit Project1138.com to share your comments, personal stories, and why all Americans deserve equal rights.

Equality Forum is a national and international GLBT civil rights organization with an educational focus. Equality Forum coordinates GLBT History Month, produces documentary films, undertakes high-impact initiatives and presents the largest annual national and international GLBT civil rights summit.

Gay Marriage Licenses Issued in Mexico City

Thursday, lesbian and gay couples by the dozens poured into a Mexico City government building to commence the legal process of marriage on the same day the first Latin American marriage equality law took effect.

The first same-sex marriages will legally be allowed within 7 to 10 days, the time period allowed to process the necessary paperwork.

The law was passed in December of last year by Mexico City’s legislature, becoming the country’s first law ending marriage discrimination. The law will also permit same-sex couples to adopt children, apply for bank loans together, inherit wealth, be included on insurance plans, and all the other alienable rights of heterosexual married couples.

According to an AP post:

“This is great, it is a feeling of relief, of celebration, everything,” said Daniel Ramos, 20, a medical student planning to marry his boyfriend, Temistocles Villanueva, on March 12. “For Latin America, this is not only a precedent, but an example to follow,” he added.

The new law only applies to residents of Mexico City, but unlike in the U.S., any legal marriage performed in Mexico must be recognized by all states, which has prompted the country’s conservatives to push for a constitutional amendment which would allow states without marriage equality to not recognize same-sex marriages.

Activist Jaime Cobian showed up Thursday with a sheaf of required documents — birth certificates, official IDs and residency documents — in a bid to get marriage licenses for 16 gay and lesbian couples in states where no such law exists.

The City’s new law is also being challenged in Mexico’s Supreme Court by the federal government but will remain in effect while the appeal is heard. The Roman Catholic Church has been a big player in trying to repeal the law, but David Razu, the Mexico City legislator who initially proposed the law, has confidence the Supreme Court will uphold marriage equality, stating:

“There is always a wave of reaction to these kinds of measures, but we are prepared to face it.”

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