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News items affecting gays, lesbians, bisexuals & transsexuals2009-January, February, March
Sponsored link.
In the following, "SSM" refers to "same-sex marriage."See also
January's events demonstrating a culture
|
 | 2009-JAN-27: GLAAD media awards announced: The
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, (GLAAD) announced 185
nominees for the 20th annual GLAAD Media Awards. They recognize fair and
inclusive portrayals of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community
and issues affecting them. As in the previous two years, ABC leads the other
networks; they have six nominations including Brothers & Sisters, Desperate
Housewives and Ugly Betty. CBS received four nominations; NBC
earned two. GLAAD president, Neil G. Giuliano commented: "The nominees this year prove that the stories of LGBT Americans are interesting, compelling and will touch not only LGBT audiences, but broader audiences as well. ... How our lives are portrayed in the media doesn't make a bit of difference it makes all the difference." Nominees for feature film in wide release include Brideshead Revisited, Milk, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, RocknRolla, and Vicky Christina Barcelona. 1 More info. | ||||
|
See also
February's events demonstrating a culture
shift towards acceptance of sexual minorities. | ||||
| 2009-FEB-03: CA: California Supreme Court to hear oral arguments on
Prop. 8: The court has decided on an expedited schedule; they agreed
to hear the oral arguments on the constitutionality of Prop. 8 during MAR-05.
The court must issue its ruling within 90 days of the oral argument: i.e.
2009-MAY-04. 2 | ||||
| 2009-FEB-06: NJ: Judge permits divorce of same-sex couple: Mary
Jacobson, a New Jersey state judge ruled that the state recognizes same-sex
marriages performed outside of the state for the purpose of divorce. A lesbian
couple had married in Canada and sought a divorce in New Jersey. 4 | ||||
| 2009-FEB-06: WY: House defeats constitutional amendment: The
Wyoming House overwhelmingly defeated a joint resolution that would have
defined marriage as between one man and one woman in the state constitution.
More details | ||||
| 2009-FEB 16 & 17: CA: Rallies to be held at the state capitol,
Sacramento: On 2009-FEB-16, Equality California, Equality Action NOW,
Marriage Equality USA, and California Outreach will sponsor a rally at the
State Capitol in Sacramento, CA in support of resolutions SR 7 and HR5. If
passed, these resolutions would place the Senate and House on record as
rejecting the validity of Prop. 8 -- the proposition to terminate the right of
same-sex couples to marry in California.
Equality California also sponsored a
Lobby Day on FEB-17 to "... bring together diverse civil rights and
faith leaders, community members and allies from across the state and a number
of elected officials ..." in support of SR 7 and HR 5. More details | ||||
| 2009-FEB-22: CA: "Milk" wins two Oscars: "Milk", the
movie about the life and assassination of Harvey Milk, won two Oscars.
According to the Reconciling Ministries Network: "Many of the stars wore white
ribbons to the Oscars to advocate for marriage equality in the wake of Proposition 8." Sean Penn won an Oscar for Actor in a Leading Role. During his acceptance speech he said:
Dustin Lance Black won an Oscar for Writing (Original Screenplay). During his acceptance speech, he said:
| ||||
| 2009-FEB-24: WV: Hate group posts ad depicting gays as snipers: In
mid-February, a Mormon politician in Utah compared gay people to
fundamentalist radical Muslims. A week later, an evangelical Christian social
action group, the Family Policy Council of West Virginia took the hate
campaign to new depths. They released an online video ad that depicts gays as
snipers. It portrayed an opposite-sex couple and their small children in the
crosshairs of a rifle scope. It appears to be part of their drive to involve
hundreds of churches in West Virginia to participate in a "Stand4Marriage
Sunday" on MAR-01. Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out (TWO), has called on the hate group to remove the ad. {Truth Wins Out describes themselves as a gay-positive group that "...counters right-wing disinformation campaigns, debunks the ex-gay myth, and provides accurate information about the lives of GLBT people.") Besen said:
An Associated Press story said that both of the Council's web sites were created with the help of CampaignSecrets.org, a Georgia firm that says it is "... focused exclusively on electing Republicans to local office." We examined the Council's web site but was unable to find the ad. We
emailed them asking for the URL if it as still online. We don't expect a
response. 5,6,7 | ||||
|
See also
March's events demonstrating a culture
shift towards acceptance of sexual minorities. | ||||
| 2009-MAR-05: CA: California Supreme Court
hears Proposition 8 oral arguments: Two items were argued. The first was
whether Prop. 8 is constitutional. That proposition terminated the right of
same-sex couples to marry in the state. The questions and comments of the
justices seem to indicate that a substantial majority favor the
constitutionality of Prop 8. The second item was whether the almost 40,000
homosexuals and bisexuals who married during 2008 would be forcibly divorced.
Most -- perhaps all -- of the justices seemed to be leaning towards
allowing the same-sex couples to remain married. The ruling is expected within
90 days. If Prop. 8 is upheld, we can expect a new proposition to be voted
upon on election day in 2010-NOV to repeal Prop. 8. 9
More details | ||||
| 2009-MAR-10: CA: Poll of California voters on possible future same-sex
marriage proposition: The Field Poll conducted a survey of
California voters during 2009-FEB. They asked how the subject would vote in
the event a new proposition was on the ballot which, if passed, would allow
same-sex couples to marry. Two of the most interesting results were:
| ||||
| 2009-MAR-19: World: The Game of Life™ has same-sex marriage option:
This game was created by Mr. Milton Bradley in
1860. A computerized version is available online at Hasbro's Shockwave
website. 10 It guides
players to design a hypothetical path through their future life. Their website provides a
free trial version. As originally written, the game included opposite-sex
marriage or singlehood as options. It has recently been modified to allow the
player to select a third option: same-sex marriage.
WorldNetDaily, an evangelical news source, posted a negative review titled: "Game
for 6-year-olds pushes same-sex marriage." 11 Customer reviewers rate the game
at 4.15 points out of five. The response of media reviewers is mixed.
Conservative religious outlets generally describe the game as "promoting"
same-sex marriage; other outlets tend to refer to providing same-sex marriage
as an "option." | ||||
| 2009-MAR-20: VT: Activity in Vermont legislature: On
2000-APR-26, Vermont legalized civil unions and thus became the first state in
the U.S. to formally recognize loving, committed same-sex couples as more than
roommates. A bill to legalize SSM unanimously passed the Senate Judiciary Committee with a vote of 5 to 0. Sen. Kevin Mullin, (R-Rutland), the lone Republican on the committee may have committed political suicide by voting in favor of the bill. On 2009-MAR-25, the Senate passed the bill with a vote of 26 to 4. The House is now considering similar legislation. Also on 2009-MAR-25, Governor Jim Douglas (R) said that he would veto the bill if it is passed by the House. However, his veto could be overturned by the state legislature if there is a 2/3 majority in favor of the bill in both the House and Senate. 12 More details. | ||||
| 2009-MAR-25: HI: Hawaii'an bill to legalize civil union fails in Senate: Bill 444 was unanimously approved by the House Judiciary Committee, and passed the full house by a vote of 33 to 17. However, it got stuck in the Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee An attempt by the Senate to force it out of the committee failed. More details. |
References:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- "ABC leads nominees for GLAAD Media Awards," Associated Press, 2009-JAN-26, at: http://www.google.com/
- "Breaking news! California Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments in Prop 8 Legal Challenge on March 5," Equality California, 2008-FEB-03.
- "Wyoming House Kills Anti?Gay Marriage Bill," The Advocate, 2009-FEB-09, at: http://www.advocate.com/
- Michael Foust, "Wyo. House defeats marriage amendment," Baptist Press, 2009-FEB-09. at: http://www.bpnews.net/
- Jon Ponder, "West Virginia Hate Group Posts Ad Depicting Gays As Snipers," Pensito Review, 2009-FEB-26, at: http://www.pensitoreview.com/
- "TWO Demands Family Policy Council of West Virginia Take Down Sniper Ad," Truth Wins Out, 2009-FEB-24, at: http://www.truthwinsout.org/
- The Family Policy Council of West Virginia's web site is at: http://www.familypolicywv.com/
- "Flashnet... 2/25/2009," Reconciling Ministries Network," 2009-FEB-25, at: http://www.rmnetwork.org/
- "California Supreme Court signals mixed response to Proposition 8," Los Angeles Times, 2009-MAR-05, at: http://www.latimes.com/
- "The Game of Love," Shockwave, at: http://www.shockwave.com/
- Drew Zahn, "Game for 6-year-olds pushes same-sex marriage," WorldNetDaily, 2009-MAR-12, at: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/
- Kathleen Gilbert, "Vermont Gov. Will Veto Same-Sex "Marriage" Bill Passed in Senate," LifeSiteNews.com, 2009-MAR-25, at: http://www.lifesitenews.com/
Notice:
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. sec 107: The news items contained in the above hyperlinks are provided without profit by the Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance, PO Box 27026, Kingston ON Canada K7M 8W5, and are intended to be available to anyone interested in the topics included, for educational purposes only. Any editor, author, Webmaster, writer, publisher, news service, etc. that objects to being part of this listing may request that future works be excluded. We will also attempt to delete previous entries from the same source.
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Site navigation: Home page > "Hot" topics > Homosexuality > News > here |
Copyright © 2009 by the Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2009-JAN-28
Latest update and review: 2009-MAR-26
Compiler: B.A. Robinson
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