Our booth at San Francisco Pride 2009 on Saturday June 27 and Sunday June 28 showcased a selection from our community of wedding businesses who are supportive of marriage equality. Participating MyQueerWedding.com member businesses included: Angelica Limousines, Bayleaf Restaurant, Ben Janken Fine Photography, Dark Garden Unique Corsetry and Couture Clothing, Debut, Global Pride Tours, The Reverend Edward J. Wright, Reverend Max, San Francisco Gay Wedding Video, and Wildwood Acres Resort.

 

We reached out to hundreds of same-sex couples who are planning their wedding in spite of the legal status and the economy. One of the things we heard over and over again from same-sex couples who visited our booth was relief and gratitude that there are wedding businesses who will support them, which is why MyQueerWedding.com is here! Ben Janken took photos of more than 30 same-sex couples who visited our booth.

By Straight Talk

 

Nothing irritates me more than a news article spouting facts that deceive the uneducated reader. Except perhaps a journalist who writes the article.  Recently, Cathleen Decker had an article in the Los Angeles Times saying:

 

“…Overall, the poll showed a majority of voters in Los Angeles support the right of same-sex couples to legally marry, with 56% in favor and 37% opposed. That finding closely tracked results of November’s election, when Proposition 8, which limited marriage to a man and a woman, won statewide but lost in Los Angeles. 

 

But the poll also showed that within the city, views on the issue differed widely among racial and ethnic groups. 

 

White voters were most emphatic in supporting same-sex marriage, with 68% approving of it and 27% opposing. African American voters were almost the opposite, with 54% opposing same-sex unions and 37% supporting them. Opposition to gay marriage by African Americans was widely seen as a major factor contributing to the passage of Proposition 8…”

The last sentence here is not only absurd it’s ridiculous. According to the recent government poll African Americans make up 6.3% of the California population. That means (and we’re talking grade school math here…) 6.3% = African Americans in California Population and 54% of THEM opposed same-sex marriage. This means that African Americans that opposed Same-Sex Marriage = 3.4% of the population of California.

 

To say that the opposition to gay marriage by African American voters (3.4% of the population) is a “major factor” in the passage of Prop 8 is bordering on stupid. In fact, if Blacks voted the same as Whites you would only reduce the spread by 2%. Since according to state totals the voting results had a spread of 4.5% this means that Blacks voting identically to Whites in California would NOT have changed the results.

 

It makes me wonder what is the motivation behind Cathleen Decker’s articles? Is she just trying to stir up conflict between the Black community and the Gay community? Is she being paid by the Right Wing groups to divert the blame from them to the small group of Black people. I don’t know her or her motivations but she is clearly NOT able to convey the truth.

 

Useful Links:
Los Angeles Times article by Cathleen Decker

The waiting is almost over for the California Supreme Court to make their ruling about Proposition 8, which will be announced on Tuesday, May 26.

 

Same-sex couples who were married last year when marriage was legal for all loving couples are anxious to find out if their marriage will continue to be legally recognized. Whatever the California Supreme Court’s decision, it will impact not only the lives of same-sex couples, but also their families, children, friends and everyone fighting for equal rights.

 

Whether it will be time to celebrate or protest, organizations around the country who support marriage equality will be ready. To find the closest community gathering near you, visit The Day of Decision or Marriage Equality USA.

 

Marriage Equality USA Press Release:
Oakland, California - “Today, Vermont legislators lived up to their state motto – freedom and unity – and their override of the Governor’s veto ensures that thousands of same-sex couples living in Vermont will have the freedom to marry the person they love,” said Molly McKay, Marriage Equality USA Media Director. “We know in our hearts, it is only a matter of time for America to turn its back on this history of discrimination against same-sex couples. To witness within a week the Iowa Supreme Court’s unanimous decision, followed by Vermont’s legislative stand, both in support of marriage equality gives us hope that we may be able to live our happily ever afters sooner than we think.”

 

“We hope the California Supreme Court recognizes how its leadership in last May’s marriage decision contributed to these changes in the heartland and across the country,” said Pamela Brown, Marriage Equality USA Policy Director. “The Court must continue to illustrate this leadership by overturning Prop 8 and ensure that equal protection and fundamental rights mean something…that they just can’t be plucked away in a willy-nilly fashion from minority groups by the majority.”

Marriage Equality USA Press Release:
Des Moines, IA- “Today is another historic day for Iowans in our long history of equality and fairness for individual liberties. The Iowa Court has declared that the promise of ‘liberty and justice for all’ includes marriage equality for Iowans like myself and Marla who have been together for twenty-five years,” said Phyllis Stevens, Chapter Leader of Marriage Equality USA-Central Iowa, who married her wife, Marla Stevens, in Canada in 2003, and whose marriage will now be legally recognized under today’s court ruling.

 

The Iowa State Supreme Court Opinion concludes, “We are firmly convinced that the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective. The legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification. There is no material fact, genuinely in dispute, that can affect this determination.”

 

Equal protection under the Iowa Constitution “is essentially a direction that all persons similarly situated should be treated alike.”

 

Across the United States, Marriage Equality USA chapters will be hosting local celebrations. “Marriage equality is popping up all over, so we will celebrate with an Iowa staple…. popcorn….which we will hand out in partnership with local movie houses across the state,” said Molly McKay Media Director of Marriage Equality USA. “We are so glad to see that the value of fairness and equality for all has resonated today in America’s Heartland. The tradition of extending civil rights to all minorities continues and that is a good thing.”

 

“Iowa joins the growing number of states that recognize that marriage discrimination is both un-American and unconstitutional. Our country is a nation which guarantees the rights of all of its citizens to be treated equally under the law,” said Stuart Gaffney Marriage Equality USA Asian Pacific Islander Outreach Director. “Just a generation ago, my parents were legally married in California, because the California Supreme Court overturned the state’s law prohibiting interracial couples from marrying, but faced government discrimination against their marriage when they moved to Missouri and waited until 1967 for the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the bans on interracial marriage. My husband, John, and I married in California last year, and we believe that marriage discrimination against same-sex couples will end soon, too, and that our marriage will be recognized throughout the country.”

 

“While we celebrate history being made in Iowa today, we must remember that federal law continues to deny all same-sex couples access to the 1,138 federal rights, benefits, and protections that come with civil marriage recognition at the federal level. The federal government continues to maintain a second class citizenry in direct violation of the equal protection guarantees contained in the U.S. Constitution.” stated Davina Kotulski, Ph.D. Author of Why You Should Give A Damn About Gay Marriage, who spoke last week about marriage equality with students from Iowa State and Drake Universities hosted by Lynn Fallon and her husband, Former State Legislator and marriage equality pioneer Ed Fallon, and the Marriage Equality USA-Central Iowa chapter. “We will not rest until there is equal justice under law for all Gay Americans.”

San Francisco Gay Wedding Video in association with Mental-Rev Productions have a new video “Spouse and Spouse” from outside the March 5, CA Supreme Court hearing.

 

While the son of a Lesbian couple high fives an African American man raising signatures for the Repeal Prop 8 campaign, 7 California Supreme Court Justices sit in judgment on the constitutionality of Proposition 8 and ultimately the futures of California’s same-sex couples.

 

By Straight Talk

 

It’s great that the California courts will hear arguments about the recent law taking away the rights of all people in California to allow gay marriage, lesbian marriage and queer marriage. As a business owner if I want to recognize one of my employees as a married couple, so I can give them the benefits they deserve, I can not. I offer this benefit package to keep valuable employees with the company however, I am prevented from doing this with the one of employee my employees who just had a gay wedding.

 

However, the real fight for gay marriage is in the federal courts. in February, the federal 9th circuit held that you can not deny federal insurance to gay spouses just because you don’t like gay marriage. This is the main goal we should now all focus on. First, because the federal taxes are much higher then state taxes, and gay married couples can file jointly. Second, if you have had a gay marriage and you file taxes you have to file as a couple with the state and then start over and file as an individual with the federal government. This is crazy.

 

It took a federal law to end discrimination against women and racial minorities. John F. Kennedy wrote the legislation for the Civil Rights Act that Lyndon B. Johnson signed into legislation in 1964. Now it’s time for the federal government to do the same with equal rights with regard to gay marriage.

 

So, the good news is that as we keep exposing the current oppressive laws to the light of day they are crumbling away. Bit by bit the courts are proving that the current laws are unjust and unfair. I am hopeful that by the time Obama finishes his second term in office gay weddings will be common place, gay wedding cake topers will be sold in Walmart, school children will be taught the fact that they can love who they want is the law of the land. And that gay weddings and gay marriages will occur in Alabama and California on an equal basis.