This Week in LGBT News
Wednesday June 3, 2009
So much has been going on in regards to the LGBT rights movement, that sometimes it's hard to keep up. Here are a few items you may have missed this week:
New Hampshire Passes Gay Marriage Law
The New Hampshire House and Senate both passed a gay marriage bill and the governor signed it into law making New Hampshire the sixth state with full gay marriage. You may recall Governor John Lynch said he would only sign a law if it made specific protections for religious institutions that did not want to perform same-sex marriages. According to Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “No religious institution will have to recognize any marriage under this law, as the language proposed by Gov. Lynch and agreed to by the legislature made abundantly clear.” The law will take effect January 1, 2010.Nevada Approves Domestic Partnership Bill
Always dreamed of a Las Vegas wedding? State lawmakers in Nevada have voted to override a veto of a domestic partnership bill. Gay and straight couples in Nevada can now file as domestic partners and receive many of the same state benefits as married heterosexual couples.President Obama Declares Gay Pride Proclamation
June is Gay Pride Month and this June marks the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. President Obama has acknowledged both of those by issuing a statement in support of gay pride month:Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans...Read the full proclamation here.NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.
What’s the chance that he will urge the Muslim leaders he is visiting now to “turn back discrimination” while asking us to do so? Those countries are the ones that kill & discriminate against GLBTs in exponential numbers more than we do. Sure, we have a lot to do, but we need to stop berating our own country while we give the others a pass.
I don’t think your President berated the citizens of the United States.I think for once Your President did not deflect was is going on in your own Country by bringing up how bad it is somewhere else.You have another “Anita Bryant” as Miss California,California just voted to not let people get married,it is painly clear that something needed to be said and it was honest and not sugared coated,I think it made the rest of the world see you in a better light.The issue was Gay Pride month in Your Country.I think your President did really well.