Prop 8

The California Supreme Court released its opinion on Tuesday upholding Proposition 8, a controversial voter initiative that passed in November and ended the right of same-sex couples in California to marry. That right was extended by the same court in early 2008. While the court decided to retain the proposition today, they also ruled [...]

Listeners waiting to hear the reasoned arguments of “angry gay-rights activists” during an extended National Public Radio (NPR) report this morning on California’s new ban on same-sex marriage … are … still … waiting.

As many as 10 same-sex couples will soon file a lawsuit against the state of Minnesota for the right to marry. It’s a controversial move, one that some in the gay and lesbian community think is ill-timed, but those couples who are putting their money on the line and their lives under a microscope say the time is always right to fight for equality.

I sat down with Doug Benson, founder of the organization Marry Me Minnesota, a nonprofit group that formed last year and that is helping to organize the lawsuit. Benson and his partner are also part of the planned lawsuit.

A sign that the culture war is being waged anew took up an entire page of the New York Times on Friday. United under the moniker “No Mob Veto,” a coalition of religious-right figures vowing to shame “anyone who resorts to the rhetoric of anti-religious bigotry” placed the ad, which has raised ire among gay and lesbian activists and others. But the group’s role in championing religious freedom is suspect: Several of its members have expressed bigotry against Mormons, Muslims and Jews.

Thousands of gays and lesbians, along with their friends and families, are “calling in gay” from work today. “A Day Without a Gay” is a nationwide economic protest against same-sex marriage bans passed in California, Arizona and Florida on November 4. Unlike “Un Día Sin Latinos,” the immigrant rights protests which inspired today’s action, people [...]

On Saturday, thousands of people across the country — in cities like Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington and New York — marched in protest of California’s Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that overrode a state Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex couples to marry. Here in Minnesota, rallies were held in Duluth, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Around 1,000 people gathered near the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis (curiously, the Star Tribune’s story estimates the crowd size at 700, while its subhead put the count at 500). Speakers included OutFront Minnesota’s Kelly Lewis; Jeremy Hanson, an aide to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, and Minneapolis City Council Member Gary Schiff, among others. Photographer Tony Webster was there and gave us permission to publish a slideshow of the rally.