Maryland: Wedding Bells Ring in the New Year

Now Maryland joins the ranks of states permitting same-sex marriage, and the first one below the Mason-Dixon Line.  Once again, gay couples were lined up at courthouses and city halls at the stroke of midnight to tie the knot, like Jim Scales and Bill Tasker of Baltimore, together for 35 years:



A sweet way to begin the new year. See more couples' weddings in the photo gallery here.

Marriage Equality Updates, 12/7/12

Sometimes it seems like Change is as slow as Christmas; but then other times, it seems like it's bustin' out all over. A few news notes to show you what I mean.

Same-sex couples began getting marriage licenses yesterday in the Evergreen State. A headline in Towleroad says, "These Men Are Officially, Wonderfully, the Face of Marriage Equality in Washington State":

Larry Duncan, 56, and Randy Shepherd, 48, partners for eleven years,
apply for their marriage license in Seattle on Thursday.

Hooray! Finally, some real middle-aged gay guys, not stereotyped twinklets in sequins. Your Head Trucker can totally relate. Especially since my beard is now nearly as white and as long as the older dude's is. Yeah, really.

Of course, lots of other queer couples are flocking to the altar, or at least to the courthouse, in Washington - including Dan Savage and his longtime "husband in Canada, boyfriend in America" Terry Miller. The state requires a three-day waiting period, so weddings won't happen until Sunday.

In Mexico, on Wednesday of this week the Mexican Supreme Court struck down a law against same-sex marriage in the state of Oaxaca, which may lead to marriage equality nationwide soon. Since 2010, Mexican couples have already been able to get married in Mexico City. A more detailed analysis of the meaning of the ruling is here.

At the same link as above, lawmakers in Colombia, Chile, and Uruguay are all set to debate marriage equality next week.

Maryland began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples yesterday, although weddings won't begin until January 1.

And in Virginia, NPR reports that the CIA for the first time is actively looking to recruit gay and lesbian employees.

And in Washington D.C., the Supreme Court may - or may not - announce today which of the same-sex marriage cases it will consider. As I noted last week, if the Court declines to review the Prop 8 case, which has been upheld in our favor by a federal district court and a federal appeals court already, marriages could resume very quickly in California. So stay tuned.


Update, 12/8, 5 a.m.: Okay, so I'm not on the same sleep schedule as the rest of the world. But I've just learned that the Supreme Court has decided to review both the Prop 8 case and the Windsor case. The Washington Blade reports:

Ending months of anticipation, the U.S. Supreme Court signaled on Friday it would take up litigation challenging California’s Proposition 8 and one case challenging the Defense of Marriage Act.

Justices decided to take up the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, which seeks to overturn the state constitutional amendment California voters passed in 2008 that took away marriage rights for same-sex couples.

They also decided to take up Windsor v. United States, litigation challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. That lawsuit was filed by Edith Windsor, a New York widow who was forced to pay $363,000 in estate taxes in 2009 upon the death of her spouse, Thea Spyer.

The court made the news in an orders list published Friday following a conference the justices held on the same day. Four justices must vote affirmatively to grant a writ of certiorari in any particular case, but that vote isn’t public information.

Windsor, 83, expressed excitement in a statement that her lawsuit would be the one to challenge DOMA at the Supreme Court. Her lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union along with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and other groups.

“When Thea and I met nearly 50 years ago, we never could have dreamed that the story of our life together would be before the Supreme Court as an example of why gay married couples should be treated equally, and not like second-class citizens,” Windsor said. “While Thea is no longer alive, I know how proud she would have been to see this day. The truth is, I never expected any less from my country.”

More analysis and commentary, if you want to read it:

"Today at the Supreme Court - Explained" from Lambda Legal

"Supreme Court to Hear Two Challenges to Gay Marriage" from the New York Times

"Prop 8 Attorneys Confident SCOTUS Will Strike Down Marriage Ban" from the Washington Blade

"Same-sex Marriage in the Courts" from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life

"Supreme Court Will Hear DOMA and Prop 8 Challenges:  An Analysis" at Towleroad


What I say: Your Head Trucker has no crystal ball, but it seems most likely that when the Supremes finally rule on these cases, sometime between now and when the court term ends next June, that

1) it will concur in striking down Prop 8, letting marriages resume in California, but not applying that to any other state;

2) it will say that if a state says you're married under its laws, the feds have to recognize that marriage for all federal rights and benefits, just as with any other married couple across the land; but

3) the Court will not say that other states have to recognize your marriage if they don't want to. The polls may show a slight majority of Americans are now in favor of the idea, but the Supremes rarely jump very far ahead of public opinion. It's just too early, I think, for a nationwide ruling to the right to marry in every state:  I don't expect that it another 15 years, at least.

Of course, I hope I'm wrong about that last bit. We'll find out by the time it's beach weather next year.  My God, and I remember when "homosexual" was practically an unmentionable word in public.  Now the Supreme Court is going to deliberate on our right to marry.  How times have changed.

More Good News: Historic Night of Gay Victories

Despite the elation of Obama's first victory, I remember the terrible, painful, hungover feeling of waking up on the morning after the 2008 election with the four godawful defeats for gay rights pounding in my mind, Prop 8 being the worst of them all.

But this morning, we have only cause to rejoice - champagne breakfast, anyone? These images from the Washington Blade tell the glad tidings:

Also, Washington state seems poised to approve a marriage referendum there, once all the votes are counted. What a difference four years makes.

You can google up the news stories for yourselves, can't you? Your Head Trucker is feeling pretty whipped now, after staying up all night to watch the election returns and discuss them at lenght with M.P. I'll post more after I get some sleep.

The funny thing is, I feared so many bad results, it's taking me a while to truly accept that it wasn't just a good night for us, it was fantastic. Like that hot, hairy fuck you never expected to hook up with, but oh buddy when you did . . . .

But just think how far we have come now, and how this election has ratified all the good changes in this country made during the last four years - and think too what a horrible aftermath we would be facing if the votes had gone the other way.


Update: Washington United has declared victory in the marriage referendum in that state, giving us four wins for four. Finally, my brothers, the tide has shifted. Matt Baume summarizes:




BREAKING: Ronald Reagan Finally Dead. John Aravosis reports:

I’m still digesting this in an effort to figure out what the heck happened. But something did happen last night. And it was much bigger than Democrats winning.

The left, progressives, won last night, across the board. And I’m not entirely sure why. Especially when you consider how much money the Republicans spent, from Sheldon Adelson to the Koch Brothers to Mr. “I was born in a socialist country.”

They all lost. The Tea Party lost. Conservatives lost. Tax cuts lost. Gay-bashing lost. Repealing Obamacare lost.

Ronald Reagan finally died last night. It’s been almost 25 years since Ronald Reagan left office. It’s been nearly ten years since he died. Enough already. He’s gone. It’s over. The voters are no longer falling for the knee-jerk Republican electoral panacea of tax cuts, intolerance, and war. That might have worked in the 1980s, but the 80s are over, the Soviets are gone, the gays are here to stay, and it’s time for the Republican party to enter the 21st century.

Related: Obamas Return to White House as Romneys Return to 1954.

Weeping, Wailing, and Gnashing of Teeth:  Rightwingers' heads are exploding all over America as reality intrudes upon their fantasy world.  A dazed and confused Pat Robertson wonders, "What Is Going On with the American People?"

But why does he act so surprised? Just last January, God Himself told Robertson who was going to win the election:



If you have the stomach for it, you can browse through more slobbering nutcase reax over at Right Wing Watch, where everybody agrees that Obama-loving, gay-married, Marxist-socialist America is now so fucking EVIL that God will just have to destroy us. Or something.

And finally . . .

For once, a moment of absolute clarity:

We're outnumbered.

Yup. And will be more and more so, from this time forward.

Suck it, Limbaugh.

This Week in Marriage News

This week, three steps forward and two steps back for marriage equality:

Another Federal appeals court found section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional, in the Edie Windsor case I've blogged about before. Here's Edie thanking her supporters:



Also, in the Perry v. Brown case, the federal Ninth Circuit appeals court turned down a request by anti-gay proponents to have the case reheard by the full 11-member court; a three-member panel in February of this year upheld the finding of a lower federal court that California's Prop 8, which in 2008 took away from gays and lesbians the right to marry in that state, was unconstitutional.  The anti-gay side has 90 days in which to appeal the case to the U. S. Supreme Court.

And in far-away Denmark, the first country in the world to authorize same-sex registered partnerships back in 1989, their parliament has voted 85-24 to enact same-sex marriage, which will begin on June 15.

Elsewhere, though, the struggle goes on: in both Maryland and Washington state, anti-gay forces have submitted enough signatures to subject those states' recently-enacted equal-marriage laws to referendums in November.  In no state so far have voters ever approved same-sex marriage.

But hey, there's got to be a first time somewhere, right?  So we'll keep our fingers crossed.

But consider this New Yorker piece that discusses the ramifications of the marriage struggle on the presidential election, and vice-versa.

Maryland Legislature Approves Equal Marriage

The state senate approved the measure 25-22 last night, the state house having already passed it by a vote of 72-67 last week.  Governor Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, has promised to sign the measure into law.

However, as with Washington state's passage and signing of a similar law earlier this month, the law will face a referendum by voters this coming November, and who knows how that will turn out.  Still, every little step forward is good news.  Now we only have about 42 other states to drag into the 21st century . . . if the Supreme Court doesn't beat us to it.

But somehow I have a feeling it just won't turn out that simple and easy.  Not in this decade, at least. 

Oh well, one day it will all come together.  At least we can see the first rays of dawn now, even if us old-timers don't live to walk in the sunshine.

In other news, Equality Maine has succeeded in collecting enough signatures to get a referendum on equal marriage on the November ballot this year.  My truckbuddies will recall that the Maine legislature and governor enacted marriage equality in 2009, but the law never went into effect, suffering a "people's veto" at the polls later that year.  Our side thinks with the changing attitudes in that state, they can turn that around now, and I hope they're right.

Click here for an updated map of same-sex union laws around the country.