At LGBT Pride parades around the country, the queer community always puts on a show. Rainbows, glitter, big hair, fabulous costumes, leather, dykes on bikes and partial nudity—pretty much anything goes, as participants let their freak flags fly. But the most beloved contingent of Pride marchers is seldom flamboyant. In fact, they often stand out [...]
Progressive online journalists and politicians will gather this weekend in Providence, R.I., for the seventh annual Netroots Nation conference. With sessions on blogging, social networking and strategizing, Netroots is the politics geek’s equivalent of Comic-Con—minus the crazy costumes. Leftist luminaries are always in attendance; among this year’s main attractions are Paul Krugman, Elizabeth Warren and [...]
Today, the marriage equality cause got another boost: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a February decision finding California’s Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional. Proponents of the same-sex marriage ban wanted the Ninth Circuit to invalidate the earlier ruling and to rehear the case en banc—that is, with an 11-judge panel (here‘s an explanation [...]
Lizz Winstead is a household name for millions who’ve never even heard of her. At the end of each episode of The Daily Show, right after the “Moment of Zen” and at the conclusion of the credits, her name flashes by, like a subliminal advertisement for women’s genius: Created by Madeleine Smithberg and Lizz Winstead. In [...]
It’s official. After a week of speculation about whether the White House was going to take a strong stand on marriage equality, President Obama has gone on record in support of same-sex marriage rights. After explaining how his views have changed over the years, the President said the words that many of his supporters have [...]
Back in the good old days of 2008, same-sex marriage was legal in the Golden State of California for 143 days, and during that time 18,000 same-sex couples legally tied the knot. The existence of those 18,000 is why Proposition 8–which made same-sex marriage illegal later that year–is unconstitutional, according to today’s ruling by the [...]
California’s gay marriage ban, Prop 8, was back in court this week for what is likely to be the last of the many appeals hearings. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals weighed two matters: First, whether the video tapes of the trial’s proceedings could be made public (Prop 8 supporters want them deep-sixed) and second, [...]
It’s been 470 days since Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Proposition 8, the California constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, is unconstitutional. But rather than immediately restore legal same-sex marriages, the decision has remained in legal limbo due to an appeal by the marriage ban’s proponents. And here’s the latest: Today the California Supreme Court ruled [...]
Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-8 in support of the Respect for Marriage Act [PDF], a bill that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) banning gay marriage and end 15 years of discrimination against same-sex couples. The vote fell along party lines, with Democrats in favor. Senator Diane Feinstein, who introduced the [...]
Opponents of marriage equality have grown so accustomed to parroting the same arguments over and over again that they don’t seem to notice the ground shifting under their feet. Such is the point of a brief (PDF) filed at the end of last week by the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), a New [...]
