Stories related to: gay marriage

Wedding bells have rung for more than 700 homosexual couples in Massachusetts since the state started marrying gays in 2004, prompting the New York Times to profile young gay men who said “I do.” But there are many things the spouses don’t do, such as follow traditional norms: “We don’t think there is any set way to do this,” one 24-year-old said. More »

Arnold Schwarzenegger told a group of gay Republicans yesterday that he will oppose a move to ban same-sex marriage in California, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. “I will always be there to fight against that,” he said, sparking applause at the San Diego convention of Log Cabin Republicans. It was his first stand against an initiative that may reach the November ballot. More »

Nancy Pelosi acted to have a gay Congresswoman's domestic partner included on a military flight to Europe, and the question of government acknowledgment of same-sex partners continues to reverberate, the Politico reports. Tammy Baldwin’s partner took the March fact-finding trip, but Pelosi and Robert Gates are at odds over whether the waiver means the Defense Department or the House granted an exception. More »

The former legal counsel to Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush is siding with Barack Obama, calling the Democrat “a person of integrity, intelligence and good will.” Doug Kmiec disagrees with the candidate on gay marriage, abortion, states’ rights, and the place of religion in the public sphere, but he says Obama’s ability to engage opposing viewpoints won him over. More »

Spain's Socialist Party overcame a sputtering economy and the murder of a former councilor to win today's national election, the BBC reports. "The Spanish people have spoken clearly and have decided to open a new period without tension, without confrontation," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told a crowd of supporters in Madrid. More »

An overflow crowd and hundreds more outside a San Francisco courthouse listened yesterday as the California Supreme Court heard arguments on the state's gay marriage ban, the Los Angeles Times reports. The judges appeared split as lawyers argued for more than 3 1/2 hours. One judge asked if domestic partnership did not basically confer the same rights as marriage. "Doesn't this just boil down to the use of the 'm' word, marriage?" he asked. More »

As domestic partnerships, civil unions, and even same-sex marriage gain traction, reality has tempered the gay community's exuberant initial reaction, Salon reports. For numerous reasons, both practical and ideological, many couples would rather not get hitched. Those who haven't cite concerns from worry over inconsistent laws to resentment of what one man calls "a second-class situation." More »

A t-shirt slogan—"I love my trailblazing, woman-loving, out and proud grandma"—is proof: A growing demographic of gay couples who had kids in the 1970s are now grandparents. Gay-rights groups tell the Philadelphia Inquirer that such role models show kids how the world can change. "People with LGBT grandparents learn a broader view of how people can love," says one official. More »

The new Mormon church president vowed to stay the course with "no abrupt changes" in policy after he was inaugurated this morning, the Deseret Morning News reports. Thomas S. Monson, 80, an old-fashioned storyteller who enjoys quoting Dickens, asked for God's "spirit in my heart and angels round about me to bear me up" in his effort to lead the 13-million member church, the AP reports. More »

With Mike Huckabee drawing attention in South Carolina for remarks about the Confederate flag and gay marriage, new polls have the former Arkansas governor drawing even with—or ahead of—John McCain ahead of tomorrow's Republican presidential primary. Huckabee stood up yesterday for the right of sons of the South to display the flag, which McCain called "a racist symbol." More »

A Michigan church has been denied property insurance not because it sits on the wrong side of the tracks, but because its national governing body sanctions gay marriage and the ordination of homosexuals, reports the Wall Street Journal. Denials are normally reserved for high-risk applicants, and Brotherhood Mutual was concerned that the West Adrian United Church of Christ's controversial stance would provoke vandalism or destruction. More »

At midnight, New Hampshire became the fourth state to allow same-sex civil unions, and more than 40 couples came from across the state to ring in 2008 with vows under the State House arch, the Concord Monitor reports. Planned as a small ceremony for about 20 couples, the event drew almost 200 revelers and a single well-behaved protester. More »

'Dear Abby' takes a simple stance on gay marriage: "I believe if two people want to commit to each other, God bless 'em." Over the years Jeanne Phillips, aka Abigail Van Buren, has consistently urged support for gay family members in her nationally syndicated column. Now she's being honored by Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays for using her “mainstream voice” to advocate for gay civil rights. More »

Fred Thompson, once the longed-for alternative to a field of uninspiring GOP candidates, didn't get through his campaign's first official month before the religious right started jumping ship, Politico reports. Thompson's refusal to back a gay marriage ban, past lobbying for an abortion-rights group, and refusal to talk religion has conservatives scrambling to find a different candidate to stop frontrunner Rudy Giuliani's nomination. More »

Candidates might want to think twice about wooing netizens by inviting them to make YouTube-style campaign ads and vote on their favorites. When Mitt Romney's people did it, the popular favorite was made by the president of the DLC. Bruce Reed's ad, a cheeky send-up of Mitt's struggle with his son's Democratic leanings, led in online viewings this morning by a 2-1 margin, Reed blogs in Slate. More »

Gov. Schwarzenegger is signaling he'll veto California's same-sex marriage bill, arguing the measure violates the "will of the people." Schwarzenegger employed the same logic when he vetoed a similar bill two years ago, but the tides of popular sentiment are changing: the Chronicle reports that gay-marriage opponents outnumber supporters by only 2% today. More »

Two college students became Iowa's first—and, so far, only—legally married same-sex couple today before a judge stayed his own ruling that overturned a ban on gay marriage. About 20 couples completed the marriage-license application between 7:30 and 11am, when the county recorder stopped issuing them. “This might be our only chance,” one applicant told the AP. More »

 A county  judge in Iowa has struck down the state's gay marriage ban as unconstitutional, and has ordered local officials to start issuing marriage licenses for gay couples. The county attorney says he will appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court. "I can't believe this is happening in Iowa," says state Minority Leader Christopher Rants. More »

Idaho's outed senator has long wielded his political power against gay rights, and gay advocates, having heard whispers for years, have been keeping track. Larry Craig, whose arrest for cruising in a Minneapolis airport bathroom was made public yesterday, opposes civil unions, gays in the military, and the extension of hate crime law to prosecute violence based on sexual orientation, the Carpetbagger Report says. More »

The 21st-century social and political trend of same-sex civil unions has roots that go back a bit beyond Stonewall—to the Middle Ages. A history professor who analyzed legal documents and gravesites says medieval law was flexible enough to allow for a variety of non-nuclear family structures, including gay unions, LiveScience reports. More »