Phoenix gay dads adopt, raise 12 happy kids
A very moving story that shows: it is truly love that makes a family.
Phoenix gay dads adopt, raise 12 happy kids
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Gay Marriage Bill Passes In New York
Gay couples and proponents of gay rights have a reason to celebrate tonight, as the New York State Senate has passed a bill that allows same sex marriage.
New York will be the sixth, and largest, state in the union to adopt gay marriage. The bill will take effect 30 days after governor Andrew Cuomo signs it into law.
The decision, which passed 33-29, was the culmination of weeks of contentious debate and negotiations between Governor Cuomo and the GOP-controlled Senate. After the bill passed in the Assembly, it was unclear if the bill had secured enough votes to pass in the Senate. When a few notable undecideds joined the cause –including Republican Roy McDonald who famously defended his decision, saying “fuck it, I don’t care what you think. I’m trying to do the right thing” — the scale in favor of gay marriage seemed to tip.
Gay rights advocates are hoping the vote will galvanize the movement around the country and help it regain momentum after an almost identical bill was defeated here in 2009 and similar measures failed in 2010 in New Jersey and this year in Maryland and Rhode Island.
Though New York is a relative latecomer in allowing gay marriage, it is considered an important prize for advocates, given the state’s size and New York City’s international stature and its role as the birthplace of the gay rights movement, which is considered to have started with the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village in 1969.
The New York bill cleared the Republican-controlled state Senate on a 33-29 vote. The Democrat-led Assembly, which passed a different version last week, is expected to pass the new version with stronger religious exemptions and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who campaigned on the issue last year, has promised to sign it. Same-sex couples can begin marrying begin 30 days after that. The passage of New York’s legislation was made possible in two Republican senators who had been undecided.
Sen. Stephen Saland voted against a similar bill in 2009, helping kill the measure and dealing a blow to the national gay rights movement.
“While I understand that my vote will disappoint many, I also know my vote is a vote of conscience,” Saland said in a statement to The Associated Press before the vote. “I am doing the right thing in voting to support marriage equality.”
Gay couples in gallery wept during Saland’s speech.
Sen. Mark Grisanti, a GOP freshman from Buffalo, also said he would vote for the bill. Grisanti said he could not deny anyone what he called basic rights.
The effects of the law could be felt well beyond New York: Unlike Massachusetts, which pioneered gay marriage in 2004, New York has no residency requirement for obtaining a marriage license, meaning the state could become a magnet for gay couples across the country who want to have a wedding in Central Park, the Hamptons, the romantic Hudson Valley or that honeymoon hot spot of yore, Niagara Falls.
New York, the nation’s third most populous state, will join Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C., in allowing same-sex couples to wed.
For five months in 2008, gay marriage was legal in California, the biggest state in population, and 18,000 same-sex couples rushed to tie the knot there before voters overturned the state Supreme Court ruling that allowed the practice. The constitutionality of California’s ban is now before a federal appeals court.
While court challenges in New York are all but certain, the state — unlike California — makes it difficult for the voters to repeal laws at the ballot box. Changing the law would require a constitutional convention, a long, drawn-out process.
The sticking point over the past few days: Republican demands for stronger legal protections for religious groups that fear they will be hit with discrimination lawsuits if they refuse to allow their facilities to be used for gay weddings.
The climactic vote came after more than a week of stop-and-start negotiations, rumors, closed-door meetings and frustration on the part of advocates. Online discussions took on a nasty turn with insults and vulgarities peppering the screens of opponents and supporters alike and security was beefed up in the capitol to give senators easier passage to and from their conference room.
The night before, President Barack Obama encouraged lawmakers to support gay rights during a fundraiser with New York City’s gay community. The vote also is sure to charge up annual gay pride events this weekend, culminating with parades Sunday in New York City, San Francisco and other cities.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/24/gay-marriage-legalized-new-york_n_884434.html
Chris Rovzar article LGBT Equality and Justice Day Kicks Off in Albany
LGBT Equality and Justice Day Kicks Off in Albany
5/9/11 at 11:22 AM 5Comments
Right now hundreds of LGBT advocates and allies are gathered in a conference hall underneath the state house in Albany for what Assemblyman Sam Hoyt calls “a historic day that we’re going to remember in the future as the catalyst that started marriage equality for gays and lesbians in New York State.” (Gay senator Tom Duane called it “the best day ever, in Albany.”) State representatives like Hoyt, Assemblyman Harry Bronson from Rochester, and Lieutenant Governor Bob Duffy addressed the group, who traveled to the capital in order to lobby legislators for LGBT issues like transgender rights, health services, and, of course marriage, rights for gay and lesbian couples. “Marriage equality is a basic issue of civil rights,” Duffy told a cheering crowd. “Nobody in this state should ever question or underestimate Governor Cuomo’s commitment to marriage equality. The governor has made marriage equality one of his top three legislative issues this year.” Duffy acknowledged the difficulties that a marriage bill would face in the Senate, but voiced optimism. “You have [Cuomo's] full support, you have my full support,” he said. “We have a little fight ahead, but there’s something special about this year.”
Longtime gay advocate and the state’s first openly gay elected representative Tom Duane then got up and railed against foes in the state senate.
“Those who are opposed to our right to marry are very powerful,” he said. “Apparently, the Republican senators are just terrified that they are going to lose their conservative base and their seat if they vote for marriage. They think that’s the truth. We know differently.” He then offered up an impromptu multiple-choice quiz to the crowd. Which of the following, he asked, is true?
A. “The senate is a homophobic cesspool.”
B. “The senate is full of people who lack courage.”
C. “The senate is filled with good people who fight for justice.”
D. “All of the above.”
“Too many of us have learned that you cannot take a senator’s word to the bank,” he said, joking that, of course, the answer to the quiz was “D.” “We were betrayed,” he said, recalling the defeat of a marriage bill in 2009. “I was shocked. Even worse, I think some of them thought it was a joke. It wasn’t a joke.”
By: Chris Rovzar
Equality is Progressive
Progressive recently bought a number of States of Union photographs for ‘The Progressive Art Collection’! To view the full list of what collections (so far) include our images click on the Executive Director tab up top and it’s listed towards the bottom.
Here are some photos from the also recent Progressive Insurance Show, in which one of the States of Union photographs was included:









































































