This Is Wonderful! Politics at Its Very Best!

Australian MP proposes to partner during same-sex marriage debate in parliament

Two Bears Life: We Can Get Married! Gay Couple Talks about Marriage Equality in Austria | 2017

We talk about the landmark decision of the Austrian supreme court that will open "marriage for all". This means that gay couples will be allowed to get married at the latest by the beginning of 2019.

Cuba Just Voted to Legalise Same-sex Marriage and Adoption for Queer Couples: ‘Love Wins!’

The Cuban government urged its citizens to vote 'yes' on a broad legislative package, which will improve LGBTQ+ and women's rights in the country. (Getty)
PINK NEWS: Cuba’s citizens have approved a broad family law code that will usher in same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ+ friendly measures in a historic vote.

Millions of Cubans turned out to vote for or against a major overhaul of the island country’s over four-decade-old family code. The package included the historic step of legalising same-sex marriage, allowing LGBTQ+ couples to adopt children and other progressive measures.

Campaigners said preliminary results indicated that the LGBTQ+ friendly package will be approved after millions voted in favour of the referendum on Sunday (25 September).

The Cuban national centre for sex education (CENESEX) – which has advocated for broadening LGBTQ+ rights in the country – wrote on Instagram that “love and affections won” after approximately 67 per cent of citizens voted in favour of the package. » | Maggie Baska | Monday, September 26, 2022

Les Cubains approuvent le mariage entre personnes de même sexe : Près de 67 % des votants ont dit oui au nouveau code des familles lors du référendum qui s’est tenu le 25 septembre. Mais l’abstention importante et les bulletins contre traduisent un mécontentement envers le pouvoir communiste. »

This Is How Modern, Progressive Countries Do Things – Mark Alexander | Same-sex Marriage: Proposal in Parliament - BBC News

Dec 4, 2017 Australian MP Tim Wilson asks his partner to marry him during his speech to parliament on the same-sex marriage bill. Ryan Bolger accepts his proposal with a loud "yes".

Gay Australian politician proposes to partner in emotional floor speech, and we're cheering: During a parliamentary debate about same-sex marriage, one legislator popped the question »

Parliament marriage proposal MP weds in Australia: An Australian MP has wed his partner, three months after proposing to him in parliament during a debate on legalising same-sex marriage. »

Be proud to be gay! Remember this: Some of the cleverest, most talented people that have ever lived have been gay. It is also true to say that some of the most beautiful people in the world are, and have been, gay too. So there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in being queer. Rejoice! – © Mark Alexander

Just Married!

Gerade geheiratet! / Tout juste marié !
Many thanks to photostockeditor.com on Pinterest for this delightful image.

Liz Cheney Now Supports Same-sex Marriage

Sep 26, 2021 The Republican Congresswoman tells 60 Minutes she has reversed her 2013 statements about same-sex marriage: “I was wrong.”

Motion to Oppose Same-sex Marriage Forces Rethink of Anglican Summit

THE GUARDIAN: Division flares in run-up to first meeting of bishops from around world in 14 years

The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, faces a global Anglican community that is deeply divided on homosexuality. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
The archbishop of Canterbury has been forced into a last-minute rethink of plans to ask Anglican bishops to oppose same-sex marriage when they meet this week for the first Lambeth conference – held in Canterbury – in 14 years.

Liberal Anglicans and gay rights campaigners in the Church of England voiced outrage after the conference recently circulated a series of “calls” – similar to motions – for the 650 bishops and archbishops from around the world to consider.

They included one that calls for a reaffirmation of a position that “upholds marriage as between a man and a woman”, that “legitimising or blessing of same-sex unions” cannot be advised, and that “it is the mind of the Anglican communion as a whole that same-gender marriage is not permissible”.

The bishop of Los Angeles, the Right Rev John H Taylor, was among those aghast at the call, warning the conference was on course to register support for a position that “divides, hurts, scapegoats and denies”. » | Robert Booth, Social affairs correspondent | Monday, July 25, 2022

GOP Senator Ron Johnson Announces He Will “Not Oppose” Same-sex Marriage Bill

LGBTQNATION: Ron Johnson is the fifth GOP senator to break with party orthodoxy in a sign that the bill could pass with bipartisan support.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) has announced that he will “not oppose” the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act. Johnson is the fifth Republican to break ranks with party orthodoxy on same-sex marriage. The bill would codify marriage rights for same-sex and interracial couples.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rob Portman (R-OH), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) are also in the “yes” column.

This isn’t the first time that Johnson has bucked the party’s anti-LGBTQ stances though. He vocally opposed former President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender military members, saying, “I think any law-abiding American who wants to serve the nation should be able to.” » | Bill Browning | Friday, July 22, 2022

Sen. Klobuchar: If We Can Take Back 2 Senate Seats, We Can Codify Roe v. Wade into Law

Jun 25, 2022 • Protests continue on Friday after the extreme-right justices on the Supreme Court stripped away a half-century of abortion rights. Justice Clarence Thomas is also making it clear that he wants other rights to be revoked as well. Sen. Amy Klobuchar joins The ReidOut to discuss the push by Democrats to battle these developments.

Thomas Announces Targeting of Gay Rights; Tacit New Direction to Anti-abortion Movement

Jun 25, 2022 • Rachel Maddow points out Clarence Thomas' singling out of court precedents involving contraception and gay rights and cautions same sex couples to prepare for the political energy of the anti-abortion movement to take Thomas' direction to attack.
sodomy law

Contraception, Gay Marriage: Clarence Thomas Signals New Targets for Supreme Court

THE GUARDIAN: Rightwing justice appears to offer preview of the court’s potential future rulings after decision to remove US abortion rights

Donald Trump with Clarence Thomas as Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to the supreme court in October 2020. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP
Many Americans reacted to the supreme court’s decision to reverse Roe v Wade and remove federal abortion rights in the US with shock, but many also asked a terrified question: what might be next?

The conservative justice Clarence Thomas appeared to offer a preview of the court’s potential future rulings, suggesting the rightwing-controlled court may return to the issues of contraception access and marriage equality, threatening LGBTQ rights.

“In future cases, we should reconsider all of this court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion to the ruling on Roe.

Griswold v Connecticut established a married couple’s right to use contraception without government interference in 1965. The court ruled in the 2003 case of Lawrence v Texas that states could not criminalize sodomy, and Obergefell v Hodges established the right for same-sex couples to marry in 2015.

Thomas’s words confirmed what many progressive lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates have feared for years. The end of Roe marks the beginning, not the end, of judicial overreach by the court’s conservative majority, they say.

“It is important that Americans understand that this supreme court and Republicans in Congress will not stop here,” said Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “It is clear [Thomas] and the court’s majority have no respect for other precedents that have been won in recent decades.” » | Joan E Greve in Washington | Friday, June 24, 2022

Clarence Thomas Ready to Strike Down Marriage Equality Following Dobbs: The reasoning in today's decision overruling Roe v. Wade shows that rulings on marriage equality, consensual sex, and contraception were erroneous, he says. »

Related video

They Aren't Stopping with Roe v. Wade | Robert Reich

Jun 24, 2022 • What rights will be stripped away next? Contraception? Same-sex marriage? Consensual same-sex sexual activity?

Clarence Thomas said it himself: the Supreme Court is coming for your right to privacy.

If Roe Falls, Is Same-Sex Marriage Next?

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The leaked draft opinion that would eliminate the constitutional right to abortion sent mixed signals about what other precedents might be at risk.

Celebrations outside the Supreme Court in 2015 after it ruled in favor of same-sex marriage. Supporters of gay rights worry the final opinion in the Mississippi case could imperil hard-won victories, like same-sex marriage. | Doug Mills/The New York Times
WASHINGTON — When the Supreme Court heard arguments in December over the fate of the constitutional right to abortion, it was already clear that other rights, notably including same-sex marriage, could be at risk if the court overruled Roe v. Wade.

The logic of that legal earthquake, Justice Sonia Sotomayor predicted, would produce a jurisprudential tsunami that could sweep away other precedents, too.

The justices’ questions on the broader consequences of a decision eliminating the right to abortion were probing but abstract and conditional.The disclosure last Monday of a draft opinion that would overturn Roe, the 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion, has made those questions urgent and concrete.

The opinion, by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., provided conflicting signals about its sweep and consequences. On the one hand, he asserted, in a sort of disclaimer that struck a defensive tone, that other rights would remain secure.

“To ensure that our decision is not misunderstood or mischaracterized, we emphasize that our decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right,” he wrote. “Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion.”

On the other hand, the logic of the opinion left plenty of room for debate. » | Adam Liptak | Sunday, May 8, 2022

New Jersey Conducts First Gay Weddings (2013)

Oct 21, 2013 • Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, marries seven same-sex couples and two straight couples in a ceremony at City Hall to commemorate New Jersey legalising gay marriage. The first couple to be married are Joseph Panessidi and Orville Bell, both 65. Booker had refused to officiate at wedding ceremonies until the state legalised same-sex marriage

USA: Gay Marriage Becomes Law [in 2015]

Jul 2, 2015 • Response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision making “Gay Marriage” the law of the land from Orthodox Rabbi Avi Shafran, Director of Public Affairs for Agudath Israel, and Conservative Rabbi Daniel Nevins, Dean of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

This whole video is interesting, but what is particularly interesting is Rabbi Mark Golub’s modern and progressive take on gay marriage which features towards the end of this video. – Mark

Same-sex Marriage Backed by Chile’s MPs

Supporters campaigning for marriage equality at a Pride parade in Santiago this month MATIAS BASUALDO/ZUMA PRESS WIRE/ALAMY
THE TIMES: Chile’s parliament is on course to legalise same-sex marriage, four years after the reform was first proposed and despite the country’s conservative reputation among religious Latin American nations.

The lower house in Santiago approved a bill on Tuesday that would allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, sending the measure back to the Senate, where it appears to have the support needed to become law. The bill also permits same-sex couples to adopt children, recognises maternity leave for transgender people and grants a widow’s or widower’s pension for same-sex couples. » | Steven Grattan, Bogota | Thursday, November 25, 2021

Switzerland to Implement Same-sex Marriage in July 2022

POLITICO: Almost two-thirds of the country voted in favor of the measure in September.

In Switzerland, same-sex couples can get married as of July 1, 2022, the Federal Council announced Wednesday.

“We are really happy with the outcome of the vote, and that it is now being put into law,” said Maria von Kaenel, co-president of the Marriage for All campaign, according to Reuters.

Almost two-thirds of the country voted in favor of same-sex marriage in a nationwide referendum on September 26. With the overwhelming result, Justice and Police Minister Karin Keller-Sutter moved to implement the result of the vote quickly. » | Thibault Spirlet | Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Australian MP Proposes to Partner during Same-sex Marriage Debate in Parliament

Dec 4, 2017 • Tim Wilson proposes to his partner during his speech on marriage equality in the House of Representatives. The Liberal MP's voice breaks with emotion as he says: 'There's only one thing left to do: Ryan Patrick Bolger, will you marry me?' Bolger, seated in the gallery, beams and says yes and his answer is marked in the Hansard

New Jersey Conducts First Gay Weddings | 2013

Oct 21, 2013 • Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, marries seven same-sex couples and two straight couples in a ceremony at City Hall to commemorate New Jersey legalising gay marriage. The first couple to be married are Joseph Panessidi and Orville Bell, both 65. Booker had refused to officiate at wedding ceremonies until the state legalised same-sex marriage.

Have Courage, Will Wed!

Go for it! Take the plunge! Then, live happily ever after.
With many thanks to Style Me Pretty and Pinterest for this great photo. Here you will find stunning inspirational ideas for your gay wedding in Portugal.