Rudd said he supported legalising same-sex marriage "as a mark of decency to same-sex couples across the country who wish the same loving, caring relationship that, for example, I have had with Therese my wife now for the last 32 years, and for that to be formalised".
He promised Labor MPs would again have a conscience vote on the issue and he "appealed to Abbott to do the same because folk out there want this to happen".
Tony Abbott said he understood same-sex marriage was "a very important issue", acknowledging his gay sister, Christine Forster, who was in the National Press Club debate audience with her partner.
But he said the matter had been recently debated by the parliament and would not be a high priority for an incoming Coalition government. He said it would be up to the Coalition party room to decide whether Coalition MPs should get a conscience vote, if it ever came up in the future.
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| Chris Sieber and Kevin Burrows |
Last Friday, while surfing through the major Broadway websites, I came across a feature entitled "''Til There Was You': Broadway's Best Showmances." It was a collection of stories of 18 Broadway couples who fell in love while performing in or working on the same show. As I scrolled through the slideshow with the love stories and images of these couples -- most of whom I know -- I started feeling uneasy. And by the time I got to the end of the article, I was astounded. Of the couples depicted, not one of them was a same-sex couple.
How could this be? I mean, I'm pretty sure most people are aware of this (and even if people aren't, this major Broadway website certainly must be), but there are quite a few gay individuals in the Broadway community. I know, shocker, right?
I thought about that gay, theater-loving kid in some small town somewhere -- this website offering him some hope and a connection to a potentially bright future -- seeing this feature and not seeing himself represented in any way. Once again, something is making him feel different, other, alone.
I want that kid to know that we are out here. And not only are we out here, but we are out here in huge numbers. We have fantastic, successful careers, relationships, marriages, and kids! That's what I want the next generation to see.
Falu was among eight members of the "Latin King Goonies" who tortured and beat two teenage boys and a 30-year-old man over the course of several hours in a Bronx home, while using anti-gay slurs. Prosecutors say the gang members sodomized two of the men with a plunger, chained one to a chair, and used a cigarette lighter to inflict burns.
Falu, 20, and two other participants, took guilty pleas in June. The cases against the other gang members are still pending.
"I am pleased to announce that Social Security is now processing some retirement spouse claims for same-sex couples and paying benefits where they are due," said Carolyn W. Colvin, acting commissioner of Social Security, in a statement released Friday. "We continue to work closely with the Department of Justice. In the coming weeks and months, we will develop and implement additional policy and processing instructions. We appreciate the public’s patience as we work through the legal issues to ensure that our policy is legally sound and clear. I encourage individuals who believe they may be eligible for Social Security benefits to apply now, to protect against the loss of any potential benefits. We will process claims as soon as additional instructions become finalized."
"This is a situation of good vs. evil," said the 76-year-old married activist on The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. "It is evil that is happening there, and we must not play into Putin's game."
Calling the antigay climate in Russia "a terrible situation," Takei urged athletes, corporations, and everyday citizens to boycott the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, scheduled to take place in Sochi, Russia. Alternately, Takei suggested that the 2014 Olympics "must get out of Russia," suggesting Vancouver, Canada, as a friendly location that already contains the infrastructure to support the Olympics, as it hosted the 2010 Winter Games.
"There are athletes that are gay or lesbian and their supporters are gay or lesbian too, and they are being put in danger and if something horrific happens — and it’s very likely given the kind of history of what’s been happening there — the responsibility is great," said Takei. "The [International Olympic Committee] can move the Olympics out. There is enough time to do that yet… [But] the clock is ticking."
According to our source, the so far untitled show will air Fridays at 10 p.m. ET and will feature a large dose of Baldwin’s outspoken liberal politics.
The MSNBC 10 p.m. hour is currently occupied by Lawrence O’Donnell, but only Monday through Thursday. As such, this new Baldwin show will not replace any of the network’s primetime talk shows — just the Lockup prison documentary series that airs Friday evenings.
Our source insists its a done deal but there is no question MSNBC is not quite prepared for an announcement. Yet.
Boycotting sends the wrong message and will only harm the hard-working athletes set to compete in the 2014 Olympics, not the Russian government itself.
I know from personal experience. My first Olympics I won Silver at age 16, and then in 1980, at the height of my diving career, President Jimmy Carter opted to boycott the 1980 Olympics in Moscow as a method of protesting the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan. The toll on fellow athletes and me was devastating. We had trained our entire lives for that one moment.
Fortunately, I was lucky enough to continue my diving career and return to compete and win two gold medals in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles (an Olympics the Eastern Block counties boycotted) and repeat two gold medals in 1988 Olympics in Seoul. But, other athletes were not so lucky. Some of those who missed the 1980 games never had another chance to shine.
This boycott hurt the wrong people, taking a toll on prominent athletes more than the country it targeted. I’m concerned the same would be true today. There are far too many athletes for whom the 2014 Sochi Olympics represents their only chance at success. A boycott will only hurt these athletes’ careers.
The Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board voted unanimously to investigate the National Organization for Marriage, saying that if the allegations against it are proven true, the marriage group’s actions would violate state law.
The decision to investigate is a triumph for Republican former presidential candidate Fred Karger, who filed the complaint against the National Organization for Marriage on June 13. Karger said the D.C.-based group spent $635,000 in 2010 and about $100,000 in 2012 to try to oust four of the justices who were part of a unanimous 2009 decision that allowed same-sex marriage in Iowa.
“We caught them,” Karger told reporters after today’s meeting. “I’m so grateful to the ethics commission.”
A pitch invader wearing a Ronaldo shirt managed to get rather intimate with his hero. Ronaldo obliged as the fan hugged him for a rather incredible length of time without interference from Sun Life Stadium's dozy security.
The fan appeared to whisper his entire life story to Ronaldo, who calmly went with it until a cop finally strolled by to escort the pitch invader away.
You can say a lot of things about Ronaldo, but you can't say he isn't a good listener.
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| Gortz Haus owner Betty Odgaard |
"Can I have my beliefs without being ostracized for that? I think I have my right too, and to stand firm my convictions and beliefs," said Odgaard.
Stafford said he has a new location for his wedding and said rejection hurts, but he will not let it affect his wedding.
"We are going to find some people that are still going to be reluctant to embrace us. That is just going to happen," said Stafford.
Stafford said he plans to pursue his case with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.
According to Oregon Says I Do campaign spokeswoman Amy Ruiz, the campaign has already collected 42,000 of the 116,284 signatures needed to qualify for the November 2014 ballot.
She added that some 1,700 volunteers have collected roughly 90 percent of the signatures, with the rest coming from campaign staffers. Supporters have until next summer to collect the remaining signatures.
Using volunteers, Ruiz told The Oregonian, helps the campaign to build its organization.
If successful, the referendum would reverse the state's 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual couples and Oregon would make history as the first state to do so.
According to a U.S. official, the memo is under legal review by the Justice Department, and the Pentagon will not be able to take any action until that review is finished. "Although we have bases and installations in all 50 states, not all state laws are equal when it comes to same-sex marriage," a defense official said. "That is why we are looking at providing extra leave for same-sex couples who want to get married to travel to a state where same-sex marriages are legal." The officials were not authorized to discuss the memo publicly, so spoke on condition of anonymity.
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| Ken Bencomo (R) |
More than 45,000 people have signed a petition launched by Ken Bencomo's students, demanding that he be allowed to return to his job this fall. Bencomo has taught English at St. Lucy's Priory High School in Glendora, Calif., for 17 years. On July 1, a local newspaper ran a front page article about marriage equality, featuring a photo of Bencomo and his husband.
Despite an outpouring of support by alumni, faculty, and current students, Bencomo swiftly was told by school administrators that his marriage violated the Catholic church's teachings, so he had to be fired.
Out of nowhere a big booming voice rang out. "THAT'S a BOY?!" The man was overly large with a bushy beard and a camouflage shirt with the arms cut off. He had tattered shorts and lace-up work boots with no laces. I could smell the fug of cigarette smoke surrounding him, and there was a definite pong of beer on him.
"Yes," I said simply, still smiling.
With no notice, the man stepped forward, grabbed the headband off of Dexter's head and threw it to the bottom of our shopping cart. He then cuffed Dexter around the side of his head (not hard, but that is not the point) and said with a big laugh, "You'll thank me later, little man!"
At the same time as I stepped forward, Dexter grabbed his head where the man had smacked him and threw his other hand forward, stomping his foot and shouting, "NO!" I got between my son and this man and said very firmly, "If you touch my son again, I will cut your damn hands off."
The guy snarled at me, looked at Dexter with disgust and said, "Your son is a f*cking fa***t." He then started sauntering out, but not before he threw over his shoulder, "He'll get shot for it one day."
I stood there, shaking, fists clenched, waiting for the man to disappear out the door, and then I fell apart. I was shaking so hard, holding back tears and comforting Dexter.
Not a single person said or did anything. There were several people who had witnessed the encounter, but not one of them came over to offer support or console me or my son.
Let me repeat to you: Dexter is 2 YEARS OLD.
Holding up a bottle of the popular Russian brand Stolichnaya, the United Restaurant and Tavern Owners Association President Paul Hurley shook his head and called for a city-wide boycott of Russian spirits and liquor. "All these vodkas here, we're going to throw them out," Hurley said. "We feel enough is enough."
Hurley, who urged people to drink American-made alcohol instead, said the boycott was the first step toward pressuring Russia to change its policies toward gay people.
Paddy MacCarty, who owns a Manhattan bar called Nevada Smiths, said he's planning to toss out every bottle of Russian vodka behind the bar.
At least 200 New York bars and restaurants are participating in the boycott, which has spread to many gay bars across North America in the wake of a newly passed Russian law that bans the so-called "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations."
The couple that was married knows that neither the Pennsylvania nor the federal government may recognize their marriage, but they say one day they hope it will be recognized by both.
“Showing our commitment to each other,” Gray said, “which we’ve been at that point for a long time, just now we can prove it.”
When they heard that Montgomery County was issuing licenses to same-sex couples, they went across the state to get one. And then they heard Braddock Mayor John Fetterman was willing to marry them.
“I just think it’s time people in Pennsylvania say, Mr. Corbett, you know, tear down this law,” Fetterman said. “DOMA is a fundamentally unjust piece of legislation.”
“We pay the same taxes, we do everything the same, but we don’t have the same rights,” Kandray said.
“It felt like, you know what, let’s stand up for ourselves and do this,” he added.
So at the mayor’s home and in front of the couple’s family and friends, they exchanged rings and were married by the mayor.
I find CNN’s actions disturbing and disappointing. Your credibility as a supposedly unbiased news network will most certainly be jeopardized by the decision to show political favoritism and produce an extended commercial for Secretary Clinton’s nascent campaign.
I find this disturbing and disappointing. NBC cannot purport to be a neutral party in American politics, and the credibility of NBC News, already damaged by the partisanship of MSNBC, will be further undermined by the actions of NBC Universal executives who have taken it upon themselves to produce an extended commercial for Secretary Clinton’s nascent campaign.
We applaud the State Department’s commitment to ensuring that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons abroad, and the actions your agency has already taken to communicate concerns about the overall direction on LGBT rights in Russia directly to the Russian government.
In light of the importance of U.S. leadership on LGBT issues, and the quickly-approaching Sochi Games, we urge the State Department to determine the appropriate course of action to assure the safety and well being of LGBT and LGBT— supporting individuals involved in or attending the 2014 Sochi Olympics and Paralympics.
We look forward to hearing from you regarding what efforts have been undertaken, especially efforts undertaken in coordination with other foreign governments, and are committed to working together with you on this issue.
In a news release sent out Friday afternoon, Dronenburg said he canceled the petition because it covered the same ground as another petition filed earlier to the court.
The first petition was filed July 12 by Dennis Hollingsworth and others. Hollingsworth, a former state senator, has worked with ProtectMarriage.com in support of Proposition 8, which amended the state Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Dronenburg said he was withdrawing his petition, which he filed July 19, to speed up the legal process that he hopes will clarify the current legal standing of Prop. 8.
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| Chicago the Musical at the Hollywood Bowl |
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| Matthew Mitcham accepting his Olympic Gold medal |
