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BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, sued the U.S. government Wednesday over a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The federal Defense of Marriage Act interferes with the right of Massachusetts to define and regulate marriage as it sees fit, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said. The 1996 law denies federal recognition of gay marriage and gives states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston, argues the act “constitutes an overreaching and discriminatory federal law.” It says the approximately 16,000 same-sex couples who have married in Massachusetts since the state began performing gay marriages in 2004 are being unfairly denied federal benefits given to heterosexual couples.

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Mike Duke the CEO of Wal-Mart, the world’s largest grocery retailer is in some hot water for his personal political actions in the state of Arkansas.

Over the weekend, the website knowthyneighbor.org revealed that Mike Duke signed a petition to put an anti-gay adoption ban on the ballot in Arkansas. (Mike Duke’s signature below was pulled off the actual PDF provided by the Secretary of State) (Wal-Mart Watch).

This is a further slap in the face to activists who have been demanding that Wal-Mart support its GLBT employees. But with leadership like this, it’s hard to believe progress will be made.

Wal-Mart needs to be Boycotted.  I for one will not be stepping foot in another of their stores again until they change their Bigoted ways and also start treating their LGBT employees better.

Almost immediately after Maine’s Governor John Baldacci signed the same-sex marriage bill into law yesterday, gay marriage foes filed a citizens petition to put the issue to a public referendum this fall.

Michael Heath of the Maine Family Policy Council is again leading the charge. However, the group claims on its website that it will accept the People’s Vote, suggesting this will “be the last time Maine considers this issue on the ballot.”

Organizers must gather 55,087 signatures (10 percent of the vote during the last gubernatorial election) within 90 days after the Legislature’s session ends later in June to get the veto proposal on the ballot.

If the gay marriage opponents can’t get those signatures by early September, they won’t be able to get it on the November ballot, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

If you live in Maine or have friends and/or Family there start talking to them and make yourselves as visible as possible.  Our rights CANNOT be put up for vote.

WHITINSVILLE, Mass., - Twenty years after he met the love of his life, nearly five years after their wedding helped make history, it took a nasty bout of pneumonia for Gary Chalmers to fully appreciate the blessings of marriage.

“I was out of work for eight weeks, spent a week in the hospital,” Chalmers said. “That was the first time I really felt thankful for the sense of the security we had, with Rich there, talking with the physicians, helping make decisions. … It really made a difference.”

At stake was the most basic recognition of marital bonds — something most spouses take for granted. But until May 17, 2004, when Chalmers and Richard Linnell were among a surge of same-sex couples marrying in Massachusetts, it was legally unavailable to American gays and lesbians.

Since that day, four other states — Connecticut in 2008, and Iowa, Vermont and Maine this year — have legalized same-sex marriage, and more may follow soon. A measure just approved by New Hampshire’s legislature awaits the governor’s decision on whether to sign. But Massachusetts was the first, providing a five-year record with which to gauge the consequences.

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DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling Friday finding that the state’s same-sex marriage ban violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples, making Iowa the third state where marriage will be legal.

In its decision, the court upheld a 2007 district court judge’s ruling that the law violates the state constitution. It strikes the language from Iowa code limiting marriage to only between a man a woman.

“The court reaffirmed that a statute inconsistent with the Iowa constitution must be declared void even though it may be supported by strong and deep-seated traditional beliefs and popular opinion,” said a summary of the ruling issued by the court.

The ruling set off celebration among the state’s gay-marriage proponents.

“Iowa is about justice, and that’s what happened here today,” said Laura Fefchak, who was hosting a verdict party in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale with partner of 13 years, Nancy Robinson.

Robinson added: “To tell the truth, I didn’t think I’d see this day.”

Richard Socarides, an attorney and former senior adviser on gay rights to President Clinton, said the ruling carries extra significance coming from Iowa.

“It’s a big win because, coming from Iowa, it represents the mainstreaming of gay marriage. And it shows that despite attempts stop gay marriage through right wing ballot initiatives, like in California, the courts will continue to support the case for equal rights for gays,” he said.

Court rules dictate that the decision will take about 21 days to be considered final, and a request for a rehearing could be filed within that period. That means it will be at least several weeks before gay and lesbian couples can seek marriage licenses.

Polk County Attorney John Sarcone said the county attorney’s office will not ask for a rehearing, meaning the court’s decision should take effect after that three-week period.

The case has been working its way through Iowa’s court system since 2005 when Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization, filed a lawsuit on behalf of six gay and lesbian Iowa couples who were denied marriage licenses. Some of their children are also listed as plaintiffs.

The suit named then-Polk County recorder and registrar Timothy Brien.

The state Supreme Court’s ruling upheld an August 2007 decision by Polk County District Court Judge Robert Hanson, who found that a state law allowing marriage only between a man and a woman violates the constitutional rights of equal protection.

The Polk County attorney’s office, arguing on behalf of Brien, claimed that Hanson’s ruling violates the separation of powers and said the issue should be left to the Legislature.

Lambda Legal scheduled a news conference for early Friday to comment on the ruling. A request for comment from the Polk County attorney’s office wasn’t immediately returned.
Around the nation, only Massachusetts and Connecticut permit same-sex marriage. California, which briefly allowed gay marriage before a voter initiative in November repealed it, allows domestic partnerships.

New Jersey and New Hampshire also offer civil unions, which provide many of the same rights that come with marriage. New York recognizes same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, and legislators there and in New Jersey are weighing whether to offer marriage. A bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in Vermont has cleared the Legislature but may be vetoed by the governor.

The ruling in Iowa’s same-sex marriage case came more quickly than many observers had anticipated, with some speculating after oral arguments that it could take a year or more for a decision.

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Maine Legislator Introduced Legislation to Legalize Marriage Equality

Maine Legislator Dennis Damonck introduced a Bill into the Legislature which is approved will make Maine the Third state to legalize Marriage Equality.

The legislation proposed by Democratic state Sen. Dennis Damonck would make the state the nation’s third to allow same-sex marriage. It seeks to redefine marriage as the legal union of two people rather than between a man and a women.

“Today I have submitted an act to end discrimination in civil marriage and to affirm religious freedom,” he told a news conference in the state capital Augusta.

In the meantime of course,  as Damonck was submitting his Bill a Bigot by the name of John Tardy was putting together his own piece of Legislation in an attempt to write Discimination into the Constitution of another state:

As he spoke, Republican Rep. John Tardy was drafting legislation to enshrine the definition of marriage as one man and one woman into the state constitution. “The language is being worked on now,” his spokesman said.

Also onFriday a bill was proosed in the Newe Hampshire State House to Legalize Marriage Equality in that state

On Friday, New Hampshire Rep. Jim Splaine signed off on legislation proposing same-sex marriage in that state, which borders both Maine and Massachusetts. He said he expected the bill to come up for a public hearing in two or three weeks.

5 of the 6 States in New England (Of which I am from) already have either Civil Unions or Marriage Equality (Maine being the exception).

By 2012 it is hoped that all New England States will have Full Marrige Equality.

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Gay Bishop Robinson to Give Obama Inauguration Prayer

“I am writing to tell you that President-Elect Obama and the Inaugural Committee have invited me to give the invocation at the opening event of the Inaugural Week activities, We are One, to be held at the Lincoln Memorial,” Robinson wrote in an email to friends.

The announcement comes after weeks of outcry from the gay community over Obama’s choice of evangelical, anti-gay pastor Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation.

“It’s important for any minority to see themselves represented in some way,” Robinson said in an interview with the Concord Monitor. “Whether it be a racial minority, an ethnic minority or, in our case, a sexual minority. Just seeing someone like you up front matters.”

Robinson is the first openly gay diocesan bishop in the Anglican Communion. “God never gets it wrong. The church often takes a long time to get it right. It is a human institution, but one capable of self-correction,” Robinson told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “I believe in my heart that the church got it wrong about homosexuality. There is great excitement in my heart to be living in a time when the church is starting to get it right.”

Robinson said he would love to sit down with Rick Warren but believed that the California pastor has “perpetrated lies about the gay, lesbian and bisexual community.”

Rick Warren has removed the Anti-Gay language from the Saddleback Churches Website that explicitly banned Gays from being a member of the church.

Previous view of Warren Website Banning Gays from Membership

Now the anti-gay language is gone.

So what’s the story?  Does Saddleback now welcome gays as members of the church? Or is Rick Warren just  embarrassed (and rightfully so) of his views?

And whose idea was it to remove the anti-gay language? Makes me wonder.