Big Gay News
Gay Marriage Heads to DNC Platform
Politico.com reports that Democrats are set to endorse marriage equality for their convention platform, but neither the party nor the Obama campaign wanted to elaborate.
Six states have legalized gay marriage and three more have legalization measures on the ballot for November, but the increase in acceptance of the issue hasn’t done anything to minimize its political touchiness this election year.
Some Companies Take a Stand In Gay Marriage Fight,
The Washington Post reports that a number of business executives have come out on the issue of marriage equality.
Washington United for Marriage, a coalition that seeks to uphold a gay marriage law that passed in Washington, announced that Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie will donate $2.5 million to its cause.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer each donated $100,000 to help keep gay marriage legal.
On a different note, Chick-fil-A President and Chief Operating Officer Dan Cathy recently opined that Chick-fil-A is “very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit.”
Gay Marriage Foes Ask Supreme Court to Uphold California Ban
Reuters reports that marriage equality opponents asked the Supreme Court to uphold a California ban on gay matrimony that was struck down by two lower courts as a violation of the Constitution.
The request comes from the backers of Proposition 8, a voter-approved state constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman.
Connecticut Judge Rules US Gay Marriage Law Unconstitutional
The Wall Street Journal reports that a judge in Connecticut ruled that a part of a federal law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman and denies tax, health and other benefits to married gay couples is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford issued a decision saying the provision in the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act violates the Fifth Amendment right to equal protection.
Bryant wrote the provision “obligates the federal government to single out a certain category of marriages as excluded from federal recognition, thereby resulting in an inconsistent distribution of federal marital benefits.”
Florida Lieutenant Governor Says Sorry For “Black Lesbians Don’t Dook Like Me” Comment
NewsOne.com reports that Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll apologized for offending lesbians when she said black women who engage in such relationships don’t look like her.
Carroll was implying that black lesbians aren’t attractive. She denies a fired staffer’s claims that Carroll and a female travel aide were found in a compromising position.
Colorado Baker Target of Gay Protest for Not Baking Wedding Cake
Examiner.com reports that the owner of Masterpiece Cake Shop in Lakewood, Colorado, refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple.
Dave Mullin and Charlie Craig went to the cake shop thinking they would try cakes.
Upon leaving, Craig told the owner “Fuck you and your homophobic cake shop.”
Cheney Defends His Silence on Gay Marriage in 2000
ABC News reports that Dick Cheney says that even though he supported gay marriage, he didn’t see the point of raising the issue in the 2000 presidential campaign.
The former vice president suggested speaking out probably would have sunk President George W. Bush’s prospects for office.
Mary Cheney, Dick’s daughter, married her partner in June.
Romney Ran “Most Gay-Friendly” Olympics
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Mitt Romney helped make the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics “one of the most gay-friendly games in Olympic history.” Romney worked to diversify the games, being “very, very supportive of increasing the diversity of the workforce.”
Romney’s past support of the gay community is a contrast to his current campaign positions. Salt Lake City attorney Laura Miliken Gray said “We were good enough to volunteer at the Olympics, but we’re not good enough for equal rights now.”
