House pases inclusive hate crimes bill

By http://www.365gay.com/
04.29.2009 5:24pm EDT
(Washington) The House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of categories covered under federal hate crime law.
The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, also known as the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act for the 21-year-old college student who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998, would provide local police and sheriff’s departments with federal resources to combat hate violence.
“No one should face violence simply because of who they are,” said Judy Shepard, executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation. “This bill is a critical step to erasing the hate that has devastated far too many families.”
Wednesday morning, just hours before the vote, President Obama urged Congress to pass the bill.
” I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance – legislation that will enhance civil rights protections, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association,” the President said in a statement.
” I also urge the Senate to work with my Administration to finalize this bill and to take swift action.”
During debate on the bill, prior to the vote, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) alleged that it was a “hoax” that the slaying of Matthew Shepard’s had anything to do with him being gay.
“That young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery, it wasn’t because he was gay,” said Foxx.
The Senate version of the bill was filed this week by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). It still needs to go to committee before being voted on in the full Senate.
Gay rights groups have been fighting to have the legislation passed for over a decade.
The legislation passed the House in 2007 but President Bush threatened to veto it if it passed in the Senate.
In an effort to get around a veto the Senate version was tied to the 2008 defense authorization bill. It passed, but then was stripped out in conference.
Because there is no federal law mandating states and municipalities to report hate crimes, they are often under-reported. However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s own statistics, based on voluntary reporting, show that since 1991 over 100,000 hate crime offenses have been reported to the FBI, with 7,624 reported in 2007, the FBI’s most recent reporting period.
Violent crimes based on sexual orientation constituted 16.6 percent of all hate crimes in 2007, with 1,265 reported for the year. In addition, while not captured in the federal statistics, transgender Americans too often live in fear of violence.

Marriage equality bill pases Maine Senate

By http://www.365gay.com/

04.30.2009 1:49pm EDT
(Augusta, Maine) The Maine Senate on Thursday gave initial approval to legislation that would permit same-sex couples to marry.
The Senate voted 21-14 to approve the measure, following an emotional debate.
At attempt by conservatives to put the issue before voters was soundly defeated. The measure now moves to the House.
Gov. John Baldacci has said he has not made up his mind on gay marriage, though gay marriage advocates have delivered more than 10,000 postcards asking him to support the legislation.
EqualityMaine and the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence called on the governor to endorse the bill and sign if if passes the legislature.
The groups also sent lawmakers copy of a book they prepared that includes interviews with 82 people who tell about the impact on their families of not having a gay marriage law.
The legislation would repeal Maine’s 12-year-old so-called Defense of Marriage law, which bars same-sex marriage and make marriage gender-neutral. It also states that churches would not be compelled to conduct same-sex weddings if it would be inconsistent with their doctrine.
The conservative Maine Marriage Alliance has said that if same-sex marriage appears to be on a track to legalization, it would press for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
On Wednesday, the New Hampshire Senate passed legislation to legalize gay marriage. The bill passed the House a month ago.
Gov. John Lynch, who has said he believes the current civil union law works fine, has not said if he would veto the bill.
Same-sex marriage already is legal in three New England states - Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont

Fallecimiento de mi mamá, Cecilia Diaz Rosado

Quisiera notificarles que mi mamá, Cecilia Díaz Rosado dejó su cuerpo en el día de ayer. Y que sepan que ella fue la persona que me ha inculcado y enseñó todos los valores y principios que me llevan a hacer el trabajo que hago de derechos humanos actualmente. Toda mi base espiritual proviene de sus genes.

Esta noche 15 de abril en el programa de radio hablaré sobre ella.

Sus restos están expuestos en la Funeraria Los Cipreses en Bayamón y su cuerpo será enterrado mañana jueves en el Cementerio de Ciales.

(En la foto Mami, yo y Tai-son)

D.C Will Recognize Your Marriage

By: http://www.advocate.com

The Washington, D.C., city council voted unanimously on Tuesday to recognize same-sex marriages conducted in the growing number of states where marriage equality is now legal.
Tuesday's 12-0 vote on the contentious issue is expected to bring the council in direct conflict with the U.S. Congress, which approves of the city's laws under Home Rule.
"It's high time we send a clear, unequivocal message to those persons of the same sex and married in another jurisdiction that their marriage is valid in D.C.," openly gay council member Jim Graham said, according to The Washington Post. He added, "I hope this city recognizes this is a human rights struggle."
Openly gay council member David Catania said that it's only a matter of time before the District of Columbia grants marriage equality to all of its residents. "It's no secret that I have been working on legislation that would take us further," he said. "This is the march toward human rights and equality. This is not the march toward special rights. This is the equal march and that march is coming here."

Same-Sex Marriage Legalized in Vermont

By: http://www.advocate.com/

Following tense and emotional proceedings on the legislative floor, the Vermont house voted 100-49 at 11 a.m. on Tuesday to override Gov. Jim Douglas's veto of marriage-equality legislation. After an earlier morning vote by the senate, 23-5, to override the veto, the house vote makes Vermont the first state to recognize marriage equality through the legislative process without first being ordered to do so by the court.
The outcome of the highly anticipated house vote remained uncertain until it occurred. In the end, the 100 votes generated was the minimum needed to meet the two-thirds majority requirement for the veto override.
Marriage-equality advocates hailed the milestone in Vermont, which was the first state to create civil unions for same-sex couples in 2000.
“This historic vote in the Vermont legislature reminds us of the incredible progress being made toward equality," said Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese in a statement. "Less than five years ago, lesbian and gay couples began marrying in Massachusetts. Now, with the Iowa court decision last Friday and today’s vote in Vermont, there will be four states recognizing the right to marry for loving, committed lesbian and gay couples," he said.
House members who spoke on the floor before the vote cited the "stress and anger" that surrounded the same-sex marriage debate in Vermont, with one noting the "disrespectful comments on both sides." Another legislator, who voted not to override the veto, called it "the most emotional and passionate issue I’ve ever been involved in."
Gay and lesbian couples may begin to marry in Vermont on September 1.

Suecia aprueba matrimonios gay

Estocolmo - (DPA)

Por: www.sentidog.com

La propuesta se aprobó por mayoría parlamentaria, sustituirá a una normativa de 1995 que permitía a las personas del mismo sexo obtener el reconocimiento de pareja.

Una amplia mayoría en el Parlamento sueco en Estocolmo aprobó hoy la legislación que permite a personas del mismo sexo contraer matrimonio, después de un debate de seis horas.

Seis de los siete partidos con representación parlamentaria respaldaron la propuesta redactada por el Comité de Asuntos Civiles para introducir una ley de matrimonio neutral con respecto a los sexos.

Sólo los cristiano demócratas, uno de los cuatro partidos del gobierno de coalición de centro-derecha, se opusieron a la propuesta de ley, en consonancia con su declarada intención de mantener "un concepto centenario" del matrimonio, según señaló la diputada Yvonne Andersson.

La nueva legislación entrará en vigor el 1 de mayo y sustituirá a la normativa de 1995, que permite a personas del mismo sexo obtener el reconocimiento de pareja de hecho.

Los cambios legales no afectarán las ceremonias eclesiásticas. La Iglesia sueca, luterana, se mostró dispuesta a discutir su postura con respecto al matrimonio homosexual el pasado otoño.

Una mayoría de obispos en la Iglesia de Suecia afirmaron en febrero que su institución no debería seguir ocupándose de los registros legales del matrimonio.

Vermont House Oks gay marriage

By: www.365gay.com

(Montpelier, Vermont) The Vermont House on Thursday passed marriage equality legislation but not by enough of a margin to override a threatened veto by Gov. Jim Douglas (R) .

The bill passed the House on a 95-52 preliminary vote. A final vote will be held on Friday. It would need 100 votes to overturn a veto.

The Senate overwhelmingly passed its version of the legislation earlier.

The two versions still need to be harmonized before going to Douglas’ desk.

The House bill would guarantee that churches would not be obligated to marry same-sex couples. Another preserves the words husband and wife on marriage licenses while affirming same-sex couples can marry, and a third allows private church-based organizations to refuse facilities and membership to gay couples.

House leaders now must try to sway the five votes to ensure it is veto-proof.

Vermont was the first state in the country to legalize civil unions in 2000. Since then, LGBT groups have criticized the law for creating a “two tiered” system - marriage for opposite-sex couples and civil unions for gays.

Under the Senate version, the civil unions law would allow marriage of same-sex partners beginning Sept. 1. Civil unions, which confer some rights similar to marriage, would still be recognized but no longer granted after Sept. 1.

Hundreds of supporters and opponents of the legislation turned out at the State House for Thursday night’s debate.

Earlier in the day, about 200 opponents staged a rally and then went into the building, jamming a hallway outside a news conference where Douglas was reiterating his opposition to the bill.

Supporters cast the debate as a civil rights issue, saying a civil unions law enacted by the state in 2000 has fallen short of the equality it promised same-sex couples. Its appeal has declined, too: In 2001, the state granted 1,876 civil unions, compared with only 262 last year.

An impact study released earlier this month suggests there is a link between the economy and gay marriage.

The study, by the Williams Institute at UCLA, found that approval of gay marriage in Vermont could generate $31 million in new spending and $3.3 million in state taxes over three years.

Last November, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the Boston-based LGBT rights group that brought the successful legal challenges leading to same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and Connecticut launched the “Six by Twelve” campaign to legalize gay marriage throughout all six New England states by 2012