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Today’s Top Headlines

Maine Gay Marriage Opponents Submit Challenges
UK Quakers ‘to Allow Gay Marriages’
Hawaii Coach Apologizes for Gay Slur

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Opponents of Maine’s new gay marriage law have submitted petitions seeking a November referendum on the measure. Leaders of the Stand for Marriage campaign said Friday they collected more than 100,000 signatures of registered Maine voters. Cartons containing the petitions have been turned into the secretary of state’s office to be certified. A November referendum will be held if at least 55,087 signatures are certified by Sept. 4. The referendum would ask voters whether the law should stand.

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

One of the UK’s oldest Christian denominations – the Quakers – looks set to extend marriage services to same-sex couples at their yearly meeting later. The society has already held religious blessings for same-sex couples who have had a civil partnership ceremony. But agreeing to perform gay marriages, which are currently not allowed under civil law, could bring the Quakers into conflict with the government. The issue of active homosexuality has bitterly divided Churches. But the BBC’s religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott said the Quakers had been more prepared than other groups to reinterpret the Bible in the light of contemporary life.

Read the full story from the BBC.

Hawaii coach Greg McMackin apologized Thursday for making a derogatory remark usually directed toward gays while describing Notre Dame’s chant during a dinner banquet leading up to last year’s Hawaii Bowl. McMackin used the slur during a media briefing at the Western Athletic Conference football preview in Salt Lake City. After the remark, he uttered it two more times while trying to explain himself. After the briefing, McMackin returned to the reporters and apologized for using the “inappropriate” word. “What I was trying to do was be funny and it wasn’t funny,” he said, according to a recording of the conversation posted on the Idaho Statesman’s Web site. “It’s not funny. Even more, it isn’t funny to me. I was trying to make a joke and it was a bad choice of words. And I really, really feel bad about it. … It was really stupid.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines

Obama to Award Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harvey Milk
Albania Plans to Legalize Gay Marriages
Same-Sex Benefits Bill Clears First Hurdle
Video Released of Gay Couple’s Confrontation with LDS Guards

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A bill granting full health-care benefits to domestic partners of gay and lesbian federal employees cleared its first legislative hurdle today, as a House subcommittee approved the measure along a party-line vote. The House subcommittee on federal workforce issues approved the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act by a 5 to 3 vote. It extends several benefits to gay partners, including access to health care coverage, retirement and disability plans, and life and long-term care insurance. The measure earned an endorsement from President Obama in June when he extended some federal benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers. The president’s memo did not give access to health care or retirement benefits, something Obama said he could not do without the legislation.

Read the full story from the Washington Post.

President Obama today named 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom. America’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom is awarded to individuals who make an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. This year’s awardees were chosen for their work as agents of change. Among their many accomplishments in fields ranging from sports and art to science and medicine to politics and public policy, these men and women have changed the world for the better. They have blazed trails and broken down barriers. They have discovered new theories, launched new initiatives, and opened minds to new possibilities.

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Newly released film footage shows four LDS Church security guards separating and handcuffing a gay couple after the two men kissed on the Main Street Plaza. The Salt Lake Tribune obtained the film through an open-records request with Salt Lake City. The church provided the film to the city as part of a prosecutor’s review of trespassing charges against Matt Aune and Derek Jones. On Wednesday, Salt Lake City Prosecutor Sim Gill announced the city will not pursue the trespassing case, citing a “misunderstanding” that occurred because the couple mistakenly believed the privately owned plaza contains a public right of way.

Read the full story from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Albania’s governing Democrats have proposed a law allowing same-sex civil weddings in the small, predominantly Muslim country. An announcement on the government Web site Thursday said the bill “may spark debate” but was needed to stop discrimination against gay couples. Current law only recognizes heterosexual marriages. Prime Minister Sali Berisha said the move followed requests from rights groups. His Democrats, who control 74 of parliament’s 140 seats, are expected to easily pass the law. The former Communist Balkan state, which joined NATO in April, has applied to be considered for joining the European Union. Albania is mostly Muslim with large Orthodox Christian and Roman Catholic minorities. Practicing religion was banned during the 1944-1990 Communist regime.

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

Today’s Top Headlines

Second Hate Crime at Danish Gay Games
States With More Catholics Favor More Gay Rights
Case Dropped Against Gay Couple Who Kissed at Mormon Temple
Debate Over Chicago Gay Business Contracts Resurfaces

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A Dane has been charged with committing a hate crime for allegedly throwing fireworks at athletes during a gay sporting event in Copenhagen. He is accused of throwing fireworks into the Oesterbro stadium where the World Outgames running competitions were being held. One US athlete suffered a light injury to his hand. The attack marks the second suspected hate crime at the Outgames after three men were assaulted in the street. The alleged perpetrator was apprehended by runners from Sparta Athletes club as he attempted to escape.

Read the full story from the BBC.

Prosecutors won’t pursue a case against two men accused of trespassing on LDS Church property earlier this month. An LDS Church security guard detained a gay couple on Salt Lake City’s Main Street Plaza on July 9 after observing the pair “kissing and hugging,” according to a police report. Derek Jones and Matt Aune were cited for trespassing after refusing to leave. The incident led to two kiss-in protests against the church in Salt Lake City and one in San Diego.

Read the full story from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Chicago’s first openly gay alderman on Tuesday reopened the volatile debate about whether City Hall should establish contract set-asides for businesses owned by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered residents. Six years after raising the issue only to drop it like a hot potato, Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) brought it up again during a Budget Committee hearing called to extend until 2015 a construction set-aside ordinance for minorities and women. Prior to the unanimous vote for the extension, Tunney asked Corporation Counsel Mara Georges whether any other municipality has a “category” that defines “LGBT as a qualified minority.”

Read the full story from the Chicago Sun Times.

Want to predict which state might move next to legalize same-sex marriage? You might count Catholics. The higher their percentage of the population, the more likely the state is to… support gay rights. This counter-intuitive finding is brought to you with a tip of two hats — mine to Mark Silk at Spiritual Politics and his to Robbie Jones who led Silk to a new study soon by be published by two Columbia University political scientists. Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips examined public support and resulting political policy on eight issues including marriage, housing, adoption and hate crimes. The main thrust of the study was to examine whether there is “pro-gay bias in policy making” (the authors conclude no) or a tyranny of local majorities “in which anti-gay majorities trump minority rights” (the authors again say no).

Read the full story from USA Today.

 

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Today’s Top Five Headlines

UN Allows Gay, Lesbian Group to Join Debates
Lesbians in China Petition to Donate Blood
Anglican Church May Have ‘Two Track’ Structure
Washington State Gay Partnership Foes Turn in Signatures
Study Finds HBO No. 1 Network for Gay-Friendly Fare

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