M4M News

3 weeks after gay marriage law, NH takes up repeal

3 weeks after gay marriage law, NH takes up repeal

(Concord, NH) Three weeks after the state legalized gay marriage, opponents are asking a House committee to repeal the law and let voters amend the constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

The House Judiciary Committee was holding hearings Wednesday on the two measures, which many observers expect the House to reject when they are brought to the floor in the next few weeks.

Opponents know their chances of success are slim, but they are looking to the November election in hopes Republicans will regain control of the Statehouse and succeed then in repealing the law.

Malawi government defends gay couple's prosecution

Malawi government defends gay couple's prosecution

YahooNews

BLANTYRE, MALAWI – Malawi's government said Monday that it is unmoved by international criticism of the trial of a gay couple charged with unnatural acts and gross indecency, felonies for which they could be imprisoned for up to 14 years.

In a statement Monday, Malawi's Information Minister Leckford Mwanza Thoto made no apology for the laws that criminalize homosexual acts. He said Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga were "clearly breaking the laws of Malawi."

"As government we cannot interfere in the court process," Thoto said. "We depend on our Western friends, yes, but we are a sovereign country."

Forty percent of Malawi's budget is funded by international donors.

Monjeza, 26, and Chimbalanga, 20, have been jailed since their arrest Dec. 27, the day they celebrated their engagement with a party that drew crowds of curious onlookers in this conservative southern African country. Hearings in the trial also have attracted crowds.

A verdict is expected next month.

Prop 8 trial judge has history with gay rights activists

Prop 8 trial judge has history with gay rights activists

(San Francisco) The appointment of Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Richard Walker to the bench was held up for two years during the late 1980s in part because he had angered gay rights activists.

Now, he is presiding over the most important gay civil rights case in a generation.

Like a lot of powerful people, Walker is a profile in fragments, a figure sketched from rare interviews, his work product and his colleagues’ carefully chosen anecdotes.

Gay marriage judge abandons Web broadcast attempt

Gay marriage judge abandons Web broadcast attempt

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DC court rejects anti-gay marriage initiative. Again.

DC court rejects anti-gay marriage initiative. Again.

The DC Superior Court upheld the decision of the DC Board of Elections and Ethics to reject a proposed ballot initiative that would have prohibited gay marriage in the District.

 The ruling can be viewed at 　http://www.dccourts.gov/dccourts/docs/2009CA008613B.pdf

In June, a D.C. Superior Court judge rejected a similar lawsuit to force a public vote on legislation that, at the time, allowed D.C. to recognize marriages by same-sex couples performed in other jurisdictions.

Supreme Court reinstates death sentence for anti-gay neo-Nazi

Supreme Court reinstates death sentence for anti-gay neo-Nazi

(Cleveland) The Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated for a second time the death sentence of a neo-Nazi convicted of murdering three men in Ohio more than a quarter century ago.

The justices ruled unanimously that a federal appeals court wrongly set aside the death sentence of Frank Spisak.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati found Spisak’s trial lawyer was ineffective and that his jury received faulty sentencing instructions.

In an opinion by Justice Stephen Breyer, the high court said the 6th Circuit should have deferred to state court rulings that upheld Spisak’s death sentence.

Spisak was convicted of three murders at Cleveland State University over a seven-month period in 1982 – crimes he said were motivated by his hatred of gays, blacks and Jews. At the same time, Spisak claimed his crimes were sparked by mental illness related to confusion about his sexual identity. He wants to have surgery to become a woman.

What happened during Prop 8 Day 2?

What happened during Prop 8 Day 2?

Because there’s no live or delayed feed, 365gay covered the trial today gavel-to-gavel by aggregating the tweets and blogs of those who were sitting inside the courtroom. Thanks to CoverItLive, about 1,000 of our readers were able to join in the discussion.

Groundbreaking gay marriage trial starts in Calif

Groundbreaking gay marriage trial starts in Calif

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High-stakes gay marriage trial to begin in Calif.

High-stakes gay marriage trial to begin in Calif.

(San Francisco) The national debate over same-sex marriage will take center stage in a California courtroom next week at a closely watched federal trial that could ultimately become the landmark case that determines whether gay Americans have a right to marry.

The case will decide a challenge to California’s gay marriage ban that was approved by voters in 2008, and the ruling will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. How the high court rules in the case could set the precedent for whether gay marriage becomes legal nationwide.

“This could be our Brown vs. Board of Education,” said former Clinton White House adviser Richard Socarides, referring to the 1954 Supreme Court decision that outlawed racial segregation in schools and other public facilities. “Certainly the plaintiffs will tell you they are hoping for a broad ruling that says that any law that treats someone differently because of sexual orientation violates the U.S. Constitution.”

Ugandan president urges softening of anti-gay bill

Ugandan president urges softening of anti-gay bill

Kampala, Uganda) A provision that would impose the death penalty for some gays is likely to be removed from the proposed legislation following opposition from Uganda’s president, the country’s ethics minister said Thursday.

President Yoweri Museveni has told colleagues he believes the bill is too harsh and has encouraged his ruling National Resistance Movement Party to overturn the death sentence provision, which would apply to sexually active gays living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape.

The proposed bill, though, says anyone convicted of a homosexual act would face life imprisonment and it is unclear whether Museveni supports that provision or not.....