Lesbian

Families and Parents / Lesbian / North America / Parents / Parenting / Personal Stories — No Comments
4
Dec 10

“LOVE COMES FIRST” LESBIAN MARRIAGE DOCO

This is a lovely trailer / excerpt about an American family across four generations … from the loving great-aunts of one of the first lesbian couples to marry in Massachusetts to the little boys now living in the home the families has struggled to hold onto since the 1850s … their ups and downs definitely makes you want to watch more of  “The Gay Marriage Thing” http://www.thegaymarriagething.com/

Learn more about this work from Stephanie Higgins here: http://www.thegaymarriagething.com/directors_statement.htm

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Asia / Conservatives / Families and Parents / Lesbian / Personal Stories — No Comments
29
Nov 10

MALAYSIA’S FIRST “IT GETS BETTER” VIDEO

This is so, so important and courageous.  In a country where even a former Deputy Prime Minister has been jailed in the last decade for sodomy, there needs to be messages like this so there can be hope. So that one day there can be a possibility of a normal and happy life for all the gay and lesbian people in Malaysia now denied it.

Here is Gabrielle – outed in the media, attempting suicide, friends with people who are victims of ‘corrective rape’… but ultimately a story of a family who changed their mind and a brave women who struggled on to something better.

This story is exactly why need marriage equality; the lack of role models, the lack of people to talk to is devastating.

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Australia / Lesbian / Politicians / Uncategorized — 3 Comments
27
Nov 10

FINALLY PENNY WONG COMES OUT – AND ANOTHER DOMINO TUMBLES

Penny Wong with partner Sophie Allouache

Australian Senator Penny Wong with partner Sophie Allouache

What a great day!

Yet another state branch of the Australian Labor Party backs gay marriage - this time South Australia, birthplace of Australia’s gay rights movement in the 1960s.  So much for the nonsense that supporting gay marriage is about this government being run by the Greens; no, it is finally a case of the Government being run by the people.

Most newsworthy of course is not the motion backing marriage, but the fact that the much vilified Penny Wong spoke in support of it.

Wong said: “There has been some commentary which has confused my position of not commenting publicly on this issue with my position on the actual issue itself … I have had the opportunity to advocate for equality at the highest levels of our party and within our party processes, as I do today. And I will do so again at the next national conference.” She then pointedly added: ” Talking about change is not the same as delivering it.”

Yes, she should have done this ages ago, but this is a very welcome move. And it should put all the sniping and vilifiers back in their place. Wong faced a backlash several months back that went beyond criticism and verged into racism and stupidity – now she is out and proud on the side of equality and this will really shift the debate inside the Labor party.

The motion reads: “This convention calls upon the ALP national conference to amend the platform to support the legal right of all adult couples in Australia to be married if they so choose, and for that marriage to be recognised and registered by law in Australia, regardless of the sexual orientation, or gender, of the parties to the marriage.”

What does this mean?  We probably won’t be getting marriage equality before 2012 – but this might change – but we will almost certainly be getting it in 2012 at the latest. That does not apply if there is an early election and the Government is wiped out. But it probably isn’t going to do much worse than in August 2010 and any loss of support will probably go to the Greens anyway.

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Australia / Celebrities / Lesbian / Marriage — 3 Comments
18
Nov 10

DE ROSSI ATTACKS GILLARD; GREENS MOTION WINS IN PARLIAMENT

Portia DeRossi now Portia DeGeneres

The temperature is rising in Australia. There is nothing like a celebrity scorned and a minor party getting their way in Parliament to upset homophobic bliss.

Portia De Rossi told 702 ABC Radio Sydney that she expected Australia to be a world leader on the issue. ”I always thought Australia would pass this equal rights law long before America would,” she said.

Parliament voted 73-72 for MPs to gauge feelings among voters about gay weddings, which are currently banned under Australian law and opposed by both major parties.

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Australia / Civil Union / Europe / Families and Parents / Global / Lesbian / North America / Personal Stories — No Comments
5
Nov 10

THE MARRIAGE AND FAMILY ROUNDABOUT

jacqueline tomlins and sarah nichols

Go travelling abroad and it’s a case of now we’re married, now we’re not.

‘FILL out one form per family please, for transit through LAX.”

I roll my eyes at Sarah and take the form from the steward. There’s nothing like international travel for defining who you are: nationality, place of residence, marital status. For most people, ticking these boxes is unproblematic; for us, it’s a different story. ”Family?” I say to the steward. ”We’re a same-sex family – two mums, three kids, married some places, not others – one form or two?”

Read the rest of this great piece from Jacqueline Tomlins in the Sydney Morning Herald here

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Europe / Lesbian — No Comments
25
Oct 10

AN AGE OF EQUALITY

Peter Tatchell

Peter Tatchell by Richard Saker

The UK Government says that this is an”age of austerity”  - but balanced budgets aren’t the only thing that makes a nation healthy and happy. Equality under the law does too.

It’s good to see Peter Tatchell keeping up the fight that Stonewall refuses to have. See this article in The Guardian for details of the new civil disobedience campaign

Four same-sex couples will apply for civil marriage and four heterosexual couples for civil partnerships.  ”If they are refused, as we expect they will be, we plan to mount a legal challenge. We believe these bans violate the Human Rights Act and are open to challenge in the high court,” said Tatchell.

The Rev Sharon Ferguson, who will go first in the campaign says: “A civil partnership doesn’t feel comfortable for me; it doesn’t fit. We want a marriage – that is the institution we believe was divined by God and for me that is important, and I don’t see why we should be denied it because of our gender,”

As in Australia, more than 60% of the UK population supports equality.

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Celebrities / Lesbian / Marriage / North America — No Comments
9
Oct 10

KILLER LINE FROM CYNTHIA NIXON

This is just brilliant stuff.

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Celebrities / Global / Lesbian / Wedding — No Comments
9
Oct 10

RAISE YOUR GLASSES TO PINK POWER

The singer Pink is a big supporter of gay marriage

The singer Pink is a big supporter of gay marriage

The best friend of the singer Pink is gay, and was married in the singer’s yard.  Listen to what happened next here. Listen to the song “Raise Your Glass” here.

Her new single “Raise Your Glass,” is based on the experience. The music video for the song is also based at a gay wedding.

“I threw my best friend’s wedding in my backyard — [she] is gay and she married her wife, and it was absolutely beautiful. At the end of it, her mom said, ‘Why can’t this be legal?’ and started crying. It was just the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever seen, so that’s why I’m doing it in my video. “

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Civil Union / Lesbian / North America / Personal Stories — 1 Comment
21
Sep 10

COMMITTED: THE BEST TWO WOMEN COULD DO

JennaGlazerEliseBacolas

Photo by Marilyn Y.Kee, New York Times

Here is the heart-wrenching story of Jenna Glazer and Elise Bacolas – a couple fighting cancer and the law to give themselves protection and comfort when they need it most.

A good friend said to me Saturday that all the best long-term couples she knows are gay. Such observations and the stories of people like Jenna and Elise are all the more amazing given the lack of official and subtle support such relationships have.

I also like how New York City, like Sydney and others, does what it can to make a wedding or commitment ceremony special even if the local government can’t give the ceremony the full weight of ‘marriage.’

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Lesbian / North America / Religion — No Comments
6
Sep 10

UNEMPLOYED FOR BEING A MARRIED LESBIAN

Christine Judd, Cathedral High School

A bad role model overnight for getting married

This is appalling, but will become increasingly common, so long as religious institutions continue to have exemptions from anti-discrimination laws around the globe.

Apparently, being a married lesbian makes it impossible for you to continue to be ‘one of the key members of the faculty and a positive role models for the students,‘ as Catherdral High School, Springfield Massachusetts, previously advertised Christine Judd on its website.

I hope the school gets millions of dollars of bad publicity out of this. And of course, publicized cases like this are only the ‘tip of the iceberg’ – there is no accounting for the number of people who are made to feel unwelcome in a workplace, a public place, a church etc because of their sexual orientation.

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