Wedding

Europe / Heroes / Historical / Role models / Wedding — 2 Comments
31
Oct 11

MARRIAGE EQUALITY PIONEER DEAD

This is terribly sad news.  Axel Axgil has died, aged 96 – after a lifetime of service to equality. Axel set up the world’s first national gay rights organisation in 1948 in Denmark - years before we had magazines like One, networks like Daughters of Bilitis or anyone had heard of Stonewall.

Axel and a small groups of others were fundamental to the implementation of civil partnerships in 1989 in Denmark and he was the first of the first at the first same sex wedding on Oct. 1, 1989, when he and his partner Eigil were among 11 couples to exchange vows. I interviewed the second couple, Ove Carlsen and Ivan Carlsen, in 2009 and they both spoke very highly of Axel.

LGBT Danmark said it planned a memorial service for Axgil at the organization’s annual meeting on Nov. 5 in Aarhus, western Denmark. Read more

 

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Asia / Lesbian / Surprising Marriage Equality Supporters / Wedding — No Comments
21
Aug 11

TAIWAN MASS GAY WEDDING

Taiwan lesbian couples

80 lesbian couples have tied the knot in an unofficial celebrations that was completed without police interference or protests, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

I’ve seen reports of a fair few mass wedding in Asia – usually led by Moonies! – but this is first mass lesbian wedding party I’ve ever heard of in Asia. And apparently more than 1000 people PAID to watch it happen.

But it is not that surprising given that Taiwan has the largest gay pride celebrations in Asia. Taiwan has also had the tantalising prospect of a draft marriage equality bill since 2003.  Unlike many countries it was not drafted by a lone liberal or left-wing politican / party, but by the advisers of the Cabinet.  This bill is the first in Asia to promise marriage and adoption rights to gay couples.

Organisers say the event gives them hope that the island will soon legalise gay marriage, but the Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou says there needs to be “consensus” before such legislation can move forward.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Lesbian / Miscellaneous / North America / Personal Stories / Wedding — No Comments
18
Aug 11

BRIDE TURNED AWAY FROM STORE FOR HER “ILLEGAL ACTION”

alix_genter

Oh dear, what sort of awful person does this?

I sincerely hope that the Here Comes the Bride store in Philadelphia, USA, suffers major economic retaliation for this act.

Here is a sample of the nonense Alix Genter was forced to deal with:

“She said she wouldn’t work with me because I’m gay,” you recalled. “She also said that I came from a nice Jewish family, and that it was a shame I was gay. She said, ‘There’s right, and there’s wrong. And this is wrong.’ “

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Marriage / North America / Personal Stories / Photos / Wedding — No Comments
25
Jul 11

I HEART NEW YORK

New York couples getting married

These pictures from The Guardian are just great, from the first day of marriage equality in New York. Who the hell could fail to be moved by this joy? Another gallery from LIFE is here.  Video here: Gay Marriage arrives in New York. Nearly 700 couples were married on the first day – an all-time record for New York.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Europe / Wedding — No Comments
11
Jul 11

SPAIN’S CREDIT RATING GOES UP

creditratingimage

That’s not a headline you are likely to read anywhere else in 2011. But in the case of access to equality, the fresh statistics for marriage in Spain show the country’s credit rating is very high indeed.

Rex Wockner reports that 18,634 same-sex marriages have been registered in Spain, while the State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals (FELGBT) believes that not all the marriages have been recorded, and that the actual number is 23,000.

In any case, 2.1 percent of marriages in 2010 were between people of the same sex - nearly 4,000 last year.

To the 8,000 happy people – my hearty congratulations.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Asia / Campaigns / Religion / Wedding — 1 Comment
23
Jun 11

MASS GAY MASS WEDDING IN PHILLIPINES

 

An MCC service

An MCC service, photo courtesy of MCC

I love confusing headlines!… but seriously, BAGUIO CITY, Philippines will be home to a huge same sex mass wedding event this weekend.

It’s the first event of its kind, and will not be legal unfortunately, but following on from a similar legal event in the US last month, it should raise the profile of the local marriage equality campaign. It is our friends at the Metropolitan Community Church who are once again behind the activism, and the weddings will coincide with the 5th Baguio LGBT Pride parade.

The group will be holding ecumenical worship and mass wedding for same-sex couples for free and to be witnessed by the public in a venue to be announced later.

Somewhat bizarrely the church is requiring that wedding couples have been in a steady loving relationship for more than eight months. Why eight months I wonder?

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

North America / Wedding — No Comments
4
May 11

WHITE HOUSE CHEF WEDS PARTNER

 

White House Chef with his new husband

Let me get this straight … Obama can find Osama, but he can’t give equal tax treatment to his own staff.  Something’s not right here.

This imbalance is brought to our attention by the fact that the President’s pastry chef, Bill Yosses, married his partner in Washington, D.C., last week. Yosses, 57, married Charlie Fabella Jr, a special education teacher, at the Moultrie Courthouse.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Jokes / Marriage / Miscellaneous / Video / Wedding — 1 Comment
21
Feb 11

BRIAN FELDMAN WILL ANNUL WITH ANYONE

Oh, dear, poor Brian. In case you forgot Brian Feldman is the genuinely good guy to agreed to marry any woman who showed up to marry him. The point was to prove how stupid it is that he can marry a stranger, while gays and lesbians generally can’t marry anyone they love and live with.

Well, here’s the baby panda human interest story in this news bulletin:  Brian and his non-beloved, Hannah Miller, have now had their marriage officially annulled.  It seems random acts of political kindness can’t last forever.

I hope one day we can all marry anyone. But perhaps the lesson from Brian is that just because you can do something, it doesn’t mean you should!

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Civil Union / Lesbian / Marriage / North America / Personal Stories / Wedding — No Comments
15
Feb 11

WHY THE “MARRIAGE” WORD MATTERS

Why Marriage Matters

Sorry to recycle again, but this is a worthy follow up to the question, “are civil unions worse than nothing?”, by a married lesbian in limbo (Jane Rigby Silver Spring), in the Washington Post this week.

My favourite point: “Marriage matters, because marriage is how society decides whose relationships matter, and whose don’t. No matter what, gay people will fall in love and make homes together, as we always have. Marriage equality is about whether straight people are going to recognize those relationships. It’s how they decide who’s family.”

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Europe / Historical / Miscellaneous / North America / Politicians / Wedding — No Comments
8
Dec 10

SAS PUMPS SOME LOVE INTO THE AIR

After all the ho0-hah about the supposed (later shown to be fake) wedding on a Virgin America flight over Canadian airspace, it is nice to get word of the first real same sex wedding in the air.

Sponsored by our lovely Scandanavian friends at SAS airlines, two couples – a gay German couple (Aleksandar Mijatovic and Shantu Bhattacherjee) and a Polish lesbian couple (Ewa Tomaszewicz and Gosia Rawińska) were married by a member of the European Parliament (Christofer Fjellner) between Stockholm and New York.

As Tomaszewicz told MSNBC, “this ceremony is not only for us, it’s also a small victory for all those who believe that one day in Poland we’ll have a normal country where everyone who loves each other can just get married.” Continue reading →

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

← Older Entries