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The battle over gay rights will move to New Jersey and the federal government, advocates said, after Tuesday's narrow rejection of same-sex marriage by Maine voters in a hard-fought contest. The Democrat-controlled legislature in New Jersey, which currently recognizes same-sex couples in civil unions, is under pressure to pass a bill authorizing gay marriage before Gov. Jon Corzine ends his term in mid-January.

Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, comments on Maine´s victorious Question 1, which repealed a legislative act legalizing gay ´marriage´ in the state.

CNA STAFF, Nov 6, 2009 / 11:58 am (CNA).- Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, spoke to CNA about the victory of Question 1 in Maine, which repeals previous legislation legalizing gay ‘marriage.’ Gallagher said that the victory, which defies statistics and expectations, “is very heartening to marriage supporters and disappointing to gay ‘marriage’ advocates.” Noting that the supporters of same-sex marriage were surprised and upset by this victory, Gallagher analyzed the circumstances leading up to the election. “The gay marriage advocates,” she told CNA on Thursday, “had a three-year head start. They put millions into building...

So – my fellow conservatives – Was defending Carrie Prejean worth it or did we prop her up on a pedestal a little too soon? Was it really a good idea to see her as our poster girl just because we salivated over a few sentences that she uttered at a beauty pageant? We should have known better using a beauty queen to try to get our message across. What were we thinking? And yes, I am sure that we can thank our good friends on the left for digging up these uncomplimentary images and video about Prejean. That’s what...

It is too hard for me to swallow the fact that a properly passed law in Maine was repealed in a public referendum. This just seems wrong. The proper course of action was to throw out the bums who passed the law in the first place and then have a subsequent legislature / Governer repeal the law. While the "outcome" in this case was favorable to conservative point of view, it is impossible for me to see how it benefits the conservative movement in the long run. Remember, gay marriage was made legal in Maine by the elected government -...

A state lawmaker wants to allow same-sex marriage in Michigan. Representative Pam Byrnes of Washtenaw County introduced a plan Wednesday to amend the state constitution to allow same-sex marriages, as well as recognize them from other states. "Same-sex couples should not be denied the joys and responsibilities that come with making a lifetime commitment to each other," Byrnes said. "The Michigan I know is not a place that would deny visitation rights to a dying loved one or access to health care just because of someone's sexual orientation." In 2004, Michigan voters passed an amendment banning gay marriage. The amendment...

On Nov. 3, 53 percent of Maine voters rejected a six-month-old law redefining the state’s definition of marriage to include same-sex couples. The next day, an AP article about the vote read more like a direct mail appeal for the Human Rights Campaign than a news piece. Headlined “Maine Voters Repeal Law Allowing Gay Marriage,” the article called the repeal of the legislation that granted marriage for same-sex couples a “stinging defeat” for the gay rights movement and focused almost exclusively on the reactions of gays and lesbians. Framed around the thwarted wedding plans of a lesbian couple, the article...

In Washington State, another referendum on gay couples' equality was also a squeaker. But in this one, gay couples won. The state's domestic partnership law grants gay couples all the rights of married couples at a state level. The usual forces tried to reverse it, as they tried in Maine. But in Washington, the gay side won by 51.1 to 48.9 percent. Again, it's such a slender margin, it's stupid to draw any vast conclusions. But I do want to point out that, from the perspective of just a decade ago, to have an even split on this question in...

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Washington state voters on Tuesday were narrowly approving the state's new "everything but marriage" law that marks a significant expansion of rights for gay couples. With about 50 percent of the expected vote counted, Referendum 71 was leading 51 percent to 49 percent. The measure asked voters to approve or reject the final expansion to the state's domestic partnership law, which grants registered domestic partners additional state-granted rights currently given only to married couples.

Referendum Measure 71 concerning rights and responsibilities of state-registered domestic partners Approved 165,340 44.89 % Rejected 202,954 55.11 % Total Votes 368,294 100.00%

AUGUSTA, Maine — A high school counselor who supports marriage between one man and one woman has been reported to a Maine licensing board because of his views. Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund represent Donald Mendell, the subject of a complaint filed with the Board of Social Worker Licensure by a co-worker because he expressed support for marriage and the "Vote Yes on One" campaign. "No one should have their livelihood placed in jeopardy because they believe marriage is the union of a man and a woman," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Austin R. Nimocks. "This threat to Don,...

Gays demand tolerance and inclusion. See how long that lasts once should they continue to get people fired because they dare not agree with their brand of "marriage"....

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) has announced election of The Reverend Bernice King, the youngest daughter of The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. (the organization's founder), as its eighth president. The announcement has raised concern among the LGBT community and its supporters. Bernice King has been vocal against marriage equality and has stoked the homophobic fires when she said, "I know in my sanctified soul that he (Dr. King) did not take a bullet for same-sex marriage."

“Do not doubt the direction we are headed and the destination we will reach.” With those words to gay activists at the annual Human Rights Campaign (HRC) fundraiser this month, President Obama again signaled -- with the wink-and-a-nod style with which he is so adept -- his support for same-sex marriage. Few people believe the president when he insists he opposes gay nuptials. But the more significant issue is not whether the Obama administration’s “destination” on marriage is same-sex marriage. It clearly is. The key issue is whether, based on who the president surrounds himself with, the administration will put...

The latest challenge to Prop 8 could be show on television. Ted Olson and David Boies, are suing saying Prop 8 is unconstitutional. The judge has reportedly 'hinted' that he may allow cameras..

IFI E-Alert:: Marriage Rally and Lobby Day -- Oct. 29th 10/20/2009 8:10:00 AM By David E. Smith, Executive Director -Illinois Family Institute Approximately eight hundred Illinois citizens from around the state joined IFI & other Christian leaders in Springfield last year to rally, pray, and lobby for natural marriage, religious freedom, parental rights and the innocence of our children. Click HERE to download a flyer to distribute at church and in your community. Join IFI and Illinois families from around the state to take a stand for protecting marriage, religious freedom, parental rights and the innocence of our children! Plan...

Mr. Holder and Miss Schmaler, however, are not the only powerful Obama administration officials who want to redefine one of our society's central institutions. Cass Sunstein, Mr. Obama's powerful "regulatory czar," is equally out of touch. In a new edition of his book "Nudge," coauthored with Richard Thaler, the authors call marriage an "anachronism" and its benefits "surprisingly low." The book goes on to complain that marriage, "produce* unnecessary polarization. ... the most obvious difficulty is that religious organizations insist that they should be permitted to define marriage as they like, while same-sex couples insist that they should be able...

Maine Vote Is Focus of Gay-Marriage Fight ABBY GOODNOUGH October 27, 2009 A week before Maine voters decide whether to repeal the state’s new same-sex marriage law, donations and volunteers are pouring in to sway what both sides call a nationally significant fight. Bonnie Johnstone, a volunteer for Stand For Marriage Maine, last week called potential supporters of a bill to block gay marriage in Maine. Some of the campaign's defaced signs were displayed on the wall. Supporters of the marriage law, which the Legislature approved in May, have far more money and ground troops than opponents, who have been...

The Washington, D.C., City Council will hold hearings Monday on whether it should legalize gay marriage in the district. So far, city leaders have rejected the call for a public vote, saying marriage is a civil rights issue that should not be on the ballot. But some local pastors and other citizens believe the voters should decide in a referendum. Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America, joined the CBN News Channel’s Midday program to discuss the national implications should the law be passed. Click play to watch the interview. Also, click here for more on concern surrounding gay...

(CNN) -- Voters in Maine will decide next week whether to overturn the legislation signed by Gov. John Baldacci nearly six months ago that allows same-sex couples to wed. Baldacci, who originally opposed the legislation, said upholding the bill comes down to a fundamental understanding of equal protection and constitutional responsibility. "Initially, I had the opinion for several years that civil unions were the limitations of what I was willing to support," Baldacci said. "But, the research that I did uncovered that a civil union didn't equal a civil marriage." On May 6 when Baldacci signed the legislation, he did...

Gay rights activists stood alongside religious fundamentalists in the balcony of the state Assembly chamber last Tuesday looking down upon what could either be a monumental movement for the gay community or the solidification of traditional religious beliefs in New York state. Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s controversial program bill to legalize same-sex marriage, sponsored by Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, D-Manhattan, found its way to the Assembly floor after several weeks of stagnation. After three hours of emotional debate, the bill passed 85 to 61. ::snip:: Party lines became less clear as the bill came to the Assembly floor after an hour-long Republican...

Sweden Church Allows Gay Weddings Sweden's archbishop is broadly supportive of the move The Lutheran Church of Sweden - the country's largest - is to conduct same-sex marriages from next month. Around 70% of the church's 250-strong synod, or church board, voted to back the move, making it one of few global churches to allow gay marriage. Sweden's government introduced a new law in May allowing gay couples the same marriage rights as heterosexuals. Three-quarters of Swedes are members of the Lutheran church, though church attendance is low. The Lutheran Church says gay couples can now get married by any...

President Obama delivered an unprecedented message to the Human Rights Campaign Saturday night. Sounding more like a homosexual activist than a sitting president, Obama went well beyond his expected message of “I’m here with you” on the homosexual agenda. “My expectation is that when you look back on these years, you will see a time in which we put a stop to discrimination against gays and lesbians -- whether in the office or on the battlefield,” Obama told an estimated audience of 3,000. “You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill recognizing gay marriages sanctioned in other states during the nearly five months such unions were legal in California. Schwarzenegger says the action is consistent with a state Supreme Court ruling upholding the marriages of same-sex couples who tied the knot in California before voters approved Proposition 8. Proposition 8 is a constitutional amendment passed in November that limits marriage to a man and a woman. The bill signed by the governor late Sunday also says gay and lesbian couples who were married in other states after Proposition 8's passage have...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed two gay rights bills, one honoring late activist Harvey Milk and another recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. In the last of hundreds of bill actions taken before midnight Sunday, Schwarzenegger approved the two bills by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. The governor last year vetoed the measure declaring May 22 a state day of recognition for Milk, suggesting that the former San Francisco supervisor be honored locally. But he subsequently named him to the California Hall of Fame. Leno's SB 54, meanwhile, requires California to recognize marriages performed in other states where same...

Washington D.C., Oct 9, 2009 / 05:35 pm (CNA).- A new survey shows that a majority of Americans continue to oppose same-sex “marriage” and consider homosexual behavior immoral. However, opponents of same-sex “marriage” may have become more favorable towards allowing legal arrangements for homosexual couples.The Washington, D.C.-based Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reported that 53 percent of Americans say they are opposed to same-sex “marriage,” with only 39 percent saying they favor legal recognition for the practice.While only 30 percent of regularly churchgoing non-Hispanic white Catholics favored same-sex “marriage,” 54 percent of those who attend less than...

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Microsoft Corp. has donated $100,000 to the campaign supporting more partnership rights for Washington state gay couples. That's the largest single donation in favor of Referendum 71, which asks voters to approve or reject a new law that expands domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples.

A Dallas judge ruled Thursday that Texas' ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional as she cleared the way for two gay men to divorce, the Dallas Morning News reported. State District Judge Tena Callahan said the state’s bans on same-sex marriage violates the constitutional guarantee to equal protection under the law. While the Texas attorney general had stepped into the case to say that because a gay marriage isn’t recognized in Texas, a Texas court can’t dissolve one through divorce, Tena denied the intervention. The two Dallas men in the case married three years ago in Massachusetts, the first state...

D.C. Council member David A. Catania will introduce legislation Tuesday to allow same-sex couples to marry - a bill virtually assured passage by the council and unlikely to generate enough opposition to be overturned by the Democrat-controlled Congress. The bill, which could be given final approval by the council as early as December, would expand current laws that recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions to allow such marriages to be performed in the District. Currently, four states perform same-sex marriages. New Hampshire is scheduled to begin performing same-sex marriages in 2010, and Maine voters will consider the issue in...

<p>A judge in Dallas ruled on Thursday that the state court on which she sits has the jurisdiction to hear a divorce suit by a gay couple who were married outside Texas where same-sex marriages are banned.</p> <p>Dallas District Judge Tena Callahan said in the ruling that her court "has jurisdiction to hear a suit for divorce filed by persons legally married in another jurisdiction and who meet the residency and other prerequisites required to file for divorce in Dallas County, Texas."</p>

The National Education Association (NEA), which usually passes a dozen or more pro-homosexual resolutions every year at its annual national convention, this year in San Diego went all-out in support of same-sex marriage. This emphasis on advocacy for homosexuals was spelled out in a five-point New Business Item E. Point #1 tells its union affiliates to support state legislation that registers same-sex couples in a way that mimics marriage. This registration would cover taxes, inheritance, adoptions, medical decisions, and even immigration. Point #2 says that states can call this same-sex registration marriage or civil union or domestic partnership so long...

Carrie Prejean to Values Voter Summit: 'God Chose Me' With the Gay-Marriage Question September 18, 2009 It’s easy to make fun of beauty queens -- their plastic smiles, their bottle-blond tresses, their dreams for world peace. But Carrie Prejean, the former Miss California whose declaration that marriage should be between a man and woman earned her the vilification of some in the gay rights community, provided an unanticipated emotional highlight at a conference of Christian conservatives in Washington today. In a heartfelt talk that moved some in the crowd to tears, Prejean recounted for the 1,700 activists gathered for the...

A short time ago, President Obama's Justice Department filed a brief in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts defending the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defends the right of states to not recognize same-sex marriages from other states -- a law President Obama opposes. You can read the brief HERE. Unlike the administration's previous filing in June -- which upset gays and lesbians by seeming to compare the illegitimacy of same sex couples to incestuous couples -- this filing states right off the bat that the president opposes DOMA because it is "discriminatory." "The government’s filing continues to make...

KIEV, Ukraine – Elton John will not be able to adopt a 14-month-old Ukrainian child because the pop star is too old and isn't traditionally married, Ukraine's minister for family affairs said Monday. The pop signer toured a hospital for HIV-infected children in eastern Ukraine on Saturday as part of a charity project and said that he and his male partner David Furnish wanted to adopt an HIV-infected boy named Lev. But the country's Family, Youth and Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko told The Associated Press that adoptive parents must be married and Ukraine does not recognize homosexual unions as marriage.

House lawmakers are poised to introduce legislation that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The law, which was signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, defines marriage as between a man and a woman, and prevents same-sex married couples from receiving the same federal benefits as heterosexual married couples. Reps. Jerold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) -- who is the first openly gay member elected to the House -- plan to introduce a bill this week that would scrap DOMA. Baldwin is also gay. In the 13 years since the bill was signed into...

've decided to move out of the Sunshine State. It's a bit more chilly here than I had expected. Some may say good riddance, but I'm no longer willing to live in a place where I can't get married, can't adopt children and where there are no state laws to protect me from being fired because I'm gay. And so my partner Keith and I have decided to sell the house, load up the dogs and head north, toward a decidedly warmer climate. To those who visit here, Florida must seem somewhat schizophrenic. We sell ourselves as a great place...

OLYMPIA, Wash. (BP)--Voters in Washington state this November apparently will get to decide whether to keep or overturn the state's same-sex "everything but marriage" law, which grants homosexual couples all the legal benefits of marriage and which conservatives warn will lead to the legalization of full-fledged "gay marriage" in the state.

A coalition of gay marriage opponents asked the D.C. elections board Tuesday to authorize a ballot initiative that if approved by a majority of voters would define marriage in the District as the union of a man and a woman. Stand4MarriageDC, led by Bishop Harry Jackson of Beltsville's Hope Christian Church, filed papers with the Board of Elections and Ethics seeking authority to collect petition signatures for a November 2010 referendum on the definition of marriage. The filing, backed by the Archdiocese of Washington, comes ahead of an anticipated D.C. Council effort to legalize same-sex marriage in the District. "The...

Some of my best friends are gay. Suspiciously large numbers, it has sometimes been suggested to me. But that’s OK, I’m cool with that. What my friends get up to in the privacy of their own homes - or, indeed, the scary back room of their local boite - is very much their own affair. And if they want to get married (Hell-ooo! Why sacrifice the single greatest benefit of being gay?), well I’m probably OK with that too. I don’t believe that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice so I guess it’s only fair that gay men and women too...

Same-gender marriage is now legal in The Green Mountain State, and Ben & Jerry's has announced that it will temporarily change its "Chubby Hubby" ice cream to "Hubby Hubby" in honor of homosexual marriage. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality tells OneNewsNow that companies like Ben & Jerry's neglect to talk about the dangers of the lifestyle. "Besides the health aspects, there's also the fact that homosexual behavior is opposed by God, and that's something that we should take seriously," he contends. "All homosexual behavior is sinful, and regardless of what liberals say or what Ben & Jerry's...

Ben and Jerry's renames ice cream Hubby Hubby in celebration of gay marriage Ben and Jerry's has changed the name of one of its best-selling ice creams to Hubby Hubby, in celebration of the legalisation of gay marriage in its home state of Vermont.

Same-sex couples in Vermont began to marry on Tuesday after a law legalizing gay and lesbian marriage took effect... As couples tied the knot at the stroke of midnight, the South Burlington, Vt.-based Ben & Jerry's ice cream company renamed their popular "Chubby Hubby" flavor to "Hubby Hubby." "The legalization of marriage for gay and lesbian couples in Vermont is certainly a step in the right direction, and something worth celebrating with peace, love – and plenty of ice cream," said Ben & Jerry’s CEO Walt Freese, according to the Boston Herald. Free "Hubby Hubby" was handed out Tuesday. The...

DUXBURY, Vt. -- Vermont became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage on Tuesday at midnight, but anticipated demand has been low. Bill Slimback and Bob Sullivan waited 17 years before finally tying the knot in a midnight ceremony at a lodge in Duxbury. The couple, who planned the ceremony for late Monday, were pronounced married long before the sun rose Tuesday, when a new law legalizing same-sex marriage took effect. "I didn't think it was even going to be possible," Slimback said. "We've waited so long to do it, but there are many other people behind us." Justice of...

Sen. Ted Kennedy was the secret critical force in the background that caused the Massachusetts Legislature to deny the people the right to vote on the Marriage Amendment, it was revealed this week. Less than 48 hours after Kennedy's passing, the homosexual newspaper Bay Windows published an article by Marc Solomon, who at that time ran MassEquality, the main homosexual lobby group trying to stop the amendment. Ted Kennedy personally pressured enough conservative Democrats (and even "libertarian-leaning" Republicans) who the homosexual lobby was targeting, to change their votes on that the measure to allow a public vote would be defeated....

Former Miss USA runnerup Carrie Prejean is firing back at California pageant officials with a lawsuit that claims the state organization discriminated against her religious beliefs, caused her emotional distress and engaged in slander, her lawyer confirmed to FOXNews.com Monday. The 22-year-old beauty queen filed a complaint Monday morning in Los Angeles Superior Court against K2 Productions (the franchise that operates the Miss California Organization) as well as co-executive directors Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler and publicist Roger Neal. Prejean lost her crown three months ago for what state pageant officials claimed was a “breach of contract” and failure to...

Lawmakers in Uruguay passed a measure last week that would allow homosexual couples to adopt children, despite the strong opposition from the Catholic Church, voiced recently by Archbishop Nicolas Cotugno of Montevideo and other community leaders. The measure passed by a vote of 53-40 and was a modified version of the bill approved by the Uruguayan Senate on July 15. Now it must be sent back to the Senate for debate. In response to the bill’s passage, which comes two years after the country legalized gay unions, the spokesman for the group National Coordinator for Life, Nestor Martinez, called it...

Fifteen years ago, in his first book, Dead Right, David Frum identified several challenges facing Republicans. He cited the “fundamental contradiction” of William Weld, at the time governor of Massachusetts, who thought he could be a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. Frum recounted how this Republican blue-blood, unable to reconcile the two positions, evolved into a thoroughgoing liberal who pushed through huge budget increases, in much the same way that John Stuart Mill, who objected to the social conservatism of his day, ended up a socialist. Had this disconnect been limited to one governor in one state, Frum’s point...

New York City, N.Y., Aug 29, 2009 / 07:24 am (CNA).- The Thomas More Society of Chicago has filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the New York State Catholic Conference concerning whether N.Y. should recognize out-of-state same-sex "marriages" that have been contracted in states which recognize the practice.The Thomas More Society’s brief argues that recognition of such unions would undermine a natural and social institution and is not required by New York precedents governing the recognition of out-of-state marriages."A lower court said that New York state can recognize an out-of-state same-sex marriage, which does not make sense. A...

Barack Obama sure has a strange way of showing his much-touted support for traditional "marriage." On Aug. 17, Obama's Justice Department filed a legal brief against DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, which was signed into law by the last Democrat to occupy the Oval Office: Bill Clinton. Weeks before that, Obama's administration had defended DOMA, setting off a flurry of protests from his gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender-whatever allies. DOMA — which only Congress can repeal — passed overwhelmingly in 1996 with bipartisan consensus (a mere 14 Democratic Senators voted "No"). It protects states from being forced to recognize out-of-state "gay marriages." Its...

ACLU’s Request to Jail Lisa Miller Fails in Virginia Court August 25, 2009 www.LC.org Winchester, VA – Earlier today, Liberty Counsel appeared in court to defend Lisa Miller from a complaint filed by the ACLU of Virginia on behalf of Janet Jenkins. The ACLU asked the judge to order Lisa to jail for not delivering her own daughter, Isabella, to Vermont for unsupervised visitation with Janet. The ACLU also requested Lisa to pay attorneys fees and costs. No jail time was ordered and the court rejected the ACLU’s request for money. Although the court ruled that Lisa had violated a...