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This will probably be the most touching thing you'll view all day.

via Digital Journal

New Zealand has become the 13th nation and the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage after parliament voted to amend the nation's marriage act on Wednesday.

The New Zealand Herald reports that the public gallery erupted in jubilation after the legislature's 77-44 vote was announced. Lawmakers then embraced and exchanged congratulations as the gallery, and some MPs, sang a waiata, the New Zealand love song "Pokarekare Ana." Hundreds of LGBT advocates also celebrated outside parliament after the historic vote.

While same-sex civil unions have been legal in New Zealand since 2005, the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill updates a 1955 law in order to "ensure that all people, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity will have the opportunity to marry if they so choose."

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With the Supreme Court agreeing to take up the issue of gay marriage in their next term, The Daily Show's Jon Stewart reminded his viewers just what we're up against in the coming years no matter how the court ends up ruling on the cases.

He took some shots at Lindsey Graham, who when appearing with his "two amigos," Droopy Dog Lieberman and Grandpa McGrumpy on Piers Morgan's show earlier this week, compared gay marriage to polygamy. And then there's Antonin Scalia, who left little doubt about how he's going to rule, when he compared homosexuality to murder.

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via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Love made history in Seattle on Thursday.

In the predawn darkness 300 couples got licenses that will allow them to marry their same-sex partner.

The event began at 12:01 a.m. as men and women stood in line to take advantage of the marriage law that the Legislature passed early this year and voters approved in November.

They formed an eager, festive crowd, with couples young and old braving a night-time chill and wee-hours wait for the chance to make history at the normally dull King County Administration building. Supporters cheered for them with roses, coffee, hand-warmers and serenades of "Going to the Chapel."

The licensing marathon was expected to last more than 18 hours. By 6 a.m., more than 300 licenses had been issued.
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Nationally known sex-advice columnist Dan Savage and his partner were also among the first couples to pick up a marriage license.

"It's really a remarkable journey we've been on and such a remarkable sea change," he said. "And not just for gay people, but straight people have changed, too. It's gotten better for us because straight people have gotten better about us."

King County issued 1,889 marriage licenses to heterosexual couples during July. It expects to equal that number in the first three days of licensing.

"The marriages will be the real fun," said George Bakan, editor-in-chief of Seattle Gay News. On the other side of James Street, City Hall will play host to 142 marriage ceremonies on Sunday, the first day that same-sex couples can get hitched.

Dan Savage is planning something special on Sunday at City Hall.

On Sunday, Dan Savage, gay columnist and founder of the It Gets Better Project, plans to host a mass same-sex wedding inside Seattle City Hall, reports Towleroad. Savage teamed up with set designer Jen Zeyl to create beautiful, intimate settings more than 140 couples wanting to get married at City Hall, and will be orchestrating the mass weddings free of charge.

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Here we go again with Pastor Rick Warren making idiotic remarks about gay people. Rick Warren: Same sex marriage like punching a guy in the nose:

Megachurch pastor Rick Warren on Tuesday night said that same sex relationships would still be sinful even if they were natural.

“It wouldn’t bother me if there was a ‘gay gene’ found,” he told CNN host Piers Morgan.

“Here’s what we know about life,” Warren continued. “I have all kinds of natural feelings in my life and it doesn’t necessarily mean that I should act on every feeling. Sometimes I get angry and feel like punching a guy in the nose. That doesn’t mean I act on it. Sometimes I feel attracted to women who are not my wife. I don’t act on it. Just because I have a feeling doesn’t make it right. Not everything natural is good for me. Arsenic is natural.”

Here's more from Think Progress:

On CBS This Morning this week, Warren similarly defended his anti-gay positions by claiming that he can be “tolerant” and “accepting” without being “approving.” Though he may not act on his attractions to women who are not his wife, he seems to gloss over the fact that he did have the opportunity to act on his attractions to her by marrying her. By advocating against same-sex marriage, he works to prevent gays and lesbians from having the same security of a lasting partnership.

Warren has a long history of opposing marriage equality. Four years ago, he defended his support of California’s Proposition 8 by claiming that same-sex marriage is “equivalent” to incest, pedophilia, and polygamy. He also claimed that gays are “evil” and have “Christ-o-phobia.” Warren tries to offset his anti-gay beliefs by boasting his anti-AIDS work in Africa, but he has ties to conservative anti-gay leaders in Uganda who oppose using condoms to prevent transmission of HIV. The results of his particular efforts are unclear, but studies have shown that abstinence-only efforts have failed to lower HIV rates in Africa, and anti-gay stigma also contributes to the epidemic.

Full transcript below the fold.

Continue reading »

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Conservative columnist Ann Coulter asserted on Sunday that Democrats were making a mistake by "dropping the blacks" in favor of Hispanics because rights for LGBT people and immigrants are not true civil rights.

ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked Coulter what she meant in her lasted book, "Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama," when she wrote that feminists, LGBT activists and immigrants rights groups had "commandeered the blacks' civil rights experience."

"The way that liberals have treated blacks like children, many of their policies have been harmful to blacks," Coulter declared. "We do have a legacy of slavery and Jim Crow laws. We don't owe the homeless, we don't owe the feminists, we don't owe women who are desirous of having abortions or gays who want to get married to one another. That's what 'civil rights' have become for much of the left."

"Immigrant rights are not civil rights?" Stephanopoulos pressed.

"No, I think civil rights are for blacks," Coulter insisted. "What have we done to the immigrants? We owe black people something, we have a legacy of slavery. Immigrants haven't even been in this country."

Univision's Jorge Ramos pointed out that if Republicans continued to refuse to embrace Latinos, "they're going to lose not only this election, they might lose the White House for a generation."

"That's why Democrats are dropping the blacks and moving on to the Hispanics," Coulter explained. "There are a larger group of Hispanics now."

"You can have open borders or you can have a welfare state. You cannot have both," she added. "When you have a big government giving out all sorts of things then you have to care very much who the immigrants are -- and it ought to be for something other than who lives within walking distance."

A really funny parody by Kate Lambert where gays can turn the rights denied them into cold hard cash. As she says:

“Are you a citizen of the United States and a member of the LGBT community?Do you have civil liberties you can’t use? Did you know that due to your sexual orientation, you might have over a thousand federal benefits lying around collecting dust?…Now’s your chance to turn these denied rights into cash!”

Lambert's previous effort, How to Sponsor a Uterus is also highly recommended.

via videographer Mimi Schiffman.

In a small school a little north and a little west of downtown Durham, N.C., a group of eleven-, twelve- and thirteen-year-olds has been busy organizing a field-trip.

Watch as a middle school's gay-straight alliance, GLOW, for Gay Lesbian or Whatever, embarks on an adventure in civic engagement with real consequences for many of the club's members.

"They don’t really see kids as having an idea of how they want their future to be like," said Sarah, a GLOW member, "but when we actually voice our opinion it really does make a difference.

Open Thread below....

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A reminder that an astonishing 13,686 service members were discharged due to the stupid and asinine "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Hopefully scenes such as this one will become commonplace.

via WVEC.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) -- A Navy tradition caught up with the repeal of the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule on Wednesday when two women sailors became the first to share the coveted "first kiss" on the dock after one of them returned from 80 days at sea.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta of Placerville, Calif., descended from the USS Oak Hill amphibious landing ship and shared a quick kiss with her partner, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell of Los Angeles. The crowd screamed and waved flags around them.

Both women, ages 22 and 23 respectively, are fire controlmen in the Navy. They met at training school and have been dating for two years.

Navy officials said it was the first time on record that a same-sex couple was chosen to kiss first upon a ship's return. Sailors and their loved ones bought $1 raffle tickets for the opportunity.

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Rick Perry got a bit more than he bargained for today in Ames. The rousing send-off from Iowa he'd hoped for met with a chorus of catcalls.

Perry's ad "Strong" has now been viewed over 5,000,000 times at YouTube, and has more "dislikes" than Rebecca Black's song "Friday", the previous holder for "most hated video" on YouTube.

via the Des Moines Register:

Ames, Ia. – A packed coffee house where Rick Perry spoke this afternoon turned into a bit of a ruckus that left the candidate bolting to his vehicle after several Iowans screamed questions about his comments regarding gay and lesbian families.

“Why do you hate gays so much,” one screamed as Perry wrapped up a rather typical campaign stop and avoided taking any questions from the audience.

“Go back to Texas” another screamed from the back of Cafe Diem coffee shop in Ames.
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Perry soon left the coffee shop and was on his way out when a young boy asked if he would give him an autograph. Perry gave him a signature and bolted for his vehicle.
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Got to “head back to the land,” Perry, who is returning to Texas today, said as he jumped into the vehicle.

Jesus Christ of Nazareth would like to take this opportunity to refute Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry's most recent TV ad.