http://whatmarriagemeans.org Just another WordPress weblog Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:18:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The historic Proposition 8 trial in California is nearing the final stages as lawyers on both sides of the same-sex marriage argument set out their views on the evidence presented throughout the course of the trial lasting much of January.  Conservative republican and former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson is ... http://whatmarriagemeans.org/2010/03/conservative-republican-ted-olson-defends-right-to-marry-in-california/ The District of Columbia started issuing marriage licensesto same-sex couples at 12:01 am as part of the city's new civil marriage equality law. According to the Washington Post, at least fifty couples lined up before District office opened to get licenses, and hundreds are expected throughout the day. The new law ... http://whatmarriagemeans.org/2010/03/marriage-equality-has-its-first-day-in-the-nations-capitol/ Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler issued an opinon that Maryland law requires the state to recognize same-sex unions performed in other states: The opinion appears to place Maryland alongside New York in its view of out-of-state gay marriages. Until now, New York was the only state that didn't perform same-sex weddings ... http://whatmarriagemeans.org/2010/02/maryland-attorney-general-state-to-recognize-same-sex-unions/ A poll conducted for the Washington Post shows that a majority of voters back the right to marry for all couples regardless of their sexual orientation. The poll does show a significant racial divide on the subject; while eithty-three percent of white voters back marriage equality, only thirty-seven percent of African ... http://whatmarriagemeans.org/2010/02/poll-backs-marriage-equality-in-the-nations-capitol/ CBS News reports that Cindy McCain, the wife of 2008 Republican Presidential Nominee Senator John McCain publicly joined the fight for the right for marriage equality. Appearing in a photoshoot by Adam Bouska with tape over her mouth and a "NOH8" logo on her face, McCain is hoping her position ... http://whatmarriagemeans.org/2010/01/cindy-mccain-joins-the-fight-for-marriage-equality/ Reuters analyzes one of the central claims made against same-sex marriage, whether gays can raise children: The quality of the relationship between the child and the parents, the relationship between the parents, and the economic resources available to the family, were the top issues for healthy children,' [Michael Lamb, head of ... http://whatmarriagemeans.org/2010/01/prop-8-trial-highlights-gays-ability-to-raise-children/ Noted New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, opines on the unique legal team of former Solicitor General Ted Olson and prominent Democratic attorney David Boies, as they tackle the most significant legal challenge to restrictions on same-sex marriage: In 2000, Olson and Boies sparred with each other in Washington over which candidate ... http://whatmarriagemeans.org/2010/01/maureen-dowd-on-olson-boies-and-obama/ Conservative Fox News Contributor and member of the Advisory Board of the America Foundation For Equal Rights, Margaret Hoover, penned a column for Fox News why she as a Republican is joing the fight to give gay and lesbian couples the right to marry. I encourage everyone, but especially Republicans, to consider Mr. Olson’s ... http://whatmarriagemeans.org/2010/01/conservatives-join-the-fight-for-marriage-equality/ As former United States Solicitor General Ted Olson and prominent Democratic attorney David Boies begin their trial seeking to overturn California's Proposition 8, Olson has penned a column in Newsweek. Many of my fellow conservatives have an almost knee-jerk hostility toward gay marriage. This does not make sense, because same-sex unions ... http://whatmarriagemeans.org/2010/01/ted-olson-and-marriage-equality-take-center-stage/ Predominately Catholic Portugal will become the sixth Europoean nation to pass legislation giving gay and lesbian couples to marry. "This law rights a wrong," the prime minister, Jose Socrates, said in a speech to politicians, adding that it "simply ends pointless suffering". Socrates said the measure was part of his effort to ... http://whatmarriagemeans.org/2010/01/portugal-backs-gay-marriage/