Gay Weddings are Good for Business

Washington State became the seventh U.S. state (plus D.C.) to legalize gay marriage on Monday when Governor Gregoire signed the marriage equality bill into law.  This is very exciting and you should definitely get your business ready. Opponents of marriage equality still may try to stop it from going into effect on June 7 - so the matter is not yet settled - but this is a huge step forward.  Go forth and prosper!

• The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which states that the Federal Government does not recognize gay marriage performed by individual states, is being challenged by GLAD, the attorneys behind the case which first legalized gay marriage in Massachusetts.  This is notable because DOMA affects just about everything else I'm talking about below...
• Senator Harry Reid's immigration reform framework includes a proposal which would allow American partners of immigrants to sponsor the immigrant for citizenship.  This is a reaction to the Defense of Marriage Act.
• Time Magazine wrote an interesting article about the gay divorce cases in Texas which may accidentally end up legalizing gay marriage in that state.
• A great article explaining the confusion around how same-sex couples can be married in one state and not married in another.
• Seton Hall University is offering a political science course on gay marriage.  This is notable because Seton Hall is a Catholic university.
• The Governor of Hawaii is still undecided on whether she will sign the civil unions bill, says it's very much the equivalent to same-sex marriage (which she doesn't support).
• Four couples in Minnesota filed a lawsuit seeking gay marriage.  Its chances of being approved are slim and other marriage equality activists are afraid the timing is off and the backlash could result in an outright ban.
• New York City, which has a domestic partnership registry, now will offer a civil ceremony as part of the registry service at City Hall.  Note that this is different than legal gay marriage but is intended as a symbolic gesture.

Though not directly related to gay marriage or gay weddings, President Obama's mandate this week provides a significant right to partners of gays and lesbians....read on....

In the U.S.:

• President Obama issued a mandate which requires hospitals to extend visitation and decision-making rights to the partners of gay men and lesbians.  This right is something all straight married couples have, but because of DOMA, has been denied same-sex couples.  This mandate is a REALLY big deal!  
• Social Security benefits are still not offered to same sex-couples, however, and there was a protest to this effect last week in LA.  This kicks off a national campaign challenging this policy.
• A new proposition to overturn Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California (though a ballot initiative), failed to get enough support to appear on the 2010 ballot.  Another attempt will be made in 2012 and there's still an active legal challenge to Proposition 8.

Iowa celebrated one year of gay marriage this week.  Read more on that story and some other gay marriage and wedding highlights from around the world.

In the U.S.

• New Jersey lawmakers are attempting to stop a court from hearing a case challenging existing civil unions as separate and unequal.  That case is the latest attempt to pave the way for gay marriage in New Jersey.
• Iowa's had gay marriage now for one year and the sky has not fallen.  As of the end of 2009, 1773 same-sex couples married, with over 1000 from non-Iowa residents.  Illinois alone had 172 same-sex couples marry in Iowa, followed by Missouri, Nebraska and Minnesota.  Despite opposition by Republican gubernatorial candidates, same-sex marriage appears secure in Iowa for the time being.
• The majority of Californians recently polled now support same-sex marriage.  California had gay marriage for six months before its repeal after a ballot initiative in 2008.

There wasn't too much excitement this week in the world of gay marriage except for a couple of postponements in critical rulings regarding gay marriage in Italy and Malawi.  What's happening in your neck of the woods?

Local news:

• Once again a DC Senator is trying to ban gay marriage, this time by tacking on an amendment to the recent health care law.  Gay marriage has been in effect in DC for several weeks now
• In California, the court challenge to Proposition 8 is stalled because the marriage equality supporters don't want to give up campaign paperwork to the opponents of marriage equality.
• At least 25% of the couples applying for marriage licenses in DC are from Maryland, the neighboring state whose Attorney General just agreed to recognize these legal marriages.

And around the world:

• The President of Portugal sent the gay marriage bill that came to his desk over to the Constitutional Court for review, claiming that he doubts its constitutionality.  Portugal's Parliament approved the bill last month.

Happy Friday and welcome to the weekly gay marriage news roundup.  This week had some interesting developments. I'm particularly interested to see what happens with gay divorce in Texas.  Here we go!

This is the week that gay marriage began in the nation's capital.  Truly a historic day.  Let's start with that and explore the other gay marriage and wedding news of the week!

Where do I begin?  It was a fantastic week for gay marriage, with it beginning in both DC and Mexico City of all places.  Mexico City is especially notable because it's such a Catholic country.  Here we go....

It seemed like there was something newsworthy about gay marriage every day this week, with the highlight being the decision in Maryland.  Read on to see what I mean:

In this weeks gay marriage and wedding news...