Marlboro High School Gay Straight Alliance

gaywrites:

The Secretary of State’s office in Washington announced yesterday that marriage equality in the state will be decided by a vote in November. 

Opponents of the recently passed marriage equality law turned in nearly 250,000 signatures calling for the measure to be placed on the ballot, far more than they needed to make the ballot. Washington joins Maine, Minnesota and Maryland as the fourth state to vote on marriage equality this November. 

Details from the Advocate:

One reason for activists to be hopeful in Washington is it’s one of the few states ever to pass a measure at the ballot box that affirmed same-sex relationships. In 2009 voters passed Referendum 71, which kept in place the state’s “everything but marriage” version of domestic partnerships. A recent poll in Washington by Strategies 360 found that 54% of voters say same-sex couples should be able to legally marry.

The new measure will be called Referendum 74 and voters can either “approve” or “reject” the new marriage equality law.

Washington friends - get ready. We can’t let this one go. We can do it. 

gaywrites:

Last night’s episode of Glee introduced The Glee Project’s Alex Newell as Wade/Unique, the first transgender character to appear on the show.

Wade approaches the group asking to perform onstage wearing a dress as the “alter ego” of Unique. Though it’s not made perfectly clear whether Wade/Unique is trans* or in drag, this summary from PopCrush seems to provide a pretty sound argument that Wade is trans*:

But even Kurt, it seems, has a lot to learn. When Kurt advises Wade not to become Unique on stage, it is evident that he doesn’t understand what trans people go through. “You identify as a man,” Wade tells him, and when Unique takes the stage, it’s obvious that this is who Wade is. Unique is the true identity, and Wade is the fiction. Unique, of course, brings the house down with her moves.

What did you think of Wade/Unique?

gaywrites:

The legal battle to decide the fate of the Defense of Marriage Act continued yesterday in Boston, though there’s no clear end in sight just yet.

A three-judge panel of a federal appeals court heard arguments yesterday regarding DOMA’s constitutionality. A group of seven married couples and three widowers fought for the panel to uphold decisions from 2010 that deemed DOMA unconstitutional.

The Advocate.com article linked above is rather long and chock-full of details, so if you’re interested in hearing more about what went down, it’s a great resource for the full story. A particularly nice moment in the proceedings:

“What federal interest is served by only singling out the marriages of same-sex couples for this disrespect?” she asked. “What’s the justification for singling out that group for different treatment?”

“We believe that DOMA is an irrational, arbitrary classification of gay people for it own sake, and not for any other purpose,” said Bonauto, who also challenged the “uniqueness” analysis from Clement in reference to the 1996 context. “The one constant about marriage law has been change,” she said.

There’s no timeline on a decision at this point, though it’s likely this will be appealed to the Supreme Court. Stay tuned, as this is certainly not over.

gaywrites:

Dan Savage’s It Gets Better project will be featured on TV as an MTV/LOGO special on February 21. 

The hourlong special will focus on three “young people struggling with LGBT issues” and will include appearances by LGBT celebrities like Zachary Quinto and Chaz Bono. Dan Savage, of course, will host. There’s a preview clip at the link above. 

Some of you have very strong feelings, both positive and negative, about Dan Savage. What do you think of this news? Is TV a good forum for It Gets Better’s message? Is this just a way to spotlight Savage? Will this make a difference?