The Washington State Senate has approved SB 6239, a bill granting marriage equality, in a 28-21 vote. It now moves on to the House, where its passage is all but assured, then to the desk of Governor Gregoire, who
started the process earlier this year and has promised to sign it.
But,
then what? As in 2009, when citizens voted 53-47 in favor of
Referendum 71 to reject overturning the legislature's domestic partnership bill, the bill will likely be subject to a citizen referendum, rendering it temporarily inactive until approved by popular vote. A recent poll found that
55% of voters would approve that measure. If that holds true, same-sex marriages could begin in Washington State starting December 7th, 2012.
posted by 0xFCAF
on Feb 2, 2012 -
70 comments
On the same day that NJ governor Chris Christie
announced that he has nominated an openly gay African-American Republican mayor to the state’s highest court, Washington state's legislature has
announced that they have the votes to pass the same sex-marriage bill that the governor has already promised to sign. Washington will be the seventh state to have same sex marriages.
[more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen
on Jan 23, 2012 -
70 comments
Ottawa does about face on same-sex marriage for non-Canadians. The Harper government has served notice that thousands of same-sex couples who flocked to Canada from abroad since 2004 to get married are not legally wed. The reversal of federal policy is revealed in a document filed in a Toronto test case launched recently by a lesbian couple seeking a divorce.... The government’s hard line has cast sudden doubt on the rights and legal status of couples who wed in Canada after a series of court decisions opened the floodgates to same-sex marriage. The mechanics of determining issues such as tax status, employment benefits and immigration have been thrown into legal limbo. [The lesbian couple's] divorce application will be considered next month by an Ontario Superior Court judge. They are asking the judge to either craft an exemption allowing them to divorce or to strike down any legislative provision that has the effect of preventing them from doing so. [more inside]
posted by maudlin
on Jan 12, 2012 -
116 comments
A man finds out the
story of his parents' second date.
[Warning: may cause dust to be attracted to your eye]
posted by shothotbot
on Oct 23, 2011 -
33 comments
This week
Pat Robertson (controversial as always) addressed an uncomfortable question. What are we obligated to do when our spouse becomes completely incapacitated? This is a relatively common situation for the elderly, one person declining faster than the other, but the same questions remain as with a couple in their thirties. Do you live with celibacy, divorce or commit infidelity?
Dan Savage’s rules on cheating include a pass for caregiver/spouses in this situation to preserve the marriage. Things can become more difficult when the
sexual relationship does not end after a partner becomes infirm.
posted by Blisterlips
on Sep 15, 2011 -
96 comments
Statistical analysis of OKCupid profiles exposes some sexually fascinating revelations:
-
Herbivores like giving oral more than omnivores
- Twitter users are more likely to masturbate today
- Christians and Atheists are just as likely to claim they have
never masturbated
- The correlation between men who prefer gentle sex & use of the word 'boating'
I f**king love statistics
[more inside]
posted by 0bvious
on Aug 31, 2011 -
75 comments
His vows:
"We come here today in defiance of biological reality. We know that mammals are not monogamous (except for a few species of meadow vole with abnormally high levels of endogenous oxytocin) ..."
Her vows:
"Your vows make it clear why I love you: your intellectual rigour, and your honesty, and your eloquence, and the way you leaven these with profanity – they’re the very things that I fell for, even before you made an x-rated cephalopod reference on a rooftop patio ..." [more inside]
posted by memebake
on Aug 30, 2011 -
14 comments
"I'm trying to get to a point where I accept that marriage may never happen for me."
Audrey belongs to the most unmarried group of people in the U.S.: black women. Nearly 70% of black women are unmarried, and the racial gap in marriage spans the socioeconomic spectrum, from the urban poor to well-off suburban professionals.
African-American Professor of Law Ralph Richard Banks has an intriguing solution:
Interracial marriage.
posted by Brandon Blatcher
on Aug 7, 2011 -
183 comments
Early this morning,
the law that legalized Same-Sex Marriage in New York State
went into effect, with many couples choosing to tie the knot
at the stroke of midnight. In New York City, the city clerk will be working overtime to process marriage licenses for the 823 same-sex couples expected to wed there today, having adding extra capacity to ensure that all couples who signed up in advance would not be turned away. LGBT weddings are
expected to bring an additional $155 million in tourism revenues into the state over the next 12 months, and governor Andrew Cuomo's
approval ratings are currently the highest of any US state governor following the passage of the bill.
posted by schmod
on Jul 24, 2011 -
149 comments
Kudzu and the California Marriage Amendment
Proposition 8
Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry: Initiative Constitutional Amendment
SECTION I. Title
This measure shall be known and may be cited as the "California Marriage Protection Act."
SECTION 2. Article I. Section 7.5 is added to the California Constitution, to read:
Sec. 7.5. Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.
The biggest problem is that laws like the California initiative will make the courts decide who is male and who is female — and all available decision criteria create unavoidable miscarriages of justice that will, or should, dismay initiative proponents.
You're probably thinking, about now, that I'm going to exaggerate the sex-definitional 1 problem: Probably, you and everyone you know is unambiguously male or female — or at least has always believed himself or herself to be so, and nobody's challenged that, and nobody's likely to.
That's true, absolutely: Only maybe one live birth in 100 has some non-standard sex anatomy, and genetic anomalies are slightly rarer than that. However, let's talk about those 1-in-100 or 1-in-1000 cases — because those could be you, or your aunt, or your best friend — and because our system of law has to deal with 1-in-1000 situations, too.
posted by robbyrobs
on Jul 21, 2011 -
50 comments
Divorce rates are higher than ever?
Think again.
A large majority—92%—of children whose families make more than $75,000 a year live with two parents (including step-parents). At the bottom of the income scale—families earning less than $15,000—only 20% of children live with two parents.
Of those who first tied the knot between 1975 and 1979, 29% were divorced within ten years. Among those who first married between 1990 and 1994, only 16.5% were.
posted by lohmannn
on Jul 20, 2011 -
40 comments
The Harvard Study of Adult Development is the longest prospective study of mental and physical well-being ever conducted. For 72 years, researchers at Harvard have been following 824 individuals through war, career, marriage and divorce, parenthood and grandparenthood, and old age. Designer
Laura Javier took ten of those cases and visualized them in the
Elements of Happiness.
[via flowingdata]
posted by anifinder
on Jun 27, 2011 -
13 comments
The Honeymoon From Hell. Stefan and Erika Svanstrom had planned a long trip that would start in Singapore in early December and end in China four months later.
But things didn't go exactly as planned. They encountered floods, fires, tsunamis and earthquakes along the way.
posted by mannequito
on May 6, 2011 -
14 comments
1. Tin Huey T-Shirt.
2. A silk-screened poster from the Sept. 22, 2000, Mary Timony (of Helium) concert in Oberlin, Ohio.
3. "Crazy Rhythms" by the Feelies (on white vinyl).
4. A big-ass dining room table.
5. The Futon.
6. One audio MiniDisc of the Black Keys' first live performance, July 2002.
7. 7. One black-and-white photo of Patrick and me, taken in 2003, at Apple Studios.
A marriage, and divorce, in seven mementos.
posted by Horace Rumpole
on Mar 3, 2011 -
28 comments
Right before the
10th anniversary of the first same-sex marriage in Canada, Saskatchewan's highest court has
ruled that a proposed law allowing provincial marriage commissioners to refuse to wed same-sex couples is unconstitutional.
Thecourt.ca gives its thoughts on the decision and the social context surrounding it.
posted by Lemurrhea
on Jan 19, 2011 -
40 comments
Will Canada be the first developed nation to decriminalise
Polygamy? After Charter challenges legalised
orgies, prostitution (most recently "living off the avails"),
same-sex marriages, non-sexual
adult interdependent relationships, common-law marraiges and
multiple legally recognised spouses in Saskatchewan, the West Coast is now hosting a unique reference case in B.C.'s superior court considering whether section 293 of the Canadian Criminal Code is
legal under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
[more inside]
posted by saucysault
on Nov 22, 2010 -
119 comments
Time Magazine (with commentary from
Jezebel) look at the question - why would people get married in 2010? These are reports based on a Pew Research
survey that complements results with findings from census data.
[more inside]
posted by k8t
on Nov 18, 2010 -
104 comments
