Wal-Mart is the single biggest U.S. employer
outside of the federal government. More than half of its 1.3 million
U.S. employees are on its health-care plans. The company said it does
not know how many workers would use either of the new benefits.
Wal-Mart's extension of health insurance
to domestic partners comes after the U.S. Supreme Court in June forced
the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages in states where
it is legal. The Supreme Court also paved the way for same-sex marriage
in California.
"Since we operate in
all 50 states, we thought it was important to develop a single
definition for all Wal-Mart associates in the U.S.," spokesman David
Tovar said.
Employees' domestic
partners can be covered if they are legal spouses, not legally
separated; or a domestic partner of same or opposite gender in an
ongoing, exclusive relationship similar to marriage for at least 12
months with the intention to continue sharing a household indefinitely,
he said.
One of the killers of the Colorado civil unions bill has a gay son who is none-too-happy about what has father did.
An adamantly homophobic middle school teacher in Kansas has, thus far, gone unpunished for anti-gay statements on his Facebook page (the principle is looking into it).
Rep Mike Coffman (R-CO), who has tried to look like a moderate, stepped in it by saying President Obama is "not an American."
A Virginia legislator thinks that, contrary to what the Supreme Court said in Lawrence v. Texas, sodomy (which is technically ANY unreproductive sex act) is not a civil right. I don't always agree with SCOTUS (Citizens United for example), but I'll take their opinion on this over a homophobe..
Another side effect of President Obama publicly supporting marriage equality is that more prominent people in the black community are also voicing their support.
Bristol Palin is claiming to be the victim
in the wake of negative response she got to her statement on Barack
Obama supporting marriage equality. I say if she can't stand the heat,
stay out of politics (and stop trying to give the President of the
United States parenting advice).
The legislation was voted down by Republican lawmakers on 5-to-4 vote
along party lines after more than two hours of emotional testimony in
the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, where it was
assigned Monday by Republican leadership in the House of
Representatives.
“Even as nearly a dozen courageous Republicans are standing on the right
side of history and supporting civil unions, House leadership is
pandering to the far-right fringe of their party,” Brad Clark, executive
director of One Colorado, a statewide gay and lesbian advocacy group, said in a statement after the vote...
...But if the special session breathed fresh life back into the legislation, it was short lived.
On Monday, despite the urgings of civil-union supporters who rallied at
the Capitol in Denver, House Speaker Frank McNulty, a Republican from
Highlands Ranch, assigned the bill to the state affairs committee, which
was dominated by opponents of the legislation.
Credit still goes to Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper for calling the legislature back for a special session to try to pass this bill. Yet again, conservatives try to stand in the way of progress and justice. They can only fight the long defeat for so long.
After President Obama's announcement on marriage equality, the Log Cabin Republicans (a conservative gay group) praised him...by calling the announcement callous and offensive. I don't understand their "logic" either.
Based on information from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, gay men face higher rates of hate crimes than Jews, blacks, lesbians, etc.
In the wake of Amendment One's passage, a petition is circulating asking the Democratic Party to take their convention out of North Carolina. Because of North Carolina's importance to the national election, I doubt the DNC will take heed (but I signed it anyway on principle).
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
In a monthly newsletter, a Republican group in Greene County Virginia is suggesting an armed revolution if President Obama is reelected.
Support for the "Buffett Rule" just came from a place where no one looked for it: actor Will Smith.
As time ran out for a vote on civil unions in Colorado, the Governor called for a special session to vote on the bill.
The April jobs report will come out after this gets posted, but there may be some good news on the jobs front.
The wife of a North Carolina senator may have spurred a racial backlash against Amendment One. We can only hope.
Chelsea Clinton has written a letter on behalf of Protect ALL NC Families opposing Amendment One.
A GSA from a North Carolina junior high school are making their stance on Amendment One known. Thank the good Lord for the next generation.
Despite Campbell University School of Law (a conservative Baptist university) being officially for Amendment One, most of the school's students signed this resolution.
An interfaith/humanist coalition is urging President Obama to live up to a campaign promise and sign an employment non-discrimination executive order.
Rhode Island civil unions have been dubbed a "complete failure." This is not at all surprising. After all, separate but equal IS inherently unequal and gay couples know that they deserve full equality.
And lastly, The Young Turks take on the Grenall Saga in incredibly accurate fashion.
"Constitutional amendment to provide that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State."
That is the actual text of the law in question. There is just over a month's time until North Carolina's Amendment 1 will be put to the state's voters (the vote will take place on May 8th). Recent reports have said that most North Carolinians are against the amendment...once they know what it actually does. Unfortunately, many of those very same reports say that a large swath of voters DO NOT know what the amendment actually does. Some even think that it legalizes/recognizes same-sex unions in the state. So, before voters head to the polls to vote on this amendment, here is what you need to know about this law.
-Amendment 1 constitutionally bans the recognition of same-sex unions (which is already done statutorily).
-Amendment 1 constitutionally bans the recognition of same-sex domestic partnerships AND civil unions
-Amendment 1 constitutionally bans the recognition of OPPOSITE-SEX domestic partnerships and civil unions.
-Amendment 1 will harm victims of domestic abuse by invalidating domestic abuse/stalking laws (which happened in Ohio).
-Amendment 1 has been denounced by some of the very politicians who voted for it in the legislature.
-Amendment 1's author is on record as predicting that, if passed, it will be overturned within 2 decades.
-Amendment 1is bad for North Carolina's economy as stated by an executive from Bank of America (head-quartered in Charlotte, NC).
-Amendment 1 is not conservative because it makes government more intrusive in people's lives.
-Amendment 1 will harm families, children, and the elderly by making them ineligible for various legal/financial benefits.
In other words, this law has zero redeeming qualities, not only because of its obvious homophobia, but also because it was so very poorly written and rushed through the state's legislature. The effects of this law will go far beyond the LGBT community and potentially harm thousands upon thousands of other North Carolinians. You can find out even more about the negative effects of this mockery of democracy here:
If you have friends, family, coworkers, or whomever in the state of North Carolina, help to get the word out that they need to vote against this legislation. Every vote will count and every voice needs to be heard.
Across the border in Minnesota, Governor Mark Dayton had something to say about the "sanctity of marriage" hypocrisy in that states' legislature (the state has a proposed constitutional marriage equality ban on the ballot next November).
If you're wondering what exactly they're talking about, this article gives you the low-down, as well as a reaction from Minnesota's LGBT community on the second page (which is pretty awesome).
John Lawrence, as in "Lawrence v. Texas" (which in 2003 ruled that anti-sodomy laws in the U.S are unconstitutional) passed away this past Friday.
Newt Gingrich
Mitt Romney falsely claims that the Obama administration has not created any jobs. Then again, he also falsely claimed that corporations are people, so his "facts" are less than stellar.
Since this piece aired earlier today, the North Carolina Senate has also passed this mockery of democracy which will go on to the ballot in May. The timing of this ballot is purely political as it also falls on the state's Republican primary day, so it is assumed that with a largely politically right-wing turnout (plus the fact that this is the South after all), the amendment will pass on a walk. So now the race is on to win the hearts and minds of as many North Carolinians as possible in the next eight months.
From Reuters: 
