Gay Marriage Now Legal In Vermont!

From the Human Rights Campaign:

The state Senate voted 23-5 and the House of Representatives voted 100-49 to override Gov. Jim Douglas’s veto, making Vermont the first state to recognize marriage for committed lesbian and gay couples through the legislative process. The Vermont legislation goes into effect September 1.

“This historic vote in the Vermont legislature reminds us of the incredible progress being made toward equality. Less than five years ago, lesbian and gay couples began marrying in Massachusetts. Now, with the Iowa court decision last Friday and today’s vote in Vermont, there will be four states recognizing the right to marry for loving, committed lesbian and gay couples,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “We congratulate Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, Speaker of the House Shap Smith, the other legislators who voted for marriage, the Vermont
Freedom to Marry Task Force, and MassEquality for ensuring that all couples will now enjoy the freedom to marry in Vermont. This is a law that will strengthen families and give meaning to the promise of equal rights for all.”...

Vermont becomes the first state to recognize marriage equality for lesbian and gay couples through legislation. California’s legislature has twice passed similar legislation that was vetoed and not enacted into law. Vermont is the fourth state, after Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa, to extend marriage equality to committed lesbian and gay couples. Iowa’s state supreme court unanimously ruled on April 3, 2009 that the state constitution guarantees lesbian and gay couples the equal right to marry.New York recognizes marriages by lesbian and gay couples legally entered into in another jurisdiction. California recognized marriage by lesbian and gay couples between June and November of 2008, before voters approved Proposition 8, which purports to amend the state constitution to prohibit marriage equality. The Proposition 8 vote has been challenged in court; a decision by the state supreme court is expected by June.

Lesbian and gay couples do not receive federal rights and responsibilities in any state. To learn more about state by state legislation, visit here.

Focus On The Family Employee Target Of Underage Sex Sting

It seems the right wing fringe group, Focus on the Family is the focus of an investigation of an underage sex scandal. A Colorado man who works as a Bible narrator for the group was arrested by police after he solicited sex online from an investigator posing as a teenage girl.

This is not the first far right evangellical group to have sex scandals, and considering Colorado is a hotbed (no pun intended) for these groups, it is just one more shocking incodent. Last year the Colorado evangellical community was rocked by Rev. Ted Haggard's sex and drug scandal.

More from Page OneQ.

Activists Push For A Harvey Milk Stamp

Activists are an optomistic group. They can see what the world should be like and believe they can actually make a change in the right direction. That's what the group of kitchen-table activists in San Francisco are doing in their quest for a Harvey Milk US Postage Stamp.

Artist Jim Leff has been creating stamp artworks since the 1980s. His works depict just about any subject you can think of, including a few far too racy for the real USPS. However, his artwork depicting slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk fits right in with a push by another group to have Milk commemorated on a stamp.

According to a story in the Bay Area Reporter:

Daniel Drent, an openly gay man who lives in Cincinnati, is coordinating the effort to convince the U.S. Postal Service’s Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee to issue a Milk stamp. He would like to have approval of the stamp to coincide with what would have been Milk’s 80th birthday on May 22 in 2010. Should the committee select the Milk stamp next year, it would not be released until 2012 at the earliest.

For a chance to buy one of these stamps, I might even take up philately again!

Iowa Supreme Court Says Gay Marriage Ban Unconstitutional

Deep in the heartland of the USA, the Supreme Court of Iowa has unanimously ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional!

This is amazing stuff. Iowa now becomes the third state where gay marriage is legal.

That is a very telling ruling. The court recognized the unfair nature of the anti-gay marriage laws and said so. I suspect now there will be an outcry for impeachment of the entire court in Iowa, but that is unlikely to happen. It seems Iowa values human rights more that ideological dogma and that is a hopeful sign!

Walgreens Offers Jobless Free Clinic Visits

Last month FedEx Office made a generous offer to those seeking employment. They had a "free resume day" at their locations where job seekers cold print off 25 copies of their resume for free. It was not just a successful PR move, but it actually helped people in need.

Now another corporation understands the economic climate and the problems faced by unemployed. Walgreens is offering free clinic visits at its network of "Take Care" clinics across the country. For people who loose their jobs after March 31, the drug store giant will offer free health care and treatment for respiratory problems, allergies, infections and skin conditions, among other ailments.

Quest Diagnostics, the lab associated with the drug store will also offer free tests for a variety of diseases as part of the plan.

Bravo for them! It's refreshing to see companies use some of their "bandwidth" to help out in tough times. Now the real problem is getting Congress to get off their duffs and pass effective health care reform for our country.

What do I mean by "effective"? Well my version goes like this. If you are an American citizen, you can walk into just about any hospital or doctor's office in the country and get treatment without going bankrupt. The system would be a "single payer" health insurance system and the government would be that payer. Private health insurance would still be an option if you really wanted to waste a lot of money, but a basic level of health care would be considered a right not a privilege.

What about all the insurance companies? Well I hear them complain constantly about rising health care costs and how little they make on health insurance, so this will help them out of a tough business. Maybe they could start selling dirivitaves?

The Queen's iPod & A Special Gift

After being widely criticized for the gifts President Obama gave to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his children, his gift for the Queen was much more thoughtful.

You will see a lot of press about the iPod he gave her, loaded with video of her visit to the United States in 2007. Nice gift and very personal. What you probably won't hear about is the additional gift which was a rare record album autographed by Richard Rogers of Rogers and Hammerstein fame.

The Queen and her husband Prince Phillip are big fans of the song, "People Will Say We're in Love" from the musical Oklahoma. They used to hum it to each other as a personal signal when others were around. Very thoughtful gift as well.

And for the Obama's...well the standard framed photo of the Queen and Prince.

Qualcomm Organic Hybrid Network

Qualcomm has created the next generation in mobile computing. Organic based wireless networks.

Watch:



Happy April 1!

Norm Coleman Moves Closer To Conceding Defeat

Norm Coleman, the Every Ready Bunny of the GOP, has lost another battle to change the results of a recount in the Minnesota Senatorial race.

An article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:

Norm Coleman's lawyers all but conceded defeat Tuesday and promised to appeal after a panel of three judges ordered no more than 400 new absentee ballots opened and counted, far fewer than the Republican had sought to overcome the lead held by DFLer Al Franken.

Read more here.