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Brazil Paves the Way for Marriage Equality

Brazil Paves the Way for Marriage Equality

 

 
A top judicial panel paved the way for same-sex marriage in Brazil today, ruling that homosexual couples could not be denied form applying for and subsequently receiving marriage licenses. 
 
The National Council of Justice, which is responsible for overseeing the Brazilian judicial system and is led by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, announced that government offices that issue marriage licenses did not possess the right to reject gay couples. 
 
“This is the equivalent of permitting homosexual marriage in the nation of Brazil,” said Raquel Pereira de Castro Araujo, the lead executive of the human rights committee of the Brazilian bar association. 
 
The Brazilian Congress, which is home to a strong religious faction that vehemently opposes same sex marriage, has yet to approve a law permitting gay marriage. Moreover, the council’s rulings are subject to appeal before the nation’s Supreme Court.
 
That said, Supreme Court Justice Joaquim Barbosa claimed no reason for the government’s marriage licensing offices to sit back and wait for the nation’s Congress to pass a law permitting same-sex marriage before lengthening the right to the homosexual population. 
 
Mr. Barbosa noted that the Brazilian Supreme Court in 2011 recognized stable homosexual unions, ruling that the nation’s constitution guaranteed them the same rights as straight couples. 
 
“Do we need to require the approval of a new law by the Congress to bolster a decision that was already upheld by the Supreme Court? It does not make any sense,” he said in a slew of comments quoted by the G1 news website. 
 
The Brazilian Supreme Court’s decision “is binding” and should be followed by the lower court system, he claimed. 
 
A few offices have granted marriage licenses to homosexual couples while others have not. While some state courts have recognized same-sex marriages, the council’s ruling was the first to establish a national standard. “Because the Congress is so slow and does not decide, the judicial branch took the reins,” said Luiz Kignet, a family lawyer in Sao Paulo. “The law is required, the judicial branch is not suppressing the obligation to create a law,” he said. 
 
However, the law is saying that same-sex marriage is constitutional, and the council’s decision should accelerate the passing of a law to permit homosexual marriage. 
In theory, the council’s ruling may be challenged by the Supreme Court, but it is unlikely to, claims Kignet, saying it had reached the proverbial of point of no return. 
 
 
Source: Human Rights Campaign

Syracuse, Princeton Universities Expand Employee Health Plans to Cover Transition-Related Expenses

Syracuse, Princeton Universities Expand Employee Health Plans to Cover Transition-Related Expenses

 

Syracuse and Princeton have joined a growing list of universities in the United States that cover transition-related medical costs for transgender faculty and staff under their health insurance policies. 

Effective July 1, Princeton University’s employee health plan will provide coverage for all forms of gender reassignment surgeries and operations. Many officials and the school’s newspaper have reported that talks of a similar change to the student health care plan are still ongoing. 

A comparable expansion of transition-related coverage for transgender faculty and staff was implemented at Syracuse University late last month. According to the Transgender Policy and Law Institute, roughly 19 universities or colleges in the United States provide some level of transition-related medical coverage for employees, with a more expansive list providing coverage for gender reassignment surgeries and/or hormones as provided by their student healthcare plans. 

These inclusive alterations at universities and colleges throughout the United States mirror the progress in corporate America. In the 2013 Corporate Equality Index, a record 287 prominent companies reported coverage for transgender-inclusive health plans. 

In 2009, the Human Rights Campaign announced that earning a score of 100 percent on the Corporate Equality Index would require employers to provide at least one firm-wide available health plan that provides coverage for medically necessary transition-related assistance or care. Partnered with consultative and intensive educational efforts, these criteria led to a five-fold increase from 2009 to 2012 in the number of prominent U.S. employers providing transgender-inclusive health coverage. 

Source: Human Rights Campaign

New Polls Show Growing Momentum for Gay Marriage in Virginia, Michigan and Arizona

New Polls Show Growing Momentum for Gay Marriage in Virginia, Michigan and Arizona

 

 
Newly released polls from Virginia, Michigan and Arizona reveal that the majority of voters in these states support marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. 
A poll released in Michigan found that voters support gay and lesbian marriage at a rate of nearly 57 percent, which is up 12.5 percentage points from last year’s poll results. The Detroit News and other Michigan media outlets report that the majority of this movement was sparked by shifting opinions from independents and Republicans. 
 
“I don’t think I have ever witnessed a policy question move as quickly as this one,” said Richard Czuba, president of the Glengariff Group, which was responsible for conducting the poll in Michigan. These results come as partisans eagerly await a United States Supreme Court decision on two cases related to gay marriage. 
In addition to the results showing support for gay marriage rights, the poll also found that over 90 percent of Michigan voters favor some legal protections for gay and lesbian couples. Moreover, the poll revealed that at least 65 percent of voters favor changes to laws allowing for civil unions, adoption rights, inheritance, hate crime protections, and domestic benefits. 
 
A poll just released by the Washington Post found that 56 percent of registered voters in the state of Virginia believe that gay and lesbian marriage should be made legal for same-sex couples. This 10 percentage point increase in support from polling also marks a steep reversal in opinion from 2006, when voters amended the state constitution to express marriage as an act that only takes place between one woman and one man. 
 
Lastly, in conservative Arizona, a new poll conducted by the Behavior Research Center found that 55 percent of Arizona residents favor extending marriage rights to gay and lesbian partners. 
 
These polls reflect the sea of change in public support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality that continues to gain momentum throughout the county. 
 
 
Source: Human Rights Campaign

Moscow Rejects Bid to Hold Gay Rights Festival

Moscow Rejects Bid to Hold Gay Rights Festival

 

 
Moscow officials rejected an application by gay rights advocates to hold a parade this month, claiming the event would undermine a campaign to instill patriotic values on the city’s younger population.
 
This refusal emphasizes the Russian government’s support for a slew of legislation in cities across the nation which has banned “homosexual propaganda.” 
 
The decision was issued just days after a man was murdered in a brutal attack that investigators said was motivated by homophobia. “According to Russian law, we must work consistently on maintaining morality toward the teaching of patriotism in the growing younger generation, and not toward incomprehensible aspirations,” claimed Aleksei Mayorov, the director of regional safety for Moscow. 
 
“In our opinion, there is no demand for these kinds of events in our city,” Mr. Mayorov continued. 
 
Critics of a proposed nation-wide ban on “homosexual propaganda,” an umbrella term used for public demonstrations by gay advocates, claim that the local laws are encouraging hate crimes against homosexual males. 
 
The murder in southern Russia last week of a 23 year-old male, who authorities say had been beaten to death with a concrete block, was reported on national news stations and evoked an outcry from the nation’s gay community. 
 
In an editorial in the British publication The Guardian, Anton Krasovsky, the former editor of a Russian television channel who was fired for coming out as a homosexual man on the air, said that Russian legislators were creating a widespread culture of fear for gay men. “As far as the officials of Russia are concerned, I am not a human being in the same sense that every straight man is,” he wrote, referring to members of the Russian parliament. “I am viewed as scum, like a terrorist.”
 
 
Source: Human Rights Campaign

Another Victory for the LGBT Community: Gay Marriage Ruled Constitutional in France

Another Victory for the LGBT Community: Gay Marriage Ruled Constitutional in France

 

 
France’s constitutional council today rejected a challenge by conservative legislators to the country’s new gay marriage law, claiming the law was constitutional. This ruling means the nation of France could see its first gay marriages commence by the end of this month.
 
The nation’s parliament passed the law legalizing gay marriage last month after a heated national debate. Opponents of gay marriage, including the prominent UMP party, immediately contested the law in France’s Constitutional Council. 
 
The gay marriage law is set to be published in the official journal; President Francois Hollande, who promised to legalize gay marriage during his campaign last year, has pledged to see the law published as quickly as the legislative process allows. 
When signed, France will become the 14th county to legalize same-sex marriage, joining a group of eight other European nations: Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Denmark, and Iceland. 
 
The bill was approved on the 23rd of April by parliament, but was promptly challenged on constitutional grounds by the right-wing UMP party of former leader Nicolas Sarkozy. The conservative party opposed what it felt was a fast-track voting process and argued that homosexual marriage represented a fundamental change that could not be justified by merely passing a law. 
 
The UMP party has not made clear whether it aims to strike the law down if it comes to fruition. Several media outlets in France have reported that some prominent party members believe that such a route would be legally plausible. 
 
Harlem Desir, the head of the ruling Socialist Party, claimed the passing of the law “marks a victory for the nation and for equality; it is day of great pride for the Socialist movement.”
 
 
Source: Human Rights Campaign

Terrible Act: Crowd Led by Priests Attacks Gay Rights Marchers in the Nation of Georgia

Terrible Act: Crowd Led by Priests Attacks Gay Rights Marchers in the Nation of Georgia

 

 
A massive group of thousands led by priests in black robes stormed through police barriers in downtown Tbilisi, Georgia last week and attacked a group of 50 or so gay rights demonstrators. 
 
Carrying banners reading “no to gays,” and “no to mental genocide,” the masses of mostly young men hurled eggs and rocks at the gay rights supporters. The police forced most of the demonstrators onto minibuses to evacuate them from the rally; however, the attackers swarmed the buses, and attempted to shatter the windows with trash cans, metal gratings, and rocks. 
 
At least a dozen people were hospitalized, including three police offers and up to nine gay rights marchers.
 
“The rioters wanted to kill us all,” said the head of the Tbilisi-based gay rights advocacy group that organized the march. A lawyer for the gay rights group claimed that if the marchers and supporters had not been close to the buses when the clash began, the rioters would have turned every gay rights supporter into a “corpse.”
 
Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili of Georgia spoke strongly against the violence in a news release last week, as the police urged the rioters to leave the city’s central avenue. 
 
This attack comes amid an increase in anti-gay rhetoric and sentiment in Georgia and Russia, whose Orthodox churches are gaining more and more political influence. 
In a statement released last week, the leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church compared homosexuals to drug addicts and called the march a “violation of the rights of the majority.”
 
Conservative-minded citizens of Georgia traveled from other cities to speak against the gay rights marchers, and one told a media station that she had come to “cure them of their illness.”
 
“We are attempting to protect our orthodoxy, and prohibit anyone from wiping their feet on our faith,” said a member of the church. “We must not allow these individuals to hold a gay demonstration here.”
 
 
Source: Human Rights Campaign

Vice President

Vice President

The Role of Vice President in the United States
 
 
The Vice President is position within the executive branch of the United States government that is behind the President in the presidential line of succession. The position was created based on Article 1 Section 3 on the United States Constitution which also gives the Vice President his power.
The Vice President has the main job to assume the Presidency if the for some reason the President cannot successfully act as president, for example, due to death, temporary incapacitation, or resignation. If both the Vice President and the Cabinet judge feel that the President is not fit for his duties, the he can take over the position. So far, only nine Vice Presidents have succeeded to the Presidency.
The Vice President is also the President of the United States Senate. In the case that a tie occurs during a vote in Senate, he has the power to cast a tie-breaking vote. Aside from this, the Vice President usually has a junior member of the majority party preside over the Senate.
According to the 12th Amendment and Section 3 of the 14th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution,the Vice President must be born in the United States, be a resident for at least 14 years, and be at least 35 years old. Furthermore, the individual can be disqualified by rebelling against the United States after swearing an oath to support the U.S. Constitution.
The Vice President is elected to a four year term through the Electoral College voting in the same way the President gets elected. Each member of the Electoral College has one vote for the position. Prior to the 12th amendment, the Vice President would be the individual who received the second largest amount of votes. Unlike the President, the he is not limited to only two elected terms, but rather there is no limitation.
The Vice President’s office is located in the West Wing of the White House along with one within the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Like the President and previous Vice Presidents since 1974, he also has an official residence, at the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Currently, Joseph R. Biden is in office as the 47th Vice President of the U.S. under the Obama administration. As Vice President, he has helped President Obama by being very critical of different positions, and looking at issues from many different angles.

Change is coming: EPA Plans Rules on Clean Gas

Change is coming: EPA Plans Rules on Clean Gas

 

 
The Obama administration is moving ahead with a plan to require cleaner gasoline as a means to reduce smog and traces of sulfur in gasoline. 
 
The rules are set to take effect in 2017, and their impact would not be realized until a decade later, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. A study released by the Environmental Protection agency stated the new rule has the potential to save 2,000 lives a year and significantly reduce the likelihood of childhood asthma. 
 
“We estimate the rule to reduce smog by 30 percent”, said Bill Becker the director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, which represents several air quality control agencies throughout the world. 
 
A significant point of contention is how significantly the harsher rules would add to the price of gasoline. Oil and Refinery industry experts have postulated that such a move would require motorists to pay nearly 10 cents more per gallon of gasoline; however, the White House claims the move would add less than a penny per gallon, based on studies released by the Environmental Protection Agency. 
 
Representatives of the energy industry disagree with the government’s estimates. “There is a boatload of federal regulations coming from the EPA that could put upward pressure on gas prices,” said Bob Greco, a managing director at the American Petroleum Institute. 
 
The new rule targets sulfur, which is naturally present in crude oil. The more sulfur present in gasoline, the less efficiently an automobile runs. The new rules would force refineries to reduce sulfur content by nearly 60 percent to 10 parts per million from 30 parts per million, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
 
The United States Federal Government estimates the rule change to have the same effect as taking 33 million automobiles off the road. 
 
Refineries serving the European Union, Japan and California are already required to meet these stricter rules. 
 
The Sierra Club praised the plan as executive director Michal Brune proclaimed the rules to be an excellent use of current technology to “clean up our cars and fuel sources. “
 
The rules were developed with advice from car manufacturers, refiners and state officials, according to the Obama administration. 
 
Of the 111 refineries covered by the new rule, only 16 will need to purchase new equipment to meet the associated regulations. 
 
“Today’s proposed standards are the next step to protect public health; these rules will provide the automotive industry with the certainty they require to offer the same car models throughout the United States,” said EPA Administrator Bob Perciasepe.  
 
Source: whitehouse.gov
 
 

The Dominoes Keep Falling: Senator Bob Casey Supports Gay Marriage

The Dominoes Keep Falling: Senator Bob Casey Supports Gay Marriage

 

 
Democratic Senator Bob Casey announced his support for gay marriage today.
The announcement marks Casey as one of the last Democrats to embrace marriage equality over the past few weeks. 
 
“After much deliberation, thought and after reviewing the civil rights, legal issues and public policy questions presented, I would like to announce that I support same-sex marriage and believe that the Defense of Marriage Act should be repealed,” Casey offered in an exclusive interview with the Philadelphia Gay News. 
 
“I started to focus on the issue of gay marriage much more than I had before,” he added, reflecting on the U.S. Supreme Court’s review of landmark marriage cases on the Federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8. 
 
Senator Casey previously supported civil unions but stopped short of offering his support for gay marriage or the repeal of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act. Casey’s office told various media outlets last week that the senator was “closely monitoring the debate undertaken by the United States Supreme Court,” but had not changed his position on the matter. 
 
A coalition of progressive organizations in Pennsylvania intensified the pressure on Casey by attacking his refusal to come around at a time when Democrats from conservative states were flipping on the issue. 
 
Casey claimed the feedback from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered community and their families gave him the momentum and final push he needed to support their cause. “These stories had a tremendous impact on my position; if two individuals of the same sex fall in love and wish to marry, why should our government get in their way? At a time when a large percentage of Americans lament a lack of commitment between married women and men, why would we want less commitment and weaker marriages? If two individuals of the same sex wish to raise children, why should our government impede them from doing so, especially when so many children in this nation have only one parent or none at all?”
 
Casey, in a wide margin, was reelected to a second six-year term during the 2012 election. 
 
Although gay marriage does not enjoy overwhelming support in the state of Pennsylvania, more residents are in favor (47 percent) of the formation than opposed (43 percent). 
 
Source: whitehouse.gov

Victory in Delaware: Marriage Equality Comes to the First State

Victory in Delaware: Marriage Equality Comes to the First State

 

 
Marriage equality is on the verge of becoming the law of the land in the state of Delaware, as the Delaware Senate just passed the landmark legislation by a vote of 12 to 9. 
 
A half hour after the Senate vote, Governor Jack Markell signed the legislation into formal law on the steps in the lobby of the state’s Legislative Hall. 
 
Today’s historic victory for the gay and lesbian community follows a remarkable undertaken led by a number of gay advocacy groups in the nation’s first state. Thousands of Delaware residents volunteered, participated in phone backs, canvassed communities, and contacted their legislators to secure the momentum this bill required to become a reality. Delaware state officials including Governor Jack Markell, Attorney General Beau Biden and Rep. Melanie Smith advocated for the bill. 
Delaware officially becomes the 11th state in the U.S. to permit gay marriage. Republican Senator Catherine Cloutier and Democratic Senator Bethany Long provided the key swing votes in favor of the gay marriage legislation. Cloutier was the only Republican to vote “yes” in the Senate and one of two in the entire General Assembly to approve the bill.
 
According to the prospective law, residents of Delaware will be permitted to enter into same-sex marriages starting on the 1st of July. The law will provide a mechanism for converting existing same-sex civil unions in the state to full-fledged marriages. 
“I strongly believe that this is the right thing for the state of Delaware,” Markell said following the vote. 
 
The same-sex marriage bill was originally introduced in the Democrat-controlled Legislature last month, just a year after the state began recognizing same-sex civil unions. Supporters for the bill argued that same-sex couples deserve the same rights and respect of married couples. Supporters also noted that if the Supreme Court of the United States strikes down the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits married gay couples from procuring federal benefits, civil unions would not offer tax benefits or protections under federal law to same-sex couples in the state of Delaware. 
 
According to the bill, no new civil unions will be created in the state of Delaware after the 1st of July, and existing civil unions will be converted into traditional marriage over the next year. The new law also states that civil unions established in other states will be treated the same as marriages under the new statute.  
 
Source: Human Rights Campaign 
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