I just love being a gay rights activist in 2013. There is just so much good news to report lately:
1)Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to take action this week to extend certain benefits to same-sex spouses previously being witheld from them, The Washington Post reported and BuzzFeed confirmed from a Defense Department official on Tuesday afternoon. Although the specifics of the move were not yet clear, LGBT advocates have been highlighting the issue since before repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” was finalized in September 2011.
2)Senate Executive Committee approves same-sex marriage bill in 9-5 vote.
3) British House of Commons passes marriage-equality bill in second reading by a vote of 400-175. Now the bill goes to committee for hearings, amendments, testimony, what have you, then back to the Commons for third/final reading, then on to the House of Lords, where it also should pass.
The vote handed Prime Minister David Cameron, whose administration sponsored the legislation, both a political victory and a political defeat. Approval of the bill allows him to portray himself and his government as in tune with public opinion and modern values, but it came at the cost of an angry mutiny by his own Conservative backbenchers, who said he had no mandate to press for such a change. An early count showed that as many, if not more, Conservatives lawmakers voted against the measure as for it, with many others abstaining.
“I think it’s right that gay people should be able to get married too,” the British leader said in a last-minute televised interview. “This is, yes, about equality, but it’s also about making our society stronger…. It’s an important step forward for our country.”
Well, Cameron should look on the bright side. I’m willing to bet that England’s version of the Tea Party makes better tea. And let’s not forget there is so much more work to do and idiots to fight.
Things ARE getting better and watch GObama’s smoke over the next 4 years!! ;-)
Wayne,
There’s no question that a great deal of this progress got a great boost with your book, Anything but Straight, and your continuing to expose the charlatans ever since.
TWO is read in many countries and I know that gays all over the world are grateful for what you have done.
I agree with you Jerry, I read the book while I was struggling to leave the ex-gay world. I found it very helpful. I knew many of the people that were mentioned in the book who were/are part of Exodus, NARTH and Courage. I’ve gone on to lend it to another friend who must have liked it because I never did get it back LOL.
Thanks to everyone at TWO for their part in making it a better world for us all!
I’m not sure this is such a blow for Cameron as the media makes it out to be (esp. over here in the British press – the main crux of the story not so much being the passage of the bill, but the fact that just over half of conservatives voted against their leadership and whether or not this damages Cameron’s position as leader of his party).
As I remember, there was a massive furore over the introduction of civil partnerships, but soon after they began to happen, people saw that society did not collapse and moved on to the next issue.
As soon as LGBT people start getting married, it will become a non-issue, and people won’t really care any more.
As it should be.
that’s how it went here in Canada