Just landed in my e-mail:

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will issue a ruling in AFER’s case challenging Prop. 8 tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. PT.

The moment we receive the decision, you’ll be the first to know. Please take a moment and make sure your friends and family know too.

[...]

After a lengthy and thorough trial, the Federal District Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to single out gay and lesbian couples and deny them a fundamental freedom. The anti-marriage Prop. 8 Proponents immediately appealed that decision and now the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will issue a decision tomorrow.

At the end of the day, it’s wrong for the government to tell someone they can’t marry the person they love. Couples like our plaintiffs, Kris & Sandy and Jeff & Paul, simply want what other Americans want: to be treated with fairness and dignity.

Marriage is a fundamental American freedom and it’s time our country realizes its promise of equality for all.

Sincerely,

Chad H. Griffin
Board President
American Foundation for Equal Rights

If you’re on that e-mail list, you got it too.

She writes for Glamour:

Imagine finding someone you love more than anything in the world, who you would risk your life for but couldn’t marry. And you couldn’t have that special day the way your friends do—you know, wear the ring on your finger and have it mean the same thing as everybody else. Just put yourself in that person’s shoes. It makes me feel sick to my stomach.

When I shared a picture of my tattoo on my Twitter page and said, “All LOVE is equal,” a lot of people mocked me—they said, “What happened to you? You used to be a Christian girl!” And I said, “Well, if you were a true Christian, you would have your facts straight. Christianity is about love.” The debate resulted in a lot of threats and hate mail to people who agreed and disagreed with me. At one point I had to say, “Dude, everyone lay off.” Can’t people have friendly debates about sensitive topics without it turning into unnecessary threats?

I believe every American should be allowed the same rights and civil liberties. Without legalized same-sex marriage, most of the time you cannot share the same health benefits, you are not considered next of kin and you are not granted the same securities as a heterosexual couple. How is this different than having someone sit in the back of the bus because of their skin color?

. . .

We all should be tolerant of one another and embrace our differences. My dad [country singer Billy Ray Cyrus], who is a real man’s man, lives on the farm and is as Southern and straight as they come. He loves my gay friends and even supports same-sex marriage. If my father can do it, anyone can.

This is America, the nation of dreams. We’re so proud of that. And yet certain people are excluded. It’s just not right.

Good going, Miley.

Now it goes to the House, where it’s likely to pass by more than enough:

In the end, it wasn’t even close.

After more than a decade of laying the ground work and fretting that the votes would be just out of reach, state Sen. Ed Murray watched Wednesday night as the Senate easily passed legislation that would legalize gay marriage.

The vote was 28-21.

[...]

While it wasn’t final passage, the Senate always has been viewed as the biggest hurdle for same-sex marriage legislation, as it was for gay-rights bills in previous years.

The measure now heads to the House, where supporters say they have more than enough votes. It’s expected to pass as early as next week. The governor strongly supports the bill as well.

Of course, here comes the bigots with their new and different idea of voting on people’s civil rights, which goes against the definition of “rights,” but whatever.

It looks like it’s going to pass:

The Washington state Senate was expected to vote endorse legalization of gay marriage Wednesday night, which would move the state a step closer to becoming the nation’s seventh to recognize same-sex unions.

[...]

Democratic Senator Ed Murray, its chief sponsor, said last week proponents had secured the 25 votes needed for a simple majority in the 49-seat chamber. Murray has said he hoped to end up with 27 or more votes, though the controversial issue was likely to result in a lengthy floor debate that could last well into the night.

With passage in the state House of Representatives already seen as virtually assured, opponents of same-sex matrimony say they will seek the measure’s repeal with a referendum asking voters to reaffirm marriage as being exclusively between one man and one woman.

The House will likely vote on the bill in the coming weeks and Governor Chris Gregoire will sign it.

Of course, Religious Right bigots will then try to repeal the bill through referendum, blaming “activist legislatures,” at which point they just might get handed a nice big loss, in which case they will blame “activist voters.”

Etc.

“Lost in Paradise,” directed by Vu Ngoc Dang, explores the love that grows between two young men, a prostitute and a bookseller; it is making the rounds at Toronto, Vancouver, and Berlin. The French LGBT website Têtu reports that it’s drawing crowds in its native Vietnam, where it says homosexuals are figures of fun or viewed as sick (though the country did hold its first, albeit illegal, same-sex marriage last June). The article quotes one fifty-year-old [presumably straight man] as saying “Now I think they are like us.”

Although same-sex couples can’t marry in Australia, at least now those with the means can go abroad to get married in a country that does allow it. Australia is about to allow same-sex couples to obtain “Certificates of No Impediment,” which essentially certify that a person is not already married. Such certificates, or CNIs, must be brandished in certain countries that allow marriage equality, such as South Africa, and until this law was changed, Australia actually refused to grant them to LGBT people. That meant same-sex Australians couldn’t even get married abroad.

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon says while it does not mean a same-sex marriage is recognised in Australia, it does remove a discriminatory hurdle.

“Same-sex couples have been very insulted that they can’t get from their government a certificate which says they’re not married to anyone else,” she said.

“We are not by this step, recognising in any official way the marriage. What we’re doing is providing a certificate in the same way we do for heterosexual couples to say that there’s no legal reason that provides another impediment to people being married.

“It’s a pretty basic thing and that prevents them from benefiting from the laws of another country. So it’s a removal of discrimination rather than the next step, which our Australian Parliament hasn’t yet dealt with.”

[h/t Ex-Gay Watch and Prop 8 Trial Tracker]

Take that, bigots.

[h/t Think Progress]

This is priceless. Just absolutely, breathtakingly priceless. Wingnuts in Minnesota are pushing a constitutional amendment to write anti-gay discrimination into that state’s constitution, and here is their strategery:

Minnesota pastors and lawmakers who support a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between one man and one woman aim to develop varied strategies to win voter support.

At a strategy session today, a gathering of ministers and politicians known as the Faith and Freedom coalition discussed ways to sell the marriage amendment to people who may not hold their fervent views.

Among their solutions: avoiding arguments over whether gays should have the right to marry, presenting marriage as a vehicle for child-rearing and reframing the issue as an opportunity for Minnesotans to exercise their right to vote.

The first rule of Gay Haters Club is that you don’t talk about Gay Haters Club! Yes, that quote really says that they intend to sell this by not talking about the actual stated intention of the amendment, and by simply trying to get Minnesotans excited that they get to vote! Everybody likes voting!

Many GOP lawmakers who voted for the amendment were at the meeting, but the room came to its feet for a last-minute appearance by Republican U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who first proposed a marriage amendment when she was a state senator. Before a room full of supporters she described how to sell the amendment more broadly:

“I think if you want to talk to people who are not interested in talking about the morality you can also come at it as “should people be allowed to vote,” Bachmann said.

That’ll get ‘em excited about hurting their gay family members!

[h/t Tengrain]

This is how fast the kids are changing, and by “kids,” I mean “new voters replacing old bigots at the polls”:

First-year college students are more socially liberal than their predecessors on issues such as same- sex marriage and public education for undocumented students, according to an annual survey released today.

More than 71 percent of respondents who were freshmen in 2011 indicated same-sex couples should be able to marry, up from 64.9 percent two years earlier, according to the survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The survey, which began measuring student opinions and concerns in 1966, also found more students supporting abortion rights, with almost 61 percent saying abortion should be legal. Forty-three percent opposed denying undocumented students access to public higher education, down from 47.2 percent two years earlier.

Good news on all fronts, right there.

“Repeal the repeal”:

Today, advocates for allowing same-sex couples to legally marry in Maine announced plans for a Citizens Initiative to enact a marriage equality law, delivering more than 105,000 signatures from Maine voters who want the issue on the November 2012 ballot to the Secretary of State’s office. The announcement follows two years of outreach and conversations with Mainers about the freedom to marry, statewide polling showing steadily increasing support for allowing same-sex couples to marry – which now stands at 54 percent – and intensive field organizing in preparation for the campaign. “The number of signatures we gathered and the thoughtful conversations we’ve been having with voters tell us that Mainers are eager to speak on this question again,” said Betsy Smith, executive director of EqualityMaine. “Our polling shows a 54% majority of support for same-sex marriage in Maine. Many Mainers have changed their minds and want a chance to bring equality and fairness to our state.”

Stupid that they have to do this, as civil rights really shouldn’t be subject to a show of hands in the first place, ever, but they must be pretty confident this time around.