Today Washington governor Christine Gregoire signed “The Everything but Marriage” domestic partnership bill that grants new rights related to unemployment, disability, insurance, adoption and child custody. Said Governor Gregoire on QFox13.com:

“Today we are strengthening Washington by strengthening families. From the first bill I signed in 2007 to today’s bills, we have proudly made immeasurable strides on behalf of LGBT individuals and families. This represents the culmination of incredible work to treat all Washingtonians equally.”
…
“Many brave families have come forward to share their lives, their struggles and their moments of joy hard-working men and women who are in committed relationships, raising children, attending their places of worship, and volunteering in their communities. After meeting these families, people have come to know that lesbian and gay families are no different than their own. And what has naturally followed is the unsettling notion that despite the sameness of straight couples and gay and lesbian couples, there are, in fact, legal barriers that prevent the same treatment.”

Unsurprisingly, opponents have already filed a referendum to overturn the law.

At a Georgia Republican Party convention over the weekend RNC Chairman Michael Steele said that gay marriage will create an undue burden on small business owners.

From the Associated Press:

Steele said that was just an example of how the party can retool its message to appeal to young voters and minorities without sacrificing core conservative principles. Steele said he used the argument weeks ago while chatting on a flight with a college student who described herself as fiscally conservative but socially liberal on issues like gay marriage.

“Now all of a sudden I’ve got someone who wasn’t a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for, who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial responsibility for,” Steele told Republicans at the state convention in traditionally conservative Georgia. “So how do I pay for that? Who pays for that? You just cost me money.”

Think again Mr. Steele.

Gay marriage has provided $111 million in economic stimulus to Massachusetts since becoming legal in 2004. If Proposition 8 had failed back in November, gay marriage would be pumping millions into the California economy according to this study.  Similar economic benefits have been projected in D.C., Maine and Vermont.

And just ask the florists, photographers, event planners and the whole range of other small business owners that would profit from marriage equality legislation.

This is simply another instance of forsaking party principals and letting bigotry and intolerance win out over profit. How un-Republican.

Today marks the one year anniversary of the California Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage that had been in place since 2000.

My partner and I were in Sydney on vacation at the time and didn’t realize it had happened until after we got home. And thanks to bad case of vacation hangover, and that we were already domestic partners, we didn’t feel particularly invested in the decision, I’m embarrassed to say.  Sure we were glad the ban had been overturned but we had already decided to wait until 2009 to possibly tie the knot, provided same-sex marriage was legal at the time and that any initiative against it was defeated in the fall.

Over the next month we didn’t discuss or think about the ruling much despite the media frenzy that was  building all around the state in the lead up to 5:oo p.m. on June 16, when the first same-sex weddings were to be performed.

I decided the day before that I wanted to go down to San Francisco City Hall and cover what would most certainly be a circus, as the first gay marriages were sure to bring out the most hateful and bigoted elements of our society, decrying that these marriages were an abomination and would bring about the end days.

After I covered the story, I promptly went home and asked my partner of 8 year to marry me. The weight of the day’s events, both historical and emotional, did not leave me any choice. Fortunately his answer was yes. We exchanged vows 3 months later.

So while not particularly important to us at the time,  May 15, 2008 is now an incredibly important day, as it set in motion the events that allowed me to marry the love of my life. And June 16, thirty days from now, will also be an extraordinarily significant day, not only because it was the day I proposed, but it is the first anniversary of those couples who chose to be  married in that “circus” the very first night.

So it is my sincere hope that the California Supreme Court will soon overturn Prop 8 and grant marriage equality to all Californians, and allow those brave couples to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. And allow us and the thousands that followed that day, to celebrate ours.

In the aftermath of the press conference yesterday where Donald Trump allowed Carrie Prejean to remain as Miss California, Miss USA pageant director Shanna Moakler has chosen to resign. From Us Magazine:

“Since the press conference yesterday, I had a chance to think about what has taken place, and I feel that at this time it is in my best interest to resign from the Miss California USA organization.

I cannot with a clear conscious move forward supporting and promoting the Miss Universe Organization when I no longer believe in it, or the contracts I signed committing myself as a youth. I want to be a role model for young women with high hopes of pageantry, but now feel it more important to be a role model for my children. I am sorry and hope I have not let any young supporters down but wish them the best of luck in fulfilling their dreams.

I’m glad at least one individual can leave this fiasco with their integrity intact.