Prop 8 Trial Tracker

Other LGBT news from the week so far

January 26, 2012

By Jacob Combs

This week has, for the most part, been dominated by the landmark news coming out of Washington and New Jersey.  Here’s a look a two other stories that were less noticed, but no less notable.

First, the good news.  On Tuesday, the Maine legislature’s Education Committee unanimously passed a new anti-bullying bill.  The bill, sponsored by openly gay Rep. Terry Morrison, was scheduled to be taken up during the last legislative session (and was expected to pass with strong bipartisan support), but was carried over to the current abbreviated session instead.  It is unclear whether the state’s Republican governor, Paul LePage, will support the bill.

And now the bad news.  Yesterday, New Mexico Rep. David Chavez introduced a bill providing for a mini-DOMA that would amend the state constitution to recognize marriage as valid only between a man and a woman.  New Mexico does not allow gay marriage, but an opinion issued by the attorney general last year held that marriages performed elsewhere were likely valid under state law.  You can sign Equality New Mexico’s petition against the bill here.

Finally, AFER’s Matt Baume did an interview this week with Daniel Wein, a Washington, D.C. college student who came up with the idea of bringing the powerful Australian marriage equality ad “It’s Time” to the United States.  You can watch Matt’s full interview with Wein below, in which he talks about his plan to get the ad on TV and how he convinced media professionals to help him do so.

Filed under: Community/Meta,DOMA Repeal

The Maryland marriage bill, religious exemptions... Marriage equality bill clears Washington Senate...