WBEZ | same-sex marriage

Did NBC's Brian Williams ambush the Emanuel brothers?

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 05:00:00 -0500

WATCH THIS VIDEO ... of NBC's Brian Williams interviewing the three Emanuel brothers: Mayor Rahm, bioethicist Ezekiel and Hollywood "super-agent" Ari, recorded March 8 in New York City.

Note the (evidently simulated) slide show of old family photos, the reference to the family as "America's Jewish Kennedys."

What do you think of it?

Love-fest? Puff piece? Affectionate portrayal?

Or hatchet job?

Ari Emanuel reportedly puts it in the latter category. The New York Post quotes sources as saying that he sent a "a fiery legal letter to NBC," complaining the interview, which aired Friday, was so aggressive as to catch the brothers off-guard.

'I THINK WE'RE GOING TO WIN.' That's the optimistic prediction of David Boies, one of the lawyers set to argue Tuesday before the Supreme Court that California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
* Among those to be seated as a guest of Chief Justice John Roberts: His lesbian cousin, who wants to marry her gay partner.
* Court expert Jeffrey Toobin: 10 years ago, Justice Scalia was right about the future of gay marriage.
* Chart outlines ways the court could rule.
* New poll finds young Americans' growing support for same-sex marriage "one of the biggest shifts we've seen."
* Same-sex marriage convert Sen. Rob Portman's son writes in the Yale Daily News: "In many ways, it’s been a privilege to come out so publicly."
* Politico: Republicans see cash in shift toward gay marriage.
* Mediaite: Is conservatism dead?
* Video: Starbucks CEO tells shareholder to sell if he can't support marriage equality.

'WE LIVE IN A GOOGLE AND WIKIPEDIA SOCIETY, AND IF KIDS NEED TO KNOW SOMETHING, THEY CAN LOOK IT UP.' And so, the president of the Illinois Science Teachers Association tells the Tribune Illinois is ready for dramatic changes in science courses, textbooks and testing, maybe as soon as this fall.
* Illinois bill would improve medical insurance for high school athletes with catastrophic injuries.
* Chicago Public Schools has yet to deliver on college scholarships for kids whose parents died in 2003 E2 nightclub stampede.

GOOGLE ALERTS: WINDING DOWN? If you're among those who've come to rely on Google's service to advise you of new Web content on a specific topic, be warned: Mashable.com says Alerts may be on the way out, but it notes an alternative.
* Wish you had a Wikipedia page of your own? Now you can pretend.

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Illinois House committee approves gay marriage bill

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 09:36:00 -0600

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — An Illinois House committee narrowly endorsed legislation to legalize gay marriage Tuesday, setting up a showdown on the House floor that could come in a matter of weeks.

The House Executive Committee's 6-5 approval moves the measure to the floor. Approval there would likely mean Illinois would become the 10th state to OK same-sex marriage, because Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn says he will sign the legislation.

Chicago Democratic Rep. Greg Harris says his bill is a matter of treating gay couples and heterosexual couples equally under the law.

"What same-sex couples in Illinois want for their families is just what you want for your families," Harris told the committee late Tuesday night.

Tuesday's vote was split along party lines. GOP lawmakers opposed the measure despite its endorsement by state Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady. Some party faithful want Brady ousted because of his support of the issue.

Yet the vote coincided with news that prominent Republicans and retired military leaders are among those who will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to support marriage equality in two cases up for argument next month.

Harris said existing state law, which he shepherded through the General Assembly two years ago and allows gay couples to enter into civil unions, has created a "separate but unequal" system.

Supporters and opponents filling a Capitol committee room waited six hours before testimony. A fiery discussion over legalizing the carrying of concealed weapons consumed lawmakers all afternoon and evening.

Advocates who testified before the committee included Chicago religious leaders, a lesbian couple and a psychologist.

The Rev. Otis Moss III, senior pastor at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, said the bill would enhance America's ideals as a nation and guarantee that all Illinoisans are treated equally.

"We are called to live our faith, not legislate our faith ...," Moss said. "It's the charge of civil leaders to ensure that everyone is treated equally."

Advocates also argued that the bill would help eliminate discrimination against children of same-sex couples.

But opponents say the plan steps on people's religious freedoms. They argue lawmakers don't have the right to redefine marriage.

Committee members, noting their fatigue after a day of intense debate over guns, cast their votes on the marriage matter after an unusually brief debate on a polarizing issue.

The Senate approved the measure on Valentine's Day with Democratic support and a lone Republican tally by Champaign Sen. Jason Barickman.

Illinois Senate votes to legalize gay marriage

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 10:56:00 -0600

Updated: 3 p.m.

Illinois moved closer Thursday to becoming the 10th state in the nation where same-sex couples can legally wed, after the Senate voted to lift a ban on gay marriage.

Senators voted 34-21 to approve the measure, sending it on to the state House where Democrats also hold a majority. Gov. Pat Quinn, a Chicago Democrat, has said he will sign the bill if the House approves it.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, called it "a vote for the history books."

"We have the opportunity today to welcome all families in Illinois as equally valued," she said.

Before approving the measure, the Senate attached an amendment Thursday that explicitly states no church or other religious organization will be forced to solemnize same-sex marriages. It also says churches cannot be sued if they don't allow their parishes to be used for same-sex marriage ceremonies.

Some Republicans raised concerns that the bill would force religious organizations to allow same-sex marriage ceremonies in their fellowship halls, parish centers or even in their sanctuaries. Steans said even before the amendment was added that the bill made clear churches won't be forced to perform same-sex marriages.

Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Champaign, was the only Republican to vote yes. He said he worked with Steans on the amendment before pledging his support.

"I think it was the right thing to do," Barickman said. "It's a vote that I understand some have varying opinions on, but I feel that I voted in the correct way."

The Valentine's Day vote marked the first time gay marriage has passed on the floor of either chamber of the Legislature. Steans and other supporters tried to pass it during the January lame duck session. But after getting approval from a Senate committee, Steans opted not to call for floor action, saying it didn't have enough votes.

After picking up seats in November, Democrats entered the current legislative session with control of 40 seats in the Senate, where 30 votes are required to advance most measures. The Senate Executive Committee approved the gay marriage bill on a party-line vote last week, setting up the Valentine's Day floor action.

Jim Bennett, regional director for Lambda Legal, said supporting same-sex marriage is "both politically smart and morally right."

Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, said he "the prospects are very good" in the House, where he's the bill sponsor.

Harris said he hasn't spoken with House leadership about when a vote may occur in the House, but he said he hopes it will be soon. He wouldn't comment on how the roll call looks so far.

Polls show voters' feelings shifting rapidly in favor of gay rights. President Barack Obama said last year he supports same-sex marriage, and in November voters in four states either approved or voted down bans on gay marriage.

"I think it's a safer vote to vote with us than to vote against us at this point," Bennett said.

The issue has caused internal conflict among Republicans as the party works balance its efforts to appeal more to younger voters, minorities and women with the more socially conservative positions of some members.

After Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady announced his support for gay marriage during the lame-duck legislative session, saying it was a civil rights issue, some Republicans called for his ouster. Opponents of gay marriage pledged to fund primary challenges to any Republican who voted in favor of the bill.

Thursday's vote came two years after Illinois lawmakers approved civil unions, which provide legal recognition of a partnership between two people, regardless of gender. But gay marriage supporters said it wasn't enough.

Illinois lawmakers call same-sex marriage for a vote once again

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 05:00:00 -0600

Illinois lawmakers are expected to take up same-sex marriage again this week. A state senate committee is scheduled to take up the issue Tuesday. State Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, is the sponsor of the bill legalizing same-sex marriage in Illinois. She said she wants the state to approve it before the U.S. Supreme Court hears a case later this year on the federal government’s ban on gay marriage.

"If that gets overturned, then couples who have access to marriage will have access to the 1,100-plus benefits that come with marriage," Steans said. "And if we only have civil union here, those couples will not have access to all those benefits. So I do believe there’s a sense of urgency."

The president of the Senate has said same-sex marriage will be easier to pass in the Senate than in the House.

"We will pass it first because we have apparently more votes in the Senate," Senate President John Cullerton said last week.

In January, lawmakers tried to legalize gay marriage before the winners from November’s election were sworn in, but failed to get the necessary support.

Clergy group calls for amendment banning same-sex marriage

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:41:00 -0600

A coalition of African American clergy is calling on Illinois legislators to pass a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage.

The group wants marriage defined as being between a man and a woman.

One of the members of the group, Bishop Lance Davis, who's senior pastor of New Zion Christian Covenant in Dolton, said he's "insulted" gay marriage is being viewed as a civil right.

"I teach my children, while we love everyone, do not ever drink the Kool-aid that says they’re one in the same," Davis said. "We will fight against it vehemently."

To amend the Constitution, the Senate and House would have to pass the measure by three-fifths of their members, then it would go to voters.

Davis says voters, not politicians, should be the ones who ultimately decide the legality of same-sex marriage.

"Even mundane decisions like zoning and traffic lights are open to input from the community and the constituency," Davis said. "Surely, we should solicit the views and the opinions of the community and constituency on an issue as serious as marriage."

The NAACP passed a resolution last year calling same-sex marriage a "civil right" and opposing any legislation "that seeks to codify discrimination or hatred into the law or to remove the Constitutional rights of LGBT citizens."

Last month, a different group of more than 250 Illinois clergy members endorsed a bill in support of gay marriage, calling it "morally just." In an open letter, the clergy said, “There can be no justification for the law treating people differently on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Barack Obama's same sex d-evolution

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 20:35:00 -0500

Barack Obama is now the last living Democrat whom anyone ever believed was progressive who’s not on board for same sex marriage.

Except, of course, that he used to be.

Back when he lived here in Chicago and went to dinner with his gay pals and celebrated their anniversaries and such.

Back around 1996, when he told Outlines (which later purchased and merged with Windy City Times): “I favor legalizing same sex marriage, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.”

Nothing ambiguous there.

But just days ago, in response to New York’s legalization of same sex marriage, all the president could muster was that it was “a good thing” it had happened. Then he talked about marriage as a state issue as if he’d never gone to law school, as if he himself wasn’t the product of a marriage whose validity could have been called into question until a federal court decision six years after the fact made it moot.

At a LGBT fundraiser in the Big Apple just days after New York’s legalization, the president found himself hemming and hawing, embarrassing himself with verbal acrobatics to explain how much he’s for us except for this one tiny little thing which, if he okayed, might wreck his ascension.

No, not into heaven. Into a second-term.

Except that, does he really think there’s a soul in America whose vote is hanging on this one issue? A single voter who thinks it’s okay Obama passed national hates crime legislation, de-toothed the Defense of Marriage Act and lifted Don’t Ask Don’t Tell but will just have to walk away if Obama gives in and supports same sex marriage again?

The president says his position is “evolving,” that he sees “where the trends are going” – which I take as a wink-wink to hang in here cuz he’s gonna have a second-term epiphany.

In fact, the president's been de-volving: After giving his 1996 qujestionnaire answer, he switched up two years later to “undecided.” In 2004, running for U.S. Senate, he came out for civil unions for practical purposes, and by the time he was running for president, it had become a religious issue for him. Now he’s talking state’s rights – a cynical, ironic turn by our first African-American president.

“Obama is trying to have it both ways: garnering LGBT support by talking about equal rights, but not using the word marriage in a federal context so that he isn't quoted exactly supporting that concept,” says Tracy Baim, publisher and executive editor of WCT and author of Obama and the Gays. “But by equivocating on this issue, and calling it a ‘state’ issue when it is clearly also a federal issue, he is serving no one, and alienating some of his core base. They may not vote against him in 2012, but they also may not show up to vote for him. There needs to be a better message out there, because it is getting muddier and muddier, and many people are now just tuning him out.”

I'm with queer activist Dan Savage on this one. The legend on the button he wore to a White House LGBT gathering? "Evolve already."

A critique of same-sex marriage from within the gay community

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:28:00 -0500

While civil unions are good news for some in the community, others are skeptical. Yasmin Nair is a co-founder of Against Equality, an online publishing and arts collective that critiques mainstream gay and lesbian politics. The writer and activist believes marriage is obscuring other significant issues in the gay community, and she joined Eight Forty-Eight to discuss her concerns.

Music Button: DJ Mark Farina, "Dubble-O: Big Fish", from the CD Mushroom Jazz 4, (Om)

Obama administration challenges the Defense of Marriage Act

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 14:18:00 -0600

Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department would no longer defend cases involving the Defense of Marriage Act. DOMA is the federal law instated during the Clinton presidency saying marriage is confined to the union of a man and a woman. But now defending that law falls to Congress. To learn more about what this move will mean for the future of DOMA—both legally and politically—Eight Forty-Eight spoke with Northwestern University School of Law professor Andrew Koppelman.

Music Button: Botany, "Feeling Today", Feeling Today (Western Vinyl)