President Obama is now weighing in on Gay Marriage. I didn’t hear much about it in the mainstream yesterday, but I could have missed it because I’ve been focused on so many work related projects lately. In any event, here’s something from CNN.
In a preview of a major constitutional showdown at the Supreme Court over same-sex marriage, the Obama administration said on Friday that a federal law denying financial benefits to legally wed gay and lesbian couples is unconstitutional.
The Justice Department filed the first of a series of briefs in a pair of cases dealing with the multilayered issue, outlining the executive branch’s positions.
The high court will hear oral arguments next month on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 congressional law that says for federal purposes, marriage is defined as only between one man and one woman.
This is significant for many reasons, one of which is that I’ve been hoping the President would weigh in on the issue. I wasn’t sure. With this, he has a chance to make history once again, because the fact remains that the issue of gay marriage runs far deeper than love and romance. For many older gay couples who are facing hefty inheritance taxes it’s far more pragmatic than emotional. And that’s just part of it. I recommend reading the article in full to get a grasp on what this means to gay couples.
And, this article from Politico explains it in simpler terms.
A legal brief the Justice Department filed with the Supreme Court Friday asking the justices to strike down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act is raising hopes among gay rights advocates that President Barack Obama is on the verge of embracing a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/obama-brief-fuels-marriage-fight-87976.html#ixzz2LkrYOIYPGay Rom Lit Retreat 2013 Announces New Policy:
For GayRomLit 2013, the organizers have revised the way author registration occurs in order to cut down on retreat stress and improve the reader-to-author ratio. In the interests of serving our readers and not pulling them in too many directions, registration will be strictly limited to 100 author registrations: 70 Featured Authors with established careers and 30 Supporting Authors who are building their fanbase. These authors need only prove publication of a minimum of titles. (3 for Featured / 1 for Supporting)
For those who don’t know, Gay Rom Lit Retreat is an event where authors, readers, and fans of all things m/m romance gather each year. The event is taking place this year in Atlanta, from October 17 – 20. You can read more about that here. And here. And, here’s a full explanation of the new policy. The official web site is not up and running yet, but I’m sure it will be soon.
I should also mention there’s been somewhat of a firestorm on the Interwebs since the new policy was announced last week. I don’t follow these things closely for lack of time, but you can read more about it here, where people (readers and authors) responded on facebook and people from GRL replied. There’s one facebook status update with over 100 comments. Others have written blog posts about it. But I’d rather not link to individual blog posts right now because I can’t find any that balance out. In other words, I like to remain objective about things like this and if I can’t find two sides of the story I don’t link to anything. This one link above to facebok seems to explain why some are upset, and how GRL addressed those concerns.
Although I’ve always been curious about GRL, I hadn’t planned on attending this year. I’ll be in the Hamptons with two other gay couples we’ve known forever. From October 16 – 22, we’re going out for a birthday party and I’m looking forward to being out there that time of year. And, Tony’s birthday is also October 17th, too. I actually like East Hampton better in the fall than in the summer, and the traffic isn’t usually as bad either.