Below The Beltway

While gay marriage still isn’t legal in New York, the Empire State will now give legal protection to homosexuals legally married under the laws of other states:
ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, […]

According to one poll, voters in California may do something revolutionary in November:
For the first time in over three decades of polling on the issue of same-sex marriage laws, The Field Poll finds more California voters approving than disapproving of allowing same-sex couples the right to marry and having regular marriage laws apply to them. […]

I’ve gotten myself into a lovely little exchange prompted by the California gay marriage decision over at Leslie Carbone’s blog.
I think I’ve held my own quite nicely, if I must say.

I posted this about seven months ago over at The Liberty Papers. Given yesterday’s ruling in California, I think a repost is timely:
Historian Stephanie Coontz has an interesting article in today’s New York Times examining the relationship between the state and the institution of marriage. As Coontz notes, the idea that all marriages must be […]

While the conservative blogosphere goes off, mostly half-cocked, about the Supreme Court of California’s decision on gay marriage here are a few facts to keep in mind:
(1) No rational person can criticize the Court’s decision here without having at least a basic understanding of the governing California precedents. Anyone who condemns this ruling without having […]

Now that the Supreme Court of California has ruled that laws against gay marriage violate the state’s Constitution, speculation has already begun about the political impact of the decision:
[T]he decision by the California Supreme Court on Thursday overturning the state’s ban on same-sex marriage seems likely to put the issue back onto the national political […]

Tomorrow, the California Supreme Court will issue a decision that could have implications for the 2008 Presidential Election:
The California Supreme Court says it plans to issue its long-awaited decision on whether to legalize same-sex marriage on Thursday.
The high court announced the pending opinion on its Web site Wednesday morning. Justices heard oral arguments in a […]

A Democratic State Senator in Maryland has come up with an idea that actually makes sense:
Advocates for same-sex marriage plan to introduce legislation in the Maryland General Assembly today that would abolish civil marriage ceremonies now confined to heterosexual unions in the state and replace them with domestic partnerships for all couples.
The bills represent an […]

Between marriage and state

As summer turns into fall, the fall election will heat up considerably, and one of the biggest fights in Virginia this year, aside from the Senate race between George Allen and James Webb, will be over the referendum to add an Amendment banning same-sex marriage to Virginia’s Constitution. As I’ve announced before, I am opposed […]