Same-sex marriage has had quite the eventful past few weeks. On February 7, the infamous Proposition 8 in California was ruled unconstitutional in a federal appeals court. To the great surprise of no one, supporters of Prop 8 (making marriage solely between a man and a woman) have contested the decision to repeal, and the decision is now facing appeal. On February 13, Washington state governor Chris Gregoire signed the bill legalizing same-sex marriage in her state. A referendum has been filed, and if the amount of needed signatures is reached, the issue will be put on the ballot in the fall. On February 17, Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey vetoed a bill that would legalize gay marriage in his state. He believes an issue this large should be decided by the people. I do not stand alone when I say that the rights of the minority should never be left to the tyranny of the majority, but then again I am not an elected official. In even more recent news, A U.S. District Court in California just decided Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional in the case Golinski v. Office of Personnel Management. Karen Golinski fought for the ...

Although gay marriage is not the necessarily the be-all end-all of the queer community, many regard it as a very important stepping stone in the equal rights process. Just last week one state came one step closer to becoming the 7th state to recognize same-sex marriage. The state senate of Washington voted through legislation legalizing same-sex marriage, and this past Wednesday the House did as well. Same-sex marriage is already legal in New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia, with debate coming up this year for New Jersey and Maryland. Same-sex marriage could quite also possibly find itself on the ballot this fall in Maine. Washington state currently recognizes an “everything but marriage law” that was sustained by voters after opponents filed a referendum (to put it on the ballot for direct vote) to challenge it. From 2007 to 2009, Washington recognized domestic partnerships,. If the law is passed, opponents have already announced a challenge will be filed to put the issue on the November ballot. This measure requires 120,577 signatures, and will postpone gay and lesbian couples the ability to wed to November after the election results, if they are favorable. If the signatures are not ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u62OtM_vt5k&feature=player_embedded A second class citizen is defined as: a person whose rights and opportunities are treated as less important than those of other people in the same society. It’s also the name of Ryan James Yezak’s upcoming documentary that, according to the Kickstarter page, will explore “the many areas in which gays, lesbians & bisexuals” are discriminated against within the United States. What should we expect? At this point, I’d be shocked if you hadn’t seen the viral video (above) that was released on Martin Luther Kind Day. This beautifully assembled video gained one million views within the first 24 hours and the campaign, which originally had a goal of collecting $50,000, has raised three-fold that - $153,500 at the posting of this article. To say that this campaign was a success may be the biggest understatement of the century. But fame and notoriety inevitably brings its fair share of criticisms. Within hours of the viral video’s release, activists were already calling into question if Second Class Citizens would be representative of the entire movement, due the video’s lack of queer women, people of color and trans folk. It was not Yezak’s intent to exclude queer women or people of color from the video. “I ...