Civil & Human Rights

Complete your HB 2305 petitions this week and turn them in by this weekend

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

2305hb11I have seen some emails and Facebook posts containing incorrect information about the citizens referendum ("citizens veto") of HB 2305, the Voter Suppression Act. The deadline to file the petitions with the Secretary of State is Thursday, September 12. However, because the petitions have to be checked for completeness, the signatures verified against the voter registration records, and organized for delivery to the Secretary of State, you should make every effort to complete your petitions this week and to deliver them to your local county Democratic Party headquarters or the Protect Your Right To Vote Committee (protectourvoteaz.org) by this weekend. (Information below the fold).

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports that Election law referendum organizers say they’re ‘on track’:

The deadline is approaching fast but
organizers of a citizen referendum drive against a wide-ranging
elections bill say they’re on track to get enough signatures to put
HB2305 on the 2014 ballot.

Arizona Libertarian Party Vice Chair Barry Hess, a member of the
coalition attempting to refer HB2305 to the ballot, said the Protect
Your Right to Vote Committee has collected and verified nearly 86,405
signatures, the number it needs to put the law on hold and force a
public vote in the November 2014 election. He said he fully expects the
committee to exceed its goal of 120,000 signatures, to provide a cushion
against invalid signatures.

“We’re going to the ballot,” Hess told the Arizona Capitol Times. “We are close enough that there’s not a question, with verified signatures.”

Equal Marriage Arizona initiative suspended

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

EqualEarlier this month, I posted about the Equal Marriage Arizona initiative (C-05-2014) that was filed in June, and the investigative journalism of Lila Shapiro at the Huffington Post, Tim Mooney, Former Gay Marriage Foe, Launches Equality Campaign To Suspicion.  Ms. Shapiro's exceptional reporting set off alarm bells among the LGBT community both in Arizona and nationally.

Discussions between the cochairs of Equal Marriage Arizona and the leadership of the LGBT community in Arizona has led to the suspension of the Equal Marriage Arizona initiative based upon mutually shared interests and concerns. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports, GOP-backed
marriage initiative stalls amid concerns from gay community:

A ballot initiative to legalize gay
marriage that is being pushed by the political right has been suspended
due to suspicion from the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender)
community about the campaign timing and the motives of the campaign’s
backer.

The Equal Marriage Arizona Initiative, an effort led by Republicans
and Libertarians, has been collecting signatures to trigger a vote in
2014 to amend the Constitution to allow same-sex marriages in Arizona.
 Now it is in negotiations with LGBT leaders to gain their support
before moving forward, said the campaign co-chair, Erin Ogletree
Simpson.

The fall of DOMA: federal benefits now available to same-sex marriage partners

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

EqualAfter the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in June, ending the federal government's ability to discriminate against legally married same-sex marriage partners from states that recognize same-sex marriage, the Obama administration has had the agencies of the federal government conducting a review to amend rules and regulations to comply with the law.

Yesterday, the IRS and Medicare announced a policy which uses the “place of celebration” rule, rather than the place of residence of legally married same-sex marriage partners. This policy change will have a profound effect on undermining Section 2 of DOMA (states do not have to recognize the status of legally married same-sex marriage partners from states that recognize same-sex marriage — in violation of the Full Faith and Credit Clause, Article IV, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution), because so many states use the federal adjusted gross income from Form 1040 as the basis for factoring state income taxes. The IRS and Medicare will now recognize same-sex marriages. All of them.:

According to a big new announcement
from the IRS and the Treasury Department, if you’re a legally married
gay couple, the federal government will recognize your marriage — even
if you live in a state where your marriage isn’t legal.

The statement, released by the Treasury Department Thursday, says that department and the IRS will use a “place of celebration” rule in recognizing same-sex unions (recognition that was illegal before the Supreme Court struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act last month). That means that the U.S. government recognizes a marriage if the union was legally recognized in the place where it occurred, where it was celebrated. That’s true even if the married couple then lives in a state where gay marriage is illegal.

Poverty, Hunger, Inequality, Violence: American Women Are Being Screwed

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Era58-sm72by Pamela Powers Hannley

It's time for a status update…

93 years after American women won the right to vote,

90 years after the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the US Constitution was proposed,

53 years after The Pill,

50 years after The Feminine Mystique awakened middle-class housewives from the slumber of the 1950s,

47 years after the creation of the National Organization for Women (NOW),

40 years after Roe v Wade legalized abortion in the US,

and 31 years after the ERA died because it fell short of state ratification by 3 state legislatures…

Where are we? Find out after the jump.


Marriage Equality breaks out in New Mexico

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Something remarkable is happening in New Mexico over the past week. After a state court judge ruled last week that the state's constitution prohibits discrimination against same-sex couples, several counties in New Mexico have begun issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. N.M.
judge orders county to issue same-sex marriage licenses:

An Albuquerque judge on Monday ordered the clerk of New Mexico’s most
populous county to join two other counties in the state in issuing
marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples.

State District Judge Alan Malott ruled that New Mexico’s
constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation.

The Bernalillo County clerk’s office in Albuquerque plans to start
issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Laura
Schauer Ives, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of New
Mexico, called it a “monumental ruling” and said the group didn’t expect
such a broad decision by the judge.