March 15. 2010

state-capitol-pennsylvania    ::: A key committee of the Pennsylvania state senate is expected to vote tomorrow on bill that could start the process of amending the commonwealth’s constitution to define marriage as a special right of heterosexual couples, PennLive reports. The measure, proposed by Sen. John Eichelberger (R-Blair County), would add these words to the constitution: “Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid and recognized as a marriage in this Commonwealth.” In a debate last June with a senator who was sponsoring a bill that would have recognized marriage equality in the state, Eichelberger said of gay people, “We’re allowing them to exist, and do what every American can do. We’re just not rewarding them with any special designation.” One blogger promises some virtual fireworks if senators vote to send Eichelberger’s proposed amendment on to the full senate. At his Pennsylvania Progressive blog, John Morgan writes, “I spend a fair amount of time in Harrisburg.  I know who is closeted.  Any closeted Senator who votes for Eichelberger's bill will be outed.  I also know a State Senator who is wildly homophobic and is also an alcoholic.  One of her rants will also be made public depending on her vote.  This is fair warning.”
hattip: The Advocate

image  Hayworth book

   ::: Campaign advisers and party activists have reportedly advised Republican candidates in the 2010 elections to play down social-conservative issues in their campaigns. The former Arizona congressman who has mounted a strong primary challenge to Sen. John McCain appears to have ignored that advice during a weekend interview on an Orlando, Fla. radio station. JD Hayworth said he supports a federal constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a special right for only heterosexual couples, Politics Daily reports. He claimed that the Massachusetts Supreme Court had “defined marriage as simply, ‘the establishment of intimacy’.” He continued in what Huffington Post’s Sam Stein calls a “Rick Santorum ‘man on dog’ moment”:

[hear interview clip at end of this post]

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   ::: Nepal hopes to boost its tourism industry by promoting the country nestled among Himalayan peaks as a wedding destination for gay couples. “They do have a lot of income … they are high-spending consumers,” a spokesman for the Nepal Tourism Board, Aditya Baral, told UK’s Press Association. “If they behave well, if they have money, we don’t discriminate.” There’s one significant catch: Such a wedding in Nepal would carry no legal status. Passport, the gay travel blog notes, “Promoting gay tourism in the South Asian country is a drastic change from the way the conservative, Hindu nation once treated LGBT individuals. Five years ago, police beat gay and transgender individuals in the street.” The driving force for the gay tourism outreach is Sunil Pant, an out gay member of parliament and the nation’s most prominent gay activist. Pant is also founder of the new Pink Mountain tour company. He told UKPA that his nation’s mountains, food, and culture are a natural tourist magnet. He added that gay tourists could get married at Everest base camp and honeymoon on an elephant safari.