QBits

New York same-sex marriage law upheld in state appeals court

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A New York state appeals court on Friday ruled against a challenge to the state’s marriage equality law, and ruled that the statute was legally enacted.

The New York state Senate “did not violate the Open Meetings Law” and “marriages performed thereunder are not invalid,” the court ruled, reported the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms had sued New York state last year, alleging that the Senate had violated the Open Meetings Law when it held marathon, closed-door conferences discussing the bill in the days leading up to its passage in June 2011.

The state Appellate Court in Rochester sided against a lower court in Livingston County, declaring that the conferences were held in accordance with the law and deciding in favor of the state’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

“The court’s decision affirms that in our state, there is marriage equality for all, and with this decision New York continues to stand as a progressive leader for the nation,” say Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in a statement following the ruling.

New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms is a lobbying group founded in 1982 to promote religious liberties and moral values, according to its website.

It sued the state Senate the month after the bill was signed into law.

NY High Schoolers Stand Up To Homophobia With Purple “Love Is Love” Sweatshirts

Over at Long Island’s Great Neck South High School, a model Gay-Straight Alliance is standing up against homophobia today with a “Wear Purple Day” event.

Meher Zaman, an 11th grader at the school—and an out lesbian—is leading the charge.

“Students are standing in solidarity and uniting against homophobia at our high school by wearing purple,” she says. “We will also be handing out wristbands to people and culminating awareness against homophobia by speaking to other students about such issues in health classrooms.”

The color purple is also used on Spirit Day, October 20, to commemorate LGBT kids who have committed suicide.

Zaman says her group created the sweatshirts to help brand their cause and sold them in the school’s lobby several weeks ago for $15 each. “We want to create an environment of comfort for all students regardless of sexual orientation by promoting not merely tolerance but true acceptance.”

If only more adults could be as open-minded and more GSA as outspoken as this.

Same-Sex Couples Get Hitched Atop Empire State Building For First Time Ever

Click on the source link for more photos and a video of the event.

Congrats!

Q.

(AP/Richard Drew)

Alaskan lovebirds Stephanie Figarelle and Lela McArthur became the first same-sex couple to tie the knot at the Empire State Building this morning, with an early-morning Valentine’s Day ceremony at the crack of 8 a.m. It was the first of four weddings to take place at the landmark building today, and all designed by “celebrity event designer” Colin Cowie. Here’s awwwwesome video from the Figarelle-McArthur union:

After the ladies got hitched, at 11 a.m. Shawn Klein and Phil Fung became the first same-sex couple from New York State to wed atop the Empire State Building. Fung, 49, a technological project manager for a financial firm, and Klein, 51, an administrator at New York Presbyterian, were betrothed in a small ceremony on the landmark’s 61st floor, nearly eight months after Albany’s vote to make New York the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage. They met over eighteen years ago at the erstwhile Roxy nightclub, and have been in a registered domestic partnership for over two years.

While pop culture and Nora Ephron have cemented the Empire State Building as a prime meeting spot for lovers, weddings at the building are only allowed once a year on Valentine’s Day. Couples who wish to wed there are required to submit their photos and love stories to a competition, where friends and family can vote for them. Today the four winning couples, who included two hetero couples (boooring!) got an all-expenses paid ceremony, reception and champagne toast.

At the ceremony, Fung and Klein, who walked down the aisle to Michael Bolton’s “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You,” wore matching suits courtesy of Men’s Wearhouse and exchanged complimentary De Beers wedding rings. Around forty guests were in attendance, including ten members of Klein’s family, who traveled to New York from his home state of North Dakota. And the ceremony was presided over by local “Wedding Celebrant” Kim Kirkley, who spoke at length about the couple’s historic union.

Troy Mayor Said ‘Disturbing Things’ in Meeting, Gay-Straight Alliance Leader Says

Janice Daniels’ reference to homosexuality being dangerous to mental health disturbed leaders of the Troy High School Gay-Straight Alliance, whom the mayor met with on Monday.

By Jen Anesi
Email the author
January 9, 2012

Troy Mayor Janice Daniels denies saying homosexuality is a mental issue, but Troy High School Gay Straight Alliance co-founders Skye Curtis and Zach Kilgore were disturbed by the meeting on Monday, Jan. 9.

Upload Photos and Videos

Troy Mayor Janice Daniels again met with members of the Troy High School Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) Monday afternoon in an effort to reach an understanding after Daniels’ anti-gay Facebook slur garnered statewide and nationwide attention last month.

The meeting, however, left several members of the GSA and their supporters disappointed.

“There were a lot of disturbing things that were said in that meeting,” said GSA member and Troy High School senior Skye Curtis.

According to Curtis and others who attended the meeting – including GSA member Zach Kilgore and lesbian couple Amy and Tina Weber – Daniels, while discussing mental health and suicide among members of the LGBT community, at one point suggested putting together a panel of psychologists to show that homosexuality is dangerous to your mental health.

“She definitely meant it in quite a negative connotation,” Curtis said.

“The mayor of Troy told my daughter this afternoon that she wants to bring in a panel of psychologists to explain to the high school’s Gay-Straight Alliance that homosexuality is a mental disease,” Rodney Curtis, Skye’s father, wrote on his Facebook page.

Amy Weber was so disturbed by Daniels’ comments that she attended the Troy City Council meeting Monday evening and asked for an audio copy of the meeting between the Troy High GSA and the mayor, which the mayor recorded, during public comment.

When asked about the comment, however, Daniels said she said no such thing.

“That is a misrepresentation entirely,” Daniels said in an interview with Troy Patch Monday evening. “I would like to meet with Skye and her parents to discuss these kinds of issues. Rather than have all this division, we need to come together, because I never said that.”

“Her tune changed completely,” Kilgore said. “Before, she was very for an anti-bullying event because she thought we could turn this into a positive thing. What we found out today was that she was not planning on doing that.

“She turned it into an anti-suicide thing, which is great, but she wanted to completely ignore the issue that started this.”

“That bullying leads to suicide,” Curtis continued. “Then we started talking about who could possibly speak, and she alluded to the fact that she wanted to bring in a panel of psychologists who would testify that homosexuality was a mental disease.”

“This was implied by her,” Kilgore clarified. “She didn’t explicitly say it. Somebody said something to the effect of, ‘we can’t tell these kids that what they’re doing is wrong.’”

“And she said, ‘well, I can get a panel to testify,’” Curtis said. “Which is really horrifying, because if we’re trying to prevent suicide, telling a room full of gay kids that they have a mental disease probably isn’t a way to prevent suicide.”

Curtis said they hope to press on with plans to put on an anti-bullying and suicide prevention program some time in January or February.

“We’re moving on without her,” Kilgore said.

Rachel Maddow interviews Jason West, Mayor of New Palz, NY on SSM.

Q.