Delaware!

The governor of this little state has signed a civil unions bill! It goes into effect at the start of next year.



When I was at the last Reconciling Ministries Network Convo (in 2009, the next one is this summer) there was a big introduction to the Believe Out Loud campaign. If you believe that gays should be included in the church, make your position known. You don't have to make a big deal out of it, but others need to know you are an ally.

Similar to the It Gets Better project there is a YouTube channel with statements from various people of why the campaign is important. I was led to it through this ad. The Up Next feature showed Troy Plummer, head of Reconciling Ministries Network. It is good to see this effort.



The various branches of the military have said that once their gay ban is lifted, in states where gay marriage is permitted same-sex couples would be allowed to use base chapels for marriages. Fundies, of course, squawked. And the Navy chief chaplain has reversed the Navy's position (at least for now). His note was to fellow chaplains about what a chaplain might do.

This means the Navy is telling chaplains they must discriminate. That includes chaplains from denominations that permit (or soon will) gay marriage. Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin says this amounts to infringement of religious liberty. So these liberal denominations are being discriminated against and they should be fighting for their freedom.



About a week ago I wrote about the law firm King & Spaulding who dropped the contract to defend the Defense of Marriage Act on behalf of the House. Lots of conservative people claimed it was because of the scary gays putting pressure on (bullying) K&S. The news now is a bit more mundane. The rules at K&S are that a partner, in this case Paul Clement, must submit a contract with the firm's business review committee before signing it. Clement didn't do that. Instead he signed the contract on behalf of the company. Only then did the business review committee learn about it. It took them only a day to decide the case was not a good business decision. Clement took the case with him and now works at another law firm.



Some unusual and welcome news of the New York gay marriage battle. Two thirds of the money donated to the pro-gay organizations came from Republicans. These are mostly business leaders who have determined marriage equality is good for their business. It is embarrassing they contributed more money than progressive sources. Then again, they do have the money to give. Some of these GOP givers are even following up with visits to Albany to sway a few votes.

A couple weeks ago these same business leaders sent a letter to NY Governor Andrew Cuomo asking him to support marriage equality. The letter says essentially the same thing -- to remain competitive the state must attract top talent. Top talent includes gay people and those who want to work in an inclusive environment. It was signed by some pretty big names, including the heads of Goldman Sachs, Con Edison, JP Morgan's Investment Bank, Thompson Reuters, Morgan Stanley, and Bloomberg.

Commenters wonder why gay marriage is a competitive advantage and well funded education available to all isn't.