Gay and Lesbian Relationships

Dennis Herrera Presents City's Argument Against Prop. 8 in U.S. Supreme Court Brief

"Asserting the inferiority of same-sex couples was the purpose and effect of Proposition 8," City Attorney Dennis Herrera states in a brief filed today in the U.S. Supreme Court. "But relegating gay couples to a lesser status simply to brand them as different and less worthy than opposite-sex couple ... More >>

S.F. Gays Will Try to Get Married on Valentine's Day

Tomorrow at noon, some loving, happy, devoted same-sex couples who raise kids, pay bills, and work through arguments just like straight couples, will descend on San Francisco City Hall to ask, once again, to be married. Perhaps some consider it a dress rehearsal, as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares ... More >>

A More Perfect Union: Prop. 8 May Lead to Gay-Marriage Rights

Facebook Says You Can Get Gay Married

As of late, Facebook has endlessly come under fire for its in-your-face tactics and unpopular overhauls. Just earlier today, users were lamenting the new @Facebook e-mail accounts being shoved down their throats. But for all the seemingly unnecessary changes the Silicon Valley tech company has made, ... More >>

DOMA Project: Meet Brian and Alfonso, Local Gay Couple Getting Screwed Over by DOMA

What better way to truly understand the effects DOMA has had on binational gay couples than to put a face to the names. Here's the story of San Francisco couple Brian Willingham and Alfonso Garcia featured on a video by the DOMA Project, a campaign launched in 2010 to fight help binational gay coupl ... More >>

Prop. 8 Appeals Court Ruling: Inside the Dissenting Opinion

​Same-sex marriage advocates rejoiced today as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker's 2010 decision that Proposition 8, the 2008 California ballot initiative banning gay marriage, is unconstitutional.The decision is almost certainly destine ... More >>

San Francisco Gay Binational Couple to Appeal DOMA Visa Denial

Anthony Makk, left, with husband Bradford Wells in happier times.​Anthony John Makk -- the gay Australian national fighting separation from his San Francisco spouse after his marriage visa petition was denied last week -- is not giving up yet. Makk will now appeal the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrat ... More >>

Immigration Judge Delays Deportation for Alex Benshimol, S.F. Gay Man Married to American

Alex Benshimol, left, can stay in the country with his husband Alex Gentry.​In another victory for same-sex couples, a San Francisco immigration judge ignored the Defense of Marriage Act today when she delayed the deportation proceedings against a gay Venezuelan man who is married to an American c ... More >>

Supreme Court: S.F. Politicians Free to Denounce Catholic Church

Heresy: The business of S.F. government?​The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a lawsuit brought by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights against the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, essentially settling the question of whether the supervisors were out of line when they passed ... More >>

Gay Couples Can't Get Married ... Still

Nope​There will be no white weddings for gay couples -- at least not yet. A San Francisco federal court ruled today that same-sex marriages would not be allowed while courts decide whether Proposition 8 -- the state's ban on gay marriage -- is constitutional or not. It's another blow for same-sex ... More >>

Gay Binational Couples Fighting Deportations On Obama's New DOMA Stance

​Gay couples are already using President Obama's new stance against the Defense of Marriage Act as a weapon to fight deportations of their foreign spouses. The couples hope that the administration's declaration last week that the law that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman is uncon ... More >>

Kamala Harris Wants Federal Appeals Court To Allow Gay Marriages Now

Harris: Let the people marry​Supporters of same-sex marriage just got a powerful ally: California Attorney General Kamala Harris. The newly minted AG is urging the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to allow gay couples to marry while it considers a federal appeal over the constitutionality of Propositi ... More >>

Facebook Recognizes Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships

Facebook welcomes you ​Here is something to "Like" on Facebook.Facebook has created a new relationship status option that allows same-sex couples to declare they are "in a domestic partnership" or "in a civil union."Up until now, Facebook limited the relationship status options including single, i ... More >>

Gay Couples to Stage City Hall Sit-In to Celebrate Valentine's Day

Love hurts​For many San Francisco gay couples, Valentine's Day is just a bitter reminder of what they don't have -- marriage certificates. So expect a huge turnout at San Francisco City Hall for the hallmark holiday today; gay couples across the nation will celebrate their love with a little civil ... More >>

Prop. 8 Ruling: Judge Vaughn Walker's Most Scathing Language

MlinksvaJudge Vaughn Walker's greatest hits...​READ PROP. 8 ANALYSIS HEREA collection of Judge Vaughn Walker's most pointed statements from today's ruling: During closing arguments, proponents again focused on the contention that "responsible procreation is really at the heart of society's interes ... More >>

Marriage Rights Can't Rely on Fickle Politicians' Whims

Some day his prince will come. But will a political consensus? ​Over the past few days, columnists Jonathan Rauch and Jonathan Capehart have been wringing their hands over what Judge Vaughn Walker might do to Proposition 8. They are convinced that Walker will either start an "inferno" or cause ... More >>

The Week in Gay: New Trend in 2010 -- Same-Sex Bedpans!

Uppity Fag has his eye on the one on the bottom left...​Late yesterday afternoon President Barack Obama signed a mandate that extends hospital visitation rights to same-sex couples in hospitals throughout the country. Whatever. While some may hail this as a victory for gay rights, the bot ... More >>

I Now Pronounce You Incorporated: A Novel Approach to Same-Sex Marriage

I now declare this corporation merged...​Melding legal principles does not always follow the "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!" "You got your peanut butter in my chocolate!" path. But humor us, here. In San Francisco, the plaintiffs have made their case in an attempt to overturn Proposi ... More >>

Marriage equality can be achieved by separating church and state

Will Gay Mecca Relocate From San Francisco To Des Moines?

Disdain of San Franciscans' disdain of all things Midwestern has become nearly as clichéd as the original sin. And, yet, there's always a touch of schadenfreude anticipating city residents' chagrin whenever legitimately good news emanates from the Midwest indicating its denizens have out-progressiv ... More >>

Gay Iowan Transplants to California Ponder Today's Gay Marriage Ruling

They are a rare species, these gay Iowans who have moved out to the Golden State, the perfect journalistic formula to comment on today's news of the Iowa Supreme Court approving gay marriage while its California colleagues mull this same issue. But we put on our intrepid reporter cap and found two s ... More >>

The Gathering Storm: Lawyers, Loonies, Activists Ready for Prop. 8 Battle

Civic Center Plaza, 6:58 a.m. By 7 a.m., the anti-homosexual zealots were roaring, the police were telling the guy with the Sodomy-Will-Destroy-America message mounted on his Japanese-made truck to move along, and the gay and lesbian chorus with the pink-haired director (quite good!) were warming u ... More >>

Jury Acquits Man Who Bit Partner's Forehead

On November 11, the San Francisco Police Department responded to a call from a gay man who said his partner had abused him. When police arrived and found Bejamin Schalit, 50, with crescent-shaped bite marks on his forehead, they arrested the partner, Jeremy Womack, 33, and the district att ... More >>

Drama Season

Prop. 8 divides Mormon family during the holidays.

Will Gay Marriage Have to Wait for Democracy to Catch Up?

History's Answer: Yes By Peter Jamison Since Californians voted to enshrine discrimination against gay couples in their state constitution on Nov. 4, the varied strains of lamentation from San Francisco's chattering classes have risen to a choral swell. The success of Proposition 8, which banned s ... More >>

Do Gay Rights Have a Future Outside of California? Do We Care?

By Benjamin Wachs Although it’s easy to get lost in the fact that California voters recently decided to put discrimination in the state constitution, a little perspective is in order: gay couples in California still have (almost) full equality under the law, with provisions for civil unions, ado ... More >>

Theatre Rhinoceros Secedes from State of California

Say what?!! Theatre Rhinoceros (a.k.a. the "oldest queer theater in America") is so disappointed in the way California voted on Prop. 8 that its mainstage is seceding from the state. And you're all invited to the freebie secession party tomorrow night. Executive Director John Fisher writes: For thi ... More >>

Campaign for California Families' Efforts to Intervene in Prop 8 Litigation Denied

By Ashley Harrell The California Supreme Court's reentry into the Prop 8 war satisfied almost everybody. Yes on 8 and its supporters figure that the three new court cases, which challenge the legality of a same-sex marriage amendment to the state constitution, don't stand a chance. No on 8 and it s ... More >>

State Supreme Court To Review Gay Marriage Ban

The Supreme Court of California just announced that it will consider the constitutional challenge to the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8, but it will not issue a stay, which means the state considers gay marriages illegal pending the outcome of the constitutional challenge. San Francisco, San Jos ... More >>

He's No Menace

Gay marriage has been very, very good to Dennis Herrera.

Obama Supports 'Separate But Equal' Principle For Gays

Oh, the irony of it all: When it comes to his views on same-sex marriage, the first black man elected president in the U.S. uses the same principle employed in the past by whites to justify segregation in this country. Barack Obama opposes gay marriage, but he supports civil unions. Separate but ... More >>

"No on 8" activists: please, please, PLEASE, don't turn this into a holy war

SF 2008 Election Winners & Losers

Election Night Storylines

Gay Marriage: Next Stop, U.S. Supreme Court

Still No Gay Couples in No on 8 Ads?

The Tragedy of Gavin Newsom & Chris Daly’s Shared Flaw

Last Night: Margaret Cho Assails Prop 8, Proposes to "Fingerfuck" Sense into Sarah Palin

Will black neighborhoods in S.F. support the gay marriage ban — again?

Prop 8 Ad Wars: The Counterattack

Prop 8 Fueling Vitriol at Folsom Street Fair

Tourists Live It Up While Poor San Franciscans Take Stay-Cations

Monday: Phelps Camp VS. Gays and Gavin Newsom at City Hall

Tuesday: Gay Marriages Flood City Hall

The Gay Divorcees

Gay marriage is new. Gay divorce isn't.

Gay Marriage now legal in New York state...for at least a month

Rumor Mill: Historic Day For Gay Marriage in May?

New York State recognizes, but won’t perform, gay marriage

Wake-Up Call

How to tell someone, politely, that you were sleeping when he phoned

Imperfect Unions

A new documentary sells gay marriage as the only answer to discrimination