supreme court legalizes gay marriage nationwide!

The court ruled 5-4 that the Constitution's guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law mean that states cannot ban same-sex marriages. With the ruling, gay marriage will become legal in all 50 states.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing on behalf of the court, said that the hope of gay people intending to marry "is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."

Kennedy, a conservative who often casts the deciding vote in close cases, was joined in the majority by the court's four liberal justices. "The ancient origins of marriage confirm its centrality, but it has not stood in isolation from developments in law and society," Kennedy wrote. His opinion included a history of how ideas of marriage have evolved along with the changing roles and legal status of women.

How Mexico Quietly Legalized Same-Sex Marriage

In the U.S., the Supreme Court's widely anticipated ruling on same-sex marriage has been the focus of nonstop speculation and debate. In Mexico, meanwhile, the highest court effectively legalized same-sex unions this month with a decision that was so low key many failed to notice.

Mexico's Supreme Court quietly published an opinion, known as a jurisprudential thesis, ruling that defining marriage as a union only between a man and a woman is discriminatory and in violation of Mexico's constitution.

While the court did not explicitly say that same-sex unions were legal, the decision is seen as having that effect. And this month's ruling follows a number of court decisions in the past year that pointed in the same direction.

Same-sex marriage has been advancing steadily in Latin America. Argentina was the first to legalize it, in 2010, followed by Brazil and Uruguay. Other have been taking steps along this path.

Until recently, it has been extremely difficult for same-sex couples to be wed in Mexico, as Victor Manuel Aguirre and Fernando Urias know all too well.

Speaking by phone from their home in Mexicali, just across the border from Calexico, California, Aguirre says the couple tried four times in the past two years to marry at city hall.

Each time they were confronted by protesters, hostile local officials, and legal obstacles. They finally took their case all the way to Mexico's highest court, which ruled in their favor. They were wed back on Jan. 17.

"After so much troubles," Aguiree says with a laugh.

Fernando Urias says the ruling is not perfect, but "it will be much easier and much faster than it was for us. Now couples won't have to do all we did."

Couples denied marriage licenses can now directly appeal to local judges who will be bound by the Supreme Court ruling and must force local clerks to issue the license.

"No judge can exclude same-sex couples from marriage in any part of the country," says Estefania Vela Barba, an associate law professor in Mexico City.

She says the Supreme Court justices particularly objected to state laws that determined the purpose of marriage as procreation. Vela Barba says the court ruled such statements as incorrect and discriminatory.

"So for all purposes, there is no reason to exclude same-sex couples from marriage because they can perform what marriage is about ... helping each other out," she says. npr

Support for Gay Marriage Reaches Record High (POLL)

An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted this month found Americans’ support for same-sex marriage at 61 percent, the highest level of support recorded by ABC/Post polls to date.

Similarly, 61 percent say they oppose allowing states to prohibit same-sex marriages, and 62 percent support requiring states to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

There continue to be large differences in views of the issue by age. The poll found support for same-sex marriage at 78 percent among adults under age 30, compared with 46 percent among those 65 and older. And partisanship is a factor: While 76 percent of Democrats and 66 percent of independents support same-sex marriage, support drops to 34 percent among Republicans. abcnews

republican presidential hopefuls views on gay marriage

Senator Ted Cruz

“If one of my daughters was gay, I would love them just as much,” Mr. Cruz said at a dinner in New York last week, explaining that same-sex marriage should be left to the states.

“The people should decide the issue of marriage, not the courts. The union of a man and a woman has been the building block of society since the dawn of history, and the people in numerous states have repeatedly affirmed that truth in their laws. Nothing in the Constitution prohibits that. In fact, it is inconceivable that when the 14th Amendment was ratified, Americans would have understood they were sowing the seeds for courts to invalidate traditional marriage,” Mr. Cruz said in a statement after the report about his daughters.

Senator Marco Rubio

“It doesn’t exist. There is no federal constitutional right to same sex-marriage. There isn’t such a right. You would have to really have a ridiculous and absurd reading of the U.S. Constitution to reach the conclusion that people have a right to marry someone of the same sex. There is no such constitutional right,” Mr. Rubio told the Christian Broadcasting Network last weekend.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush

“It ought be a local decision. I mean, a state decision. The state decided. The people of the state decided. But it’s been overturned by the courts, I guess,” Mr. Bush told The Miami Herald in January.

“I believe in traditional marriage,” Mr. Bush said at CPAC in February.

Gov. Scott Walker

“Tonette and I and our family already had a family member who’s had a reception. I haven’t been to a wedding. That’s true even though my position on marriage is still that’s defined between a man and a woman, and I support the Constitution of the state. But for someone I love, we’ve been at a reception,” Mr. Walker said this month in New Hampshire.

Senator Rand Paul:

“States will end up making the decision on these things. I think that there is a religious connotation to marriage. I believe in the traditional religious connotation of this, but I also believe people should be treated fairly under the law. I see no reason why if the marriage contract conveys certain things, if you want to marry another woman, you can do that and have a contract, but the thing is the religious connotation of marriage that has been going on for thousands of years, I still want to preserve that,” Mr. Paul told CNN this month. nytimes

dogs are awesome

After a stray dog in Ecuador met a team of Swedish adventure athletes, he grew so attached to the squad that he ran for miles and swam along to keep up with them. Now Arthur the dog is world-famous — and it all started with a meatball.

Sweden's Peak Performance team was in Ecuador this month to compete in the Adventure Racing World Championship, in which athletes hike, kayak, and bike during a 430-mile endurance race through the Amazonian rain forest. It's the kind of race where athletes try to keep moving day and night (see an example).

Just before starting one stage, the team's Mikael Lindnord made friends with a dog, sharing a meatball with him. Lindnord thought that would be the end of it — but then the dog followed him, and essentially forced his way onto the team.

The team says that after six days, they "crossed the finish line with 5 members instead of 4 as the 12th top team in the world."

After some uncertainty, Lindnord managed to work out a way to bring his new best friend back to live with his family in Sweden: He and his teammates opened a Paypal account and mounted a Twitter campaign to raise money to bring Arthur home. They've also had him treated for a nasty wound to his back that he had suffered months before they met in him the rainforest. npr

Stunning SCOTUS Move Widens Same-Sex Marriage To 30 States

In a stunning move, the U.S. Supreme Court Monday stepped out of the gay-marriage debate — at least for now. It refused to review lower court decisions that struck down state bans on same-sex marriage; but the decision not to decide will nevertheless have an immediate and dramatic effect, bringing the total number of states where gay marriage is legal up to 30.

Without saying or writing a word, the justices let stand three appeals court decisions, covering parts of the South, Midwest and West. That means that same-sex couples will now be able to marry in 11 more states: Utah, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Add those 11 states to the 19 states that already allow gay marriage, and you have 30 states where such unions are legal.

Thousands more same-sex couples are expected to begin marrying immediately. In Virginia, for instance, the state began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples just hours after the Supreme Court's action. npr

sexy shit

first same-sex couple to publicly marry in Myanmar

The first same-sex couple to publicly marry in Myanmar tied the knot in a ceremony on Saturday, in a symbol advocates hailed as progress for the predominantly Buddhist Southeast Asian nation. 

After 10 years together, Tin Ko Ko and Myo Min Htet exchanged vows in an upscale hotel in Rangoon Saturday, dressed in traditional Myanmar clothes and adorned with garlands of jasmine, reports the Bangkok Post.

Although their union is not legally valid in Myanmar,  the couple acknowledged that the public ceremony — the first of its kind in the nation, also known as Burma — was a significant milestone in a country that still technically criminalizes homosexuality under colonial-era penal codes. Same-sex marriages have taken place before, but this was the first public celebration in the nation, which neither expressly allows nor bans such unions. 

"My family accepted me," Tin Ko Ko, 38, said in an emotional speech, according to the Post. "I am so glad that my parents were understanding ... but [my husband] had to overcome many difficulties from his family." advocate.com

humor for valentines day

Mapping Emotions On The Body: Love Makes Us Warm All Over

Close your eyes and imagine the last time you fell in love. Maybe you were walking next to your sweetheart in a park or staring into each other's eyes over a latte.

Where did you feel the love? Perhaps you got "butterflies in your stomach" or you're heart raced with excitement.

When a team of scientists in Finland asked people to map out where they felt different emotions on their bodies, it found that the results were surprisingly consistent, even across cultures.

People reported that happiness and love sparked activity across nearly the entire body, while depression had the opposite effect: It dampened feelings in the arms, legs and head. Danger and fear triggered strong sensations in the chest area, the volunteers said. And anger was one of the few emotions that activated the arms.

The scientists hope that these body emoticons may one day help psychologists diagnose or treat mood disorders.

"Our emotional system in the brain sends signals to the body so we can deal with our situation," says Lauri Nummenmaa, a psychologist at Aalto University who lead the study.

npr

best gay pride parade ever

The Supreme Court struck down portions of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as well as ended challenges to marriage equality in California this year.

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gryphon love

taiwan's first lesbian couple to marry

Same-Sex Buddhist Nuptials: Their union may not be legal, but Yu Ya-ting and Huang Mei-yu are Taiwan’s first lesbian couple to be married in a Buddhist ceremony.

Huang said the couple hoped that a wedding blessed by a Buddhist master would encourage more Taiwanese, 80 percent of whom are Buddhist, to support same-sex marriage.

“I remember when I told my parents that we would get married, their first question was, ‘Is this legal?’” Huang said. “I could only say to them that it would soon, but I didn’t know when would be considered soon. So we hope it will become legal.”

get over it, get used to it

gay marriage generation gap

gay marriage laws

love exhibition

it fucks me up

"I don’t want people to matter to me too much. Sometimes it hurts too much to think about them. Ones you love who don’t love you, ones who are dead or hate you, ones who you think about but never get to be with. I like people but when I get too close, it fucks me up and I can’t get things done."

— Henry Rollins 

how much we can endure

"Oh, love isn’t there to make us happy. I believe it exists to show us how much we can endure."

— Hermann Hesse, Peter Camenzind