Last month, a U.S. District Judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer seeking to find the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) unconstitutional. That dismissal was a logistics issue, not a dismissal because the allegations against DOMA were unfounded. In the Smelt case, the Judge found that the suit “should have” been filed in federal court, not state court.

You may remember a short time ago, the U.S. Senate attached Hate Crimes legislation to a tourism promotion bill – prior to moving it over to the defense spending bill. At that time, I wrote an article asking what sexual orientation and tourism have in common. Well, now we finally have our answer.

Let’s face it, Iowa isn’t exactly the tourism capital of the United States. In fact, it’s likely one of the last places mentioned when you ask someone where they would like to spend their summer vacation.

The Wisconsin Attorney General, J. B. Van Hollen, has stated that he will not defend the legislatures domestic partnership law in filings seeking to overturn it. The republican Attorney General feels the legislation, which provides hospital visitation and inheritance protections to same-sex couples, is a violation of the Wisconsin Constitution which holds that no relationship between same-sex couples can be recognized in Wisconsin which is “similar to” marriage.

A bronze plaque memorializing what might have been and what should have been, same-sex marriage right, is being placed in California’s West Hollywood. The City Council will unveil the plaque at its September 8th meeting and place it at Hollywood Park off North San Vicente Boulevard.

The plaque will bear an interesting quote from an even more interesting person, former South African president, Nelson Mandela.

It’s easy to see why so much attention is being given to the lawsuit filed by the Massachusetts Attorney General, Martha Coakley, is getting so much attention. Massachusetts was the first of the now six states to provide marriage equality to its citizens. It now seems Massachusetts will lead the way as the State challenges the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”).

But before the wahoos in Texas and other jurisdictions get their Bibles all up in people’s faces, the challenge presented by Massachusetts doesn’t challenge Section 2 of DOMA which allows states not to recognize unions performed in other jurisdictions, but instead challenges Section 3 which defines marriage on the Federal level as being between one man and one woman.

Reports are circulating about the Obama Administration’s recent comments in their “Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Defendant United State’s of America’s Motion to Dismiss” filed in the Smelt case [Case 8:09-CV-00286-DOC-MLG in the United States District Court, Central District of California, Southern Division]. Some blogs are already reporting that the administration equates gay marriage to “incest and child marriage.”

The California Supreme Court released its opinion in Strauss v. Horton, today to a roar of dissatisfaction from marriage equality supporters. Although the Court was not asked to rule on “gay marriage” directly, the process by which a constitutional revision/amendment can be made was questioned. In so focusing on the procedural aspects of Proposition 8, the Court, almost wholly, lost touch with the humanitarian aspects of Proposition 8.

While 18,000 marriages sat waiting to hear whether or not they were “valid” in the eyes of the law, hundreds of thousands of future unborn marriages waited to hear whether they would be allowed to be made.

Ms. California, Carrie Prejean, recently spoke out on Dobson’s “Focus on [White Anglo-Saxon Protestant Heterosexual] Family” about the question posed by Perez Hilton during the Miss USA pageant stating:

“I felt as though Satan was trying to tempt me in asking me this question.”

But what is the question that Perez Hilton, as Satan’s tempter, posed to Prejean?

“Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage,” he said. “Do you think every state should follow suit, why or why not?”

In 2007, Charlize Theron was voted the sexiest woman alive by Esquire magazine. At that time, Esquire couldn’t possibly have known that Ms. Theron would later be named a United Nations Messenger of Peace and become a leader in the quest for civil equality.

When bestowing the peace messenger honor on Theron, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had this to say:

You have used your voice, compassion and special relationship with the public to create a better world.

Theron is still doing exactly that; this time as she rallies people to support gay marriage.

Maine Governor John Baldacci has signed a bill which makes Maine the fifth state [along with Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts and Iowa] in the United States to allow same-gender marriages. The Maine Legislature gave the bill over to Baldacci, who had been undecided on the measure.

Three cheers for Maine for joining the right side of the issue!