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Holy cow. Where to begin? Dustin Lance Black's play about Prop 8 hit Broadway for an incredible
night. The tapes of the Prop 8 trial might actually get released. Florida's working on
domestic partnerships, North Carolina's marriage ban is even worse than we thought, New Hampshire
might repeal marriage, and Missouri -- yes, Missouri -- favors legal recognition for gay
couples. All that, plus the first Republican co-sponsor for the repeal of DOMA. Wow.
I'm Matt Baume, and welcome to Marriage News Watch for September 26, 2011.
Marriage News Watch is made possible by Marriage Equality USA. If you're getting married, you
can make Marriage Equality USA your donation gift beneficiary at MarriageEqualityUSA.org/gifting.
By Carbonated, a creative agency, and by viewers like you.
You may have noticed that I didn't do an episode last week. That's because I was in New York
for the star-studded Broadway premier of Dustin Lance Black's new play, "8," based on the
transcripts of the Prop 8 trial. It was even more amazing than anyone could have hoped,
and if you missed it, don't worry: it's coming to your town. Now that it's had its premiere,
the plan is to license the play to local community theater and student groups all over the world.
Visit BroadwayImpact.com for more information.
Meanwhile on the very same day as the show, the Federal Circuit Court in California ruled
that the tapes of the Prop 8 trial should be unsealed. This is huge, but it's not a
done deal yet. The tapes are still locked up for another week, during which time the
Prop 8 proponents will appeal the order. Then we're probably looking at several weeks for
the appeal to play out.
Let's turn now to Florida, where Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen became the first congressional
Republican to co-sponsor the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the federal marriage
ban. That brings the total number of co-sponsors to nearly 130, a record high.
Also in Florida, two Democrats have introduced a domestic partnership bill. But the state
already has a constitutional amendment banning recognition similar to marriage, so it's unclear
if Florida would even be allowed to recognize domestic partnerships.
The language of North Carolina's proposed constitutional amendment to ban marriage is
even more harsh than was previously agreed to. Lawmakers debated a version of the bill
that permitted employers to opt in to providing partnership benefits, but the version that
will go before voters leaves that provision out. Polling currently shows the bill losing
by a very slim margin, which could be a problem since the vote will occur in May, during the
Republican primary when conservative turnout will be high.
And In New Hampshire, Republicans have introduced a bill to end marriage equality in that state.
The proposed measure would ban more than just marriage -- it would leave couples with even
fewer protections than they had under civil unions. The House Judiciary Committee will
vote on the bill next month.
Those are the headlines, visit us over at MarriageNewsWatch.com for more on all these
stories and more. And connect with us at Facebook.com/MarriageNewsWatch to get breaking alerts right on your wall.
See you next week.
Marriage News Watch is made possible by Marriage Equality USA. If you're getting married, you
can make Marriage Equality USA your donation gift beneficiary at MarriageEqualityUSA.org/gifting.
By Carbonated, a creative agency, and by viewers like you.