Austin couple challenges Texas gay marriage ban

Two Texas couples are challenging the state's gay marriage ban.

 The case heads to a hearing in front of a federal judge in San Antonio Wednesday. Austin couple Cleopatra DeLeon and Nicole Dimetman will be traveling to San Antonio for the case this week.They married in 2009. “We decided that it was the right thing to do and that it was the right thing to do for our son,” said Dimetman. “I think that, whatever happens — I think Nicole and I will feel like we’ve kind of pushed the ball forward for people like us,” DeLeon said. DeLeon and Dimetman got married in Massachusetts. When they returned home to Texas, the state didn’t recognize the marriage. That means — in the states eyes — they didn’t have the same parental rights, medical rights, or rights after death as heterosexual married couples. The motion for injunction states that Texas Constitutional amendment and policies violate “the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment”. DeLeon and Dimetman think of what a win for them would mean for their son. “He would never have to grow up feeling like the state of Texas didn’t protect our family,” said DeLeon. “I think it’s important to note that this issue has moved very quickly since 2005,” Dimetman said.

- kxan.com:

Dustin Lance Black - Screenwriter

b. June 10, 1974

“I heard the story of Harvey Milk and it gave me hope that I could live my life openly as who I am.”

Dustin Lance Black is a screenwriter, director and producer. In 2009, he received an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for “Milk,” about openly gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk.

Black grew up in a devout Mormon household in San Antonio, Texas. After his mother remarried, he moved to Salinas, California. As a young boy, Black knew he was gay. He believed he would be “hurt and brought down” because of it and that he was going to hell. He says his “acute awareness” of his sexual orientation made him gloomy and sometimes suicidal.

In high school he fostered a love of the dramatic arts and began working on theatrical productions. He enrolled at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television and graduated with honors. In 2000, he wrote and directed two gay-themed films, “The Journey of Jared Price” and “Something Close to Heaven.” Black was the only Mormon writer for the HBO series about polygamy, “Big Love,” for which he received two Writers Guild of America Awards.

Captivated by the story of Harvey Milk, Black researched Milk’s life for three years, culminating in a screenplay. Academy Award-nominated director Gus Van Sant signed on with the project. In 2009, “Milk” received eight Academy Award nominations and won two. Black received an Oscar for his screenplay and Sean Penn won for best actor.

Black’s recent works include the screenplay for “Pedro,” profiling AIDS activist and MTV personality Pedro Zamora. He is the screenwriter for “J. Edgar,” a film about FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

In 2009, Black topped The Advocate’s list of the “Forty under 40” most influential openly gay people. He is an outspoken LGBT activist, serving on the boards of The Trevor Project and the American Foundation for Equal Rights. Black frequently speaks about gay rights to college students across the country.

He resides in Los Angeles.

Bibliography

• "Dustin Lance Black.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 19 May 2011.
• Leonard, Gary. "Dustin Lance Black: Black & Proud.” LA Weekly. 19 May 2011.
• "Milk Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black on Milk, 30 Years Later.” Towleroad. 19 May 2011.

Websites

• IMDB

Screenplays

• Something Close to Heaven (2000)
• The Journey of Jared Price (2000)
• Big Love (2006-2009)
• Pedro (2008)

Lesbian judge refuses to perform marriage ceremonies

Dallas County civil Judge Tonya Parker, a lesbian, is making national news after announcing she won’t perform marriage ceremonies in her court until gay couples can legally wed in Texas.

According to the Dallas Voice, Parker says:

I don’t perform marriage ceremonies because we are in a state that does not have marriage equality … it’s kind of oxymoronic for me to perform ceremonies that can’t be performed for me, so I’m not going to do it.

Parker announced her decision while giving a speech on Tuesday at the monthly meeting of the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, of which she is a member, the Dallas Voice says. See the YouTube video below: 

- chron.com

Did a Republican member of Texas' State Board of Education just come out as gay?:

A Texas state board of education Republican seeking re-​election has come out as gay, and immediately lost the endorsement of a prominent conservative political activist known for her homophobic and religious views.

George Clayton, a Republican member of the State Board of Education from Richardson, sent an email to several news organizations last week that appears to confirm he’s gay.

Clayton is an academic coordinator at North Dallas High School, according to his bio on the Texas Education Agency website. He won the District 12 SBOE seat in 2010, when he defeated longtime Republican incumbent Geraldine “Tincy” Miller in the primary.

Clayton sent out his email in response to an apparent whisper campaign about his sexual orientation among Republicans in the district, which covers all of Collin County. Miller is trying to unseat Clayton and recapture her old seat in 2012."

Dallas Voice

The Dallas Voice says the e-mail "appears" to confirm he is gay. There's no need for this caution: Clayton's words are clear and unambigous - he has a live-in, male partner:

“So as to avoid the tyranny of misinformation and innuendo in this political race, I wish to say that I, in fact, do have a male partner who lives with me in my home in Richardson, Texas. I hope this frank announcement satisfies Tincy Miller and the ladies associate with the Golden Corridor organization. All of us can now move on with discussions concerning education instead of being overly occupied with my personal life.”

Clayton is paying a political price for his honesty. Since the announcement, he has lost the endorsement of a homophobic political activist:

Clayton’s email confirming that he’s gay has already prompted one right-winger, Donna Garner of Waco, to withdraw her endorsement of his re-election bid.

“If Clayton is indeed a homosexual, then we as voters must be concerned about re-electing him to the SBOE since the Board will soon begin the process of writing and adopting Health curriculum requirements for all Texas public school students,” Garner wrote.

Will this cost him? Garner is clearly hoping so, but the evidence so far is that most voters are no longer concerned about sexual orientation. Character, integrity and the ability to do the job are far more important.