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UPDATE- Melissa rebels, Ellen saddened by Prop 8 gay marriage ban
Comedian Ellen DeGeneres said she was “saddened beyond belief” at the decision by voters to ban the newly-won rights of gays and lesbians to marry in California.
But singer Melissa Etheridge sounds downright angry.
Etheridge, 47, who did not get to marry her partner Tammy Lynn Michaels before the Nov 4 ballot, suggested in a blog post that she would no longer pay her California state taxes because, as a lesbian, she did not now enjoy the same rights as as other Californians.
“Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen,” Etheridge wrote.
DeGeneres and her longtime partner, actress Portia de Rossi, were among the roughly 18,000 gay or lesbian couples who married in California in the five-month honeymoon between same sex marriage becoming legal and then being banned in a ballot initiative known as Proposition 8.
The popular chat show host married de Rossi in August in the most high-profile same sex marriage since such unions were declared legal in California in May.
“I was saddened beyond belief. Here we just had a giant step toward equality and then on the very next day, we took a giant step away,” DeGeneres wrote on her website
Brad Pitt donates $100,000 to gay marriage cause
Brad Pitt has donated $100,000 to fight California voters’ attempt to eliminate the rights of gay couples to marry.
Pitt’s donation to the No on Prop 8 campaign is the largest single donation so far by a celebrity to the bid to defeat the anti-gay marriage California ballot measure in November, organizers said.
“Because no one has the right to deny another their life even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn’t harm another, and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8,” Pitt said in a statement.
The California Supreme Court struck down a ban on marriage in May but state voters will decide in a voter referendum in November whether to abolish those new rights.
Chad Griffin, political strategist for the No on 8 campaign, said he hoped Pitt’s contribution would encourage other celebrities to put their hands in their pockets. “The entertainment industry should view this contribution as a challenge,” Griffin said.
Many lesbian and gay couples marrying in Califronia have asked friends and relatives to donate to the campaign instead of buying wedding gifts.
Chat show host Ellen DeGeneres and actress Portia de Rossi married in Beverly Hills in August and former “Star Trek” crew member George Takei married his long time partner Brad Altman in September.
I am so happy that I found this website! I have a paper in my history class on the fall of America and what I believe will help it. I was trying to figure out what to write about avoiding the gay marriage subject. I strongly agree that gay marriage is right, but didn’t want to go too far in my paper. But now I can stand up and say that we are not being treated equally. Gays have a right to get married just like everybody else. Thanks for the help. =]
I just wanted to say that I am a gay american who voted yes on prop 8. I just dont believe it is right for anyone to sue a church of any denomination juat because they choose to not marry a gay or lesbian couple. If California Chooses to re write the prop and just allow for gay marriage without it affecting the seperation of church and state then I will be all for it.