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French president signs gay marriage into law

PARIS (AP) French President Francois Hollande has signed a law authorizing gay marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, after months of nationwide protests and wrenching debate.

His signature means the first gay marriages may be celebrated in France within about 10 days. Hollande’s office said he signed the bill Saturday morning, a day after the Constitutional Council struck down a challenge to the law.

Hollande, a Socialist, had made legalizing gay marriage one of his campaign pledges last year. While polls for years have shown majority support for gay marriage in France, adoption by same-sex couples is more controversial. The bill prompted months of widespread protests, largely by conservative and religious groups. Some were marred by clashes with police. It became a flashpoint for frustrations at the increasingly unpopular Hollande.

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French president signs gay marriage into law

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Harvard students find fake eviction notices for Israeli Apartheid Week

March 6, 2013

(JTA) — The posting of mock eviction notices on the doors of Harvard students to publicize the campus Israeli Apartheid Week has sparked a campus debate.

The flyers, which said that the rooms were scheduled for demolition in the next three days, were posted on student’s dormitory doors on March 2, the Harvard Crimson campus student newspaper reported.

The notices posted by the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee were meant to make students think about what the committee believes is an unlawful displacement of Palestinians from their homeland at the hands of the Israeli government, according to the newspaper.

The mock eviction flyers also were posted in 2010, according to the Crimson, but did not generate as much controversy.

Students objecting to the publicity campaign sent emails complaining about the stunt through their dormitory lists. The emails generated more emails against the campaign but also some in support of it, according to the newspaper.

The Anti-Defamation League objected to the campaign.

This tactic is designed to silence and intimidate pro-Israel advocates at Harvard and campuses around the country, said Robert Trestan, ADL’s acting New England regional director. Free expression has a place on campus; however targeting the dorms of Harvard students lends itself to creating tension, isolating students and fomenting hostility.

Trestan also voiced ADL’s concern about the underlying anti-Israel message.

We recognize and support free speech, but condemn the anti-Israel views expressed in the eviction notices as factually incorrect and intolerant, he said. This is an example of how anti-Israel activism on campus can cross the line by causing supporters to feel isolated and intimidated.

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Harvard students find fake eviction notices for Israeli Apartheid Week

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Laura Bush Asks to Be Removed from Pro-Gay Marriage Ad

Laura Bush

A pro-gay marriage group will replace ads that featured Laura Bush after the former first lady asked to be removed from the campaign, Politico reports.

Photos: Out and proud celebs

The Respect for Marriage Coalition said it is “sorry” that Bush asked to be taken out, but that the campaign will move forward. The group’s print, television and online ads launched this week and featured pro-gay marriage comments Bush made in a 2010 CNN interview: “When couples are committed to each other and love each other than they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has.” Also featured in the ad are two members of her husband George W. Bush’s cabinet, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Vice President Dick Cheney.

On Wednesday, the day the TV ads began airing, Bush’s spokeswoman Anne MacDonald told the Dallas Morning News that the former first lady “did not approve of her inclusion in this advertisement nor is she associated with the group that made the ad in any way.”

“We used public comments for this ad from American leaders who have expressed support for civil marriage,” the RMC said. “We appreciate Mrs. Bush’s previous comments but are sorry she didn’t want to be included in an ad. The ad launched a public education campaign that will now move to new and different voices that reflect the depth and breadth of our support.”

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Bush has long disagreed with her husband’s stances on gay marriage, though the former president made same-sex marriage a central issue in his 2004 reelection bid. During Bush’s full CNN interview with Larry King, she explained the couple’s differences in regards to gay marriage.

“I guess that would be an area where we disagree,” Bush said. “I understand totally what George thinks and what other people think about marriage being between a man and a woman, and it’s a real reversal really for that to accept gay marriage.”

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Laura Bush Asks to Be Removed from Pro-Gay Marriage Ad

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Anti-Gay Marriage Group Distributing 'Misleading' Leaflets, MPs Claim

A campaign group set up to fight gay marriage has been accused of misleading voters by suggesting MPs support the campaign when they do not.

Sarah Newton, the Conservative MP for Truro and Falmouth, said leaflets distributed by the Coalition for Marriage (C4M) used a photo of her without her permission.

Newton told The Huffington Post UK that the leaflets, which say gay marriage could lead to legalised polygamy, had offended a considerable number of her constituents and led them to believe she was behind them.

“I was appalled that the Coalition for Marriage chose to use a photo of me without permission, apparently to give residents the impression that I support the claims made within their leaflet,” she said.

“Whilst I respect the right of individuals and groups to oppose equal marriage proposals, I condemn the language the Coalition for Marriage used in their publication.

“This language fell short of the standards of respect and tolerance that all members of the community are entitled to, and caused offence to a considerable number of my constituents.”

The leaflets are being delivered nationwide by C4M ahead of next weeks Commons vote and encourage people to lobby their MP against allowing same-sex weddings. The campaign group has reject the claims it is misleading voters as “wholly mendacious”.

The flyers which are customised for each constituency, warn of the dangers, as C4M see them, of allowing gay people to get married.

A flyer delivered to homes in Labour MP Keith Vaz’s East Leicester seat reads:

Newton said she would vote according to the majority view of her constituents and had been listening to those both opposed to and supportive of the proposals before next weeks Commons vote.

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Anti-Gay Marriage Group Distributing 'Misleading' Leaflets, MPs Claim

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Tom Barnard Podcast #43 Richard Carlbom – Video



Tom Barnard Podcast #43 Richard Carlbom
Formerly the mayor of St. Joseph, Minnesota at the young age of 23, Richard Carlbom is now the campaign manager for Minnesotans United for All Families, a pro-gay marriage organization.From:TomBarnardPodcastViews:0 0ratingsTime:01:10:02More inComedy

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Tom Barnard Podcast #43 Richard Carlbom – Video

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B Manning supporters occupy Obama’s offices STOP him FREEDOM FOR both BRADLEY and JULIAN HD – Video


B Manning supporters occupy Obama's offices STOP him FREEDOM FOR both BRADLEY and JULIAN HD Further informations about topics addressed are available in favourites, play lists on my channel and complementary video responses. RT The Occupy Oakland movement has a new target now – President Obama. Protesters decided to occupy his campaign office on Thursday, calling for the release of US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning.

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B Manning supporters occupy Obama’s offices STOP him FREEDOM FOR both BRADLEY and JULIAN HD – Video

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WSF-Free Palestine 2 – Video



WSF-Free Palestine 2
Sofiah MacLeod, delegated by Stop the JNF Campaign, at the World Social Forum Free Palestine.From:SPSCvideosViews:1 0ratingsTime:02:13More inNonprofits Activism

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WSF-Free Palestine 2 – Video

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Finding Novyon – 3 Hunna (SweezVerse) [w/ JonRay] – Video



Finding Novyon – 3 Hunna (SweezVerse) [w/ JonRay]
Week 23 is here! as of 11/7/12 and Novyon decides to take on not only Chief Keef's 3 Hunna but he takes on Local rapper JonRay's Version as Well. S/O to GBE and the Campaign! Also Congratulations to Barack Obama, for being re-elected president, and S/O to Novyon's Home State Minnesota for being the state with the Highest Votes! and for Voting NO to allow Gay Marriage! SweezVerse Compilation Vol.1 will be available this Thanksgiving! Also Be on the Look out for Novyon's Short Project SNOW FALL, and his new EP The Ugly Troof! FOREVER FAMOUS MUSIC GROUP Don't Forget to head over to FindingNovyon.com and download his Most current mixtape Saiyan EP! and follow FNDG NVYN's Online Activity http Facebook.com FNDGNVYN.tumblr.com FNDGNVYN.Bandcamp.com Soundcloud.com Youtube.com Instagram.comFrom:Finding NovyonViews:9 3ratingsTime:03:10More inMusic

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Finding Novyon – 3 Hunna (SweezVerse) [w/ JonRay] – Video

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Gay Marriage Supporters Hope to Win in 4 States

For opponents of same-sex marriage, it has been a potent and often repeated talking point: though the courts or the legislatures of some states have given gay and lesbian couples the right to marry, wherever it has appeared on the ballot, voters have rejected it.

Gay rights advocates hope that after Tuesdays election, no one will be able to say that any more.

With public opinion shifting in their direction, a four-to-one spending advantage and months or even years of one-on-one appeals to potential voters, rights groups see a good chance of victory in at least one or two of the four states where same-sex marriage is a ballot item this year.

Current polls indicate a solid lead for supporters in Maine and a lesser one in Washington State, while the races in Maryland and Minnesota are about even, with the opponents apparently gaining.

Even a single victory will be a turning point, said Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, a national group promoting gay rights that has directed $5 million to the four marriage battles.

Six states and the nations capital have legalized marriage for gay and lesbian couples. But in 30 states, voters have limited marriage to a man and a woman through constitutional amendments; in addition, same-sex marriage has been blocked in referendums like those in California in 2008 and Maine in 2009.

Opponents of broader rights for gay and lesbian couples are mounting a barrage of advertising and telephone appeals in the final week of the campaign, warning undecided voters that redefining marriage would force onerous changes in schools, businesses and churches. Rights groups denounce those messages, which are similar to those broadcast in previous ballot fights, as misleading scare tactics.

Our ads have started in earnest, and they will be airing more heavily in the final week, said Frank Schubert, a consultant based in California who is managing all four state campaigns against same-sex marriage, mainly with financial aid from the National Organization for Marriage and affiliates of the Roman Catholic Church.

For weeks, supporters of same-sex marriage have been showing advertisements of their own in which community members say that gay and lesbian friends deserve the same chance to love and marry that everyone else enjoys.

The legislatures in Washington and Maryland approved same-sex marriage this year, but opponents gathered enough signatures to force public referendums on the laws.

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Gay Marriage Supporters Hope to Win in 4 States

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Brad Pitt contributes $100K to gay marriage efforts, including in Minnesota

Brad Pitt (Associated Press file photo: Joel Ryan)

WASHINGTON — Gay marriage advocates fighting tightly contested ballot initiatives in four states are getting a lift from actor Brad Pitt, who is donating $100,000 to the Human Rights Campaign’s National Marriage Fund and calling on others to match his efforts.

“It’s unbelievable to me that people’s lives and relationships are literally being voted on in a matter of days,” Pitt wrote in an email going out Wednesday to supporters of the gay rights group. “In Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington, voters will go to the polls to decide if gay and lesbian couples — our friends and neighbors — are worthy of the same protections as everyone else.”

Pitt’s contribution represents a rare political donation by the actor, who has generally refrained from giving to candidates and political committees. But he has made an exception on the matter of gay marriage, a cause to which he has lent prominent support: In 2008, he donated $100,000 to the unsuccessful effort to defeat California’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage. This year, he starred with George Clooney in a Los Angeles production of the play “8,” a dramatization of the legal fight over the ballot measure, now pending before the Supreme Court.

His involvement in the four current state ballot measures stems from his past work with Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, who sits on the board of Pitt’s nonprofit housing foundation in New Orleans.

Gay marriage advocates are hoping the actor’s

The ballot measures in Maine, Maryland and Washington seek to legalize gay marriage, while the Minnesota initiative would ban same-sex marriage. The Human Rights Campaign has already donated $5 million to the state campaigns. Pitt’s donation will be split evenly between them, and organizers hope it will spur more giving.

“There’s not one of our campaigns that doesn’t have additional needs,” Griffin said. “Getting an email from Brad is something that gets people’s attention at a time when everyone’s in-box is incredibly crowded.”

In Maryland, Gov. Martin O’Malley, who is helping to lead the effort to legalize gay marriage there, said the actor’s help in the final stretch “will encourage a lot of people to dig a little deeper.”

Gay marriage activists in Minnesota, where the marriage fight is shaping up to the most expensive constitutional amendment campaign in state history, said Pitt’s donation would help them raise $380,000 they need to stay on the air through Election Day.

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Brad Pitt contributes $100K to gay marriage efforts, including in Minnesota

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