Scene originally included in Coca Cola’s “Reason to Believe” commercial

BY RON DICKER
Huffington Post Gay Voices

Coca-Coca included a gay wedding in its new ad, but perhaps it got cold feet: The soda giant omitted the scene in a version for Ireland.

The “Reasons To Believe” spot seen in the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom features feel-good moments, including two men posing for the cameras at their wedding. But the ad running in Ireland replaced the snippet with the heterosexual nuptials of an interracial pair.

Original commercial:

Edited commercial:

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post Coca Cola deletes gay marriage scene from commercial first appeared on Lesbian.com.

The Cedar Point amusement park has cancelled a wedding contest after a gay couple protested their exclusion from it.

WKYC in Cleveland reported on Aug. 20 that Eric Morrison and Scott Kenimond wanted to be among the 13 couples to tie the knot during the opening of Cedar Point’s Halloween celebration next month. The television station said only heterosexual couples could enter the contest because Ohio law does not allow same-sex marriage.

Read more at Washington Blade

Washington Blade is America’s leading gay news source.

The post Cedar Point cancels wedding contest after gay couple enters first appeared on Lesbian.com.

April DeBoer, L, her partner Jayne, R, and their three children.
Photo credit: Detroit Free Press, Patrica Beck / AP

BY HUFFINGTON POST GAY VOICES

A Detroit area-based lesbian couple currently battling Michigan’s ban on adoption by unmarried couples will go one step further by entering the local fight for same-sex marriage.

As The Detroit News is reporting, April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse — who earlier this year filed a civil rights lawsuit to change their state’s law barring same-sex couples from adopting — announced plans to amend their complaint during a Sept. 7 news conference. They are now challenging Gov. Richard Snyder, Attorney General Bill Schuette and Oakland County Clerk Bill Bullard Jr. to declare Michigan’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional, in addition to asking for the right to adopt as a same-sex couple, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The post Michigan lesbian couple challenge state ban on gay marriage first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Zach Wahls and his two moms pose for the NoH8 Campaign.
Photo credit: Adam Bouska

BY RYAN GRIM
Huffington Post Gay Voices

Zach Wahls, who rose to Internet stardom with a moving plea before the Iowa legislature on behalf of gay marriage, spoke Thursday at the Democratic National Convention.  Wahls had addressed the Iowa legislature last year as it debated marriage equality and told the story of being brought up by two mothers. Video of his testimony went viral. After the first wave of viewership died down, Upworthy gave it another boost, and the video has since been viewed more than 20 million times.

“Governor Romney says he’s against same-sex marriage because every child deserves a mother and a father,” Wahls said Thursday night, according to his prepared remarks. “I think every child deserves a family as loving and committed as mine.”

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post Zach Wahls speaks at DNC first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Washington United for Marriage (WUM), the coalition working to defend the state’s bipartisan marriage law, today announced that Expedia, the world’s largest online travel company with household brands like Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Classic Vacations, and Hotwire, has endorsed the freedom to marry and the effort to approve Referendum 74 in Washington state this November.

“We are so pleased to add Expedia to our ever-expanding list of Washington-based corporate supporters,” said Zach Silk, WUM campaign manager. “Like other corporate leaders, Dara Khosrowshahi understands that treating all families fairly and allowing all loving couples the freedom to marry is a core value that builds strong communities and strong businesses. When most people think travel, they think Expedia and we couldn’t be more excited to have them join our effort to Approve Referendum 74.”

Read more at TheSeattleLesbian.com

The Seattle Lesbian online magazine reaches more than 188,000 readers per week globally.

The post Expedia comes out in support of marriage equality first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Senator Mark Leno.
Photo via the San Francisco Sentinel

BY ROBIN WILKEY
Huffington Post Gay Voices

A bill that would protect clergy members from performing same-sex marriages was presented to the California State Assembly by an unlikely author on Tuesday: gay rights activist Democratic Senator Mark Leno.

“As we continue our efforts to achieve full equality, we must remove every possible barrier to securing the freedom to marry, including the false claim made by anti-equality advocates that allowing loving same-sex couples to marry will force clergy or places of worship to compromise their religious beliefs,” wrote Leno in the bill.

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post California bill SB1140 passes assembly first appeared on Lesbian.com.

BY STEVE WILLIAMS

Religious organizations in Liberia have banded together to form an anti-gay marriage campaign, but is this just a front to push for a Uganda-style ‘Kill the Gays’ bill that is already in the legislature?

The group, calling itself the “Anti Gay Rights Campaign,” is made up of Christian and Muslim faith leaders. It has reportedly started a signature gathering exercise building on previous efforts to support legislation that would explicitly ban same-sex marriage in the country, something that currently is not touched upon in statute.

Read more at Care2.com

Care2 is the largest online community of people passionate about making a difference.

The post Liberian faith leaders launch anti gay rights movement first appeared on Lesbian.com.

BY STEVE WILLIAMS
Care2.com

It seems that barely a week goes by without the issue of same-sex marriage being in the news. While many states have actively banned gay marriage, a handful of states have allowed same-sex couples to access civil marriage rights.  This article is a continually updated resource page that details which states allow gay marriage. 

Read more at Care2.com

Care2.com is the largest online community of people passionate about making a difference.

The post Where can same-sex couples legally get married? first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Minnesota Archbishop John Nienstedt has penned a verbose letter calling on Catholics to support the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, which many priests read to their parishes last week. Nienstedt claims that he opposes discrimination against “brothers and sisters living with same-sex attraction,” yet admits that the entire reason to support the amendment is to keep gays and lesbians from marrying.

Read more at ThinkProgress.org

The post Archbishop promotes amendment banning gay marriage first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Daniela Sea, Marlee Matlin, Ilene Chaiken, Katherine Moennig
Photo credit: Chris Hatcher / PR Photos

BY HUFFINGTON POST GAY VOICES

Writer, producer and director Ilene Chaiken is best known and beloved for gifting the world with “The L Word.”  The wildly popular, groundbreaking lesbian drama premiered on Showtime in 2004 and ran for six seasons. In 2010 Chaiken returned to Showtime with “The Real L Word,” which follows the lives of lesbian and bisexual women living in LA.

As “The Real L Word” prepares to wrap its third season, The Huffington Post Gay Voices chatted with Chaiken about the one thing she wishes she’d been able to do differently with “The Real L Word,” her thoughts on marriage equality, the topic on “The L Word” that caused her to “buckle under” fan pressure and more.

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices 

The post Ilene Chaiken on gay marriage, bisexuality, both L Words first appeared on Lesbian.com.