Frederica Wilson, Bill Nelson among few Democrats not to sign gay marriage-equality brief

Gay activists and allies won't soon be tipping their hats to U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami -- she's one of only 30 Democratic House members who this week didn't co-sign a marriage equality brief to the Supreme Court.

David Badash of The New Civil Rights Movement notes that Wilson and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson are the only Florida Democrats in Congress who didn't offer their support.

Democratic Reps. Joe Garcia, Alcee Hastings, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Lois Frankel of South Florida all signed, as did GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, did not.

Nelson is one of 13 Democratic U.S. senators who didn't sign a brief.

Last year, SAVE Dade honored Nelson at its annual May fundraiser. Nelson told me at the time, “I have a record fighting against discrimination and standing up for people’s civil rights based on their sexual orientation."

Nelson wouldn't reveal his position on marriage equality. “I believe marriage should be left to the states, and Florida voted on same-sex marriage in 2008,” he said.

Puerto Rico slowly warms to more gay rights

BY DANICA COTO, ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The advance of gay rights across the United States is spreading into Puerto Rico, making the island a relatively gay-friendly outpost in a Caribbean region where sodomy laws and harassment of gays are still common.

The governing Popular Democratic Party is pushing a bill through the legislature that would outlaw discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation, a step taken by about half of U.S. states. Another bill would extend a domestic violence law to gay couples.

Soon after taking office in January, Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla signed an order extending health insurance coverage to the live-in partners of workers in his executive branch of government, regardless of gender.

And a popular former conservative governor, Pedro Rossello, surprised supporters and foes when he stated last month that he unequivocally supports gay marriage.

"We're in a period where it's important to talk about human rights," said Rossello, who 14 years ago signed a law as governor to prohibit the recognition of same-sex marriages held abroad.

"This is extraordinary," said Pedro Julio Serrano, a Puerto Rican gay activist. "We've reached a point of no return in Puerto Rico ... Equality is inevitable."

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30th annual Miami International Film Festival through March 10 features LGBT movies

Several films at this year's Miami International Film Festival have LGBT content:

VALENTINE ROAD
a film by Marta Cunningham
(USA,  89 min., 2013)
An account of the aftermath of the hate crime killing of 15-year old gay Larry King, by his classmate, inside a California classroom in 2008, which reveals the effect of Larry's killing on the gay and lesbian friends and classmates he left behind.  If you were moved by THE LARAMIE PROJECT you will be stirred by VALENTINE ROAD.
SUN, March 03 at 06:15 PM (Regal South Beach);
SUN, March 10 at 06:00 PM (Regal South Beach)

THE GO DOC PROJECT
a film by Cory James Krueckeberg
(USA, 100 min., 2013)
Too shy to make a proper introduction, a recent college grad devises to shoot a documentary about the NYC nightlife scene in order to meet the go-go guy he’s cyber-obsessed with. WORLD PREMIERE
*MON, March 04 at 09:00 PM (Miami Beach Cinematheque); TUE, March 05 at 09:30 PM (Miami Beach Cinematheque)
*A reception will take place at the LGBT Visitor Center next door to the Miami Beach Cinematheque, at 7:30 PM, before the Monday, March 4th screening of THE GO DOC PROJECT.

DEAD EUROPE
a film by Tony Krawitz
(Australia, UK, 84 min., 2012)
English, French, Greek
An Australian photographer finds shocking truths about his ancestry after he travels to Greece to reconnect with his family’s native land.
US PREMIERE
TUE, March 05 at 9:45 PM (Regal South Beach)

LAURENCE ANYWAYS
a film by Xavier Dolan
(Canada, France, 159 min., 2012)
French with English subtitles
Dreamy, audacious gender-bending melodrama about anguished lovers struggling with their own flaws and an unjust society.
SAT, March 02 at 06:45 PM (Coral Gables Art Cinema);
SUN, March 10 at 04:00 PM (Regal South Beach)

TURNING
a film by Charles Atlas
(Denmark, USA,  81 min., 2012)
Music documentary by Charles Atlas and Antony portraying the lives of 13 remarkable women, many of them transsexuals or of varying sexual orientation.
FRI, March 01 at 09:15 PM (Regal South Beach)
 
See more films with LGBT content at 2013 Miami International Film Festival by clicking here.

California's Proposition 8 gay marriage case offers Supreme Court many options

BY MICHAEL DOYLE, MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON -- Opponents of California’s Proposition 8 have served up quite a diverse menu to the Supreme Court.

They share the goal of letting gay couples marry in California. But in a collection of legal briefs, Proposition 8 critics present arguments that range from the aggressive, to the nuanced, to the tightly restrained.

Some, like former California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, actor Clint Eastwood and a host of fellow Republicans, are urging the court to swing for the fences. They want full constitutional protections effectively covering same-sex couples in every state. Others, like the city of San Francisco, likewise support gay marriage, but say the court can also resolve the case technically without involving the Constitution at all.

Still others, like the Obama administration, are proposing a thread-the-needle approach that embraces equality for all same-sex couples but emphasizes a limited immediate legal application to California and seven other states that currently ban gay marriage but offer domestic partnership rights.

“The court can resolve this case by focusing on the particular circumstances presented by California law and the recognition it gives to committed same-sex relationships, rather than addressing the equal protection issues not present here,” Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. wrote in the administration’s legal brief filed Thursday.

Legally, the administration’s reasoning would only extend initially to Hawaii, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Delaware, Rhode Island and Illinois, as well as California. These states provide civil benefits to same-sex domestic partnerships but, in Verrilli’s words, block them from “solemnizing their union in marriage.” This explicit contrast, the administration argues, violates the 14th Amendment’s equal-protection guarantees.

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