Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyMay 25th, 2009
As expected Governor Jim Gibbons has vetoed the Domestic Partnership bill passed by the legislature. (Mercury News)
Gibbons said in a statement released during the Memorial Day holiday that Senate Bill 283 conflicts with a state constitutional amendment approved by Nevada voters in 2002 supporting marriage between a man and a woman.
“Only the voters should have the right to undo or amend constitutional mandates,” he said.
The Nevada amendment was one that only assigned the name ‘marriage’ to heterosexual unions and did not seek to ban all comparable forms of domestic union. Gibbons is creating a mandate where none previously existed.
It is unclear whether the legislature will override Gibbons’ veto. An additional two votes are needed in each house, a not insignificant hurdle to overcome. However, the Nevada Resort Association – a very powerful lobby in the state – is calling for Domestic Partnerships to be passed and for the veto to be overturned.
It is worth noting that Gibbons vetoed the bill on a holiday, when the decision will receive the least notice from his constituents. And Gibbons made certain to note that on Friday he had signed a bill that banned discrimination in the state on the basis of orientation.
Latest Posts
Featured Reports
In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.
When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.
In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that “[Paul] Cameron’s ‘science’ echoes Nazi Germany.” What the SPLC didn”t know was Cameron doesn’t just “echo” Nazi Germany. He quoted extensively from one of the Final Solution’s architects. This puts his fascination with quarantines, mandatory tattoos, and extermination being a “plausible idea” in a whole new and deeply disturbing light.
On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.
Prologue: Why I Went To “Love Won Out”
Part 1: What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Part 2: Parents Struggle With “No Exceptions”
Part 3: A Whole New Dialect
Part 4: It Depends On How The Meaning of the Word "Change" Changes
Part 5: A Candid Explanation For "Change"
At last, the truth can now be told.
Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!
And don‘t miss our companion report, How To Write An Anti-Gay Tract In Fifteen Easy Steps.
Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.
Anti-gay activists often cite the “Dutch Study” to claim that gay unions last only about 1½ years and that the these men have an average of eight additional partners per year outside of their steady relationship. In this report, we will take you step by step into the study to see whether the claims are true.
Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council submitted an Amicus Brief to the Maryland Court of Appeals as that court prepared to consider the issue of gay marriage. We examine just one small section of that brief to reveal the junk science and fraudulent claims of the Family “Research” Council.
The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.
“Google” is a trademark of Google Inc.
© Box Turtle Bulletin. All Rights Reserved.
Posts 
Posts via daily email:
Bruno
May 25th, 2009
Given that Gibbons is a Republican, my question regarding a veto would be are there enough Democrats who voted against the DP bill there to change their vote? Because at this stage, it always comes down to partisan politics, and some Dems may not like this guy’s veto.
Candace
May 25th, 2009
I wonder how many GLBTT folks vacation in Nevada? I wonder how many will keep doing so when they hear about Gibbon’s veto? A state DOMA doesn’t forbid domestic partnerships: the Governor is clearly trying to take something intended to put us a little ahead in the quest for equality and use it instead to put us even farther behind.
Perhaps he’s forgotten that his tourism industry needs gay people more than gay people need it. There are lots of vacation destinations where they don’t discriminate against gays… perhaps we should just pass Nevada by and head somewhere else this year.
AJD
May 25th, 2009
I can’t believe Nevada voted to ban same-sex marriage in the first place. I mean, the home of 24-hour matrimony?
occono
May 26th, 2009
Beyond Las Vegas it’s a pretty conservative State.
Matt
May 26th, 2009
Yeah, you basically have Clark County and the Rest Of The State.
werdna
May 26th, 2009
“Only the voters should have the right to undo or amend constitutional mandates,†he said.
Isn’t the question of whether this law conflicts with the amendment an issue for the courts to decide? Why is the governor trying to usurp the role of the judiciary?
Maryanne
May 26th, 2009
And this is also the home of not only 24 hour marriages but legal prostitution.
Disgusted American
May 26th, 2009
hmm seems like an activist Governor…..well, he doesn’t need my $2,000.00 vacation money. I’ll go somewhere more LGBT affirming.
Johnson
May 26th, 2009
Why the surprise? You do all realize he is a member of a certain Utah-based Religion, don’t you?
cowboy
May 26th, 2009
Are you sure, Johnson? He was caught drinking alcohol when he was helping a lady to her car in a parking garage in Las Vegas. No Mormon would be caught drinking in public.
Oh..but he admitted he was drinking. It was the lesser of two evils: drinking or sexual assault. Drinking carries a slightly lesser negative stigma in Mormon Wards.
What has Brother Harry Reid (his fellow Democrat Mormon) said about this? A Lukewarm endorsement of the veto?
werdna
May 26th, 2009
His wikipedia page says he’s a “nonpracticing” Mormon. Clearly he’s got “other priorities”…
Leonard Drake
May 26th, 2009
Echoing the previous comments concerning Nevada being a conservative state: previous to 1993, Nevada had a sodomy statute holding that it was a FELONY for two individuals of the same-sex to engage in oral or anal sex. Individuals engaging in opposite-sex sexual activites could do whatever the f**k they wanted without fear of criminal reprisal (as far as the sodomy statutes was concerned).
Mark F.
May 26th, 2009
Leonard, you do realize that all states had sodomy laws until the early 1970’s, don’t you? Even the liberal ones.
Leave A Comment