Pride Angel

Numerous gay couples across Maryland will be celebrating the New Year with a bumper toast as they share the occasion with their marriages, the first to be conducted following a referendum to legislate for marriage equality.

The US state of Maryland voted in favour of civil equal marriage in November with 52.4% of voters backing equality.

In the run up to the vote, Hollywood actor Brad Pitt agreed to donate $100,000 (£62,000) to help the Human Rights Campaign raise money for its efforts to support equal marriage initiatives in several US states, including Maryland.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who previously studied in the state, also donated $250,000 (£155,000) to the pro-marriage equality campaign in Maryland last week.

A bill to legalise same-sex marriage in Maryland was passed by the state General Assembly in February 2012 and signed into law on 1 March 2012, by Governor Martin O’Malley. However, opponents of marriage equality successfully gathered enough signatures to force a referendum on the decision.

In Baltimore, the state’s largest city, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will attend ceremonies at City Hall. Same-sex couples celebrated the first equal marriages in the state of Maine on the 29 December.

Article: 31st December 2012 www.pinknews.co.uk

The Pride Angel team wishes you all a very Happy New Year!

Experts speaking before a trial on California's gay marriage ban have said that lifting it would make people healthier and generate more money for the state's economy.

The federal trial is examining whether Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California, is constitutional.

Yesterday, San Francisco's chief economist Edmund Egan said that the city could see its economy boosted by millions if gay couples were allowed to marry.

According to AFP, he argued that if more gay people married, they would increase school district revenues, real estate, payroll and sales taxes and would be more likely to be insured.

Egan added that married people spend more than their unmarried counterparts and tend to be wealthier.

He said: "The long-term cost of discrimination weakens people's productivity in the workforce. Higher productivity leads to higher wages and higher wages lead to higher payroll taxes for the city."

Egan estimated that gay marriage could boost economic revenues in other ways in California, such as money spent by couples on their weddings and hotel rooms.

During cross examination, a lawyer for Protect Marriage countered that not all gay couples would get married, and that Egan had not considered the spending which would be necessary to allow gay marriage.

Meanwhile, Ilan Meyer, a social scientist from Columbia University, argued that the stigma of not being able to get married can result in increased risks of depression, suicide and drug abuse.

On civil unions, which the pro-gay marriage lawyers argue is inadequate, Meyer said: "Having a second type of an institution that is clearly not the one that is designed for most people clearly is stigmatising."

Today, Michael Lamb, a Cambridge University psychologist, is expected to discuss the benefits of marriage for gay couples who have children.

The case has been brought by two gay couples, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, of northern California, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, who live in southern California.

Gay marriage was legalised in California in May 2008. Voters banned it under Proposition 8 the following November. The estimated 18,000 gay couples who were able to marry in that brief window have been allowed to remain married.

This week, the Supreme Court placed a ban on allowing proceedings to be shown on YouTube.

The gay couples and their lawyers supporting the broadcasting, but gay marriage opponents said they would be harassed and placed in danger, despite conducting a highly publicised television campaign against gay equality.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the court received more than 138,000 comments from members of the public about the decision, with all but 32 calling for the trial to be broadcast.

Lady Gaga will host a benefit gala for gay marriage this evening.

The singer, who has just been nominated for a GLAAD award, said she was "honoured" to be chosen to help the cause.

The Hands Up for Marriage Equality event in Atlantic City, New Jersey, will raise money for four organisations fighting for equal marriage rights; Empire State Pride Agenda, Equality Pennsylvania, Garden State Equality and The Power.

Gaga said in a statement; "I am honoured to be able to continue to raise awareness and money for this cause and these outstanding organisations.

"Organisations like these are in the trenches every day working on behalf of all of us whether you are LGBT or straight. Equal and full civil rights are supposed to be for all of us."

The star has said before that everything about her is "gay" and has been keen to thank her gay fans for their support.

Recently, she reportedly threw a drink over a man in a club after he made homophobic remarks about her friend Adam Lambert.