By John 6:54
 It only takes a spark to start a fire that turns into an inferno, which takes centuries to overcome.
2003
November 18: United States: Massachusetts: decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health
2004
February 12: United States, California: Newly-elected San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom issues the first same-sex marriage certificates in the US, purely as an exercise of executive power. These certificates were later nullified by the California Supreme Court.
February 20: In New Mexico, Sandoval County clerk Victoria Dunlap issues marriage licenses to more than 60 same-sex couples until stopped by the state attorney general later that day, declaring them invalid; 26 couples were married by local pastors on the courthouse steps that day, and most of the other couples who received licenses married elsewhere. A district court later issued an injunction prohibiting Dunlap from issuing licenses to same-sex couples. Dunlap’s motion to the state supreme court to lift the restraining order was rejected on July 8.
May 17: United States: Massachusetts – first legal same-sex marriages in the US performed.
September 18: United States: Louisiana voters ratified a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as only between a man and a woman.
October: United States: Louisiana – District Judge William Morvant of Baton Rouge struck down the amendment, approved by voters in September, on the grounds that it violated a provision of the state constitution requiring that an amendment to cover only one subject; the amendment prevented the state from recognizing any legal status for common-law relationships, domestic partnerships and civil unions between both gay and heterosexual couples.
November 3: United States Results of November 2 vote confirms that state constitutional amendments prohibiting same-sex marriage are passed in eleven states: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon, and Utah. The measures in Oregon, Mississippi, and Montana bar same-sex marriage only; those in the other states bar civil unions and domestic partnerships as well; and Ohio bars granting any benefits whatsoever to same-sex couples.
2005
January 19: United States: The Louisiana Supreme Court reinstated the anti-gay marriage amendment that had been struck by a District Judge in October, 2004.
March 14: United States: Judge Richard Kramer of San Francisco County Superior Court said California’s ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional.
April 7: United States: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg orders city agencies to recognize legal same-sex marriages from other states and countries. This order will give same-sex couples who married in places such as Massachusetts or Canada rights that couples recognized under the city’s existing domestic partnership law do not have, including the power to make life-or-death medical decisions. Same-sex spouses will also be able to collect worker’s compensation if a partner dies.
April 7: United States: The Connecticut State Senate passes legislation that legalizes same-sex civil unions. On April 13, the bill is passed through the Connecticut House of Representatives with the added “marriage is between a man and a woman” definition. The bill is sent back to the Senate for approval. Finally, on April 20, the State Senate approved the amended bill by a vote of 26-8 and Republican Governor Jodi Rell signed the same-sex civil union bill into law.
May 12: United States: A federal judge in Omaha strikes down Nebraska’s sweeping ban on same-sex marriages, civil unions, domestic partnerships, and other same-sex relationships. U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon ruled that the ban, known as Initiative 416, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This is the first state constitutional provision banning same-sex marriage to be ruled unconstitutional.
November 8: United States: Texas becomes the 18th state to write a ban on same-sex marriage into its constitution, defining marriage as “the union of one man and one woman” and prohibiting the state from “creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage,” when voters approved the amendment in the November elections.
2006
July 6: New York State Court of Appeals rules that the NYS Constitution does not mandate recognition of same sex marriage.
July 26: Washington State Supreme Court issues its decision upholding state DOMA laws
October 25: New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously rules in favor of marriage equality; 4–3 say decision whether to rewrite marriage law or write civil union law for homosexuals (separate but equal debate) is left to the legislature in the next six months. The three dissenting justices dissented because they believed same-sex couples should have the full right to marry.
November 7: In the U.S. elections, Arizona rejects an initiative banning gay marriage. The first state in the country to do so. However, seven other states pass marriage amendments.
2007
April 21: The state of Washington legalizes domestic partnerships. The law went into effect on July 22, 2007.
May 9: The state of Oregon legalizes domestic partnerships. The law will go into effect on January 1, 2008 (but was delayed 48 hours prior to coming into affect, then after a Court Case in February it was allowed to come into affect from 1 February 2008).
May 31: The state of New Hampshire legalizes civil unions, to take effect on January 1, 2008.
June 14: In the Massachusetts legislature, a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage is defeated in a vote of 154 against and 46 in favor. 50 votes in favor would have been required for the amendment to go on the ballot for a popular vote in the 2008 elections.
August 30: Iowa’s Defense of Marriage Act was struck down as unconstitutional as a result of a legal challenge. The state has announced plans to appeal, but couples began applying for marriage licenses immediately in anticipation of an injunction. About 20 couples obtained marriage licenses and one couple married before the judge issued a stay of his ruling pending appeal.
September 18: Maryland Court of Appeals upholds state law banning same-sex marriage, overturning a lower court ruling.
2008
January 1: Civil unions in New Hampshire take effect.
February 1: Domestic partnership in Oregon take effect after court rescinds injunction.
May 15: Supreme Court of California legalizes same-sex marriage in the landmark In re Marriage Cases ruling.
May 22: Maryland governor Martin O’Malley signs into law two bills establishing limited domestic partnership rights in that state.
June 16: California state supreme court’s ruling on Same-sex marriage in becomes effective at 5:01 pm.
July 1: Maryland domestic partnership laws become effective.
October 10: Supreme Court of Connecticut legalizes same-sex marriage.
November 4: Measures pass amending the constitutions of Arizona, California, and Florida to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
November 12: The state supreme court’s ruling on Same-sex marriage in Connecticut becomes effective.
2009
April 3: Iowa Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage after striking down a provision limiting marriage to one man and one woman.
April 7: Vermont legalizes same-sex marriage.
April 16: Gov. David A. Paterson Unveils Same-Sex Marriage Bill for New York.
April 27: Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Iowa following the Iowa Supreme Court decision. May 6: Maine legalizes same-sex marriage.
May 18: Washington state Governor Chris Gregoire signs the “everything-but-marriage” bill into law, but may face a challenge with Referendum 71 (2009) being filed.
July 1: State of Colorado will recognise unregistered cohabitation (similar to the US state of Maryland).
September 1: Same-sex marriage will become legal in Vermont.
September 12: Same-sex marriage will become legal in Maine.
Wikipedia source also includes dates for other countries. The above list only includes dates within the United States.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_same-sex_marriage
By John 6:54
As a new parent I have started to experience the joys of being spit-up on. At this stage in my relationship with my son no amount of spit-up causes me to love my son less. When he does spit-up I’m there to clean up the mess and love him.
It has come to me that when we sin it is as if we are spitting up on God and he is there to help clean up the mess and love us.
Obviously my son is an infant and has a propensity to spit up at this stage of his life. Just like when we are spiritual infants we have a propensity to sin, the question is, when will we grow up and out of this propensity. As we mature we will still sin, but it should not be as common of an occurence. Maybe if we viewed sin as spitting up on God we would work harded to stay in God’s grace longer and flee to confession for his forgiveness as soon as we fall.
Lord I ask You to pour Your grace upon me and to help me to accept it willingly as a child of God, Amen.
By John 6:54
I thought I’d link to some articles I wrote over the past few months since they are not listed in the new Blogger Archive, but only in the old GTM Archive where you can find more old posts.
Search for Truth ~ March 2nd 2009
Dissent ~ February 17th, 2009
American’s Not Supporting Obama ~ February 5th, 2009
The “Messiah” ~ Jan 20th 2009
Blood Money ~ December 16th, 2008
Meditation on the Economy ~ December 5th, 2008
More Reconciliation Please ~ December 1st, 2008
Tragedy vs Statistics ~ November 17th, 2008
Hope & Change is Just “Code” ~ November 9th, 2008
Contraceptive Devistation ~ October 28th, 2008
The Gay Marriage Inferno ~ October 23rd, 2008
By John 6:54
I’d like to focus in on two lines from today’s commencement speech by the President to the students at Notre Dame.
Too many of us view life only through the lens of immediate self-interest and crass materialism; in which the world is necessarily a zero-sum game. The strong too often dominate the weak, and too many of those with wealth and with power find all manner of justification for their own privilege in the face of poverty and injustice.
These words could not describe any more clearly the essence of the abortion issue, and yet even though the President spoke them he is apparently too blind to how they apply to the taking of innocent human life of an unborn child.
By John 6:54
 So much can be said about the scandal at the University of Notre Dame du Lac or properly translated the University of Our Lady on the Lake. The Catholic Church in America has finally shown the world, and God, just how Non-Catholic we are as a whole. Catholics have spent decades trying to get out of the ghetto and beyond a foundational protestant bias that we have misplaced our faith in our efforts to “get ahead”. We no longer trust ourselves and the Church to ensure social justice, we have placed that reliance on our government and its leaders even when they choose not to protect the most innocent and defenseless among us, the unborn child.
Catholics as a voting block showed last November that they hold Economic Hope in higher regard than Human Life. Election results show that President Obama defeated Senator McCain with a popular vote of 69,498,215 to 59,948,240[i]. Exit polls show 27% of voters “said” they were Catholic and voted 54% to 45% in favor of Obama[ii]. This is almost an exact match of nation as a whole. But the numbers show that had all Catholics just stayed home on election day Obama would have lost the popular vote by just over 1 million votes 32,971,532 to 31,969,179. Had Catholics voted against Obama at a rate of 54% to 45% Obama would have lost the popular vote by 11.5 million votes and most likely wouldn not have won the Electoral College vote.
As dejected as many Catholics were with the election of the most Pro-Abortion President ever I think many were ready just to move on and gut out 4 years of “Hope & Change”, which is code for “Death & Taxes”. While many Catholics knew that our Catholic educational institutions were starting to wane at even the very idea of being Catholic, I don’t think anyone really expected for the landmark Catholic institution of Notre Dame to honor such a man even if he was President. So it came as quite a shock that President Obama announced in March that he would be speaking at Notre Dame.
WHAT? Catholics were just getting over the fact that, as a group, we elected a Pro-Abortion president who is littering his administration with Pro-Abortion self-proclaimed Catholics. How could this be? Was the Pope not just here a year ago addressing Catholic educators on how to conduct institutions? Had the USCCB not clearly stated that Catholic institutions are NOT to honor those who hold and promote views that are contrary to core Catholic teaching? Did President Obama just decide that he wanted to speak at Notre Dame or had he actually been invited? Sadly he had been invited and to top it off he was to receive and honorary degree. How low can we go?
I think the current trajectory of events points to thing getting worse in Catholic America before they get better. If the November election didn’t give us a loud enough wake up call then will today’s commencement address at Notre Dame? Will those in authority finally take much needed action verses just coming out with statements. And will those in America who hold ALL Catholic teaching in high regard finally wake up and pray like they’ve never prayed before?
I ask all those who consider themselves to be Catholic to pray the Rosary and pray it fervently. I ask all those who consider themselves to be Catholic to never vote for any politician who supports or will support abortion with their votes regardless to how that politician says they feel about abortion “personally”. Catholics in America, wake up! Find your Catholic faith and put it into practice, rediscover your Catholic identity and wear it, wear it proudly and preach the full Gospel with your lives.
Heavenly Father help us to find our way, give us a desire that burns within us not to be lukewarm. Help us to protect all human life and help us to convert the hearts of those in need.
[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2008
[ii] http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=7598203&page=1
By John 6:54
While my friend Ed’s funeral Mass was today my friend Scott is being ordained to the Deaconate tomorrow. May you say a prayer for Scott and his vocation. In addition my friend Andrew is being ordained a Priest next Saturday.
May God Bless all three of them and let His face shine upon them, Amen.
By John 6:54
I just got back from a visitation service for my friend Ed who passed away last Saturday. His funeral is tomorrow. When someone I know dies I always wonder about where their soul will end up, Heaven or Hell..
I can honestly say with Ed I’m not too concerned. If Ed’s not in Heaven, then I’m not sure who else is up there. Even with that said I ask you to say a prayer for my friend Ed and his family.
Lord Jesus Christ I ask you to receive your servant Ed into your Heavenly Kingdom, Amen.
By John 6:54
Well it’s been two plus months since my last post, but I have good reason for my absence. A few days after my last post my wife and I were blessed with a healthy baby boy. He is our first and we are getting acclimated to taking care of an infant. Right now our life is broken up into three hour increments.
I hope to get back into the swing of things from a blogging perspective. While my GetToMass.com was originally not slated as a blogging site I’ve certainly enjoyed sharing my opinion and hope to continue as it seems to be a good release valve for me. I’ve missed some pretty hot topics since I’ve been out: the Notre Dame Scandal, the Miss California controversy, and the “torture” debate.
Well now that I’m back I’m ready to throw my hat back into the blogasphere. I’ve also switch my blog engine to Google’s Blogger while still keeping my GetToMass.com template. By switching to Blogger I can now submit articles via email and text messaging. Hopefully that will allow me to post more often. Also I’ve added a rating section so I can get a feel for what my visitors are enjoying. Plus Blogger does a better job with comments.
Until my next post, God Bless!
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Imagine – Catholic Vote
Catholic Vote is air this commerical during the American Idol finale.
Their prior commerical was rejected on by the NBC & the NFL for broadcast during the Super Bowl can be seen below.
Please consider being a donor to so more spots like this can be run.