So I am so excited. Great news as a judge struck down at least part of Missouri’s gay marriage ban. As some of you may know, the man I have been with for nearly 14 years recently went to Baltimore so we could get legally married. And now our state of residence will recognize our marriage! This is wonderful. And here is the article…
Judge Rules Missouri Must Recognize Out-of-State Same-Sex Marriages
BILL DRAPER | Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A judge struck down part of Missouri’s gay marriage ban for the first time on Friday by ordering the state to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states, saying state laws banning the unions single-out gay couples “for no logical reason.”
The order means that such couples will be eligible to sign up for a wide range of tax, health insurance, veterans and other benefits now afforded to opposite-sex couples. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, who has defended the state’s ban on gay marriage, said his office was reviewing the ruling.
The ruling was made in a lawsuit filed by 10 same-sex couples who were married in states where gay marriage is legal. The couples argue that their rights to equal protection and due process are being violated by Missouri’s ban on gay marriage.
Jackson County Circuit Judge J. Dale Youngs agreed, ruling that the couples deserve the same recognition as opposite-sex couples who were married in other states. He said Missouri’s bans serve no legitimate government interest.
“The undisputed facts before the Court show that, to the extent these laws prohibit plaintiffs’ legally contracted marriages from other states being recognized here, they are wholly irrational, do not rest upon any reasonable basis, and are purely arbitrary,” Youngs wrote. “All they do is treat one segment of the population – gay men and lesbians – differently than their same-sex counterparts, for no logical reason.”
The lawsuit before Youngs only challenges Missouri’s refusal to recognize marriages legally performed in other states, not laws that bar same-sex couples from getting marriage in Missouri. But it is the first ruling to strike down part of the state’s ban on gay marriage.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which helped the couples, applauded the ruling.
“We’re gratified that the court recognized that married same-sex couples and their families are no different than other couples, and that the Constitution requires them to be treated equally,” ACLU attorney Tony Rothert said. “This is not the first court to reach this conclusion, but it is the first court to do so in Missouri, so it’s a tremendous day for our state.”
He said the ruling means that thousands of Missouri couples who got married in other states can now qualify for spousal government benefits and, on a smaller level, make changes such as changing their last name to match their spouse’s on their Missouri driver’s license.
The case is among at least three challenging Missouri’s ban on same-sex marriage. The others include a federal challenge in Kansas City and a St. Louis case in which city officials granted marriage licenses to four same-sex couples to trigger a legal test of the ban. The lawsuits are based on the same arguments that led the U.S. Supreme Court last year to overturn part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that denied a tax, health and other benefits to legally married gay couples.
Youngs said he expects the Missouri Supreme Court to weigh in on the overall issue and “provide the last word on all of the important legal issues presented by this case.”
So you are hearing about it here first. This December my new novella, “Derek,” will be released. And guess what? It will be FREE.
I have finally joined the modern era and have a cellphone! We got it through Metro PCS and it is awesome! We went to Sprint first and OMG what a ripoff! They wanted $600.00 for the fripping phone and the CHEAPEST service I could get was $88.00 a month and he was “doing me a favor.” AND I can get a 20% discount through my work. And he pressured me. And he pissed me off.
By Natalie Wolchover
While no one knows which genes, exactly, these might be, at least one of them appears to be located on the X chromosome, according to genetic modeling by Camperio Ciani and his colleagues. Males inherit only one X chromosome — the one from their mother — and if it includes the gene that promotes gayness in males and fecundity in females, he is likely to be gay while his mom and her female relatives are likely to have lots of kids. If a daughter inherits that same X-linked gene, she herself may not be gay, but she can pass it on to her sons.
Of course, no single factor can account for the varied array of sexual orientations that exist, in men as well as in women. “It is quite possible that there are several influences on forming a homosexual orientation,” said Gerulf Rieger, a sexual orientation researcher at Cornell University. He noted that environmental factors — including the level of exposure to certain hormones in the womb — also play a role in molding male sexuality. But as for why genetic factors would exist that make men gay, it appears that these genes make women, as well as gay men, alluring to other men. 
![BoyWhoCameInFromTheCold[The]ORIG](https://i0.wp.com/ic.pics.livejournal.com/bg_thomas/27262265/19021/19021_900.jpg "BoyWhoCameInFromTheCold[The]ORIG")
So today is the day I head off to Albuquerque, NM for GayRomLit. Four hundred writers, editors, publishers and readers of gay romance all in one place.
B G Thomas - writer 