Category Archives: LGBT

Government, LGBT, Same-sex Marriage

U.S. SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS LOWER COURT’S DECISION BANNING MARRIAGE FOR HETEROSEXUAL COUPLES

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imageWASHINGTON, D.C. (The Adobo Chronicles) – Everyone is so focused on the same-sex marriage case now before the U.S. Supreme Court that a recent high court decision on heterosexual marriage went practically unnoticed.

On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a decision by the 9th Circuit Court in San Francisco banning the marriage of two heterosexual couples.

The case stemmed from a lawsuit filed by a gay couple challenging the marriage between the heterosexual couples in Alpine County, California.  The county has a population of  1, 1775 (as of the 2010 census), making it the least populous county in the state.

In the lawsuit, Smith & Smith vs. Alipine County, the gay couple sought to invalidate the marriage licenses of two heterosexual couples who were married at Markleeville City Hall. The gay couple, John and Paul Smith (no blood relation), argued that the county cannot grant marriage licenses to the heterosexual couples because it does not extend the same right to gay couples.  “It violates the state constitution, particularly the provision for equal rights and protection,” the lawsuit argued.

The gay couple won the lawsuit but the decision was challenged by the county, elevating the case to the 9th Circuit Court, which subsequently upheld the original local court decision.  The county then filed an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 in favor of the gay couple. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, Ginsburg and Breyer to form the majority ruling. Roberts penned the decision.

While the LGBT community considers this a huge victory, it now means that all same-sex marriages will also be invalidated and banned until the Supreme Court issues a decision this summer on the pending case that would pave the way for federal recognition of same-sex marriage.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments starting April 28, whether all 50 states must allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, positioning it to resolve one of the great civil rights questions in a generation.

Festivals, LGBT, Religion, Tourism

NO MORE LGBT PRIDE PARADE IN SAN FRANCISCO BEGINNING IN 2016

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imageSAN FRANCISCO, California (The Adobo Chronicles) – LGBT pride and street celebrations are a diminishing breed in the gayest city in the world, San Francisco.

It’s been half a decade since the City of San Francisco decided to crack down on Halloween in the Castro and shut down this street festival that started in 1940.

The annual Pink Party on the eve of Pride Parade, is not going to happen in 2015 because the organizers of the event, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, have decided against  holding it  beginning this year. San Francisco City Hall is mulling sponsoring the event but it will be more like a political campaign rally for those who will be running for public office.

Next on the chopping block is the Castro Street Fair which is held annually on the first Sunday in October.

The biggest LGBT event, the Pride Parade will happen for the last time this year.  It will also be cancelled beginning in 2016.

That leaves the Folsom Street Fair the only, sort-of-LGBT street festival which usually happens on the last Sunday in September.

Beginning next year, however, the Folsom Street Fair will  be free of commercial sponsorships, like the Pink Party.  There will only be one non-profit sponsor which will  subsidize the popular event — the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, under the leadership of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

So expect nudity to be a thing of the past at the Folsom Street Fair. However, there will still be a lot of people being tied up, whipped, spanked, caned and humiliated. Cordileone said that these practices are consistent with biblical accounts of Jesus Christ during the march to Mount Calvary prior to His crucifixion.

If you have procrastinated about attending the Pride Parade, Castro Street Fair and Folsom Street Fair in its original form, this is the year to do it.

 

 

Human Interest, International, LGBT, Travel

FIANCÉ OF MURDERED TRANSGENDER FILIPINA WRITES AN OPEN LETTER TO FILIPINOS

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Sueselbeck and the late Jennifer Laude.
Sueselbeck and the late Jennifer Laude.

Every so often, The Adobo Chronicles takes a break from its routine stories to bring to the attention of our readers and followers issues of serious and important concern. German national Marc Sueselbeck is the fiancé of Filipina Jennifer Laude who was murdered by U.S. marine Scott Pemberton in Olongapo City last year. Sueselbeck has been banned by the Philippine government from returning to the country. March 13, 2015 would have been the day that Sueselbeck will marry Laude.  He wants to visit Laude’s grave on that special day.  Following is his open letter to the citizens of the Philippines.  We ask our readers to share his letter with their friends and networks.

To the citizens of the Philippines,

I fell in love with a Filipina woman named Jennifer Laude more than two years ago. Because of my heartbreak over her murder, I made a bad decision and scaled a fence only to ensure that her killer is still on Philippine soil. Because of this, the Philippine government has banned me from returning for the trial of her murderer and for a date that is so important for me, March 13, which would have been our wedding day.

I wrote a letter to a number of authorities in the Philippines pleading for them to allow me to return to your country. But I also wanted to write you to ask for help from anyone who can help me to speak to the government to give me leniency, I would be eternally grateful to you.

Maybe you know how much of a weight on my heart it is to feel the death of the person I love most in the world. But this weight is so much more difficult to bear now that I am unable to return to the Philippines just to be with our family and friends to find justice for Jennifer. I am unable to simply visit her grave, and what hurts the most, I can’t even be near her in any way on the day we were supposed to be married.

I remember what Pope Francis said when he visited the Philippines, that we need to have both mercy and compassion. That is all I ask of you, that you take pity on me and allow me to be with my beloved and her friends and family.

Finally, I would like to express my deepest apologies to anyone who felt that I was disrespectful to your laws and your country. This has never been my intention. It was only because I truly went out of my mind for a moment because of Jennifer’s death. Never have I wanted to disrespect the Philippines and Filipinos.

Thank you for reading this letter and for giving me so many things to be happy for in the two years that I have known the Philippines. It is my last wish that maybe you, the people of the country that I love, can help me be with one of your own, my most beloved.

Humbly,

Marc Sueselbeck