Ordinary day, extraordinary love. |

Our family celebrates many anniversaries. September 1st is the day Jenn and I “married” in lavish gowns while our guests ate chocolate covered fruits and danced to Baby Got Back. July 30th is the day we passed through metal detectors to renew our vows before a judge. October 15th is the day we met. April 4th is the day Jenn adopted the Bean and the Bear. November 21st marks our first date and the day I adopted the Bean and the Bear.

Though we don’t celebrate them, August 12th was the day we became the first same-sex co-guardians in our conservative home county and August 3rd is the day we flushed $125 down the toilet to become registered domestic partners in our home state.

There is one anniversary that surpasses all others. Today. February 4th.

via Ordinary day, extraordinary love. | Be gay about it..

Video – Legal Jungle: same-sex families trapped between EU countries / ILGA-Europe publications and resources on LGBTI families

Currently even the countries which legally recognise same-sex families and their children do not necessarily recognise similar families of same-sex couples from other EU countries. However, all EU countries automatically recognise each other different sex marriages.

ILGA-Europe considers this to be a case of direct discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and calls for the European Commission to remedy such discrimination by introducing legal measures to facilitate the mutual recognition of all civil documents across the EU.

via Video – Legal Jungle: same-sex families trapped between EU countries / ILGA-Europe publications and resources on LGBTI families / Families / Issues we work on / Home / ilga – ILGA Europe.

Poland to end gay marriage abroad discrimination

Polish registry offices will be issued with new certificates which will effectively end in Poland discrimination against same sex couples wanting to get married or enter into a civil partnership abroad.

The Ministry of Interior will issue a new type of certificate – which is needed for all couples, heterosexual or homosexual who wish to get married outside of Poland  – without the section calling for the identification of the future spouse and so taking away the possibility that the registrar could refuse to sign it if he or she was against same-sex partnerships.

“Work is already underway and there will be a new type of certificate without the section concerning future spouses,” Ministry spokeswoman Małgorzata Woźniak told the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

Currently, registry offices only issues the certificates to heterosexual couples. The new certificates will not require someone wanting to obtain the certificate to give the name of their partner.

The Campaign Against Homophobia says it has numerous examples of gay and lesbians being refused the certificate which would enable them to marry in the UK, Spain, the Netherlands or other countries where same-sex civil unions are legal.

via Poland to end gay marriage abroad discrimination – TheNews.pl :: News from Poland.

Lessons in Grace From Maurice Mannion-Vanover

Some things we know for sure — a little boy dealt a seemingly impossible hand, the two gay men who decided to give him a home and a life, the unlikely spell cast by the only horse in Montclair.

via Lessons in Grace From Maurice Mannion-Vanover – NYTimes.com.