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Dignity 2012 cleared the biggest hurdle in the process at the end of 2011, gathering 84,713 signatures, of which 79,626 were qualified and certified. All initiatives in the Commonwealth originate in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for their journey through the State House. The initiative was introduced as H.3884 and assigned to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. Over the next few months, legislators will discuss the initiative and consider one of the following steps: The General Court can pass the initiative as it's written. (This rarely happens.) The Judiciary Committee can make a formal recommendation of Support, Do Not Support, or Neutral. The Legislature can put its own version of the initiative on the ballot. (Again, this is rare.) If the legislature doesn't pass the initiative as it's written, the next step for Dignity 2012 will be another phase of signature gathering in the beginning of May. This next signature gathering phase would be smaller than the one which took place in the fall; the campaign would need to collect 11,485 qualified voter signatures between the beginning of May and July 3rd to be considered for the November ballot. Voters who signed the petition during the first signature gathering phase cannot sign the second petition.

Article written by Terence Clark. The following quote is an example of the lack of discussion reference premarital sex. According to Clark, apparently the only choice is safe sex or unsafe sex; no sex is not an option. Add to that the last phrase about taking care of them and you have an example of entitlement: "Women's rights and the alarming speed with which the world's population is growing make access to birth control a necessity, not a sin. The Church -- and its supporters in some government circles in Washington -- would have all those children be born willy nilly, yet seem to care very little about supporting them once they are born."

Under equal protection, same sex couples should have the freedom and support to marry their loved ones. Religious faiths that are opposed to the idea are free to not support the couples. Under DOMA each state was given the right to define marriage.

If same sex couples meet the set forth requirements to be a common law couple they should be able to marry and be treated equally.

Provisions of DOMA were recently struck down which gave same sex couples equal protection under federal laws. A recent development that's getting little attention is churches are changing their bylaws to protect themselves from lawsuits by the LGBT community. The bylaws are taking up where DOMA was struck down, declaring the church only recognizes marriages between a man and a woman.

it isn't new to the media circuit, but chick-fil-a doesn't support gay marriage. Gay rights groups and rallying against the restaraunt saying that if you support their busines you're supporting hate. There's people on both sides of the fence, but chick-fil-a was actually seeing a boost in sales after this "controversy."

The article brings up the idea that Obama is being criticized for only supporting gay marriage for votes. The author analyzes the presidential candidates view point on gay marriage. Romney is criticized for saying he supports it, and than recently switched his opinion by stating he does not support it.

For many years we've seen supports of marijuana try to get it legalize for consumers. Supports of the legalization say its a great profit for the government and help with the drug trafficking that we face. But is it such a good idea to support the legalization of marijuana. There are many benefits to legalization of the product but also the cons to marijuana.

This article discusses the dangers in hospitals not supporting new mothers to breastfeed. There are some very interesting facts concerning rising costs in the hospital due to the lack of breastfeeding. There are also a number of statistics providing information on baby friendly hospital facilities. Very good resource for facts.

This article has given two individuals to present their arguments for and against the Healthcare Insurance Law. Karen Davenport presents her arguments supporting the health care law and the individual mandate; Michael Cannon presents his arguments particularly against the individual mandate and the claim that the mandate will lower costs of medical care.

SOPA and CISPA are congressional bills that are keeping the Internet from being free and open. After several protest against the bills democrats are rethinking there argument and changing there minds.

Equal rights for gay mirage haves more supporters. Gay mirage has new supporters from the Republicans part, and some still againts the idea.

Written on August 18th, 2012 this article informs the public that Gov. Brewer of Arizona as well as the Gov. of Nebraska have declared that "their" states will not offer drivers licenses or any other state benefits to imigrants under President Obama's Dream Act. The article compares Gov. Brewer to George Wallace who was a supporter of segregation in the 60's.

Governor Chris Gregoire announces her support for gay marriage in Washington. She's has some pretty good arguments in her news conference.

The views of different religions on same-sex marriage. Do they support it or are they against it.

Aggregation of articles related to light pollution. Links to policies and agencies engaged in combating light pollution are supplied. Various factoids are iterated and links to support the facts are supplied.

This article describes how the SB 1070 law was passed and gives the definition. What I liked about this article was the chart showing who opposed and who supported this legislation. This chart will help give different views and supporting details on this subject.

D. Barbara Boxer, a Senator from California, is part of a growing contingent of lawmakers that are bringing legislation forward regarding the need for labeling of GM food and ingredients. She believes that we should join a growing number of nations throughout the world that are supporting or have supported similar legislation.

In a New York Times article, author Adam Liptak details the change in law enforcement priorities to preventing terrorist attacks over punishing crimes after they have been committed and how this may be an infringement on our freedom of speech. After the September 11th attack, surveillance of religious and dissident groups and informants in Muslim groups caused early arrests as "material support," in support of terrorist organizations. Simply talking to a terrorist group, even urging these groups to resolve disputes through peaceful means, is considered committing a crime.

This is a survey/poll taken by Americans to show that Americans favor allowing homosexuals to openly serve in the military. Americans favor this 2 to 1. This survey was divided among key groups who also oppose same sex marriage.

This site shows that the majority of Americans support a ban on cell phone use while driving, even when the driver is using a hands-free cell phone. According to a poll released in 2010, proponents for such a law outnumber opponents by a margin of 63-34.

If people get divorced the husband shouldn't have to continue to support the wife. Women are working and supporting themselves now more than ever so the husbands should have the right to keep their own money and not give it to their ex wives.