GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Jacinda Adern, 37-yo PM of New Zealand, is Agnostic

Jacinda Adern is set to become the next Prime Minister of New Zealand. She is 37 years old and a former Mormon. She says she left the church over its homophobic stances on LGBT equality and same-sex marriage recognition. That was the main reason why I was going to blog about her but then I saw these quotes:

“I have a real respect for people who have religion as a foundation in their lives. And I respect people who don’t.“I’m agnostic. I don’t spend a lot of time trying to figure it out.“I just think people should be free to have their personal beliefs and not be persecuted for it, whether they be atheist or staunch church members."

Clearly New Zealand politics is very different from American politics! It is unlikely that the not-yet-sworn-in leader of our country would say something. After all, atheists are the one group that a majority of poll respondents still feel should not become President.

Venus Beats Wozniacki for 49th Career Title; Aga Beats Serena In Hopman Cup Final

Wow! Venus Williams, now 34, has started off her 2015 season with a bang, winning her 49th career title  at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand by beating 2014 US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki in three sets 2-6 6-3 6-3.  Williams is ranked in the Top 20 and looks fit and ready to make an impact at the first grand slam of the year in Melbourne, the Australian Open, which starts on Monday January 19. Last year Venus lost in the ASB Classic final to Ana Ivanovic in 3-sets.

Serena Williams was denied her chance to hold the Hopman Cup for the third time when she lost to  Aga Radwanska in 3-sets 6-4 6-7(3) 6-1 and together with John Isner lost their mixed-doubles match against Radwanska and Jerzy Janowicz.

2014 AUS OPEN: Serena-Azarenka, Venus-Ivanovic In Warm-Up Finals

The 2014 Australian Open starts on January 13, 2014 in Melbourne. The Asia-Pacific hard court season is in full-swing and Venus Williams and Serena Williams are playing well. Venus will face Ana Ivanovic in the final of the 2014 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. Serena will face Victoria Azarenka in the final of the 2014 Brisbane International. She beat Maria Sharapova in a surprisingly tight straight set match 6-2 7-6(7) for the 14th consecutive time since 2005.

Serena in the final of the warm-up to the Australian is not surprising because she reached 13 WTA tour finals in her 78-4 season last year and has not lost a WTA tour level match since August 2013 (to Azarenka, in a 3rd set tiebreak in the finals of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, which I included at #4 on my Top 10 list of best women's tennis matches of 2013).

However, that Venus is in the final is quite surprising since she last reached a final when she won her 44th career title in October 2012 in Luxembourg. The head-to-head between Ivanovic and Venus is 8-1 in favor of Venus, so I would give her a very good shot to start of 2014 with a title.
Serena leads Vika 13-3 in their career head-to-head but the two split their four meetings last year, with Vika being the only person to beat Serena twice in several years.

New Zealand: 13th Country To Enact Marriage Equality

As expected, New Zealand beat out France to become the 13th country in the world to enact marriage equality into law with the 77-44 Parliamentary passage of a law  that says "marriage means the union of 2 people, regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity."

The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

New Zealand parliament has voted to make same-sex marriage legal.  

MPs and those in the public gallery broke into applause and cheered as it was announced the vote passed with 77 votes to 44. They then broke into song. 

After a two-hour debate, MPs were able to have their say on the Marriage Equality Bill.  

MPs from both sides of the House lined up to hug the bill's sponsor, Louisa Wall. 

She, National MP Tau Henare and Green MP Kevin Hague were presented with flowers.  

Those opposed to the bill quietly left the public gallery. 

The French parliament will finish work on its marriage equality bill next Tuesday, and the British House of Lords has a pending marriage equality bill it should pass by the end of the year.

Hat/tip to Rex Wockner

Final Vote on French Marriage Equality Law April 23

The French legislature will complete its work on the pending marriage equality legislation on April 23rd when the French national assembly completes its work on the bill following its 179 to 157  passage in the French Senate last week. There's no doubt the measure it will pass, since the National Assembly had already passed the most important part of the bill back on February 12 by a vote of 3299 to 229.

The tweet from Bruno Le Roux can be translated to say:

We will begin the examination of the text of "Marriage For All" Wednesday, continue it on Thursday, Friday and Saturday for a vote on Tuesday April 23rd.

France will likely become the 13th country in the world to have enacted marriage equality nationwide when the bill becomes law. Uruguay became the 12th country to so just last week! There's a strong possibility that New Zealand may beat out France for the 13th slot by passing their marriage equality bill this week.

The times they are a changin'-fast!

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

John Berry, Highest Ranked Gay Federal Employee, Resigns

The highest ranked gay appointee of the Obama administration, John Berry, the head of the Office of Personnel Management (formerly known as the U.S. Civil Service Commission) has decided to leave his position, effective this week. Technically, Berry's term as head of the federal government's "human resources department" is four years and he started on April 13, 2009 but if he had wanted to stay another four years the President would have re-appointed him. Berry was head of the agency when the Obama administration announced it was extending some (mostly non-financial) benefits to domestic partners of federal employees.

The White House issued a statement about Berry's departure from OPM:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 12, 2013

Statement by the President on John Berry’s Departure

John Berry has served the American people well as Director of the Office of Personnel Management.  He’s streamlined the way federal employees are hired, modernized the workplace, made the federal workforce more diverse, and increased the number of returning servicemembers hired by the government.  John has been a champion for federal workers – men and women who devote their lives to vital tasks like securing our borders, curing disease, and keeping the American people safe.  This country is better off because of John’s talent and dedication, and I’m grateful to him for his service.

###

At OPM, Berry will be temporarily replaced by the openly lesbian General Counsel of the Agency, Elaine Kaplan. Kaplan is on Lias Keen's recently compiled list of the Top 12 LGBT Presidential Appointments by the Obama administration and has also been named to be the Chief Judge of the (obscure but important) U.S. Court of Federal Claims, a federal appellate court. Interestingly, Berry is being rumored to be on the top of the short list to be named Ambassador to Australia. LGBT activists had been pushing for the President to name an openly LGBT cabinet secretary, and it was hoped that Berry would be that name. With Berry's experience of running the National Zoo and the National Wildlife Commission, he was thought to be a serious contender for Secretary of the Interior Department.

Ambassador for Australia would be interesting, because the current Ambassador to New Zealand is an openly gay man, David Heubner. Both Australia and New Zealand are in the middle of national political conversations about enacting marriage equality, with New Zealand making much more progress towards legislative change than Australia. If other rumors are true, Berry and Heubner would not be the Obama administration's only openly gay ambassadors, since the President is also considering his 2012 campaign's openly gay fundraising chairman Rufus Gifford to be named Ambassador to Denmark. I think that's a pretty good reward for being responsible for raising $1 billion for Obama-Biden 2012, don't you?

It seems to me Rufus should get his pick of which country to go (within reason, of course, I'm sure there are sensitive geo-political concerns that have to be balanced). If you could be Ambassador to anywhere, where would you pick? I think I would pick Italy (probably taken), South Africa or the Netherlands. Iceland would be great, as well! Which country would you pick?

New Zealand Steps Closer To Marriage Equality

New Zealand appears to be poised to become the 12th country in the world to legalize marriage equality, if a 77-44 vote on a bill to do just that is an indication of the final vote tally on a measure to end discrimination against same-sex couples.

The Washington Post reports:

Lawmakers supported the bill 77 to 44 in the second of three votes needed for a bill to be approved. The second vote is typically the most crucial one. The third and final vote is likely to be little more than a formality and could be taken as early as next month. 

[...] 

The result was little changed from the 80-to-40 result in the first vote in August. There were some minor changes to the bill, including wording to make it clear that clergy can decline to preside over gay marriage ceremonies if they conflict with their beliefs. 

In her speech supporting the bill, [openly gay MP Louisa] Wall said denying marriage to any person devalues that person’s right to participate fully in all that life offers. 

“Marriage belongs to society as a whole, and that requires the involvement of the whole of society,” Wall said. “The role of the state in marriage is to issue a license to two people who love each other and want to commit to one another formally. That’s what this bill does.”

Congratulations to the Kiwis!