Planning a gay or same-sex wedding? Wondering what the legal ramifications are? Need resources for favors, honeymoons, planning help, etc.?

In many ways, a same-sex marriage is no different that a heterosexual one. The planning process is the same and most of the expenses and problems encountered are the same.

Right now, the only State that legally recognizes gay marriage as a legal insitution is Vermont. The runner up is Hawaii, which does not yet legally recognize the marriage, but has shown to open their doors to same-sex weddings, with many vendors offering gay-friendly packages.

Except for the legal issue, and having to do it in Vermont, planning a gay wedding is much the same as any other wedding.  You still need tools for planning your budget, reception, wedding invitations, etc. Our free wedding e-guide is second to none for this.

In support of your community, we also ask for your help in contributing ideas, artwork or other resources. Gay friendly vendors please feel free to contact us for inclusion in the forum.

Check out this link for more clipart: Wedding Clipart

Under the current conservative politacal climate, it is doubtful that any more States are going to initiate legislation to acknowledge same-sex marriages. But the debate continues. Should gay marriages be legal? Clearly we as a nation are undecided on this issue. 36 states have passed legislation banning gay marriages, yet the state of Vermont recently passed a law that allows homosexual couples the right to participate in marriage. Some other states are also debating whether or not to allow these couples to marry.

Proposals to legalize same-sex marriage or to enact broad domestic partnership laws are being promoted by gay and lesbian activists, especially in Europe and North America. The trend in western European nations during the past decade has been to increase legal aid to homosexual relations and has included marriage benefits to some same-sex couples.

For example, within the past six years, three Scandinavian countries have enacted domestic partnership laws allowing same-sex couples in which at least one partner is a citizen of the specified country therefore allowing many benefits that heterosexual marriages are given.

In the Netherlands, the Parliament is considering domestic partnership status for same-sex couples, all major political parties favor recognizing same-sex relations, and more than a dozen towns have already done so.

Finland provides governmental social benefits to same-sex partners. Belgium allows gay prisoners the right to have conjugal visits from same-sex partners. An overwhelming majority of European nations have granted partial legal status to homosexual relationships. The European Parliament also has passed a resolution calling for equal rights for gays and lesbians.

In 1994, the California legislature passed a domestic partnership bill that provided official state registration of same-sex couples and provided limited marital rights and privileges relating to hospital visitation, wills and estates, and powers of attorney. While California's Governor Wilson eventually vetoed the bill, its passage by the legislature represented a notable political achievement for advocates of same-sex marriage.
 

The most significant prospects for legalizing same-sex marriage in the near future are in Hawaii, where advocates of same-sex marriage have won a major judicial victory that could lead to the judicial legalization of same-sex marriage or to legislation authorizing same-sex domestic partnership in that state. In 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court, in Baehr v. Lewin, vacated a state circuit court judgment dismissing same-sex marriage claims and ruled that Hawaii's marriage law allowing heterosexual, but not homosexual, couples to obtain marriage licenses constitutes sex discrimination under the state constitution's Equal Protection Clause and Equal Rights Amendment.