Kate Aaron's Blog, page 8
November 10, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: Same-Sex Marriage in the USA
The first legal challenges to the ban on same-sex couples marrying in the US came in the early 1970s, without success: Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in 1971 that a ban on SSM wasn’t unconstitutional, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case regarding SSM in 1972, “for want of a substantial federal question.” […]
November 8, 2015
On Working from Home
I love my job. I’m prefacing with that because I don’t say it enough, but I am quite literally living the dream. I get to write books, see them published, and know people buy them — enough people that I can afford to do this full-time. Long may it last! Before I quit my job […]
November 7, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: Same-Sex Marriage in the UK
Civil partnerships have been legal in England and Wales since 2005. CPs granted many of the same rights as marriages, without permitting the use of the word itself. The 2004 Civil Partnership Act also prohibited religious iconography or terminology being used in CP ceremonies. They were strictly secular, robbing LGBT couples of reciting the same […]
November 6, 2015
On American Nature
I’m a naturegeek — I own it. I was raised by a father whose first response on seeing a new bird was to root out an old identification guide and learn everything about it. I’ve got everything David Attenborough ever filmed on DVD. I drive AJ batty by shrieking “Squirrel!” every time I see one […]
November 5, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: Civil Partnerships
One of the core aims of the queer emancipation movement, following the decriminalisation of homosexuality, was same-sex partner recognition. Marriage, the state previously reserved for long-term heterosexual domestic partners, has obvious religious connotations, but it also comes with a number of additional rights granted by the state, including but not limited to tax-free inheritance, next-of-kinship […]
November 4, 2015
On Living with a Cat
Peeps on Facebook will know this morning myplans to get some work done while AJ was still asleep were foiled by His Nibs, who decided to sit on the table next to me and — slowly and quite deliberately — push everything on it onto the floor, one item at a time. I’ve not had […]
November 3, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: Pre-Modern Same-Sex Unions
Axel and Eigil Axgil are commonly considered the first couple who legally entered a same-sex partnership, in Denmark in 1989. The history of legal same-sex unions, however, dates back far beyond the modern era of civil partnerships and gay marriage. One of Roman emperor Elagabalous’s least eccentric traits was styling himself the wife of one […]
November 2, 2015
One-Week Anniversary
A week ago right to this minute, AJ and I were saying our vows Today, we spent most of the morning in the social security office — talk about coming down to earth with a bump! — trying to get me the magic number that will allow me to open a bank account and […]
November 1, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: Legal Challenges
The queer emancipation movement has had more dealings with the courts than the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the legalisation of same-sex marriage. First after decriminalisation was an equal age of consent. It took a 1997 ruling by the European Commission of Human Rights to confirm that the UK’s unequal age of consent was a violation […]
October 31, 2015
Happy Halloween!
So this is my first Halloween in America, where I know it’s a Big Deal. In the UK, it isn’t so much. Every year my sister and I got a pumpkin each to decorate (she always went for the biggest she could find, I went for the smallest: read into that what you will), and […]
