It’s official. Gay couples from outside the state are free to marry in Massachusetts.

Governor Deval Patrick signed a bill formally repealing a discriminatory 1913 law that barred couples from marrying in Massachusetts if the union would not be recognized in their home state. Originally used to discriminate against interracial marriages, the law resurfaced when then-Governor Mitt Romney used it to prevent out of state same-sex couples from marrying in Massachusetts.

“In five years now, … the sky has not fallen, the earth has not opened to swallow us all up, and more to the point, thousands and thousands of good people – contributing members of society – are able to make free decisions about their personal futures, and we ought to seek to affirm that every chance we can,” said Patrick.

The bill cleared both the State House and Senate with overwhelming support. Proponents of the bill said the timing was right, since California had already proven that out of state marriages would only help the state’s economic status.

Openly lesbian Rep. Sarah Peake claimed that the House debate, which took place on Tuesday, was fairly mild in comparison to the highly controversial 2004 debate over legislation calling for equal marriage in Massachusetts.

“It was striking how sort of ho-hum and of-course-this-is-how-we-need-to-vote it was,” Peake said. “We have been living and thriving with marriage equality since 2004.”

The Boston Herald reports:

Out-of-state gay couples can marry as soon as today, since lawmakers included a provision to make the repeal go into effect immediately.

In Massachusetts, there is a standard three-day waiting period after applying for a license, but any couple can petition a court for a waiver – something gay couples in-state did by the hundreds when the first legal gay marriages in the nation were performed in May 2004.

“We’re being recognized as a married couple,” said Joy Spring, of Middletown, N.Y., who planned to marry her partner of seven years, Carla Barbano, in Provincetown on Friday.

Their 11-year-old daughter, Lizzy, will exchange rings with the couple at the wedding.

“It’s extremely important,” Spring said. “If something happened to one of us she’d always be taken care of.”

Patrick, the state’s first black governor, said he was proud to supported repeal of the law, which he said had its roots in racism. It was first passed 95 years ago as states tried to prevent interracial marriages.

He said the repeal shows that in Massachusetts, “equal means equal.”

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is once again under fire for misconduct. A recent internal Department of Justice investigation has found that the former senior counsel to Gonzalez, Monica Goodling, violated federal non-discrimination laws when she denied a job extension to an attorney she believed to be a lesbian.

Goodling, who also served as the department’s liaison to the White House, denied extending an appointment to former Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Hagen of Michigan because of rumors that Hagen was a lesbian. The discovery of Goodling’s conduct toward Hagen was part of a broader, year-long investigation into the 2006 firings of eight U.S. Attorneys under Gonzales, all of which were believed to be led by political motives. Goodling, who had resigned in April of 2007 amid controversy surrounding her involvement in the firings, is now believed to have played a much larger role in the scandal.

A graduate of Pat Robertson’s Regent University Law School, Goodling was one of many young religious conservatives employed by the Bush Administration.

Employment Attorney Elaine Kaplan, a lesbian who heads the office responsible for federal job discrimination investigations, cited the importance of this finding.

“It reconfirms that sexual orientation in the federal workforce is illegal,” Kaplan said. “This is an example of the Justice Department’s Inspector General taking a stand that sexual orientation discrimination violates the law.”

The Washington Blade reports:

Beginning in 2002, Hagen worked under Chiara as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, where she prosecuted cases on Indian reservations. In October 2005, she was recruited for a job in Washington that involved serving as liaison between the Justice Department and a special U.S. Attorney’s committee on Native American criminal justice issues.

The Washington job was considered a “detailed” rather than a permanent position and was based in the DOJ’s Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys.

According to the Inspector General-Office of Professional Responsibility report, Dan Villegas, Hagen’s supervisor, offered her an extension for her detailed post in the summer of 2006, saying colleagues and associates familiar with the Native American liaison office praised her for doing an excellent job.

The report says Villegas told investigators that he received word that Goodling rejected his proposal to extend Hagen’s detail assignment based on a “political decision” rather than on her job performance.

“In fact, [Hagen’s] 2006 performance appraisal, which covered her detail at Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, rated her performance as ‘outstanding’ on all performance elements, the highest possible appraisal,” the report states.

Other Justice Department officials reported that Goodling made it known that she wanted Hagen terminated from her post and didn’t want her to be considered for any other Justice Department job, the report says.

“Several witnesses told us that Goodling’s opposition to the extension of the detail was based at least in part on [Hagen’s] alleged sexual orientation,” the report states.

New legislation sponsored by out Rep. Barney Frank would end federal penalties for Americans carrying fewer than 100 grams of marijuana.

According to CNN, Frank claims that current laws place undue burdens on law enforcement resources, punish people who need it for medical reasons and disproportionately affects African-Americans.

“The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government’s business,” Frank said at a news conference. “I don’t think it is the government’s business to tell you how to spend your leisure time.”

CNN reports:

Allen St. Pierre, spokesman for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), likened Frank’s proposal — co-sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas — to current laws dealing with alcohol consumption. Alcohol use is permitted, and the government focuses its law enforcement efforts on those who abuse alcohol or drive under its influence, he said.

“We do not arrest and jail responsible alcohol drinkers,” he said.

St. Pierre said there are tens of millions of marijuana smokers in the United States, including himself, and hundreds of thousands are arrested each year for medical or personal use. iReport.com: Is it time to legalize pot?

There have been 20 million marijuana-related arrests since 1965, he said, and 11 million since 1990, and “every 38 seconds, a marijuana smoker is arrested.”

Rob Kampia, director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said marijuana arrests outnumber arrests for “all violent crimes combined,” meaning that police are spending inordinate amounts of time chasing nonviolent criminals.

“Ending arrests is the key to marijuana policy reform,” he said.

Incumbent Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart lost his bid for re-election yesterday after finishing third in a three-way primary. The loss comes after he published a viciously anti-gay comic book that depicted gays as allies with the devil and as predatory boy scout leaders.

“I’ve been battling and battling for many years, and I believe even though I still had some fight left in me, I don’t believe the public had it left in them,” Rinehart said. “I don’t in any way blame them.”

Brian Maughan, a 31-year-old political consultant, came in first with 47 percent of the vote.  Meanwhile, Rinehart is due to show up at an Oklahoma County District Court hearing on Thursday related to several felony campaign corruption charges faces in connection with his previous campaign.

Via Towleroad.

Keisha Waites, candidate for the Georgia House of Representatives, is among the 11 new endorsees of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. If she wins her runoff election on Aug. 5, she will become the nation’s first African-American lesbian to be elected to a state legislature*.

Keisha has a long history of helping people. After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, she served on FEMA’s Katrina Long-Term Recovery Planning Team, traveling to the affected areas to observe the situation and help the people displaced by the storm.

Active in many local community and civic based organizations, she is an executive board member of NAACP, a board member of the Atlanta Commission on Women, and a graduate of the Atlanta Leadership Institute. Keisha just made her way through a bruising primary fight and is now headed to a runoff election in August.

This round of endorsements spans the country from Delaware to Washington state. Candidates include Sara Orozco, who hopes to unseat a notoriously anti-equality incumbent in the Massachusetts Senate; Greg Rodriguez, whose race for the Palm Springs Unified School District was inspired by his two adopted children; and Sue Schafer, a former teacher who seeks a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives.

The other candidates are:

• Dennis Barbour – Candidate for city commissioner of Rehoboth Beach, DE
• Ed Butler – Candidate for New Hampshire State House of Representatives
• Heather Carruthers – Candidate for county commissioner of Monroe County, FL
• Edward Flanagan – Candidate for Vermont State Senate
• Jamie McLeod – Candidate for Santa Clara, CA City Council
• Jean Rietschel – Candidate for King County, WA Superior Court Judge
• Ed Zipprich – Candidate for Red Bank, NJ City Council

*The Victory Fund has also endorsed openly lesbian African American Inga Taylor for the Kansas legislature. Both of their elections are on Aug. 5.