2006 Tranniversary: Rej, Cam, Finn

In LGBTQ News in 2006,  the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that state lawmakers must provide the rights and benefits of marriage to gay and lesbian couples. A Maryland judge struck down a state law banning same-sex marriage saying the measure violated a state constitutional amendment prohibiting sex discrimination.

Time Magazine speculated about the possibility of Barack Obama becoming the next President of the United States.Saddam Hussein was convicted of crimes against humanity by an Iraqi court (Nov. 5), and hanged in Baghdad. In defiance of the U.N. Security Council, Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran had successfully enriched uranium (Apr. 11). Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California. Democrats gained control of both houses of Congress in the midterm elections (Nov. 7). The house released a report on the response to Hurricane Katrina, assigning blame on all levels of government (Feb. 15).

The top grossing movies of 2006 were Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Cars, X-Men:The Last Standing and the DaVinci Code. The top grossing movie stars were Kate Beckingsale, Jennifer Aniston, Dakota Fanning, Ben Stiller, Matt Damon and Jamie Foxx. The Academy Award for Best Picture went to “Crash”.  Ang Lee won the Oscar for Best Director for the film, “Brokeback Mountain”. Reese Witherspoon won the award for best actress playing June Carter Cash in“Walk the Line”. Phillip Seymour Hoffman won best actor for “Capote”.  Billboard’s top 100 songs included, “Bad Day” (Daniel Powter), “Temperature” (Sean Paul), “Promiscous” (Nelly Furtado), “You’re Beautiful’ (James Blunt) and Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie”.

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks to win the Super Bowl. The world series was won by the St. Louis Cardinals when they defeated the Detroit Tigers. Italy defeated France in World Cup soccer.