Tag: equality

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Two years ago today: President Obama supports marriage equality

Two years ago today, President Obama sat down with Robin Roberts of ABC News and announced for the first time that he supported marriage equality.

Thank you Mr. President.

“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that– for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that — I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.

Now — I have to tell you that part of my hesitation on this has also been I didn’t want to nationalize the issue. There’s a tendency when I weigh in to think suddenly it becomes political and it becomes polarized.

And what you’re seeing is, I think, states working through this issue — in fits and starts, all across the country. Different communities are arriving at different conclusions, at different times. And I think that’s a healthy process and a healthy debate.

And I continue to believe that this is an issue that is gonna be worked out at the local level, because historically, this has not been a federal issue, what’s recognized as a marriage.”

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Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance

Established in 1999, the Transgender Day of Remembrance began as a way to memorialize Rita Hester, a trans woman who was brutally murdered the year before. Her murder remains unsolved, as do many of the crimes committed against transgender and gender-nonconforming people.

Here in Las Vegas, a week long series of events is being billed as the first Trans Pride Week.

Every year, hundreds of transgender people around the world are brutally slain for being who they are.

Openly gay Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims posted an essay on his Facebook page about the day and what it means.  Here’s just an excerpt:

If you don’t think you know any transgender people, I’m guessing you may be mistaken. Even if you don’t know that you do, take my word for it: Transgender men and women are just as normal (or abnormal) as every one of us! Like you and me, they want to be treated fairly, with respect and dignity and they deserve to be.

I hope you take a moment today to reflect on your own hardships and how your friends, family and neighbors have help to protect you and guide you in those times, and then think about how you can offer more protection and guidance yourself.

Thanks to Brian and all the folks out there trying to make a positive difference in the world, and to help bring equality for all Americans.

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Ohio: Gay couple seeks to have state recognize their marriage

Two men who traveled from Cincinnati to Maryland last week to marry, John Arthur and Jim Obergefell,  are now asking Ohio to recognize their marriage based on equal protection:

The suit, filed by the couple, states the way the law treats marriages between opposite-sex couples is unfairly different from the way it treats marriages between same-sex couples.

“It’s blatant discrimination,” said the couple’s attorney Al Gerhardstein. “It’s a denial of equal protection.”

The suit points to an example of a marriage between first cousins. In Ohio, it is illegal. But if first cousins go to another state and marry where it is legal, Ohio will recognize their out of state marriage as valid.

“Equal protection demands that opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples should be treated the same,” Gerhardstein said in a release. “John and James were validly married in Maryland. If they were an opposite sex couple, Ohio would recognize their marriage. Being a same-sex couple is no longer a good enough reason to deny them equal rights.”

Gerhardstein says the suit filed Friday has importance beyond the law. The couple is running out of time.

Two years ago, Arthur was diagnosed with ALS, also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. There is no known cure or treatment today that halts or reverses ALS.

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Happy Endings – Edie Windsor and her $638,000 IRS refund

In all of the hoopla over Edie Windsor’s big win at the US Supreme Court, it’s possible we lost focus on why she even started the lawsuit that changed so many of our lives.

 Her fight with the IRS.

From CNN:

Normally, surviving spouses are entitled to inherit the estate of their late husband or wife tax free.

But because DOMA only recognized marriage between a man and a woman as legitimate for the purposes of federal law, same-sex spouses have not been entitled to the same privilege.

As a result, Windsor had to pay the federal government roughly $363,000, as well as $275,000 to New York state, where estate tax rules track the federal ones.

That money has been in limbo since Windsor sued to get it back in November 2010. Her case first went before a federal trial court judge in New York, then to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, and finally to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Windsor will also be paid interest on her refunds. Paul, Weiss, the law firm that represents her, estimates she will receive about $45,000 in interest on her federal refund and $25,000 on her New York State refund.

The other good news for the 83-year-old Windsor? Her lawyers won’t be getting a cut because Paul, Weiss took the case pro bono.

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New campaign for gay marriage in Australia – “What are you having?”

Commissioned by Shelley Argent of the Australian National Spokesperson for PFLG, this new video is part of a new campaign down under:

The campaign’s theme is that: “Any child can be born gay. So marriage equality is every family’s issue.”

Spokeswoman for PFLG Shelley Argent told News Limited the campaign was designed to build support for gay marriage on the grounds that gay children were “born that way”.

“Being a lesbian or gay is not a choice,” she said. “It’s just the way you are.”

Visit www.whatruhaving.org for more information about the campaign.