Tag: gay marriage

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New Jersey: Marriage equality ballot measure introduced

Yesterday openly gay New Jersey Assemblyman Reed Gusciora introduced a bill to place marriage equality before the voters.

Gusciora said he has been opposed to putting a civil rights question like marriage equality up to a popular vote. But the Assemblyman — New Jersey’s first openly gay legislator — said his constituents asked him to change his mind in light of last month’s election results. “I am the last person who believes civil rights should be on the ballot, but civil rights delayed is civil rights denied,” Gusciora said. “The timing is right. There is broader acceptance.” Modeled after the Maine ballot question, the bill, (A3611) would need support in both houses of the Legislature and Gov. Chris Christie’s signature to become law. The measure would then be added to the following election-year ballot. Gusciora said he expects the governor would sign his bill. Christie does not personally support gay marriage but has said he would sign a bill giving voters the right to decide the issue. “This is exactly what the Governor wants,” he added.

Said Christie in January: “Let’s put the question of same sex marriage on the ballot. It shouldn’t be decided by 121 people in Trenton.”

In November, NJ Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg disagreed with a ballot strategy, saying: I still don’t believe we should put civil rights onto a referendum.”

Polls have shown that voters both support same-sex marriage, and would like to vote on it.

(via JMG)

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George Will: “The opposition to gay marriage is dying”

More and more polls continue to show the “one way trend” of public support for same-sex marriage.  As I’ve written here many times, the younger folks see the inequality of banning marriage equality.
 
Public Policy Polling found majorities in Oregon (54%) and New Jersey (53%) and near majority in Illinois (47%) support extending marriage to same-sex couples. In Illinois, 58% of people under 45 years old say yes to gay weddings.  Meanwhile, Politico found 40% of Americans support letting gays and lesbians marry. Again – young people are leading the way.

From today’s Politico survey: “A full 63 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds backed marriage…It dropped off to 36 percent support among both 30-to-44-year-olds and 45-to-59-year-olds. Only three in 10 seniors supported gay marriage.”

Asked about such numbers and the Supreme Court’s decision to hear two cases on marriage equality, journalist George Will broke it down like this: all the seniors brought up pre-gay rights are kicking the bucket.

“There is something like an emerging consensus,” he said on ABC News’ This Week. “Quite literally, the opposition to gay marriage is dying. It’s old people.”

(source)

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US Supreme Court to hear Prop 8 and Windsor DOMA cases

The US Supreme Court has announced it will hear the appeal of Prop 8 and the Windsor DOMA challenge. ScotusBlog has this:

“Trying to sort this all out, it is clear that the Court has agreed to consider the merits case in Prop. 8, because that is what the petition presented as its question, but that it is also going to address whether the proponents had a right to pursue their case. If the Court were to find that the proponents did not have Art. III standing, that is the end of the matter: there would be no review on the merits of Proposition 8, or of the 9th CA decision striking it down.”

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Minnesota: Gov. Mark Dayton would sign marriage equality legislation

Governor Mark Dayton of Minnesota said he would sign marriage equality legislation if it reached his desk.

Dayton, a Democrat, made the comments in an interview Thursday, according to Minnesota Public Radio. He added that he was unsure whether the legislature was ready to take up the issue, however.

“I hope we’re going to get to that point,” he said. “The younger generation is broadly accepting of that change and we’ll get there, it’s just a question of when.”

Last year Dayton symbolically vetoed Minnesota’s ultimately failed ballot measure to place a ban on same-sex marriage in the state constitution.

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British PM David Cameron: “Gays should not be excluded from marriage”

“I am in favor of gay marriage because I’m a massive supporter of marriage and I don’t want gay people to be excluded from a great institution,” British Prime Minister David Cameron told Channel 4 News, adding that religious institutions would in no way be forced to perform same-sex marriages should that be against their beliefs.

More from the Evening Standard here.

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Washington state: Judges coming in on day off to perform weddings

I love when a community comes together for the right reasons.

From Dominic Holden at The Stranger:

After learning that City Hall is fully booked for weddings on December 9, the first day gay couples can legally wed in Washington State, King County Superior Court judge Susan Craighead called this afternoon to let me know that judges have made a plan. Judges will come into the courthouse on their day off, unpaid, to meet the demand.

Many people were told there was no room left at City Hall, Judge Craighead said on the phone, and wanted me to post this to help get the word out. “The building isn’t even heated, but we are willing to be in our courtrooms marrying people as needed. The court just realized that the community needs our services, and we are happy to provide them.”

When time was growing short in 2008 right before Prop 8 was passed in California, Michael and I headed to Palm Springs to get married.  We had already gotten married in Toronto in 2003, but really wanted a US marriage license.

The folks at City Hall in Palm Springs were swamped with couples looking to get married before the ax fell election day. Even with a full, packed schedule, the receptionist said “come down, we aren’t turning anyone away.”

We arrived to find couples and families filling the entry hall of City Hall.  Ceremonies were taking place everywhere in the building as the mayor and all city council members could perform the marriage ceremony. And in a quiet corner of the City Council Meeting room, the Mayor Pro Tem Ginny Foat married us.

I’m thrilled for the couples in King County. A very exciting and emotional time ahead this weekend. I wish the best for every single couple and family.

Celebrate kids!

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Photo of the Day: Washington state

Photographer Meryl Schenker captured this moment at a Washington state marriage bureau today.  The photo already has 1400 shares on Facebook.

From Meryl’s PhotoShelter page: “One month after Washington State voters approved the state’s marriage equality law in Ref. 74, same-sex couples get marriage licenses for the first time on December 6th, 2012.

“At around 1:30am, Larry Duncan, 56, left, and Randy Shepherd, 48, from North Bend, Wash. got their marriage license. The two plan to wed on December 9th, the first day it is possible for them to wed in Washington State. They have been together for 11 years.”

(via JMG)

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Washington state begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples

Shortly after midnight last night, Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller were among the first Washington state couples to receive to their marriage licenses.  Savage and Miller first married in Canada in 2005.

Hundreds of couples lined up in downtown Seattle Wednesday night for the state’s first batch of same-sex marriage licenses, in a historic, jubilant event that began at 12:01 a.m. Thursday and was expected to last for hours. They formed an eager, festive crowd, with couples young and old braving a night-time chill and wee-hours wait for the chance to make history at the normally dull King County Administration building. Supporters cheered for them with roses, coffee, hand-warmers and serenades of “Going to the Chapel.”

Photo via Seattle Slog, where you can find many more.

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Maine to begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses 12/29

On December 29th, Maine will begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses:

According to the Office of the Secretary of State, the certified election results for the state were signed off on by Gov. Paul LePage on Thursday, Nov. 29. The new law becomes effective 30 days from that date.

“The long wait for marriage for same-sex couples in Maine is almost over,” said Betsy Smith, the executive director of EqualityMaine. “Before the end of this year, all loving and committed couples in Maine will be able to stand before their friends, family and community and make a lasting vow to be there for one another.”

On Nov. 6, Maine became the first state to allow committed same-sex couples to receive a marriage license through a popular vote of the people.

(via press release)