Tag: marriage equality

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Washington: Two votes needed for marriage equality

Washington state is just two senate votes short of legalizing same-sex marriage. But in Washington, even one vote can be hard to come by.

Gov. Christine Gregoire, now in her final year of office, has voiced support for marriage equality. The Democrat-dominated state house overwhelmingly supports equality, too. But in the senate, where the Democrat majority is slimmer, the drive for equality hinges on a shrinking number of undecided legslators. Reuters quotes Sen. Ed Murray, the man behind the legislative push for marriage equality:

“Our gay and lesbian civil rights bill, which took 29 years to pass (in 2006), was always one vote short and I believe this situation is pretty much the same,” said Murray, a gay man who hopes to wed his long-term partner in the state.

“We are grandchildren of people who immigrated and homesteaded this state,” he said. “We hope that after 20 years of basically being engaged together that we would be able to legally marry in our native state.”

Just in case the needed two votes are found, anti-marriage activists are mobilizing to ban same-sex marriage with a November ballot initiative.

According to the Seattle Times, attorney Stephen Pidgeon, of Everett, is seeking to collect the necessary 241,153 signatures demanding such an initiative by the July 6th deadline.
(source)

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Is Gov. Christie moving towards accepting marriage equality?

As it becomes clear that New Jersey’s marriage equality legislation is practically guaranteed to pass both of the state’s lawmaking chambers, the once adamantly-opposed Gov. Chris Christie is now speaking in more ambiguous terms.

Under a headline entitled “Gov. Christie Mum on Gay Marriage Bill,” the Star Ledger reports statements the governor gave on Friday. “They have a right to set their agenda, I’ll set mine, we’ll see who gets there first,” Gov. Christie said while speaking in Camden . “When forced to make a decision, if forced to make a decision on it, I’ll make a decision.”

In the past Christie has been more aggressive about promising to veto any marriage legislation that lands on his desk. However, most LGBT groups in the state are waiting with bated breath, worried it will be between two and six years (dependent upon another Christie term) before same-sex couples are considered equal in the Garden State.

The bill’s backers claim to have the votes to pass it in both chambers. Yesterday the Star-Ledger editorialized their expectation that Christie will block it:

“Let’s face it: This is not likely to succeed while Christie remains in office. He will veto it, as promised, and obedient Republicans in the Legislature will fall in line behind him, as always. That’s the political lay of the land for the next two years, at least. If Christie wins re-election, this stalemate could drag on for six years. To most New Jersey citizens, that is simply not acceptable.”
(source)

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Maryland Dem Senate President speaks out against marriage equality

Democratic Maryland Senate President Mike Miller spoke out against efforts to pass marriage equality in that state using rhetoric he compared to “one of the Republican candidates for President,” saying that he considers same-sex marriage to be an attack on the family.

The conversation took place yesterday morning on The Marc Steiner Show, and also featured Speaker of the House Michael Busch (D), who called marriage equality “a civil rights issue”.

Said Miller: “I’m a historian and I look at civilizations, I study civilizations, I read history every night. And I see it’s an attack on the family, I think it’s an attack on traditional families. That’s the way I see it.”

The Log Cabin Republicans lashed out at Miller and at LGBT advocacy organizations in a press release today:

“Democrat Maryland Senate President Mike Miller is trying to divert attention away from his anti-gay pandering by hiding behind certain conservative candidates, but the truth is he is badly out of step with Marylanders, including Republican State Senator Allan Kittleman, who voted in favor of marriage equality last year and continues to be a champion on this issue,” said R. Clarke Cooper, Executive Director of Log Cabin Republicans. “Between this and his attack on a transgender rights bill last session as also being ‘anti-family,’ it appears that Senator Miller has taken it upon himself to be the arbiter of what Maryland families deserve protecting. It is particularly frustrating to watch certain advocacy organizations, such as National Stonewall Democrats, let him get away with it again because of his partisan affiliation. Miller’s disrespect for LGBT Maryland families is backwards, and everyone should hold him accountable for it.”

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Gay marriage validity questioned in Toronto

From the NationalPost.com: The government of Canada is reportedly arguing that thousands of same-sex couples who have travelled to this country to get married are not legally wed.

The Globe and Mail reported Thursday that the government is contending in a Toronto court case that non-Canadians gays and lesbians who have been married here since 2004 are only considered married under this country’s laws if gay marriage is also recognized in their home country or state.

The paper is basing its report on court documents filed in a Toronto test case. It was launched by a lesbian couple seeking a divorce. They were wed in Toronto in 2005, and cannot be identified under a court order.

A Department of Justice lawyer reportedly argued the marriage was not legal in Canada because the couple could not have been legally married in Florida or England, where the two live.

Same-sex marriage in Canada was effectively legalized in 2004, and the next year the Liberal government passed the bill to make it a law.

More than 15,000 same-sex marriages have taken place since then, the Globe reported, with more than 5,000 involving couples from outside Canada.

The Ontario Superior Court is reportedly set to rule on the couple’s divorce application next month.

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UPDATE: Lambda Legal, Freedom To Marry, the ACLU, and GLAD have issued a joint statement:

“No one’s marriage has been invalidated or is likely to be invalidated. The position taken by one government lawyer in a divorce is not itself precedential. No court has accepted this view and there is no reason to believe that either Canada’s courts or its Parliament would agree with this position, which no one has asserted before during the eight years that same-sex couples have had the freedom to marry in Canada.”

“The message for same-sex couples married in Canada remains the same as it is for same-sex couples validly married here in the United States: take every precaution you can to protect your relationship with legal documents such as powers of attorney and adoptions, as you may travel to jurisdictions that don’t respect your legal relationship. There is no reason to suggest that Canadian marriages of same-sex couples are in jeopardy, or to advocate that people try to marry again elsewhere, as that could cause these couples unnecessary complications, anxiety, and expense.”

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Washington state now has 2 GOP state senators supporting marriage equality

At this point, more state senators in Washington state legislature say they plan to support the marriage equality bill than not, by a margin of 22-18. It will take 25 votes to pass the bill in the Senate.

The bill is widely expected to pass in the House.

The two Republican senators who are now supporting gay marriage – Steve Litzow of Mercer Island and Cheryl Pflug of Maple Valley – said the issue was a matter of equality.

“I don’t feel diminished when another human being is allowed to exercise the same rights that I enjoy,” Pflug said. “I would feel diminished if I voted to deny others the right to exercise those same rights and freedoms.”

Gov. Chris Gregoire publicly endorsed gay marriage for the first time last week.

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GOP state senator to support gay marriage in Washington

Senator Steve Litzow is the first Republican from Washington to announce his support for the state’s gay marriage bill.

Here’s what he had to told the Seattle Times about his decision:

“I am a traditional Republican. When you think about gay marriage, it’s the right thing to do and it’s very consistent with the tenets of being a Republican — such as individual freedom and personal responsibility.”

His announcement follows last week’s decision by Gov. Chris Gregoire to introduce and push a law that affords gay and lesbian couples the same rights and benefits of marriage enjoyed by other couples.

If the legislation is approved — and it should be — Washington would become the seventh state in the country to act on this compelling civil-rights issue.

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New Jersey to take up gay marriage bill

UPDATE: At a press conference attended by nearly a dozen top Democrats in the Senate and Assembly, Senate President Stephen Sweeney said the marriage equality bill will go to key legislative committees “immediately.’’

“Further, he said he wants a floor vote in the Senate before the budget break, which is in March. He said he expects there will be enough votes in both houses to pass the measure but noted the battle will come when the bill reaches Christie’s desk for enactment.

“It’s gonna be a fight. We expect it to be a fight,’’ Sweeney said. “The governor’s a decent person and I think we can work on educating him to the fact of what it means.’’

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Marriage equality will be the very first bill considered by the New Jersey legislature when the 2012 session begins on Wednesday.

In a dramatic move, Democratic leaders plan to announce at a news conference Monday that a bill legalizing gay marriage will be the first measure introduced in the new session of the Senate and the Assembly, sources with knowledge of their intentions said last night. A unified Democratic leadership represents the best chance supporters will have to see a bill legalizing gay marriage move through both houses, according to three sources who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the plan.

In 2006 former Gov. Jon Corzine signed a bill that gave same-sex couples who form civil unions “all of the same benefits, protections and responsibilities, “that state law confers on married couples.

Gov. Chris Christie opposes same-sex marriage and has vowed not to sign any bill should one reach his desk.