Tag: marriage equality

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GOP nominees will have to face NH marriage equality issue

Republican presidential candidates are joining New Hampshire’s intensifying same-sex marriage debate — whether they like it or not.

State lawmakers plan to take up a measure to repeal the law allowing same-sex couples to wed and a vote is expected at some point in January — the same month New Hampshire holds the nation’s first Republican presidential primary contest.

The impending focus on marriage equality carries risk for several of White House contenders — including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former businessman Herman Cain — whose inconsistencies on the topic are well documented.

The Republican candidates’ increasingly vocal support for “traditional marriage” also threatens to alienate a growing number of younger Republicans and independents here who support legal recognition of same-sex couples. That note of divisiveness could bode poorly for the eventual Republican challenger to Obama in the general election.

Romney was the Massachusetts governor when his state legalized same-sex marriage. The Romney administration, as directed by the courts, granted nearly 200 same-sex marriage requests for gay and lesbian couples in 2005.

This past June, he said during a debate that he favors a federal constitutional amendment banning the practice. That’s been his position at least since the beginning of his 2008 presidential bid, when he was the only major Republican candidate to support such an amendment.

But as a Massachusetts Senate candidate back in 1994, Romney told a Boston-area newspaper that same-sex marriage is “a state issue as you know — the authorization of marriage on a same-sex basis falls under state jurisdiction.”

Herman Cain told the Christian Broadcasting Network that federal legislation is necessary to protect traditional marriage. That seemed to be a direct contradiction from his statement of just six days earlier, when he told “Meet the Press” host David Gregory that states should be allowed to make up their own minds.

“I wouldn’t seek a constitutional ban for same sex marriage, but I am pro traditional marriage,” Cain told Gregory.

In Rick Perry’s case, the Texas governor says he supports the New Hampshire repeal. But in July he said that New York’s move to legalize same-sex marriage was “fine by me.” A week later, facing social conservative criticism, he walked back the comments.

“It’s fine with me that the state is using their sovereign right to decide an issue. Obviously gay marriage is not fine with me,” he said then.

While I think most conservatives won’t worry over the flip flops, come the general election these positions could come back to haunt the eventual GOP nominee in terms of some all important independent voters.

Time will tell.

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Marriage equality under threat in Spain by newly elected Prime Minister

Progressive Spaniards fear for what will happen to marriage equality and other laws under new Prime Minister-elect Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government.

His conservative party has challenged in the Constitutional Court a 2005 law allowing gay marriage. Rajoy has said he supports civil unions for homosexual couples but does not think they should be called marriages.

In Campillo de Ranas, a tiny hamlet in the Ocejon valley 80 miles north of Madrid, there are very real fears of what the future may bring under the new conservative government of Mr Rajoy, 56.

The picturesque village has carved out a reputation for holding the record in Spain for the number of gay weddings since the Socialists legalised same-sex marriages in 2005.

The socialist mayor Francisco Morato has reversed the fortunes of the once-dying community by welcoming gay marriages and bringing a much-needed boost to the local economy, but he now fears the good times are over.
“I get the feeling that there is a lot of concern,” said Mr Morato. “I have been holding marriages every weekend – sometimes as many as three weddings in one day – I simply haven’t stopped.”

“A lot of people tell me they fear that Mariano Rajoy will revoke the law, so there has been a rush to go ahead with their weddings before it is too late,” he said.
Some 20,000 gay couples have wed since the law, which also lets gay couples adopt children, made Spain only the third member of the European Union after Belgium and the Netherlands to allow same-sex weddings.

More at the Telegraph.co.uk

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Washington State to pursue marriage equality in 2012

From ThinkProgress: In 2009, Washington voters approved an “everything but marriage” same-sex domestic partnership law, but this year activists are ready to “take the final step” and pass full marriage equality.

A new coalition of civil rights groups called Washington United for Marriage launches this week to encourage state legislators to approve same-sex marriage legislation.

A group of Democratic lawmakers has committed to introducing and advancing the legislation and Democrats have majorities in both chambers. Nevertheless, a difficult budget and some socially conservative Democrats still present a challenge to the bill’s advancement.

Click here to find out more about Washington United for Marriage

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Sen. Feinstein on passage of Respect for Marriage Act in Senate committee

“Virtually any advance in civil rights or any kind of rights has been carried by the Democratic Party. It’s just a fact. So, we’ll just march on. We’ll continue this. And if I have to reintroduce it next session, I’ll reintroduce it. Session after that, I’ll reintroduce it.”

– Senator Dianne Feinstein on the  Respect for Marriage Act that passed in the Senate Judiciary Committee this week

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NY Times editorial: Marriage equality across the country

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Excellent editorial in the New York Times today about the growing support for marriage equality.

In 1996, only 27% of Americans supported marriage equality in the United States. Today that stands at 53%, according to Gallup.

But there are even more promising facts in those numbers: support for same-sex marriage is now at 70% for Americans between the ages of 18-34.  The support from those aged 35-54 is now at 53%, the national average. The drop comes primarily among older voters 55 and older, falling to 39%.

In light of the generational gap in support, it’s clearly a matter of time before the United States not only has a majority of support for marriage equality, but a super-majority.  Here’s hoping the politicians elected to represent Americans take note, and decide on which side of history they want to stand.

There’s a lot of work to get to full equality though. Twenty-nine states have constitutional bans on same-sex marriage, and 18 of those states provide NO protections for gays and lesbians.

The New York Times editorial sums up the situation like this:

A repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and changes in state laws could lead to expanded rights for gay couples in more states. But revoking those state constitutional bans would take years, if not decades. Until then, rank discrimination under law will persist.

The Supreme Court may soon have a chance to sweep away the injustice in several pending cases that challenge these laws. Just as it ruled unanimously in 1967 that laws barring interracial marriage violated due process and equal protection under the Constitution, it must affirm the civil rights of gay people.

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Ricky Martin granted Spanish citizenship – marriage on horizon?

Out singer Ricky Martin, who hails from Puerto Rico, was granted Spanish citizenship today, according to El Pais.

The star, who came out in 2009 reportedly wants to take advantage of Spain’s gay marriage laws.

Spain passed legislation allowing same-sex marriages in 2005, only the third country to do so at the time, with 20,000 gay couples entering into marriage since.

He had requested a special “letter of naturalization” of the Spanish government—which would enable him to bypass the usual steps to citizenship—in order to take advantage of the country’s same-sex marriage laws and marry boyfriend Carlos Gonzalez Abella. The two are raising twin 3-year-olds.