Tag: marriage equality

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Poll: 55% of Virginians support marriage equality

Just seven years after Virginia passed a constitutional amendment prohibiting same sex marriage in the state, polls show public opinion on the issue following national trends:

A new poll released by the Human Rights Campaign, a leading LGBT advocacy group, found 55 percent of Virginians polled supported same sex marriage. Researchers also found 71 percent of respondents under the age of 30 support gay marriage.

The bipartisan poll was done by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and Target Point Consulting from June 26-30, 2013.

Support for same-sex marriage varied in different parts of Virginia, the poll found.

68 percent in Northern Virginia support same-sex marriage
53 percent in Central Virginia support same-sex marriage
51 percent in Eastern Virginia support same-sex marriage

“There is no question we’re making movement when it comes to fairness and equality across the country,” Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin said.

(via WTVR)

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Pennsylvania Attorney General will not defend state in gay marriage lawsuit

Philly.com is reporting that Attorney General Kathleen Kane is expected to announce Thursday that her office won’t defend the state in a federal lawsuit that challenges Pennsylvania’s ban on gay marriage.

Read the more here.

UPDATE:  Kathleen Kane released her official statement today –

“I cannot ethically defend the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s (law banning same-sex marriage), where I believe it to be wholly unconstitutional.” – Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane

To which openly gay (and handsome) PA Rep. Brian Sims tweeted this:

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New Jersey: 60% support same-sex marriage

Gov. Chris Christie, who vetoed a bill that would have made marriage equality a reality in New Jersey, may want to pay attention to the very solid majority of his peeps who would like to see same-sex marriage happen in the Garden State.

According to a new poll by Quinnipiac University, 60% of New Jersey support marriage equality versus 31% who oppose.

In my opinion, two things are important here:

1. Equal rights for all is easily the right thing to do.  No-brainer for most.
2. And, when the solid majority of the people want this issue passed, it seems like another no-brainer.

Gov. Christie – pay attention. 

Sometimes, that’s all you have to do to know which way to go.

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Tony Perkins gets fact checked

Tony Perkins, the president of the hate-group Family Research Council, said on CBS’ Face the Nation a few days after the SCOTUS rulings on marriage equality that wedding vendors have already been “forced” to serve same-sex couples.

“We’re already seeing bakers and florists and photographers forced to participate in same-sex marriages under the threat of law and in some cases even jail. I can’t think of anything that’s more un-American than that. … “

Host Bob Schieffer responded: “How is it that bakers and florists are being forced to participate in this? I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying here.”

So the fact-checking website PolitiFact did some research to see how many vendors have actually gone to jail for not “participating in same-sex marriages.”  The answer will probably NOT surprise you:

After the Supreme Court rulings about gay marriage, Perkins said, “We’re already seeing bakers and florists and photographers forced to participate in same-sex marriages under the threat of law and in some cases even jail.”

We didn’t find cases where people were forced to participate against their will. However, if vendors refuse service, there are consequences. There are 21 states that forbid discrimination based on sexual orientation. Vendors who refuse service there could face legal actions and fines.

The “jail” part of Perkins’ claim is an exaggeration. We couldn’t find any evidence that a vendor had been sent to jail or that any legal authority had threatened jail time. In some states, if a business owner loses an anti-discrimination case and refuses to comply with an order, the owner could face jail, but we found no evidence of that ever happening. One state, Colorado, specifically took action to remove the threat of jail.

Read the whole report at PolitiFact

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ACLU files marriage equality lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit today in Pennsylvania on behalf of 23 residents of the state who are seeking marriage equality. The lawsuit is the latest to be filed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decisions in favor of same-sex marriage in June.

The group of plaintiffs, which includes 10 couples, two minor children of those couples, and one widow who recently lost her partner of 29 years, argue Pennsylvania’s own Defense of Marriage Act violates both the fundamental right to marry and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The ACLU also announced today that it will amend an existing adoption lawsuit in North Carolina, and will file a marriage lawsuit in Virginia as co-counsel with the ACLU of Virginia and Lambda Legal in the coming weeks.

More at Advocate

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Civil unions are now officially NOT equal to marriage

The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration will not extend federal-worker benefits to domestic partners under the recent Supreme Court ruling that repealed part of the Defense of Marriage Act, meaning the government will treat civil unions differently than legal same-sex marriages.

And so, couples who are not legally married “will remain ineligible for most federal benefits programs.” However, any existing benefits provided to domestic partners will remain intact, OPM said.

That being said, same sex couples living anywhere in the U.S. will qualify for federal-employee benefits as long as they hold marriage licenses from any of the 13 states that recognize same-sex marriage, as well as from the District of Columbia, which has also legalized such unions.

Sounds like bad news for folks with civil unions, but there’s a bright side.

Civil unions were created as the “separate but equal” answer to same-sex marriage after the passage of DOMA.  Since civil unions don’t hold federal status, clearly they don’t come close to “equal.”  Such inequality could help four states (Hawaii, Colorado, Illinois and New Jersey which currently offer civil unions) move towards marriage equality.

For example, in New Jersey, the state Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples deserve complete equality, so civil unions offered there are now a violation of the state’s constitution.

 (source)

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Ohio: Former GOP Attorney General Jim Petro supports marriage equality

Jim Petro, former Attorney General for Ohio, said Monday that he supports an effort to overturn the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, contending the prohibition fosters intolerance and creates a roadblock to diversity.

The Ohio Republican says banning same-sex marriage sends a bad message to companies that might look to hire employees who could be LGBT:

Ohio’s economic well-being “will depend on its welcoming nature,” Petro said at a news conference with officials from FreedomOhio, the group collecting signatures to put the issue on the Nov. 2014 ballot. “More and more public officials will recognize the need for true equality.”

Petro said when he was asked to support gay marriage, he “quickly and without hesitation said ‘I’m all for it.’ ” He said he will be active in the 2014 campaign and hopes more Republicans join him

385,245 valid signatures of registered Ohio voters from at least 44 of 88 counties on a petition by July 3, 2014, to qualify for next year’s general election ballot.

Ohio passed it’s constitutional amendment, which limits marriage to one man and one woman, in 2004 by 62 percent of Ohio voters.

(via Columbus Dispatch)

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Straight dad’s letter to 4 year-old son goes viral

In all the hoopla about the recent marriage equality rulings from SCOTUS, the “bigness” of the decisions has really been the focus for the public.

But many people have stopped and related to the importance of what’s “just happened” on very personal levels.

A straight father has written a letter to his 4 year old son about where we are now and how it will be perceived in years to come. Very touching. Here’s just an excerpt:

Maybe you’ll read about today’s decision in a history book and it’ll sound like a long time ago, the Dark Ages, when certain couples could marry and certain couples could not. You’ll feel comfortable pursuing whatever kind of partnership interests you, no matter the person’s gender, or color, or race, or class, or belief system, or whatever, and live in a country in which you can join in the legal state of matrimony with that lucky person.

I hope that by then American society will have a better understanding of what I saw all so plainly today. That if you prick our skin, the same red blood flows through all of our veins. These differences in appearance and behavior and belief in many ways are trivial, surface. How you treat other people, your stewardship of our planet and society and yourself as a functioning, contributing human on Earth, matters so much more than who you’d like to date, have sex with, or marry. As Kurt Vonnegut so succinctly put it, “You’ve got to be kind.”

Other than that? Have fun, kid. And while this marriage thing sure ain’t easy – in fact, I don’t wish it on anyone who doesn’t feel ready, 100% sure they want to make their commitment into a socially recognized, legal bond – I’m happy knowing that if, one day, you think you’re ready to take the plunge, you can do it with whomever the hell you want. And I’ll be right there (unless you decide to elope like your mom and me decided, which is totally cool too), cheering you on and wishing you well, no matter whose hand you’re holding when you say “I do.”

You can read the whole letter – that has gone viral in just days – by clicking here.

I love great dads.