Tag: marriage equality

Posted on

Sen. Kay Hagen supports marriage equality

Sen. Kay Hagen of North Carolina has come out in favor of marriage equality:

“I know there are strong feelings on both sides, and I have a great deal of respect for their opinions, but after much thought and prayer on my part this is where I am today.

“I know all our families do not look alike. We all want the same thing for our families. We want happiness, we want health, prosperity, a bright future for our children and grandchildren. After conversations I’ve had with family members, with people I go to church with and with North Carolinians from all walks of life, I’ve come to my own personal conclusion that we should not tell people who they can love, or who they can marry. It’s time to move forward with this issue.”

Posted on

Strong majority support for marriage equality in New Jersey

From a just-released Quinnipiac Poll:

• By a 64 – 30 percent margin, voters support a law allowing same sex couples to marry

• Men support same-sex marriage 60 – 32 percent

• Women support 68 – 28 percent

• Voters over 55 years old – 56 – 38 percent

• Voters 18 – 34 years – 80 – 17 percent among

Posted on

Montana: Sen. Jon Tester endorses marriage equality

Montana Sen. Jon Tester on Tuesday endorsed same-sex marriage, joining the party’s new public consensus on the issue.

I’ve admired the manner and directness that Sen. Tester has represented his state for a long time.  I’ve feel he is a true representative of the independent spirit of his home state.

Sen. Tester joins Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Mark Warner of Virginia in endorsing same-sex nuptials, and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia who on Monday pushed the courts to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.

“Montanans believe in the right to make a good life for their families,” Tester wrote on Facebook. “How they define a family should be their business and their business alone. I’m proud to support marriage equality because no one should be able to tell a Montanan or any American who they can love and who they can marry.”

Like McCaskill, Tester just won reelection easily, and won’t face voters until 2018.

Congratulations, Montana.  You have a Senator to be proud of.

(via Politico)

Posted on

Opponents of marriage equality admit same-sex marriage has not impacted their own marriages at all

In May 2004, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that the state’s prohibition on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.

In that time, the number of states legalizing marriage equality has risen to 9 states plus Washington, DC.

ThinkProgress asked opponents of equal rights for gays and lesbians today how 9 years of same-sex marriage has impacted their own marriages.

Want to take a guess what the answers were…?

During today’s Supreme Court case on marriage equality, the justices pressed Charles Cooper, the lawyer defending discrimination, on how exactly same-sex marriage somehow undermines marriage between straight people. He was unable to give a cogent response.

(via ThinkProgress)

Posted on

West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller supports marriage equality

“Like so many of my generation, my views on allowing gay couples to marry have been challenged in recent years by a new, more open generation.

“Churches and ministers should never have to perform marriages that violate their religious beliefs, but the government shouldn’t discriminate against people who want to marry just because of their gender.

“Younger people in West Virginia and even my own children have grown up in a much more equal society and they rightly push us to question old assumptions – to think deeply about what it means for all Americans to be created equal. This has been a process for me, but at this point I think it’s clear that DOMA is discriminatory.

“I’m against discrimination in all its forms, and I think we can move forward in our progress toward true equality by repealing DOMA.” – Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)

Posted on

Alaska Sen. Mark Begich supports marriage equality

Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) has announced he supports the freedom to marry for same-sex couples just hours after similar announcements from Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO).

Sen. Begich issued this statement on his support for marriage:

“I believe that same sex couples should be able to marry and should have the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as any other married couple. Government should keep out of individuals’ personal lives—if someone wants to marry someone they love, they should be able to. Alaskans are fed up with government intrusion into our private lives, our daily business, and in the way we manage our resources and economy.”

(via Buzzfeed)

Posted on

Scott Fujita on marriage equality – ‘Why is common sense not enough?’

Scott Fujita, an 11-year N.F.L. veteran and an ambassador for Athlete Ally, which fights homophobia in sports, has written a powerful op-ed for the New York Times on the subject of marriage equality and the many examples he plans to use to explain to his young daughters how and why discrimination against gay marriage existed and the progress that has been made. From the New York Times:

I support marriage equality for so many reasons: my father’s experience in an internment camp and the racial intolerance his family experienced during and after the war, the gay friends I have who are really not all that different from me, and also because of a story I read a few years back about a woman who was denied the right to visit her partner of 15 years when she was stuck in a hospital bed. My belief is rooted in a childhood nurtured by a Christian message of love, compassion and acceptance. It’s grounded in the fact that I was adopted and know there are thousands of children institutionalized in various foster programs, in desperate need of permanent, safe and loving homes, but living in states that refuse to allow unmarried couples, including gays and lesbians, to adopt because they consider them not fit to be parents. In articulating all my feelings about marriage equality, I almost don’t know where to begin. And perhaps that’s part of the problem. Why do we have to explain ourselves when it comes to issues of fairness and equality? Why is common sense not enough?

Read the entire essay here. In December 2011, Fujita recorded a video for Americans for Marriage Equality:

In 2009, Fujita was named the New Orleans Saints’ “Man of the Year” for his contributions on the field and in the community. Thank you, Scott Fujita.

Posted on

Fox New Poll: Support for gay marriage jumps 17% in last ten years

JoeMyGod shares this fabulous headline from a Fox News Poll.

From Fox News: Support for gay marriage has increased by 27 percentage points among moderates since 2003, 22 points among independents and 21 points among Democrats. Over the same time period, the number of liberals backing gay marriage more than doubled.

When asked the narrower question of whether gay marriage is a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, 53 percent of voters say it is, while 43 percent disagree.

Can it get any more fab than this? Fox News itself reporting a 17 point increase in support for equal rights for gays and lesbians over the past ten years?

Read the Fox News Poll here.