HELP URGE PRESIDENT OBAMA TO SUPPORT MARRIAGE EQUALITY

Mar 22nd, 2011 04:26 PM By Admin

Please join our friends at Freedom to Marry in urging President Obama to support marriage equality by joining over 50,000 people in signing the following open letter:

Dear Mr. President,

In February, you made a powerful statement about the law.

Invoking guarantees enshrined in the Constitution, you and the Attorney General determined that federal discrimination against gay and lesbian couples in marriage is unconstitutional. Thank you for taking a principled stance and an important step toward equal protection under the law for all Americans.

Today we ask you to take the next step and join the majority of Americans who support allowing loving and committed gay and lesbian couples to legally marry.

Mr. President, marriage matters. In law, in love, in life, marriage says “we are family” in a way that nothing else does. Marriage is the coming together of two lives, marked by a public promise of love and responsibility in front of friends and family. And marriage brings not only public respect and personal significance, but also a safety net of legal protections, rights, and responsibilities for which there is no substitute.

Like so many Americans, you have spoken of your personal journey toward support for the freedom to marry. You have talked about the gay and lesbian people in your life, their commitment to each other and care for their kids, and their families that aren’t so different from any other family.

We ask you now for your leadership on ending the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage, an exclusion that harms millions of Americans each day. Whether to end discrimination in marriage is a question America has faced before, and faces again today. With so many Americans talking it through in heartfelt conversations, it is a question that calls for clarity from the President.

You can offer hope to millions of young gay and lesbian Americans who are facing discrimination. You can tell them that their future is bright, that they, too, will be able to grow up and marry the person that they love, that the pursuit of happiness truly belongs to all of us. You can put government on the side of those seeking to care for their loved ones, instead of those standing in their way. You can affirm that for all of us, gay or non-gay, love is love and commitment counts— and that we Americans should treat others as we all want to be treated.

Mr. President, the time to end exclusion from marriage is now. We ask you to complete your journey and join us and the majority of Americans who support the freedom to marry.

SIGN THE LETTER >>

ETHAN & RYAN HAWKE ARE NEW YORKERS FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY

Mar 14th, 2011 11:52 AM By Admin

Today the Human Rights Campaign launched another video for the New Yorkers for Marriage Equality campaign with the addition of Ethan and Ryan Hawke. Ethan and Ryan join the New Yorkers for Marriage Equality Campaign as the fight over marriage equality heats up in New York and nationwide. They join other prominent New Yorkers, from leaders and advocates, to actors and musicians who are letting America know that New York supports marriage equality.

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• Learn more about HRC’s New Yorkers for Marriage Equality Campaign
• Learn more about Marriage

AP: “GAY LEGISLATORS HAVING IMPACT IN MARRIAGE DEBATES”

Mar 07th, 2011 10:51 AM By Admin

According to The Associated Press (via ABC News):

“Of America’s 7,382 state legislators, only 85 are openly gay or lesbian. They are, however, playing an outsized and often impassioned role when the agenda turns to recognizing same-sex couples with civil unions or full marriage rights.

“In Hawaii and Illinois, gay state representatives were lead sponsors of civil union bills signed into law earlier this year. In Maryland and Rhode Island, gay lawmakers are co-sponsoring pending bills that would legalize same-sex marriage. In New York, a gay senator, Tom Duane, is preparing to be lead sponsor of a marriage bill in his chamber later this session.

“‘For my colleagues, knowing that I am not allowed to marry the person that I love and want to marry, that’s very powerful,’ said Duane, a Democrat from Manhattan. ‘It’s more difficult for them to take for granted the right they have to marry when I don’t have it.’

“The gay lawmakers have impact in two important ways. Their speeches, often evoking personal themes, can sometimes sway wavering colleagues, and they can forge collegial relationships even with ideological foes through day-to-day professional and social interaction.”

Read the full The Associated Press story >>

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NEW POLL SHOWS SUPPORT FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY CONTINUES TO GROW

Mar 04th, 2011 01:06 PM By Admin

According to a new Pew Research poll, support for same-sex marriage has continued to rise since 2009.

“Currently, 45% say they favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally while 46% are opposed. In Pew Research surveys conducted in 2010, 42% favored and 48% opposed gay marriage and in 2009, just 37% backed same-sex marriage while 54% were opposed.

“Independents have become more supportive of… gay marriage… since 2009. Roughly half of independents (51%) now favor same-sex marriage, up from 37% in 2009.”

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• Learn more about Marriage

“Love is Love No Matter Who It’s With”

Mar 03rd, 2011 10:35 PM By Gabbie

As my girlfriend always tells me “love is love no matter who it’s with…” I don’t understand, as a bisexual, why someone out in our beautiful world would disagree. We aren’t diseased, we aren’t sinners, and why can two people (Female and Male) able to get married, when a couple like my girlfriend and I can not? We are not harming anyone, we are just in love. It’s hurtful to see all the hate that one way minded people express. You don’t see me protesting with signs with derogatory words when heterosexual couples are getting married… Why don’t we deserve the same as them? We have never done anything to cause this shunning. So help stand up for anyone of any sexuality to get married. One day, I hope every state in the U.S. will pass marriage equality bills. Just remember…. Love is love, no matter who it’s with.

Inequity

Mar 03rd, 2011 10:23 PM By Calie

Our country is based upon basic human rights and freedoms. These include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So why can’t my best friend of seven years one day marry someone that he loves? Early last year, by best guy friend came out to me; I was the first one in the world to know (besides him of course); and since then I have become acutely aware of the hate, intolerance, discrimination and even ignorance that runs rampant in our nation that preaches equality and freedom. How can Americans expect respect without giving it?

He even has to sit through a constant slur of comments and gay jokes in his own home when the subject arises in conversation. Every time his father uses the F word at dinner, he has no idea that he is calling his own son, sitting right next to him, that word; and he has no idea of the pain this inflicts on him, because he can’t be who he is or he will be disgraced, insulted, and shunned. He constantly hides his true colors at school because we live in a small town and he would never hear the end of it.

Since when is it okay to force fellow American free citizens to hide their emotions, thoughts, and natural born character? I hate seeing him go through this every day. I hope that people will one day understand, but until then I’m doing my part; and I will stand there and hold my friend’s hand the day that he tells his father who he really is. To anyone else hiding from society or their family: CHIN UP. I accept you, ALL OF YOU, for who you are and love you with all of my being.

PRESIDENT OBAMA ORDERS JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO NO LONGER DEFEND FEDERAL SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BAN

Feb 23rd, 2011 01:18 PM By Admin

According to The New York Times:

“President Obama, in a major legal policy shift, has directed the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act — the 1996 law that bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages — against lawsuits challenging it as unconstitutional.

“Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. sent a letter to Congress on Wednesday saying that the Justice Department will now take the position in court that the Defense of Marriage Act should be struck down as a violation of gay couples’ rights to equal protection under the law.

“’The President and I have concluded that classifications based on sexual orientation warrant heightened scrutiny and that, as applied to same-sex couples legally married under state law,’ a crucial provision of the act is unconstitutional, Mr. Holder wrote.

“The move is sure to be welcomed by gay-rights advocates, who had often criticized Mr. Obama for moving too slowly in his first two years in office to address issues that concern them. Coming after the administration successfully pushed late last year for repeal of the military’s ban on gay men and women serving openly, the change of policy on the marriage law could intensify the long-running political and ideological clash over gay marriage as the 2012 presidential campaign approaches.

“While Mr. Obama has long argued that the Defense of Marriage Act is bad policy and has urged Congress to repeal it, his administration has also sent Justice Department lawyers into court to defend the statute’s constitutionality.

“The new position will require the administration to file new briefs in such litigation, including a major case now pending before the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in Boston.

“Congress may decide to appoint its own lawyers to defend the law, or outside groups may attempt to intervene in the cases in order to mount legal arguments in the law’s defense. Mr. Holder said that the administration will continue to enforce the act unless and until Congress repeals it, or a court delivers a ‘definitive verdict against the law’s constitutionality.’

Read the full The New York Times story >>

GET INFORMED, GET INVOLVED

• Read the Attorney General’s Full Statement
• Statement from the Human Rights Campaign
• Statement from Freedom to Marry

FACEBOOK ADDS RELATIONSHIP STATUSES

Feb 22nd, 2011 12:29 PM By Admin

According to CNN:

“Facebook users now have two more ways to describe their romantic arrangements.

“In a gesture of inclusiveness aimed at the gay community, Facebook on Thursday added ‘In a civil union’ and ‘In a domestic partnership’ to its official list of relationship statuses.

“…The option is now available for Facebook users in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Australia…”

Read the full CNN story >>

When the Title “Hope” Shouldn’t Come with a Question Mark

Feb 15th, 2011 01:53 PM By Alice

It’s hard to hide who you are, but that isn’t a secret. Even now, I’m scared to include my name because I don’t want anyone in my school to know that I might be in love with another girl. I can’t even break up with my boyfriend because it would be impossible to tell him why. I can’t confide in teachers, or counselors, or my own mother because I’m afraid of being treated differently. I feel lost, and hopeless.

The other day, Me, my boyfriend, and another friend of mine were working on a group project where we had to come up with our own constitution. One of my ‘amendments’ to our constitution was the right to marry anyone within the human species without exclusion of same sex-marriage, because I’ve always been an advocate for equal rights, even before I knew I was lesbian. My boyfriend tried to tell me to change the word marriage to companionship, because it’s the same thing, and that marriage is only a Christian principle, and shouldn’t apply to same-sex couples. Obviously he didn’t think about every other religion out there which pre-dates Christianity and includes marriage, but he didn’t realize that it is not the same, and it shouldn’t matter what religion the marriage is recognized in. If it were the same, it would be called marriage, not civil unions or domestic partnerships. Equality is equality, and it shouldn’t come with exceptions and different titles.

I sometimes find myself thinking that if this is how one of my friends, who has protested with me for equal rights for four years now, thinks about equal rights, how can we hope to educate the rest of the world?

I want to make that change, and be that hope. I look forward to the days when everything that keeps one teenager from holding his boyfriend’s hand or a girl from kissing her girlfriend in public is gone, and that everyone who emerges from the dust comes out stronger for the struggle, and when the future youth are not afraid to love who they love, regardless of gender. I look forward to the day when I am not afraid to tell my best friend I am gay, without her being afraid to walk down the hallways at school with me.

I look forward to the day when I stop seeing the word “Hope” without a question mark following it.

A MOTHER’S LOVE AND SUPPORT

Feb 14th, 2011 05:24 PM By Admin

This is pure love, fitting for Valentine’s Day! Jean, an 80 year old grandmother, speaks about her gay son, his marriage and the effect the debate in Iowa on the freedom to marry is having on her and her family.

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• Learn more about Marriage