Pam's House Blend
nj.com
Indiana Chronicles 
South Carolina Now
Los Angeles TimesThe Houston election is on Saturday. You can contribute here. If you are in the area or know folks who are, they also need help getting out the vote. You can also join the campaign on Facebook to stay up to date in the final stretch. [Link]Adam: I’m interested to know what you think of the recent losses on marriage equality in California, Maine, and yesterday in New York State. There’s a lot of discouragement and debate about where to go from here.
Annise: It’s frustrating. I’ve been an out, gay activist since the 70s. I helped found the gay student organization at my university. I was, for a decade in the 80s, arguably the most visible lesbian activist in Houston for a very long time. Texas lost marriage a few years ago. I really take the long view. We lose battles, but we’re winning the hearts and minds of this war. And we just have to keep chipping away, coming out, being visible, integrating our concerns into the issues of our society at all levels, and we’re going to get there.
Adam: There has been a lot of discussion about shifting strategy and resources from marriage equality to domestic partnership benefits. While I know Houston is “a blue island in a sea of red”, I’m curious what you think of that coming from a more conservative state.
Annise: Because I have been doing this kind of work for more than 30 years, and I do tend to take the longview, but I’ve also been in a lot of negotiations, and you don’t start a negotiation from your bottom line. You start from where you’d like to be, and you settle for your bottom line. Full marriage equality is where we want to be. But we have to be pragmatic as we move forward, and I would remind folks, when I started in public office, we were only talking about domestic partner benefits. When we shifted to marriage, domestic partnership started popping up lots of places, and people would say, “please leave marriage alone! You can have domestic partnership benefits!” Marriage is a cultural institution that provokes a visceral reaction. Domestic partnership benefits is something you can have a discussion with folks on its merits. Soon as you talk about marriage, you tap into collective, subconscious issues for a lot of us. You don’t abandon marriage, but you take the pragmatic course when there’s an opportunity to advance.
| Senate committee hears emotional testimony on same-sex marriage bill |
| Senate judiciary committee vote to approve same-sex marriage bill |
The Huffington Post
Blabbeando "...Pro-equality senators [who spoke today in the New York State Senate] told deeply moving, personal stories, drawing on their commitment to treating others as we all want to be treated, their beliefs, and their experiences as people of color, people of diverse faiths, and people with gay loved ones, to explain their decisions to vote for the freedom to marry."See select videos of speeches below:
Sports IllustratedImagine hearing this declaration inside the average [NFL] locker room or clubhouse: "I think we will look back in 10, 20, 30 years and be amazed that gays and lesbians did not have the same rights as every one else. How did this ever happen in the land of the free and the home of the brave? Are we really free?"...Within a multi-billion-dollar industry that is so culturally venerated and yet, at times, so culturally stagnant, even disturbingly homophobic, such a gesture by an active player is shocking. Humongous. Staggering for the perceived magnitude of risk involved -- to one's image, one's fan-base, one's checkbook, one's safety -- as much as the message itself... It's all in line with Ayanbadejo's typical mix of modesty and audacity.[Link]
For the past six weeks, we've been crisscrossing Pennsylvania, and traveling to places like Iowa, Massachusetts, and Texas, doing screenings on high school and college campuses as well as in churches and community theaters, with the help of an amazing array of state and local organizations. At each event, there has been a diverse and lively audience ready to engage in dialogue and in the search for common ground on issues that have divided our communities for far too long.
"Twenty-two years ago, my Catholic priest told me, "Let me worry about church politics." My partner and I went to him to say that Michael, my partner, would be the "God Father" vs. "Other Dad" for our son's baptism, so we could avoid "Catholic politics." His response surprised and affirmed us, "You are both his fathers. Go find a God Father." Today, I read that 60% of Catholics under the age of 30 support the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. My job is to grow that number in Indiana and not worry about church politics, just as my priest taught 22 years ago."
Dear Senator LaValle:
Your office has made it painfully clear to me when I called that you are against same sex marriage. I don’t understand your fears.
If it is a religious issue, religion really has no place in politics. Nobody is asking that you marry someone of the same sex. I am not afraid of opposite-sex marriage. You were elected to support the community that you serve. You need to listen to all the voices in that community rather than just acting on your personal beliefs.
Marriage can’t just be about procreation. If that were the case, we should not allow folks to marry unless they’re going to have children. If they can’t physically have children, they should have to adopt children or annul their marriage.
I have been in a monogamous relationship for a few months shy of 20 years. We were married in Toronto Nov. 7, 2003. I’d like to believe that America, and New York in particular, would be more forward-thinking than any other country, but sadly that is not the case.
I am involved in the community. I take great care of my property. I’m a great neighbor, friend, relative, and employee.
I work hard. I pay taxes. I vote to pass school budgets although I don’t have children. I recently received your mailing inviting me to your ‘family day,’ although you have no desire to recognize my family.
Everyone should be allowed to be involved with any consensual partner they choose, regardless of race, color, religion or sexual orientation.
Gay parents won’t make their kids gay. My folks were very, very straight. Gay kids can’t turn their siblings, friends, or schoolmates gay. There are as many homosexual firefighters, builders, athletes, police officers, and truck drivers as there are gay hairdressers, nurses, designers and decorators. [But instead of celebrating their contributions,] Society makes a great majority of folks live in shame, live in fear, live in denial and live a lie.
This is not the forum to get into how and why, but I assure you being gay is not a choice. Nobody would choose a life with so many unnecessary challenges. While I wouldn’t change my life for anything, it surely was more difficult than it had to be.
There are black politicians, most notably the president. There are women running countries. There are gay men and women serving our country by their own free will to ensure the constant freedom of these United States, yet they themselves are not free.
We’re a few months away from the year 2010. We’re living in the great state of New York. I’d like to say it’s time to accept everyone for who and what they are – and give everyone the same exact civil and legal rights – but it’s actually way beyond time.
There are issues that should be put to public vote: changing cell phone laws for drivers, building new roads, and what to use tax money for are a few examples. Who to love and live a committed life with is not an issue that should be put to a public vote. Imagine a white man not being allowed to marry a black woman, or a Catholic man not being able to marry a Jewish woman. The thought of that happening today is unconscionable. This should be as well. There should be liberty and justice and
equal rights for all.
If this entire issue is about political power, that power struggle needs to be played some other way. You cannot play with people’s lives. This is America. I’ve traveled the world quite extensively and used to be much more proud of my country and sadly used to receive a great deal more respect than I have recently.
Your personal beliefs are yours. Nobody has a right to change them. But you have an obligation to ensure that I have the exact same right as every other taxpayer and American citizen. If I do not, then please figure out a way to give me a benefit that others don’t have, since you won’t give me the same rights. You can begin by doing away with my school taxes, as I don’t have children and you don’t recognize my living arrangements as a family. You can continue from there.
You cannot, however, expect the same from me that you expect from
everyone else without offering me the exact same privileges.
I don’t expect a reply. I didn’t receive one from my phone call last spring. I don’t know what you’re afraid of, Senator. I’d like to understand. Please ensure that I have every civil and legal right that every other New Yorker has. Nothing more. Nothing less. I assure you, the world will not spin off of its axis. In fact, it might become a friendlier, happier, more humane place to live. Thank you in advance.
Respectfully,
Steven
The Local (The New York Times)For comments about the site or to report problems: editor1[AT]freedomtomarry.org
ASK EVAN WOLFSON: Why Marriage Matters -- Short Answers for Big Questions
Freedom to Marry, Main Office | 116 West 23rd St, Ste 500 | New York, NY 10011 | ph: 212.851.8418 | fax: 646.375.2069
Posts
All Comments
