Same-Sex Marriage Update

[MsTinkerbelly]

How gay and lesbian servicemembers remain treated as second-class
By Adam Bink

Over at Talking Points Memo, Brian Beutler examines some cases:

Two weeks ago, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) neatly demonstrated the power of retail politics — and at the same time brought to light a legal conflict that has made the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell a bumpy affair.

Shaheen had intervened on behalf of a constituent named Charlie Morgan — an openly gay Chief Warrant Officer in the New Hampshire National Guard — who had just returned from a deployment in Kuwait, only to be forbidden by the military from bringing her spouse Karen to an event aimed at helping families deal with the transition back to life at home.

It’s unthinkable that a straight, married service member would have faced this kind of obstacle. But though Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell had been stricken from the books, and Morgan was allowed to serve openly, the Defense of Marriage Act still allowed the New Hampshire National Guard to deny her spouse authorization to attend the so-called Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program.

Shaheen took Morgan’s case straight to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the policy was quickly reversed — the Morgans were allowed to attend Yellow Ribbon event earlier this month.

But the problem isn’t limited to reintegration events or the New Hampshire National Guard. It’s happening nationwide — the ripples of an inherent tension between the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the continued existence of the Defense of Marriage Act. So advocates, politicians, and service members are handing megaphones to service members and their spouses who have suffered as a result of the conflict, to see the Defense of Marriage Act overturned by the courts or repealed by Congress.

“We’ve got a conflict here between the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act,” Shaheen told me in a telephone interview recently. “Until DOMA is repealed or stricken, they and their families will be caught in the middle.”

It’s the obverse of “Separate but Equal” — gay services members who no longer fear for their jobs but find themselves treated unequally under the law.

Shannon McLaughlin is an Army Major and JAG in the Massachusetts Air National Guard. She and her spouse Casey have 10 month old twins and decided recently that Casey should leave her teaching job — and the health benefits that came with it — to be a full-time parent.

“Babies are covered under my health insurance, but Casey is not,” McLaughlin told me in a phone interview Wednesday. “We went down to one income for the benefit of the children…but then we got whapped with an extra bill, which is over $700 a month…. My male counterpart who does the same job I does, his family’s covered, and we do the same work.”

Gay spouses are also denied housing privileges and ID cards providing access to discounted amenities and services.

Lt. Col. Victoria Hudson’s family faces a similar risk. Her wife Monika Poxon is insured, but lacks the safety net other military spouses have in the event that she leaves or loses her job.

“I have a child — my wife is the birth mother of my child,” Hudson told me. “I can add the child to the insurance if I want to, but I can’t add the mother. But if something happened to her job, and she lost her insurance, she’d have no safety net.

Joshua Snyder is married to army reservist, Capt. Steven Hill — who gained notoriety in September when he submitted a YouTube video questioning GOP presidential primary candidates about the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Snyder recalls listening while mortars landed within feet of Hill, who is currently deployed, while the two were speaking on Skype.

Hill was unscathed, but if he’d been injured or killed, Snyder wouldn’t find out through normal channels.

“There’s a lot more hoops to jump through…to make sure I’m the first contact,” he said. “There’s nothing automatic to make sure I’d be notified.”

Morgan, McLaughlin, Hudson, and Hill are among the plaintiffs in a federal district court lawsuit, filed late last week by the Servicemember’s Legal Defense Network, against Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki

[MsTinkerbelly]

New Jersey couples go back to court seeking marriage equality today
By Adam Bink

Today in Superior Court:

TRENTON — In the latest attempt to legalize gay marriage in New Jersey, same-sex couples are headed to court today to try to convince a judge their partnerships are more than civil unions.

The couples, defeated in their efforts last year to get the state Legislature to recognize same-sex marriages, turned to the courts to obtain what they say would be true marriage equality.

Superior Court Assignment Judge Linda Feinberg will hear arguments from Garden State Equality, a civil rights organization for same-sex couples, and the state Attorney General’s Office, which is defending New Jersey’s civil union law.

In a 2006 decision that stopped short of recognizing gay marriage, the state Supreme Court said legislators have to provide marriage-like rights to same-sex partners. It left the details of those rights up to the lawmakers. Later that year, legislators created civil unions, giving the same benefits of marriage but not using the term.

In January 2010, the state Senate defeated an effort to legalize same-sex marriage. Two months later, six same-sex couples went to the Supreme Court asking for the right to marry. But the state’s highest court declined to hear the issue and instead said the case has to work its way through the trial courts. That starts today with arguments before Feinberg.

This amid public support continuing to rise in the new Pew Center poll (though the numbers are less in support than in other surveys showing a majority).

[MsTinkerbelly]

Judge rules New Jersey lawsuit for marriage equality can proceed
By Adam Bink

Seth in Maryland in the comments notes the news. A big hearing this past week, and what came out of it:

If the law creating civil unions does not give same-sex couples the same protections as married heterosexual couples, it has to be examined as to whether it is constitutional, Mercer County Assignment Judge Linda Feinberg said during a hearing in Trenton this afternoon.

But in dismissing three counts of the complaint, Feinberg also said there is no fundamental right to same-sex marriage under the state Constitution. One count of the suit — a claim that the civil union law does not give them equal protection — remains.

She noted same-sex couples complain civil unions, created in New Jersey in 2006, still don’t give them the same benefits as marriage in situations such as health benefits sharing and health care decisions.

“I don’t think that the court can remain silent and take no action if…the result is that those benefits are not equal in the protections,” Feinberg said

[Hollylane]

After attending a town hall meeting held by Basic Rights Oregon, I was very sad to receive an email today stating that B.R.O. will not pursue a ballot measure on marriage in 2012.

At the meeting, I felt like we were being herded into deciding not to put this on the ballot. The decision felt like it had already been made, and we were being convinced to agree with the deciders.


I also found it disheartening that I heard so many people saying:


"I don't want to put it on the ballot unless we have a guarantee that we will win"


There is nothing on any ballot that is guaranteed to win. What if other Civil Rights were not fought for because we couldn't be given a guarantee that they would win?



I am very disappointed.

[MsTinkerbelly]

BREAKING: Sen. Judiciary Committee votes to repeal DOMA
By Adam Bink

Just now, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-8 to repeal DOMA by passing the Respect for Marriage Act. A huge step forward for our movement to repeal DOMA!

Today’s victory will make headlines and help educate the public on what DOMA is and why it needs to go. We know when we tell stories, we win as a movement. Today’s victory will also add momentum and help bring more Senators on board so when we have a pro-repeal leadership in the House, Senate and White House, we can move forward as quickly as possible to repeal DOMA, instead of starting from scratch

It was a lift to get to this summer’s hearing and today’s vote. We all did it together — people in each state who contacted their Senator, folks like you who spread the word and chipped in.

Below is a statement from Courage Campaign’s Rick Jacobs:

“For the first time in history, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to make gays and lesbians whole people,” said Rick Jacobs, the chair and founder of the Courage Campaign, an online, grassroots political organization with more than 750,000 members around the country. “This truly historic vote today should never have been necessary because this absurd law should never have been on the books. Thanks to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, we have a bill that can move to the Senate floor where fair-minded people who believe in a nation united, not divided, can end federal discrimination against gay and lesbian couples legally married in six states and the District of Columbia. Sadly, the Republicans think this is a partisan issue, but then some thought the same about the other great civil rights issues of this nation. Eventually, America is just.”

[MsTinkerbelly]

Marriage equality: Basic Rights Oregon decides to not go to ballot in 2012
By Adam Bink

Announced by their board.

After careful consideration and extensive community input, Basic Rights Oregon’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to extend our public education campaign and continue to build public support. We will not pursue a ballot measure on marriage in 2012.

Today we re-commit ourselves to this effort. We’re committed to opening a new dialogue with our friends, family and neighbors and, ultimately, winning the freedom to marry.

Here’s the statement from Basic Rights Oregon’s Board of Directors:

For three years, Basic Rights Oregon has led a proactive community education campaign to build public support for the freedom to marry for all caring and committed couples. We have reached out to our neighbors in communities across the state, engaged in thoughtful conversations, and shared our stories in TV ads and online.

This work is opening hearts and changing minds. Every day more and more Oregonians are coming to support the freedom to marry.

In Oregon, the only path to allowing same-gender couples to join in civil marriage is through the ballot. It is not a question of if we will cross this threshold, but when.

We have considered the possibility of putting this issue on the ballot for the 2012 election. However several factors, including the expense of waging a statewide political campaign in the midst of an economic crisis, led us to conclude that we are better off extending our education campaign and building momentum for a later election.

Ballot measures in Oregon have historically been used to attack the gay and transgender community. Today, we are finally in the driver’s seat, deciding when to go forward with a proactive ballot measure to achieve equality, instead of just fighting back. That presents our community with a tremendous opportunity and an immense responsibility.

To reach this decision, we evaluated a variety of data including an online survey with over 1,000 respondents from across Oregon. We convened a group of community leaders and campaign professionals, and held town halls in communities around the state.

The feedback we have overwhelmingly heard is that we must allow our education work to continue. The progress we’ve made in increasing support for the freedom to marry will only get better in the next two years.

Today we re-commit ourselves to this effort. We’re committed to opening a new dialogue with our friends, family and neighbors and, ultimately, winning the freedom to marry.

[iamkeri1]

MsT
You are always such a good source of info on this subject. Thanks so much. I am heartened by this vote in the Senate. I do not believe it will pass in the House. BUT I am also heartened by the fact that voting results this week have all opposed reducing rights for people. I feel hopeful that this trend will continue in next years elections. I hope that the Republicans will be held responsible for their total obstructionism in both houses of Congress, and that the Democrats achieve a majority in both houses so we can get DOMA repealed. Another Liberal Supreme Court Justice would be helpful as well, LOL. 14th amendment people!!!!

I am disappointed by the decision in Oregon. The only argument against putting marriage equality to a vote that makes any sense at all is is the lack of money to wage a campaign, and its not a very good answer either.

Waiting has never helped a civil rights movement. PUSHING hard is what works. Putting the issue in people's face over and over again. Forcing them to re-think their positions over and over again until they see the injustice in the current state of affairs. As for the lack of money, look what was accomplished in Ohio by people with very little money (They overturned the anti-union law passed by the republican run state legislature earlier this year) and in Mississippi. (They voted down a bill declaring life to start at the moment of conception) Both of these measueres were accomplised by word of mouth, by people speaking their minds to each other, by door to door campaigns, and with very little money. I think marriage equality (and civil rights in ALL areas for LGBTQ people) should be put on the ballot EVERY year in EVERY state until we have torn down the walls of anti-us laws that keep us from our dreams.
I quote the words of Martin Luther King Jr, spoken in an earlier and yet still ongoing struggle ...

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself,

Smooches,
Keri