President Obama’s doing everything right for the LGBT community — except marriage. An anti-gay senator from North Carolina is things up again. And Senators in Rhode Island and Maine need to hear from you.
This week’s Marriage News Watch is here:
President Obama addressed the Human Rights Campaign this weekend and provided a long list of accomplishments over the last three years: ending Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell, improving hospital access, improving HIV programs, and so on. He skirted around marriage by pointing out that he stopped defending DOMA, which is better than nothing. But he still won’t support full federal marriage equality.
But that isn’t stopping other politicians from taking the lead. This week Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island hinted that he may be the next to co-sponsor the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the federal marriage ban. If you’re a constituent, you can urge him to take action by going to Reed.Senate.Gov.
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Meanwhile, Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine admitted this week that she doesn’t even know what DOMA is. So if you live in Maine, you might might want to clue her in at Collins.Senate.Gov.
In North Carolina this week a new survey shows that 56% of residents oppose the anti-gay constitutional amendment slated for the May ballot. That measure wouldn’t just ban marriage, but would also keep cities from offering civil unions, prevent employers from extending partnership benefits, and would even stop domestic abuse programs from helping victims who aren’t married. Our narrow lead in the polls is quite fragile, so if you or anyone you know is in North Carolina, do your part to help by visiting EqualityNC.org.
Also in North Carolina, this week a leading proponent of the measure was revealed to have made claims about his professional qualifications that you might call “errors.” Or you might call “lies.”
After Senator Jim Forrester said that gay people die disproportionately early — which is simply not true — some folks took a closer look at his background and discovered that he claims membership in several professional medical organizations. The only problem? Some of those medical organizations say that they’ve never heard of him.
In national news, yet another survey this week shows more people supporting the freedom to marry than opposing. The research from the University of Chicago indicates a plurality of Americans on the side of marriage equality, with just 40% against us.
That continuing shift may be due in part to LGBT couples’ increasing openness about our relationships. Just-released Census figures show that over 130,000 same-sex couples say that they’re married. That’s in addition to half a million unmarried LGBT couples. As more of us come out and talk about our families, more people will come to realize why we need the protection of marriage. And someday, maybe, that’ll include the President.
Those are the headlines, visit us over at MarriageNewsWatch.com for more on all these stories and more. You can sign up for daily email summaries of the day’s top marriage headlines, so you’re always in the loop. Or connect with us over at Facebook.com/MarriageNewsWatch. We’ll see you next week.
