Categories
Join Us At:
|
Celebrate Freedom to Marry WeekToday kicks off the 12th annual Freedom to Marry Week. This year, the week is focused on encouraging people across the country to have seven conversations in seven days to move people to support marriage for lesbian and gay couples. Readers of this blog may recall that just last week we launched the Tell 3 campaign to encourage people to talk to three close friends and relatives about what it means to be LGBT. Why the sudden push for conversations? Because that’s what’s ultimately going to build support for LGBT equality on all fronts. So whether you care about marriage or nondiscrimination protections, please try to talk to at least three (and as many as seven) people this week. And speaking of marriage. It was a little disappointing to read in yesterday’s New York Times that New York Senate Majority leader Malcolm Smith said he didn’t have enough votes in the Senate to pass a marriage bill this year. Ever since the New York Supreme Court ruled that the state could continue to bar same-sex couples from marriage, many of us here in New York have been eager for the legislature to pass a law granting lesbian and gay couples the right to marry. The house passed a bill back in 2007, and Governor Patterson has expressed his support for the law. The Senate has always been the hold up. In the article, Assemblyman (and former plaintiff in our New York marriage litigation) Danny O’Donnell sounded more optimistic. He noted that when the assembly took up the bill in February 2007, they didn’t have the votes either, but were able to pass the bill by June. In other words, we’ve still got a lot of work to do to persuade New York Senators, and yes, that requires even more conversations. We’re looking for couples who will be willing to meet with their state Senator to make the case for marriage equality. If you’re willing to have one of these important conversations, please fill out our couples’ survey.
We intend the comments portion of this blog to be a forum where you can freely express your views on blog postings and on comments made by other people. Given that, please understand that you are responsible for the material you post on the comments portion of this blog. The only postings that we ask that you refrain from posting and that we cannot permit on our website are requests for legal assistance and postings that could cause ACLU to incur legal liability.
One important law in that regard is the prohibition on politically partisan activity. Given our nonprofit status, we may not endorse or oppose candidates for elective office. That means we cannot host comments on our site that show a preference for one candidate or party. Although we in no way wish to discourage you from that activity elsewhere, we ask that you not engage in that activity on our website (or include links to other websites that do so). Additionally, given that we are subject to very specific rules concerning the collection of personally identifying information through our website (names, email addresses, home address, financial information, etc.), we ask that you not use the comments portion of this blog to solicit this information from users of our website. We also ask that you not use the comments portion for advertising or requests for legal assistance, and do not add to your comment links to other websites, as we cannot be responsible for the content on other websites. We are not able to respond to unsolicited inquiries, complaints or requests for assistance sent to this blog. Please direct your complaint or request for assistance to the ACLU affiliate in your state. Requests for legal assistance left in the blog comments will not receive a response or be published. Finally, the ACLU cannot guarantee the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information in the comment section and expressly disclaims any liability for any information in this section. 5 Responses to "Celebrate Freedom to Marry Week" |
|
|
© ACLU, 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004 |
Feb 9th, 2009 at 8:54pm
Marriage= Man+Woman. Always has and always will. Get over it.
Feb 10th, 2009 at 12:28am
Why in the hell does the ACLU care about trying to persuade people in to accepting marriage for sodomites when all they can and do is hunt down a left-wing, liberal, activist quizling, I mean judge to declare some new right to marriage for homo's.
Feb 11th, 2009 at 12:18am
Homo-Sexuality is quite simply a continual focus in one direction with no consideration for right or wrong. Of course the ACLU would back such vulgar and disgusting acts. The end of Liberalism is near, as mentioned in Revelations.
Feb 12th, 2009 at 4:05pm
Marriage is a union between a man and a woman. It is the foundation of a society. It is rooted in our Judeo-Christian heritage. To re-define marriage undermines the fabric of a healthy society. Why not take it a step further and say the the union of a man and his dog is marriage? Marriage is not a matter of individual liberty but the good of society as a whole.
Feb 16th, 2009 at 10:16pm
Commenters...why such hate?
Mark...Why would you impose judeo-christian values on non-judeo-christians? Please provide some additional information that a redefinition of marriage would undermine society. As for the man and dog marriage, a dog is unable to enter into a contract.