Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

06/18/2012

We're Ready to Defend Washington's Marriage Law at the Ballot Box

By Jennifer Shaw, ACLU of Washington at 1:33pm

Last February, we cheered and cried with our friends and allies when Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire signed a bill that grants civil marriage to all loving, committed same-sex couples. But even as we celebrated, we knew that the opponents of marriage equality would continue to fight. Washington law allows the opponents of a piece of legislation to take their case to the voters by gathering enough signatures to place a referendum on the ballot. A “yes” vote on the referendum is a vote to protect the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. A “no” vote on the referendum is a vote to exclude same-sex couples from marriage."

06/08/2012

Defense of Marriage Act

"Honey, We Did It!" – Edie Windsor Says Thank You

By Robyn Shepherd, ACLU at 4:41pm

Yesterday, Edie Windsor visited the ACLU and NYCLU offices to address the media after her amazing victory in her challenge against the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act. Edie filed a lawsuit with the help of the ACLU and the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP against the government after the death of her spouse and partner of 44 years, Thea Spyer.

Edie told the press about her lifelong love with Thea during which they were engaged for 40 years, and officially married for two. After Thea’s death, Edie was forced to pay over $363,000 in federal estate taxes that she would not have had to pay if she were married to a man. The government regarded Edie and Thea as legal strangers.

06/06/2012

Defense of Marriage Act

Another DOMA Win!

By James Esseks, Director, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project at 7:44pm

When it rains, it pours! Late this afternoon, another federal judge ruled that the so-called federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the federal constitution. The ruling came in an ACLU case brought by Edie Windsor after the death of her spouse and partner of 44 years, Thea Spyer.

Edie and Thea became a couple way back in 1965. By 1967, long before marriage for same-sex couples was anything more than a pipe dream, Thea proposed marriage to Edie – that’s just what their relationship meant to them. Thea couldn’t give her an engagement ring, because Edie wouldn’t have been able to explain it to her colleagues at IBM, so she gave her a diamond pin instead. They were inseparable for the next four decades.

05/31/2012

Defense of Marriage Act

ACLU Lens: Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down DOMA

By Robyn Shepherd, ACLU at 12:15pm

A federal appeals court in Massachusetts ruled today that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional because it denies married same-sex couples the same federal benefits available to other married couples.

The case, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, was originally filed by GLAD on behalf of several married same-sex couples and widowers in Massachusetts in 2009. In 2010, a federal judge found that DOMA violated the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment. Today’s decision upholds that ruling.

05/30/2012

Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

It's About Love: Same Sex Couples in Illinois Seek the Freedom to Marry

By Ed Yohnka, ACLU of Illinois at 11:22am

I just want to be married to the person that I love.

05/21/2012

Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

Historic NAACP Vote Signals the Ultimate Failure of Divisive NOM Strategy

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:17pm

On Saturday, the Board of Directors of the NAACP, the nation's oldest, largest and most widely recognized grassroots-based civil rights organization, passed a historic resolution in support of the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. The NAACP said the resolution represents a continuation of its historic commitment to equal protection under the law. Bravo!

05/10/2012

Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

It's Not About the Money – Spending vs. Ideology in Congress

By Michael Macleod-Ball, Chief of Staff, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 7:31pm

The first spending bill for the new fiscal year that starts in October was adopted by the House of Representatives today after a week of wrangling. H.R. 5326 will provide funding for the Departments of Justice and Commerce as well as several science agencies – the so-called Commerce Justice Science (CJS) bill. If you listened to some in the majority, you would have thought the floor debate – which under an open rule allowed for unlimited amendments – provided a ripe opportunity for adding measures to cut spending, presumably the mantra in this time of fiscal austerity and Tea Party dominance. But some conservative writers, like those at Red State, note that cutting spending falls way down on the list of political priorities.

05/10/2012

Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

Anti-Gay Pandering Cannot Stop Historic Momentum for LGBT Rights

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 4:10pm

What an amazing and historic week it has been for the cause of gay rights. On Wednesday, for the first time in our country’s history, a sitting President of the United States said that he supports the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian couples. President Obama’s remarks carry incredible symbolic importance, and his explanation of the evolution in his own thinking that brought him to this point will be something to which millions of Americans can relate. It is representative of a journey that many men and women – both young and old – have taken in coming to the conclusion that what marriage is really about is love and commitment, and that is something that is true for both gay and straight couples.

05/09/2012

Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

ACLU Lens: President Obama Endorses Freedom to Marry for Same-Sex Couples

By Alicia Gay, ACLU at 4:22pm

President Obama today became the first sitting U.S. president to endorse the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. In an interview taped earlier this afternoon, he told ABC News’ Robin Roberts:

“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”

05/07/2012

Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

North Carolinians To Vote On Anti-LGBT Amendment One Tuesday

By Mike Meno at 2:41pm

North Carolinians will go to the polls tomorrow to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment.

American Civil Liberties Union