Massachusetts to hold same-sex weddings

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Massachusetts to hold same-sex weddings
229
Sun, 05-16-2004 - 12:31pm

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Gay%20Marriage%20New%20Era


Sunday, May 16, 2004 · Last updated 6:34 a.m. PT


Massachusetts to hold same-sex weddings    Rings 


By DAVID CRARY
AP NATIONAL WRITER


For better or for worse, depending on which side of the ideological aisle one chooses, a divided America crosses a historic threshold Monday as state-approved marriages of same-sex couples take place for the first time.


Promised a waiver of the normal three-day waiting period, the seven gay and lesbian couples who successfully sued for marriage rights in Massachusetts will wed before relatives, friends and supporters in Boston and three other towns. The United States will become just the fourth country in the world where same-sex couples can tie the knot.


The couples' jubilation will be shared by gay-rights advocates across the country, including many in states such as New York, California, Washington and New Jersey where comparable lawsuits are moving forward.


"This isn't just one historic moment in Massachusetts," said Kevin Cathcart, executive director of the gay-rights group Lambda Legal. "It's the start of what will be a long period of progress and breakthroughs, with gay couples in other states also winning the right to marry."


For foes of gay marriage, Monday's weddings represent a stinging defeat - but one they hope will be reversed by a backlash among politicians and voters nationwide.


"What I'm starting to see is people who are apolitical, who never got involved before, saying, 'This is too much - we don't want same-sex marriage foisted on us,'" said Mathew Staver, president of a Florida-based legal group, Liberty Counsel, that is opposing gay marriage in numerous court cases.


Both sides in the debate expect the issue to figure prominently in the November election, with Massachusetts serving as a rallying cry and alarm bell.


Candidates for Congress will face pressure to explain their position on a proposed federal constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage. Voters in Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Missouri and Utah - and probably several other states - will consider similar amendments to their state constitutions.


"It will be a national referendum about gays and gay marriage," said Rod McKenzie of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "We're the underdog when it comes to all these ballot measures - the scale is bigger than we've ever had to deal with."


In states with the ballot measures, divisive campaigns already are underway.


An Oklahoma gay-rights group, for example, took out newspaper ads last week showing an outline of the state with "Closed" stamped over it. The ad contended that businesses would leave - or stay away - if voters approved the constitutional ban on gay marriage.


State Sen. James Williamson, a Republican from Tulsa, called the ad outrageous and predicted that a ban would attract new businesses.


"There is a real hunger for a return to traditional values and for leaders who will draw a line in the sand to help stop the moral decay of this country," he said.


Nationwide, both sides are planning marches and rallies over the coming week - among them, pro-gay marriage events in Iowa City, Iowa, and Las Cruces, N.M., and a "Not on My Watch" rally in Arlington, Texas, for pastors opposed to gay marriage.


Also following the Massachusetts events with interest will be the thousands of gay couples who married in recent months with the encouragement of local officials in San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and a handful of other municipalities.


Those marriages are clouded by varying degrees of legal uncertainty, and even in Massachusetts there is a possibility that voters in 2006 could jeopardize the impending marriages by approving a constitutional ban.


Katie Potter, a Portland policewoman who married partner Pam Moen in March, said she was delighted by the Massachusetts developments yet worried that it could take years for marriage rights to extend nationally.


"It's important for my two children to be able to say, 'My parents are married,'" Potter said.


Anti-gay marriage activists have no sympathy for such arguments.


"If we move down the road to legalizing marriage for unnatural homosexual couples, it will lead to an explosion of intentionally motherless or fatherless households," said Dave Smith of the Indiana Family Institute. "That is a radical social experiment that will place children in harm's way."


Though opinion polls show that most Americans oppose gay marriage, the rate of acceptance is much higher among people under 30 - for the younger generation, polls show a roughly even split on the issue.


"There's an absolute inevitability there," said Lambda Legal's Cathcart. "There's no reason to think the next generation of young people will go backward."


Mathew Staver, referring to the same demographic trends, said the next 18 months would be critical for gay-marriage foes.


"The window is now to pursue a federal marriage amendment that would put a halt to this nonsensical patchwork of litigation," said the Liberty Counsel attorney.


Even if many Americans wish otherwise, Massachusetts, as of Monday, will join the Netherlands, Belgium and Canada's three most populous provinces as the only places worldwide where gays can marry, though the rest of Canada expected to follow soon.


In the Netherlands, which pioneered gay marriage three years ago, the practice now stirs little controversy. Cheryl Jacques, a former Massachusetts legislator who now heads the Human Rights Campaign, a major gay-rights group, hopes her compatriots eventually emulate the Dutch.


"For the vast majority of Americans, Monday will be a completely ordinary day - nothing's going to change," she said. "But for some Americans in Massachusetts - gay and lesbian families - it will be a truly historic day, when their families will be made stronger and their children will become safer."


"I'm very proud of my state," Jacques added. "Massachusetts is going to teach the rest of the country a lesson - equality doesn't hurt anyone."


---


Lambda Legal: http://www.lambdalegal.org/


Liberty Counsel: http://www.lc.org/





cl-nwtreehugger


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 05-18-2004 - 1:49pm

It always amuses me, the "I am a devout Christian" types, who like to tell how the Bible says this is wrong - all the while typing away on a thousand (or more) dollar piece of entertainment equipment that they bought using their paycheck from the job they drive their nice car to, and then go home to their nice big house at night.


It AMAZES me how they want only PART of the Bible to play a role in society's composition - the PART they support and the PART that it's convenient for them to live by.


You claim you're not perfect and that when you're not, you ask God for forgiveness, but what do you do to CORRECT the "imperfect" part of you?

________________________________________________

"If you don't stand up for something, you'll lie down for anything." -- B

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-05-2003
Tue, 05-18-2004 - 1:51pm

Quite frankly i dont believe i am thrusting my morals and values on anyone, I am simply stating my opinion here and how i feel towards the whole situation, which i believe is what boards such as these are for.


In posting your opinions here you are not thrusting your beliefs on someone else, by making a LAW against someone else's beliefs you most certainly are thrusting your beliefs on someone else.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-30-2003
Tue, 05-18-2004 - 2:02pm
>>A marriage can only be entered into by two people who are capable of giving "informed consent." When was the last time you heard of an animal being able to give "informed consent?"<<

My dog can give me consent all the time! All i have to say is... YOu want to go bye bye? and barks and runs to the door wagging her tail.

....Do you want a treat? She will let me know she wants it.

.... Do you have to go potty.... She run to door if she has to go.

.... If she wants some thing she will get your attetion to follow her so she can "show" you want she wants

That sounds informative!

I just amazes me how defensive and agumentative people get every someone "religious" diagrees with them, or stands up for what they believe in. Its always wrong for the christian to speak out, but not for anyone else, if we share how we feel, then we are ALWAYS wrong, becuase we believe in the Bible. Have you ever read the Bible, to discover all it's trues? That i have done, and my veiws and moral are based on what i found written there, not what solely on what someone taught me.



iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 05-18-2004 - 2:09pm
<<<

My dog can give me consent all the time! All i have to say is... YOu want to go bye bye? and barks and runs to the door wagging her tail.

....Do you want a treat? She will let me know she wants it.
.... Do you have to go potty.... She run to door if she has to go.
.... If she wants some thing she will get your attetion to follow her so she can "show" you want she wants

That sounds informative! >>>


So you're asserting that your family dog is capable of weighing all options regarding MARRIAGE and COMMITMENT?


When you want to have an intelligent debate and come back out of the realm of ridiculous, then I'll debate with you.

________________________________________________

"If you don't stand up for something, you'll lie down for anything." -- B

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-05-2003
Tue, 05-18-2004 - 2:12pm

We find it offensive that you think that their relationships equate to being with an animal.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-30-2003
Tue, 05-18-2004 - 2:15pm
You claim you're not perfect and that when you're not, you ask God for forgiveness, but what do you do to CORRECT the "imperfect" part of you?

< I simply do my best to not repaeat the same mistake all over, thats all any one can do>

Do you continue to go shopping at the mall for things you don't need but want instead? >In all honesty, i dont remember the last time i was at the mall, but I wont deny that i do enjoy shopping>

Do you brag up your kid to your friends? I dont have any kids to brag about, but saying good things about your kids or complimenting on them to your friends was not a sin last time i checked, >>

Do you own more than one pair of shoes or drive a comfortable vehicle? Yes, I own probably more than 100 pairs of shoes, and drive an explorer, But i also have the money to pay for those things, after paying the full 10% tithed required of me>>.

Do you live in a house that only provides for your basic needs or do you have a house that you can truly LIVE in comfortably? I live in a 932 square foot home with 3 rooms and one bath room, a dining area, small kitchen and garage, only by the grace of GOD, we only paid 74,000 for it.

Do you eat shrimp? No i think its gross, and that old testiment, before christ died on the Cross as the ultimate sacrife.

Do you tithe CORRECTLY (not what's convenient, but FULLY required)Yes the full 10% on both my husbands and my own GROSS income amount, not what we bring home?

Do you perform service to others (strangers) routinely, >>>As far as what, opening the door for someone, taking them gifts at christmas, turkey at thanksgiving, YEP?

Do you go to stores that are open on the Sabbath because you ran out of milk or butter? Not normally!

Do you take the pill, I am not jewish, I am pentecostal, but no i dont take the pill

Oh, and, judging others? That's strictly forbidden in the Bible too but there sure seems to be an abundance of judgment....>>> There is a difference in MY opinion between judging and disagreeing. I dont agree with their lifestyle or sexual preference, but i dont dislike them because of it.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Tue, 05-18-2004 - 2:16pm

I haven't read all the rest of the posts yet, so if I'm repeating someone else...my apologies...


The reason that they don't have to wait the 3 days is because this is the result of a lawsuit...and they have already waited much MORE than just 3 days.

cl-nwtreehugger


Community Leader:


iVillage Member
Registered: 09-30-2003
Tue, 05-18-2004 - 2:20pm
I am not saying that their marriage equates to the same as one being married to an animal, i am asking what happens when someone approaches the court because they want to do that, where is the line drawn on discrimination and equal rights. I am not comparing the gay community to beastiality (spelling?) Its a question of how far is too far? Sorry for coming off the wrong way.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Tue, 05-18-2004 - 2:31pm


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 05-18-2004 - 2:52pm

Well then, explain to me why it's only the "devout Christians" who ask the questions about when we're going to start letting people marry their dogs or little kids when comparing it with homosexuals being granted EQUAL RIGHTS under the law.


Why?

________________________________________________

"If you don't stand up for something, you'll lie down for anything." -- B

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