Massachusetts to hold same-sex weddings
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| 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
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."
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Lambda Legal: http://www.lambdalegal.org/
Liberty Counsel: http://www.lc.org/
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"If you don't stand up for something, you'll lie down for anything." -- B
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.
I understand your opinions and beliefs about gays and how that goes against your religion.
James
janderson_ny@yahoo.com
CL Ask A Guy
I totally agree with you there!
Its the SANCTITY of the Holiness of the marriage union that it devalues, not mine!
I am not saying the OT is null and void, i dont eat shell fish anyway so that doesnt apply to me. But the scripture holds true throughout the enitre book, there are changes for different reasons, but romans also talks about sexuall immorality. The bible is a book as a whole, there are truths found throughout the entire book, its up to you take it as you will. I choose to believe its every word, but some laws changed due to Christ death, shell fish being one of those. They still stoned people for commiting adultry in both the old and new.
The legalization of gay marriages will definately slow the population increase, seeing as though they cannot NATURALLY reproduce, but hey science has a way of making all things possible!
I am not going to debate the validity of God's word with you, because it will be a no win argument, neither of us are going to change our veiws for the other, and thats fine. I did my duty as a christian and shared my faith with you, its up to you to choose!
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HOW?
How
________________________________________________
"If you don't stand up for something, you'll lie down for anything." -- B
The same arguement made on my side, why do american christians in China get killed for sharing what they believe? Why does the chineese government have the right to base their laws on what they believe to be right, i know its a different country, but the same ideas apply. What is happening now is only confirmation to me that the bible is true. The profecies are just coming to pass. One world currency, and government, bible based morals beging tossed out the window, the seasons running together, Its all bound to happen before Christs return, I just know we are a little closer now.
Its the SANCTITY of the Holiness of the marriage union that it devalues, not mine!
If your church does not want to perform same-sex marriages then they are more than within their rights to do that.
James
janderson_ny@yahoo.com
CL Ask A Guy
The same arguement made on my side, why do american christians in China get killed for sharing what they believe? Why does the chineese government have the right to base their laws on what they believe to be right, i know its a different country, but the same ideas apply.
So your defense of discriminating against another human being is that China descriminates against you so therefore you get to descriminate against others here?
James
janderson_ny@yahoo.com
CL Ask A Guy
But i have to go, sorry i cannot continue, sorry for any hur feelings
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OMG!
________________________________________________
"If you don't stand up for something, you'll lie down for anything." -- B
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