BLOG: Surging past WA on gay rights: CA, MA, OR… and Colombia?
Posted on Jun 16, 2007 at 03:07 pm
June 16, 2007
Dan Savage writes, "The Washington State domestic partnership law includes the right to inherit property in the absence of a will but it does not mandate health insurance coverage for DPs or social security benefits (which are, unfortunately, in the hands of the feds). Still, if they're passing laws in Colombia—Colombia!—that go farther than Washington's DP law, we can and should do better, and demand more, during the next legislative session." [link]
WA gov. signs domestic partnership law
Posted on Apr 26, 2007 at 03:44 pm
April 26, 2007
Evan Wolfson said domestic partnerships such as in California and Washington are an important "first step" toward marriage equality. But he said both contain aspects that are "diminishing" of their meaning to gay couples. Both, he noted, have very limited benefits hospital visitation, authorizing autopsies, and inheritance rights when there is no will. Both also allow seniors to register as domestic partnerships, conveying an impression that the law is not so much to recognize same-sex couples as to handle some legal issues for pairs of people who live together and share expenses.
[Link]
Freedom to Marry Voice of Equality shares message of equality, activism
Posted on Mar 05, 2007 at 03:09 pm
March 5, 2007
Dolores Huerta's speech at Pullman University touched on a variety of issues — including women's roles, racism, social injustice, immigration and marriage equality. "Once we know, we have to act on our knowledge. Nothing is going to change unless we change it." Huerta said, encouraging students to take attainable steps toward change, such as calling out people who use degrading terminology, organizing in groups to support causes, and writing letters to legislators.[link]
Activists predict progress in NY, CA, WA, this year
Posted on Jan 26, 2007 at 12:55 pm
January 26, 2007
Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, said there is also reason for hope in Massachusetts.
"The new legislature has more pro-marriage legislators combined with a new pro-marriage governor. This will allow wiser heads to prevail. If it gets on the ballot, we will defeat it, but I would rather spend our resources for other states in their battles for marriage equality."
Link
Actress Kate Fleming’s death underscores why marriage matters
Posted on Jan 19, 2007 at 03:12 pm
January 19, 2007
If she and Charlene Strong, were wed in a commitment ceremony nearly nine years ago had been legal spouses, the decisions that came next would have been made quickly, albeit painfully. But Strong was initially denied the right to visit Fleming in the hospital as she lay dying. When asked what relationship she had to Fleming, Strong told the truth, unwilling to lie and say they were sisters. [link]
They Do Their Job, While We Do Ours
Posted on Jul 27, 2006 at 11:10 am
The Advocate
July 27, 2006
"By 5-4, these judges failed to do their job. Now the legislators must do their job, acting to end this discrimination, while we do ours, speaking out about who gay families are and why marriage matters."-Evan Wolfson
[Link]
Long-Term Conversation
Posted on Jul 26, 2006 at 10:58 am
The Olympian
July 26, 2006
The ruling, due at 8 a.m. PST on the court's Web site, is not expected to settle the marriage issue but rather to send it to the state Legislature for fresh battles.
"[T]he more states that begin to end this discrimination, the more it gives people around the country to see families helped and no one hurt ... Obviously it also matters tremendously to the families living in Washington state."-Evan Wolfson
[Link]
Mayor Anderson signs on with marriage ads
KUTV
July 24, 2006
"This is a long-term conversation ... Our job is to make sure people hear about gay families and why marriage matters, and not be drowned out by the horse race of the moment."-Evan Wolfson
Newspaper Ads
Posted on Jul 24, 2006 at 10:54 am
AP Wire
July 24, 2006
Signatories of the ads included the mayors of Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Providence, R.I., Portland, Ore., West Sacramento, Calif., and Palm Springs, Calif.
[Link]