Blogosphere
The Freedom to Marry team's favorite blogs for marriage news or by people we love:
Blogger Highlights
The Fight of Our Lives
Kate Scott explains the Decline to Sign efforts in California to stop an anti-marriage initiative from reaching the ballot, how to get involved, and how to talk about the freedom to marry: “…the next two weeks are crucial in the struggle for marriage equality in California. To summarize, as you may or may not know, an out of state group called 'Protect Marriage' has been paying people to gather signatures in California in an attempt to get an amendment to change the state constitution on the November Ballot.”
BLOG: Commentary: Inequality is Inconvenient
Terrance reflects on the answer to the question, "Are you married?" He writes, "there are a thousand different ways in which the answer to that question can impact our lives and our families, because we can’t legally marry, and the law can’t figure out what to do do with us, or how to define us, and hasn’t caught up with us as we forge ahead with our lives, making commitments to each other, and creating our families as we go. In those cases, we don’t often get the benefit of the doubt."
BLOG: Bill Clinton + DOMA = revisionism
Along with a recent video clip of Bill Clinton feeling the heat from students grilling him about his signature on the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, Pam offers a historical perspective on DOMA and what was going on at the time of the law signing, contrary to what Clinton claims.
Children's book Uncle Bobby's Wedding charms with effortless inclusion
Mombian's Dana Rudolph writes, "Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, by Massachusetts author and illustrator Sarah Brannen, is more than just a good LGBT-inclusive children’s book; it is a good children’s book, period. It tells the sweet story of Chloe, an anthropomorphic young guinea pig who worries that Uncle Bobby won’t keep having fun with her after he marries his boyfriend Jamie. Uncle Bobby explains that their special times together will not end; Chloe will not be losing an uncle, but gaining one. The book ends at the wedding, with Chloe as the enthusiastic flower girl."
A Very Surreal Victory, Tempered By Two Things...
Well, what a great notice that came through on my listserv last night! New York Appellate Court rules that out out of state marriages must be recognized! Woo HOO! Yay for all NY couples who married in Massachusetts, or Canada - and yay for ME ! I got married in Canada last September! And we live in New York! But...wait a minute. My partner is here on a temporary visa.
BLOG: Psychologist takes on science-free anti-gay article
Yesterday I posted an unbelievable press release by a San Diego-based licensed clinical psychologist named Trayce Hansen, who attempted to portray marriage equality as somehow dangerous to children. word got to Dr. Thomas Marra, also a practicing clinical psychologist and author, who decided he couldn't let Hansen's diatribe sit out there unchallenged.
BLOG: NYC's gay tax
If you're gay, you pay more, wait longer, and get less. And what you get may turn out to be nothing, but you won't know that until you really need it. Nevermind that some states have tried to nullify even those few meager, shaky legal protections. Meanwhile, you keep contributing to Social Security, pensions, and health insurance your partner can't share or inherit; basically subsidizing heterosexuals who do get all the rights and protections of marriage, at a discount compared to what the "gay tax" gets you.
BLOG: Legal strangers
There is a quietly gripping passage in Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale in which a young married couple has just learned of the new law putting the husband in charge of all property. It doesn't matter, the husband tells the wife. He insists that it won't change anything. The wife, though, knows better. The law is a living embodiment of a set of values. The law is a teacher, and it works a subtle but often decisive influence on the public. Straight and gay alike, we've absorbed these lessons, and it's a tribute to our cultural and intellectual independence, to our stubbornness and our willingness to think for ourselves, that we are even having a debate about marriage equality today. The law is a teacher, but as students, we can choose to think for ourselves.
BLOG: An extraordinary month
Besen writes, "Inside the trenches of culture war combat, it is often difficult to see who is winning the conflict. The recurring recriminations, stale rhetoric and finger pointing proclamations often leave one feeling as if we are in a perpetual stalemate. But in the past couple of weeks, dare I say, strong evidence has emerged that suggests the gay and lesbian community has won the war. Not winning, but won. There have been victories, dramatic and mundane, that show the world has changed and will never be the same."
BLOG: My (second) take on marriage
A conservative blogger writes out his five reasons why society benefits more by encouraging more marriage, why he thinks the government should stay out of the marriage business, and why, from a social conservative viewpoint, he thinks allowing committed same-sex couples to get married is far less damaging than the tendency to equate cohabitation with marriage.
A Tearful Republican Mayor Comes Out — For the Freedom to Marry
Complete with video, Evan Wolfson highlights an emotional press conference by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, a Republican former police chief, at which he announced his intention to sign a resolution supporting the freedom to marry, a reversal from his prior public opposition. Mayor Sanders said his change of heart and mind was due to soul-searching and personal conversations with gay people he knows, including his lesbian daughter, showing how powerful it is to make the conversation about real people, not just legalisms or hypotheticals. He also described how he has come to understand that his prior support for civil union, rather than marriage, was inadequate and wrong. San Diego now joins the other major California cities in calling on the Governor and State Supreme Court to follow the legislature's lead in embracing marriage equality.
BLOG: The CA mayor's lesson
Columnist Dan Savage writes, "Living with integrity—coming out—is the most important political action that any individual gay or lesbian can take. Don't let anyone tell you that coming out is meaningless—and don't let anyone tell you, I suppose, that a conservative ex-cop's evolving position on marriage equality can't possibly be sincere."
BLOG: Another good WY GOP pol on his pro-gay vote
There's now a second straight GOP politician from there, Pat Childers, father of a lesbian daughter, writing me notes explaining why he stood up for gay equality, in a state where we don't think gays would have much support, and I am privileged to share his words with you.
Why Marriage Matters America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry.
By Evan Wolfson
Read reviews! Purchase the book or receive a signed copy as a thank you for your donation!
Read families’ stories about how marriage discrimination affects everyday life. These stories communicate, in concrete ways, how the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage hurts families and helps no one.
Start in The Marriage Basics to get short answers to your big questions about the freedom to marry, and learn more about the protections and responsibilities of marriage, the historical background for this civil rights movement, why separate is not equal, and so much more.
