Quote of the Week Archives

May 5, 2008
"Not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the 'wrong kind of person' for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry."
—Mildred Loving on the 40th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia

April 28, 2008
"...Providing statutory access to marriage would be a clearer and more direct statement of full equality by the state, a statement of full inclusion of its gay and lesbian residents in the bundle of rights, obligations, protections, and responsibilities flowing from the status of civil marriage..."
—The Vermont Commission on Family Recognition and Protection

April 21, 2008
"The astonishing outpouring of support from our straight friends taught me a profound lesson: getting married is a rite of passage into a wide circle of shared humanity."
— Torie Osborn, New York Times, 4/20/08

April 14, 2008
"Marriage equality in New York may not come just this moment, but it is no longer an issue mostly for conviction, it is an issue for courage... We will push on and bring full marriage equality to New York state."
— NY Gov. Paterson reiterating his support for the freedom to marry

April 7, 2008
"Ending discrimination in marriage properly holds America to its commitment to be a country where everyone has the right to be both different and equal — and where no one has to give up her or his difference to be treated equally."
—For Richer, For Poorer

March 31, 2008
"For the courts to decide such constitutional questions is not judicial activism — it is their job. And the time is now in the Marriage Cases — not 10 years from now, not a hundred years from now — because now is the time when the question has been properly put to the California Supreme Court."
—Jon B. Eisenberg, The Recorder, March 21, 2008

March 24, 2008
"Sexual disposition parallels race — I was born black and had no choice. I couldn't and wouldn't change if I could. Like race, our sexuality isn't a preference — it is immutable, unchangeable, and the Constitution protects us all against prejudices and discrimination based on immutable differences. ... Opponents of homosexuality have the right to their opinion: they do not have the right to use their beliefs to denigrate and marginalize others."
—Julian Bond, board chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in a Sept. 18 2007 letter to the organization's chapter in Fort Lauderdale, which has an anti-gay mayor.

March 17, 2008
"One of the reasons we need same-sex marriage is because the statistics for heterosexual marriage are so bad; that might be a way to upgrade some of the success rates."
—Soon-to-be Governor David Paterson of New York, New York Blade, Jan. 2007

March 10, 2008
"In 1948, the court was accused of thwarting the will of the people when it struck down the ban on interracial marriage; it would face similar condemnation if it ruled that 'equal protection of the laws' requires the same treatment for heterosexual and same-sex couples. But, as in 1948, the result would be the just one."
—Los Angeles Times, 3/8/08

March 3, 2008
"[T]he essence of the right to marry is freedom to join in marriage with the person of one's choice."
—California Supreme Court decision in Perez v. Sharp, October 1, 1948 (the first court in U.S. history to strike down race restrictions on marriage)

February 25, 2008
"We believe that the civil union law created a burdensome and flawed statutory scheme that fails to afford same-sex couples the same rights and remedies provided to heterosexual couples... From the Bar's perspective, civil unions are a failed experiment."
—Lynn Fontaine Newsome, president of the New Jersey State Bar Association,Gay City News, 2/21/08

February 18, 2008
"New Jersey attempted to provide the equivalent of marriage without the name. It's not a model for the country, but a message. As well-intentioned as civil unions may be, they are not equivalent to marriage."
— Roberta Sklar, The Gay & Lesbian Task Force, The Star-Ledger , 2/17/08

February 11, 2008
"As Americans have done so many times in the past, it’s time we learn from our mistakes and acknowledge that lesbian and gay Americans—like people the world around—speak the vocabulary of marriage, live the personal commitment of marriage, do the hard work of marriage, and share the responsibilities we associate with marriage. It’s time to allow them the same freedom every other American has—the freedom to marry."
— Evan Wolfson, Why Marriage Matters

February 4, 2008
"I now realize how important marriage is. I've (known I am) gay since I was a teenager. Gay marriage was always something that's going to happen in the future, but I couldn't go get one, so it wasn't on the table. All the sudden it was on the table. And I got one. I was like, whoa, I really wanted this the whole time, and I was ready for it, and I just told myself I wasn't because it wasn't feasible."
— Sean Fritz, Des Moines Register, 1/20/08

January 28, 2008
"The amendment's backers claim they aren't interested in challenging domestic partnerships, [saying] that civil unions and domestic partnerships are not substantially equivalent to marriage. But then, what 'substantial equivalent' of marriage are they trying to prohibit?"
— William Butte raises the alarm about Florida's proposed anti-marriage amendment, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 1/25/08

January 21, 2008
"I believe discrimination against gays is evil, and marriage equality is not rocket science. Society benefits from loving, stable relationships. A man and a woman should be able to wed; two men or two women, that’s fine too. And if it’s not for you, don’t do it. I don’t get hung up on ideological or theological details.”
—M. Charles Bakst, Providence Journal, 1/21/08

January 14, 2008
I can't understand how a gay couple who chose to get married is going to affect my marriage. We have been married 54 years. We lived across from a gay couple, we have friends who are gay, we have worked with gay people and never once have I considered getting a divorce! What is the connection?
—Lela Jackson, Statesman Journal, 1/7/08

December 17, 2007
"When our government fails to live up to its founding promise of equality under the law, we all have a hand in that injustice. We all, through mere association with inequality, are linked to it."
— Jacob Reitan in his essay "Civil unions: Separate is not equal" for the Minneapolis Star Tribune December 9, 2007

December 10, 2007
"It is about the most fundamental issue of all -- equality, and whether our society recognizes the inherent worth and dignity of all of its members. There is no discussion more important."
-- Vermont's Brattleboro Reformer editorializes that shifting from civil unions to full marriage equality is the right thing to do.

December 3, 2007
"If gay Americans are not allowed to get married and have all the benefits that American citizens are entitled to by the Bill of Rights, they should get one hell of a tax break. That is my opinion."
— Dear Abby

November 26, 2007
"It's time the presidential candidates talk about marriage as a civil institution and leave the religion talk to the clergy. They are, after all, seeking the highest office of civil, not ecclesiastical, government."
— Jimmy Creech, executive director of Faith In America

November 19, 2007
"In California, we are really at a tipping point. People have thought about this intellectually but we want them to think about it emotionally. We want to talk to people about love and commitment."
— Geoff Kors of the Equality California Institute, on the Let California Ring campaign

November 12, 2007
"When there's discrimination against any group of people, endorsed by the government, we are all diminished."
— Lucy O'Brien of Montclair, NJ

November 5, 2007
"[Opponents didn't show up to hearings] because they don't have real-life stories to back up the argument that allowing gay marriage would hurt the institution."
— NJ leader Steven Goldstein reporting on state commission that said civil unions are inadequate

October 29, 2007
"I have friends who have told me that if their partner gets sick, they wouldn't be allowed in the hospital room because they're not considered immediate family and they have no spousal rights."
— Singer Reba McEntire to the Carolinas gay newspaper Q-Notes, Oct. 6

October 22, 2007
"The movement's focus on marriage is providing a vehicle for us to come out at work and to our families and become active in the political process."
— Howard Bayless, the first openly gay man elected to public office in Alabama

October 15, 2007
"The anti-homosexual perception has now become sort of the Geiger counter of Christians' ability to love and work with people."
— David Kinnaman, Barna Group president and author of the book, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity

October 8, 2007
"When we get into setting up separate legal constructs... the question becomes which rights do we deny same-sex couples, and why?"
— Dan Furmansky, executive director of Equality Maryland

October 1, 2007
"There are differences between the African American experience and that of gay men and lesbians... yet many of the arguments made [for] the anti-miscegenation laws were identical to those made today in opposition to same-sex marriage."
— Maryland Chief Judge Robert Bell, an African American, dissenting from the high court's 4-3 ruling upholding the denial of marriage to same-sex couples

September 24, 2007
"In the end, I couldn't look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationships, their very lives, were any less meaningful than the marriage I share with my wife, Rana."
— San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, at a press conference announcing his support for marriage equality

September 17, 2007
"[T]he gay rights movement has come full circle, from an early and essentially conservative request for basic equality to a final and essentially conservative request for complete equality."
— Philip Kennicott, Washington Post staff writer, At Smithsonian, Gay Rights Is Out of the Closet, Into the Attic

September 10, 2007
"Year by year, the center of gravity shifts toward a more tolerant and accepting point of view... Politics is changing because the world is changing. Real world change is leading political change, not vice versa."
— Geoffrey Garin, pollster, on how evolving public opinion on matters of equality, including the freedom to marry, affect candidates and elections.

September 3, 2007
"Even political rights, like the right to vote... are secondary to the inalienable human rights to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'... and to this category the right to home and marriage unquestionably belongs."
— Hannah Arendt in her 1959 book Dissent written in the heat of the African-American civil rights struggle, as quoted by Andrew Sullivan

August 27, 2007
"I can't imagine what it would be like to have met the love of my life and... to have such a depth of feeling for her and then be told that no, you can't—you just can't be married... That would be devastating."
— U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Dem. presidential candidate, on why he supports the freedom to marry

August 20, 2007
"There's one thing of which I'm certain: We will have gay marriage legalized in New Jersey. We will make many gay couples very happy, and we will make some of them miserable. But that will be their choice, not the government's."
— NJ Senator Ray Lesniak, responding Friday, August 17, 2007, to the comments in response to his blog post endorsing marriage equality legislation

August 13, 2007
"The [Democratic candidates'] reasons for opposing equality in civil marriage tonight became even less clear."
— Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign, following the August 9 presidential forum

August 6, 2007
"Most Americans agree it was wrong and unconstitutional to justify slavery, segregation, and denying women the right to vote. So why is it still acceptable to use religion to deny gay Americans their full and equal rights?"
— Rev. Reggie Longcrier, pastor of Exodus Missionary Outreach Church in Hickory, NC

July 30, 2007
"You are not above me. I am not above you. Yet we have marriage on the one hand, civil union on the other. Why am I not entitled to the same meal as my brother?"
— J E Theriot, in a letter to John Edwards

July 23, 2007
"I think heterosexual marriage is threatened more by heterosexuals. I don't know why [marriage equality] challenges my marriage in any way."
— Elizabeth Edwards

July 16, 2007
"If you believe in equality, if you believe in standing up for the rights of all... then you have no choice but to be present and accounted for when it comes to standing up for gays and lesbians in our society."
— filmmaker Michael Moore

July 9, 2007
"In the real world, civil unions are to marriage what artificial sweetener is to sugar. It's not the same thing and it leaves a bad aftertaste."
— Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality

July 2, 2007
"If they can't be married in Massachusetts, they're going to leave — and then who would help me with my lawn?"
— An elderly Massachusetts woman who felt her opposition to marriage equality melt away after "this lovely couple" moved in next door with their children.

June 25, 2007
"If gay and lesbian people are allowed to have equal rights, then everyone will want them."
— Sign held by Nancy Cherico, urging MA legislators to do right by her gay son

June 18, 2007
"Although Loving arose in the context of racial discrimination, prior and subsequent decisions of this Court confirm that the right to marry is of fundamental importance for all individuals...."
— Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Zablocki v. Redhail (1978)

June 11, 2007
"Since the older generation is dying, the younger ones . . . realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry."
— Mildred Loving, plaintiff in Loving v. Virginia

June 4, 2007
"Overall, those who say they have a family member or close friend who is gay are more than twice as likely to support gay marriage[s] as those who don't -- 55 percent to 25 percent."
— a recent survey by the Pew Research Center

May 28, 2007
"Once we cross a state line, we're just friends traveling in a car."
— Eileen Ego, mother of two, explaining why marriage matters to her family.

May 21, 2007
"Allowing people who have already created families to acknowledge them is 'pro-family.'"
— Margie Apfelbaum, whose father was a member of the Jewish clergy at the synagogue in which she was married.

May 14, 2007
"Five years ago just one state, VT, with 0.2% of the population, offered broad protections to same-sex couples. When the bills passed this session take effect, seven states, with [more than] 20% of the population, will offer [them]."
— National Gay & Lesbian Task Force

May 7, 2007
"Gays and lesbians don't want special rights. They want the same as other Americans: equal protection under the law. They deserve no less."
— Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT), as he grapples with how and when to end discrimination, re-examining his 1996 support of DOMA, and coming to realize that the denial of marriage harms families while helping no one.

April 30, 2007
"Nobody is going to affect you by loving someone else. It's not going to happen. And I thought, this is the same crap I went through 40 years ago, the same garbage."
— New Hampshire Rep. Carole Estes, making the case for marriage. She met the man who would later become her husband at age 26, but they had to wait about six years to marry until Loving v. Virginia in 1967, which struck down laws against interracial marriage.

April 23, 2007
"[We] believe that marriage is a covenant between two adults and their God, based upon their love for one another. Love... materializes from the heart, not from legislative bodies."
— First Nation Church, the oldest traditional religious organization in the Western Hemisphere and the largest membership-based Native American religious society in the United States

April 16, 2007
"Apparently the civil union law gave us all the rights of marriage, except the ones we really need."
— New Jersey resident Timothy Zimmer

April 9, 2007
"Over half of Fortune 500 companies now offer domestic partner health benefits to their employees, and there is no logical reason why these benefits should be taxed any differently."
— Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese

April 2, 2007
"To penalise someone because of their sexual orientation is like what used to happen to us; to be penalised for something which we could do nothing [about] — our ethnicity, our race."
— Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Prize Laureate, comparing anti-gay discrimination to apartheid in South Africa

 

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