Quote of the Week Archives

March 26, 2007
"[M]arriage came to be seen as an institution bringing together two individuals based on mutual affection and equality... If you don't like [it], blame your grandparents, not the gay and lesbian couples seeking entry..."
— Stephanie Coontz, who teaches history at The Evergreen State College, in Olympia, WA and wrote "Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage" (Viking, 2006)

March 19, 2007
"I have come to realize that 'gay' is an artificial category when it comes to measuring a man or woman's on-the-job performance or commitment to shared goals. Our differences and prejudices pale next to our historic challenge."
— Former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY)

March 12, 2007
"I find myself in the awkward situation of not being able to say what my relationship is. I'm partnered? I'm civil-unionized? Marriage is a simple concept everyone understands."
— Frank Mahood, a New Jersey resident who recently 'civil-unionized' with his partner of almost 24 years.

March 5, 2007
"Divorce is a threat to marriage. Infidelity, domestic violence and losing your job [are] a threat to marriage. Marriage is not a threat to marriage."
— Anne Stanback, executive director of Love Makes a Family of Connecticut

February 26, 2007
"[C]onservatives tend to define gay people as ... 'promiscuous,' yet they deny them the one institution that to them represents the opposite. It's a handy catch-22 with which to bind a whole group of people to second-class citizenship."
— John Amaechi, star basketball player

February 19, 2007
"I personally believe that same-sex marriage is a part of God's plan. To believe otherwise is to imagine that in creating diversity in nature God made a mistake."
— Rev. Gene Dyszlewski, pastor of Riverside Congregational United Church of Christ, RI

February 12, 2007
"We must allow people to follow their hearts and give them the tools to build and nurture successful families."
— Santa Clara County Supervisor Blanca Alvarado

February 5, 2007
"The passage of time is a friend to us, to those of us who believe lesbian and gay people should be able to marry. The passage of time permits more reflection, discussion, thought... and that kind of engagement brings people around."
— National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Kate Kendell

January 29, 2007
"If I am silent when it comes to people's constitutional rights being violated, I am not a true American. I support Equality Maryland's fight for marriage equality because, simply, it is right."
— Rev. John T. Crestwell, Jr., of Davies Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church in Camp Springs, MD

January 22, 2007
"Connecticut can be proud that it took a step toward ending this discrimination... Now, it is time to continue the conversation with a goal of making same-sex marriage a reality."
— Editorial, Hartford Courant, 1/21/07

January 15, 2007
"The word 'marriage' matters. It's both a legal concept and a cultural concept that is understood everywhere in the world. It is important in the long term, to achieve equality, that what we get is going to be called marriage."
— Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle

January 8, 2007
"[T]here was a time... when black people in this country couldn't marry the person of their choice either. That's why when I am asked, 'Are gay rights civil rights?' my answer is always, 'Of course they are.'"
— Julian Bond, November 20, 2005

January 2, 2007
"As much as the social conservatives might not like to hear it, there will be a time when your grandchildren say: 'What was the argument with [marriage equality]? Who cares?'"
— Jim Kolbe, U.S. Rep. (R-Ariz.), December 29, 2006

December 26, 2006
"Marriage equality needs to be our goal. We need to commit ourselves to achieving that as soon as possible."
— New Jersey Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden), on why civil union is not enough, Philadelphia Inquirer, December 22, 2006

December 18, 2006
"It's been over six years since Vermont experimented with the 'civil union' idea; we've seen how that law helps, but also how it falls short. New Jersey can learn from that..."
— Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force Chair Beth Robinson

December 11, 2006
"It is not enough that there is a reason for including the included class. There must also be a reason for excluding the excluded class."
— Ken Choe, ACLU attorney before the Maryland Supreme Court, representing same-sex couples seeking to marry

December 4, 2006
"So the task for Americans who support same-sex marriage... is to convince a majority that couples who love each ought to have the state's recognition for lifelong relationships. And until that happens, no victory will be safe."
— Washington Post Editorial, July 9, 2006

November 27, 2006
"This has been a litmus test of our constitutional values. It forced us to consider: What does equality really mean? What does it look like? Equality does not exist on a sliding scale."
— Melanie Judge, as the South Africa Parliament voted to allow both same-sex and different-sex couples to choose either marriage or civil union

November 20, 2006
"Scripture teaches us that the heart of marriage is the love and commitment between the partners."
— Rev. Janet Edwards, who was brought up on charges by the Presbyterian church for performing a lesbian couple's union ceremony. The case was dismissed last week.

November 13, 2006
"My daughter did not ask us if we're getting civil-unioned. She asked us if we're getting married! ... Marriage means something."
— Marcye Nicholson-McFadden, who lives in Aberdeen with her partner, Karen Nicholson-McFadden, and their children Kasey and Maya.
Holmdel Independent, NJ, October 31, 2006

November 6, 2006
"Marriage is not a threat to marriage. I support equality."
— Angie Paccione, candidate for Congress against Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO), sponsor of the proposed federal anti-gay constitutional amendment (10/24/06); 365Gay.com, October 25, 2006

October 30, 2006
"What we 'name' things matters, language matters."
— NJ Chief Justice Deborah Poritz, writing for three justices as part of unanimous NJ Supreme Court ruling opening door to marriage equality

October 23, 2006
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
— Benjamin Franklin (1759)

October 16, 2006
"We will not ask whether this proposition of legalizing same-sex marriage is popular or unpopular; we will not ask if it's hard or easy; we will simply ask if it's right or wrong...[and] we will make it law in New York."
— State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (D), pledging to end marriage discrimination when he becomes governor in 2007

October 9, 2006
"The arts of power and its minions are the same in all countries and in all ages. It marks its victim; denounces it; and excites the public odium and the public hatred, to conceal its own abuses and encroachments."
— U.S. Senator Henry Clay, Kentucky, 1834

October 2, 2006
"As someone who has been deeply in love-at different times-with both men and women, I can attest to the fact that love is love. All relationships need the same support. All relationships deserve the same respect."
—Robyn Ochs, Boston MA (bi activist, marriage equality activist, editor of Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World)

September 25, 2006
"We fought racial apartheid, and we will fight efforts at reintroducing marital apartheid... It is homophobia, not homosexuality, that is un-African."
—Fikile Vilakazi, editorial: "Protect SA from Sexual Apartheid" in Business Day, South Africa, September 7, 2006

September 18, 2006
"Marriage reflects the image of God's covenant with creation... and it very obviously is in the relationship between Nancy and Brenda."
— Presbyterian minister Janet Edwards, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, September 14, 2006

September 11, 2006
"Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able."
— Brad Pitt in the October issue of Esquire

September 4, 2006
"[Women's right to vote] was won only after 56 state referendum campaigns, 480 legislative campaigns for state suffrage amendments, 47 state constitutional campaigns..."
— Lillian Faderman, To Believe in Women; What Lesbians Have Done for America—a History (Houghton Mifflin, 1999).

August 28, 2006
"It is difficult to fight for freedom. I also know how difficult it can be to bend long years of habit and custom to grant it.... When [freedom comes], you will find that a burden has been lifted from your shoulders too."
— Lyndon B. Johnson,
August 6, 1965

August 21, 2006
"Gay and lesbian rights are not special rights in any way. It isn't special to be free from discrimination. It is an ordinary, universal entitlement of citizenship."
— NAACP Chair and civil rights hero Julian Bond in The Roanoke Times August 18, 2006

August 14, 2006
"We should have the choice [of getting married], I'm very adamant about it. You want the same legal rights and to announce your love publicly. We absolutely deserve it."
— Tennis legend and feminist hero Billie Jean King to InsideSoCal.com, July 19 2006

August 7, 2006
"[MA's Chief Justice Margaret] Marshall has been demonized as an 'activist judge'--a label pinned on the author of any ruling you dislike."
— Ellen Goodman
TruthDig.com, August 2, 2006

July 31, 2006
"The freedom to marry the person of one's choice has not always existed, and evidently does not exist here today. But is not that one of the fundamental rights of a free people?"
— California Supreme Court, 4-3, in Perez v. Sharp, striking down the exclusion of interracial couples from marriage, 1948

July 24, 2006
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
— Margaret Mead

July 17, 2006
"You know how we go to the theater and sit down, even when we know how the movie will end? We all know how this movie is going to end. It is just a matter of getting there."
— Bob Haas, former CEO of Levi Strauss & Co., the first Fortune 500 company to offer partnership benefits (as now a majority do)
San Francisco Chronicle, July 6, 2006

July 10, 2006
"There are enough marriage licenses to go around for everyone."
— Chief Judge Judith Kaye, dissenting from the NY Court of Appeals ruling leaving marriage discrimination in place for now.

July 3, 2006
"Does 'gay' marriage pose a threat to marriage or families? Well, I'm certain that no law or amendment will ever prevent gays from creating long-term relationships and forming families. Nothing has stopped them so far."
— Gayle Hayes Castleton
Salt Lake Tribune, June 25, 2006

June 26, 2006
"The exchange of love is the primary function of marriage, and to elevate the genders of the couple instead of their love is to make an idol of the form and not the force."
— The Rev. S. Michael Pater

June 19, 2006
"Young adults today can't understand what the fuss is all about. Their lives are color-blind. They have gay friends and straight friends."
— Rev. Jack Rogers, former head of the Presbyterian Church (USA) USA Today, June 13, 2006

June 12, 2006
"The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men."
— U.S. Supreme Court, June 12, 1967, reversing the VA Supreme Court ruling against interracial couple's freedom to marry

June 5, 2006
"Maybe at some point in time there was one that was sillier than [the federal anti-gay amendment against marriage and family protections], but I don't know of one. ..."
— Former U.S. Senator and U.N. Ambassador John Danforth, R-MO, April 29, 2006

"I do not believe the government should be in the business of telling us who we can, and can't marry"
May 29, 2006
— Michael Bloomberg, NYC Mayor, in his weekly radio address, May 28, 2006

May 22, 2006
"Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life."
— President John F. Kennedy

May 15, 2006
"We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibility, benefits, and protections for these families."
— Democratic Party National Platform, 2004

May 8, 2006
"From my perspective and Heather's perspective, we already are married... [T]he laws just haven't caught up with us yet."
— Mary Cheney
People Magazine

May 1, 2006
"It is an axiom of nonviolent action and democracy that when any group struggles properly and justly to achieve its own rights, it enlarges the rights of all."
— Martin Luther King, Jr., Address to the American Jewish Congress, May 20, 1965

April 24, 2006
"Well, Mr. Speaker, you have the power today to make the world a better place for my son, who is gay, and who hopes to one day marry here in his home state."
— Ed Bonetti, PFLAG parent testifying before RI legislature on bill to end marriage discrimination
EDGE Boston

April 17, 2006
"Why is that controversial? It seems to me that these are families, and they are entitled to be there just like any other family."
— Lois Kutchera, a preschool teacher on vacation from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with her husband and two children at this year's White House Easter Egg Roll.
San Francisco Chronicle

April 10, 2006
"[T]o attain what we know in our hearts is just, we must often be willing to leave the comfort zone of societal norms and dominant values."
— U.S. Circuit Court Judge Damon Keith, "One Hundred Years After Plessy v. Ferguson," 65 U. Cinn. L. Rev. 853, 856 (1997)

April 3, 2006
More than 7,000 gay couples have quietly committed their lives to one another since the Goodridge case took effect in 2004. It seems they have more respect for the institution of marriage than Mitt Romney has for them.
— April 1, 2006 Boston Globe editorial

March 27, 2006
"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brushfires in people's minds."
— Samuel Adams

March 20, 2006
"If you met my wife... I tell people that the most lifesaving thing I had was that Tammy was able to make me laugh and still does, everyday and has always..."
— Melissa Etheridge on Tammy Lynn Michaels in the March 2006 issue of Lesbian News

March 13, 2006
"Ten years ago I would have voted yes. I've changed in my views of what the constitution is about. I personally think the constitution should not be used for religious prejudice."
-- Rep. Bob Ring, a 70-year-old Republican state legislator, voting against proposed anti-gay amendment in Idaho, 2/3/06, 365Gay.com

March 6, 2006
"People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution; they don't put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."
—-- James Raskin, American Univ. constitutional law professor testifying against anti-gay measure in Maryland legislature, March 1
395Gay.com, March 2, 2006

February 27, 2006
"We use phrases like, 'Well, when Dennis and I went through this...' Nobody ever says, 'that doesn't apply to me,' because they know it does."
—Episcopal pastor Mark Lewis, 46, on counseling couples with advice from his own relationship.
Bloomberg, February 24, 2006

February 16, 2006
"I want to get married before my children do."
—Cindy Meneghin, New Jersey plaintiff seeking freedom to marry, who with her partner of 31 years, Maureen Kilian, has two children, Josh, 13, and Sarah 11
New York Times, February 16, 2006

February 10, 2006
"We're not here to demand any kind of special rights, we're here to demand equal rights."
— Elizabeth Goudy to WFMZ-TV at a Freedom to Marry Day protest in Lehigh Valley, PA.

February 6, 2006
"Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection... A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing, and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages."
-- Coretta Scott King, speech at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, USA Today, March 24, 2004

January 30, 2006
"We don't choose who we love. The heart chooses who we will love. And I don't believe that it is right for us to say ... that it's acceptable to discriminate against people because of that."
-- State Sen. Bill Finkbeiner (R-WA), casting deciding vote in favor of civil rights law making WA the 17th state to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination
The Associated Press, 1/27/06

January 22, 2006
"All I'm asking for is that you sign the resolution and that you make a change, a change for good, a change for righteousness and a change in the lives of so many people that have dedicated themselves to county government."
- Laurel Hester, former lieutenant for over 20 years in Orange County, NJ, dying of lung cancer and fighting to receive pension benefits for her domestic partner despite repeated denial.
The Star-Ledger, 1/18/2006
Watch the videotape.

January 15, 2006
"Never before has such a diverse array of groups stepped forward to call for an end to the unfair treatment faced by same-sex couples and their families when they are denied the ability to marry."
- Alice Huffman, President of the CA Conference of the NAACP. Los Angeles Times, 1/11/2006, 250 diverse groups file a lawsuit challenging CA to legalize marriage.

January 9, 2006
"Same-sex couples who are ready and willing to take on the responsibilities that come with marriage should have that opportunity."
-- Dennis Johnson, former Solicitor General of Iowa, now co-counsel with Lambda Legal representing six Iowa couples seeking the freedom to marry

January 1, 2006
"We recently eloped to Canada to avoid taking part in the U.S.'s discriminatory marriage laws. We believe discrimination against [same-sex] couples makes a straight marriage shameful, unless we try to change things."
- Alice L. Dietz and John Sharpes, non-gay allies, 11/14/2005

December 26, 2005
"Perhaps the big difference between the British [and American] approach to morality in politics ... is that we generally believe that the essence of morality is how we, as a society, treat [instead of judge] our fellow human beings."
-Diane Abbot, A voyeuristic morality, Jamaica Observer, 10/23/2005

December 18, 2005
"Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another."
-- Romans 14:13

December 10, 2005
"[Anti-gay amendments] threaten all unmarried couples. [T]hese propositions could eliminate domestic partnerships and reciprocal benificiary recognition, revoke some adoptions, and imperil joint home ownership between unmarried people."
- Julian Bond, long-time national civil rights leader and executive chairman of the NAACP. Keynote speech at the Equality Maryland annual Jazz Brunch, 11/20/2005

December 4, 2005
"The exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage represented a harsh statement by the law that same-sex couples were outsiders, and that their relationships were less important than those of [non-gay] couples..."
South African Constitutional Court Ruling, 12/1/2005
The court ruled that discrimination in marriage is unconstitutional and ordered parliament to remove the restriction and legalize marriage within the year.

November 28, 2005
"I want to [stop fighting against marriage equality]. It has occupied...a lot of time and energy [that] I'd like to apply to healthcare...[and] some of the other issues that we have in front of us[...]."
- State Representative Eugene O' Flaherty, a leading opponent of marriage equality who announced his change of stance on the issue after attending the wedding of a gay friend. He stated that he no longer supports an anti-gay consitutional amendment.
Boston Globe, 9/11/2005

November 20, 2005
"[Blocking gay and lesbian couples from marrying is] more important than poverty, more important even than efforts to stamp out the ugly evil of racism."
-- Quote from the opposition: Monte Stewart, director of the anti-gay Marriage Law Foundation, speaking in Utah
Daily Herald, 9/10/2005

November 13, 2005
"When you put a fundamental right of a minority up for popular vote, it's almost impossible to win. I'm not sure the right to desegrate schools, the freedom to marry another race...would exist if those issues were put up for a vote."
- Matt Foreman , executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Houston Chronicle, 11/9/05, In response to the expected outcome of Prop. 2 in Texas

November 7, 2005
"We are your neighbors. When you're away, we look after your mail, lawn, pets...We are members of your family...In what matters most, our values are in line with yours. Our love is as strong as yours, and our morality is as deeply held."
- James Crawford, Op/Ed piece, The Dallas Morning News, 11/3/2005

November 1, 2005
"Civil marriage...[and the] legal recognition of a spouse can increase the ability of adult couples to provide and care for one another and fosters a more nurturing and secure environment for their children."
- An analysis prepared for the AAP board of directors in July 2005, leading to their vote to support marriage for same-sex couples; Vanderbilt pediatrician to testify before U.S. Senate subcommittee on anti-gay federal marriage amendment, AScribe, 10/19/05

October 24, 2005
" 'Judicial tyranny' is a phrase usually heard from those whose prejudices have not been sustained by a court's decision."
- Rev. Peter J. Gomes,
American Baptist minister, Boston Globe Editorial, 2/8/2004

October 16, 2005
"I am a heterosexual, and I've learned that many heterosexuals [including myself] find the thought of homosexuality uncomfortable. [However], real people suffer when the law enforces my discomfort."
- Dan Mollison, student at University of Illinois, Daily Illini, 10/12/2005

October 10, 2005
"An Englishman politician, faced with new information, changed his position on an important policy. When an opponent rose to criticize him, he looked at him and said, ''When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do?'"
- Chandler Burr in his article, The Only Question that Matters: Do People Choose Their Sexual Orientation?

October 3, 2005
"It's bittersweet because we're being treated as second-class citizens. It's not full marriage equality."

"[I]t's a huge step in that direction. When the marriage bill passes, because it's only a matter of time, we'll be back."
- Randy Sharp, 46
- Jeff Blanchette, 44

The couple, Jeff and Randy, joins other same-sex couples who line up at Hartford City Hall to seek civil union licenses on Saturday, October 1 as Connecticut becomes the first state to legalize civil unions without a court order. AP Story, The Advocate, 10/1/2005

September 25, 2005
"I haven't talked to any married heterosexual couples that have felt threatened by [marriage equality]. When you look at the world situation...there's a lot worse things...than allowing two people who love each other to be together."
-MA State Representative Anne M. Gobi, Boston Globe, 9/11/2005

 

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