National
Election results bolster state marriage fights
Rhode Island, other states expected to debate issue in 2013
Polls show President Obama’s same-sex marriage support did not hurt him among voters. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Same-sex marriage advocates contend the Nov. 6 election results have given them additional momentum to fight for nuptials for gays and lesbians in their respective states.
Ray Sullivan, campaign manager of Marriage Equality Rhode Island, the group fighting for marriage rights for same-sex couples there, noted to the Washington Blade in a post-Election Day interview the General Assembly will have “more pro-equality legislators seated than ever in history” in 2013.
Gay House Speaker Gordon Fox, who sparked controversy in 2011 when he endorsed a civil unions bill because of a lack of support in his chamber for a marriage measure, has pledged to call a vote on a proposal that would allow nuptials for gays and lesbians in the state before the end of January. The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union noted in May only 52 couples had obtained civil union licenses since the state’s civil union took effect in July 2011.
Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed an executive order earlier this year mandating state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in neighboring Massachusetts, Connecticut and other states. He has also publicly backed marriage rights for same-sex couples, even though he reluctantly signed the controversial 2011 civil unions bill into law.
“There is this sense that finally in Rhode Island it’s not a matter of if, but when,” said Sullivan, who noted MERI and other advocates could focus on building additional support for the same-sex marriage bill in the state Senate if it passes in the House. “The results from last Tuesday both here and throughout the country represent quite frankly ground-shifting momentum for the pro-equality effort. Our focus and our jobs will be to capitalize on that momentum, reaffirm the support we already have, work with this record [majority and] finally make 2013 the year that we get this done.”
Voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington on Election Day approved referenda that either extended nuptials to gays and lesbians or upheld their state’s same-sex marriage laws. Minnesotans also rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, who supports nuptials for gays and lesbians, is among those who spoke out against Amendment 1.
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, who signed his state’s civil unions bill into law in May 2011, raised eyebrows in August when he suggested to the Huffington Post state lawmakers could debate a same-sex marriage bill as early as next year.
Garden State Equality Chair Steven Goldstein expressed confidence in a post-Election Day statement New Jersey’s Democratic-controlled state legislature will override Gov. Chris Christie’s veto of the same-sex marriage bill lawmakers approved earlier this year. The state does not have a referendum or initiative process, but Goldstein stressed his group remains opposed to the idea of allowing voters to consider marriage rights for gays and lesbians at the ballot.
“The majority should never vote on the civil rights of a minority, period,” he said.
Same-sex marriage advocates in other states are poised to implement a different strategy.
Basic Rights Oregon has launched an online campaign designed to bolster support for a 2014 ballot measure that would overturn the state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Oregon would become the first state in the country to overturn such a ban if voters support the referendum.
“As more and more Americans are having conversations with gay and lesbian friends and family about why marriage matters, they’re coming to realize that this is not a political issue: This is about love, commitment and family,” reads the appeal. “We know that we are on the right path. Our outreach, just like that of the states who [have won] the freedom to marry is winning hearts and minds.”
Rick Sutton, executive director of Equality Indiana Action, which opposes a proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban marriage for same-sex couples that is expected to go before voters in 2014, told the Blade his group has already looked to the campaign that defeated Minnesota’s Amendment 1 for guidance.
“It’s pretty clear to me to win an amendment like that — there’s was very similar to what ours will likely be — you have to have a pretty broad coalition of businesses, faith community, labor, retired folks, the whole gamut,” said Sutton. He noted WellPoint, the Simon Property Group and other Indiana-based corporations have already spoken out against the proposed amendment. “It will be difficult to attract and retain top quality scientists and engineers, particularly younger ones, who just don’t think this is something government should be getting involved with. They’re concerned about their future workforce.”
An ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Nov. 14 indicates 51 percent of Americans support marriage rights for same-sex couples. A Gallup poll conducted shortly after President Obama publicly endorsed marriage rights for same-sex couples noted 60 percent of respondents said his position on the issue would not influence whether they would support or oppose his re-election bid.
“What happened I think with this election is that it’s taken away the argument from our opponents that when legislators are forced to vote to affirm the right of same-sex couples to marriage equality, the popular sentiment is on the opposite side,” Equality Illinois CEO Bernard Cherkasov told the Blade.
Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Illinois on May 30 filed lawsuits against the Cook County Clerk’s office on behalf of 25 same-sex couples. Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez have both said they support the litigation, while Cook County Clerk David Orr and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel are among those who support marriage rights for same-sex couples.
More than 4,800 same-sex couples have taken advantage of the state’s civil unions law since it took effect in July 2011, but Cherkasov said the election results confirm “there’s popular support for marriage equality.”
“Lawmakers should follow suit and actually grant marriage equality to gay and lesbian couples in loving, committed relationships,” he said. “We intend to carry that message to our lawmakers in Illinois.”
Sutton agreed as he discussed Obama’s evolution on the successful same-sex marriage referenda in Maine, Maryland and Washington on Election Day.
“National momentum is there,” he said. “The time has come for the other side to realize where they are. They won’t give up quietly. Their argument never changes. It’s always the same, and we’re ready for that. We’re absolutely ready.”
U.S. Federal Courts
Federal judge blocks Trump passport executive order
State Department can no longer issue travel documents with ‘X’ gender markers
A federal judge on Friday ruled in favor of a group of transgender and nonbinary people who have filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s executive order that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers.
The Associated Press notes U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston issued a preliminary injunction against the directive. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the plaintiffs, in a press release notes Kobick concluded Trump’s executive order “is likely unconstitutional and in violation of the law.”
“The preliminary injunction requires the State Department to allow six transgender and nonbinary people to obtain passports with sex designations consistent with their gender identity while the lawsuit proceeds,” notes the ACLU. “Though today’s court order applies only to six of the plaintiffs in the case, the plaintiffs plan to quickly file a motion asking the court to certify a class of people affected by the State Department policy and to extend the preliminary injunction to that entire class.”
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.
Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.
The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022. Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January.
Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.
“This ruling affirms the inherent dignity of our clients, acknowledging the immediate and profound negative impact that the Trump administration’s passport policy would have on their ability to travel for work, school, and family,” said ACLU of Massachusetts Legal Director Jessie Rossman after Kobick issued her ruling.
“By forcing people to carry documents that directly contradict their identities, the Trump administration is attacking the very foundations of our right to privacy and the freedom to be ourselves,” added Rossman. “We will continue to fight to rescind this unlawful policy for everyone so that no one is placed in this untenable and unsafe position.”
State Department
HIV/AIDS activists protest at State Department, demand full PEPFAR funding restoration
Black coffins placed in front of Harry S. Truman Building
Dozens of HIV/AIDS activists on Thursday gathered in front of the State Department and demanded the Trump-Vance administration fully restore President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief funding.
Housing Works CEO Charles King, Health GAP Executive Director Asia Russell, Human Rights Campaign Senior Public Policy Advocate Matthew Rose, and others placed 206 black Styrofoam coffins in front of the State Department before the protest began.
King said more than an estimated 100,000 people with HIV/AIDS will die this year if PEPFAR funding is not fully restored.
“If we continue to not provide the PEPFAR funding to people living in low-income countries who are living with HIV or at risk, we are going to see millions and millions of deaths as well as millions of new infections,” added King.
Then-President George W. Bush in 2003 signed legislation that created PEPFAR.
The Trump-Vance administration in January froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for at least 90 days. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later issued a waiver that allows the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the freeze.
The Washington Blade has previously reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down because of a lack of U.S. funding. Two South African organizations — OUT LGBT Well-being and Access Chapter 2 — that received PEPFAR funding through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in recent weeks closed down HIV-prevention programs and other services to men who have sex with men.
Rubio last month said 83 percent of USAID contracts have been cancelled. He noted the State Department will administer those that remain in place “more effectively.”
“PEPFAR represents the best of us, the dignity of our country, of our people, of our shared humanity,” said Rose.
Russell described Rubio as “ignorant and incompetent” and said “he should be fired.”
“What secretary of state in 90 days could dismantle what the brilliance of AIDS activism created side-by-side with George W. Bush? What kind of fool could do that? I’ll tell you who, the boss who sits in the Harry S. Truman Building, Marco Rubio,” said Russell.
U.S. Military/Pentagon
Pentagon urged to reverse Naval Academy book ban
Hundreds of titles discussing race, gender, and sexuality pulled from library shelves
Lambda Legal and the Legal Defense Fund issued a letter on Tuesday urging U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to reverse course on a policy that led to the removal of 381 books from the Nimitz Library of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
Pursuant to President Donald Trump’s executive order 14190, “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” the institution screened 900 titles to identify works promoting “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” removing those that concerned or touched upon “topics pertaining to the experiences of people of color, especially Black people, and/or LGBTQ people,” according to a press release from the civil rights organizations.
These included “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou, “Stone Fruit” by Lee Lai, “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas, “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong” by James W. Loewen, “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe, and “Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul” by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.
The groups further noted that “the collection retained other books with messages and themes that privilege certain races and religions over others, including ‘The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan’ by Thomas Dixon, Jr., ‘Mein Kampf’ by Adolf Hitler, and ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad.
In their letter, Lambda Legal and LDF argued the books must be returned to circulation to preserve the “constitutional rights” of cadets at the institution, warning of the “danger” that comes with “censoring materials based on viewpoints disfavored by the current administration.”
“Such censorship is especially dangerous in an educational setting, where critical inquiry, intellectual diversity, and exposure to a wide array of perspectives are necessary to educate future citizen-leaders,” Lambda Legal Chief Legal Officer Jennifer C. Pizer and LDF Director of Strategic Initiatives Jin Hee Lee said in the press release.
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