Civil rights icon Julian Bond and the Human Rights Campaign this week released a video featuring Bond in the “Americans for Marriage Equality” series, calling for same-sex couples to have the right to marry.
The HRC calls the series a public engagement campaign.
“The issue of marriage equality is at a critical time as it moves through electoral, legislative and judicial arenas,” reads the HRC website.
Gay marriage opponents have long used the ridiculous argument that allowing gay marriage opens up the legal system to all kinds of marriages — including polygamous marriages in which one man is married to several women.
Today marks a strange twist in that logic as the lawyer for Kody Brown and his four wives, stars of TLC's polygamy reality series “Sister Wives,” announced that the Browns plans to sue the state of Utah over its bigamy law, which goes beyond criminalizing multiple marriage licenses and actually prohibits married people from purporting to marry another person, or live with another person in a marriage-like way.
Here's how the ALCU sums it up:
Freedom to Marry, a national organization dedicated to marriage equality, has released a video showing the impact of the Defense of Marriage Act on one gay couple.
Titled, "Why Ron is Losing His Home: the Defense of Marriage Act," the slightly more than 2-minute video shares the story of Ron Wallen, 77, after the death of his husband and partner of 58 years, Tom Carrollo.
Carrollo and Wallen were legally married in California in 2008 before Proposition 8 was passed, making it now illegal for same-sex couples to marry. When Carrollo died on March 8, 2011, Wallen lost a source of income that may cause him to have to sell their home.
Even as the fight for marriage equality continues on the state and federal fronts, some four out of 10 Americans recently surveyed by the Pew Research Center said that the tradition is becoming obsolete.
Pew found that 39 percent of respondents said that marriage was becoming or is already obsolete. Time Magazine asked a similar question in 1978 and only 28 percent held the same view.
Pew's report highlights a declining trend in marriages since 1960. According to Pew, in 2008 only 53 percent of “adults” were married. In 1960, that number was 72 percent.
The report also found that only 43 percent of those surveyed said more gay couples raising children was good for society.
None of the candidates to be Georgia’s next governor have campaigned for LGBT votes, although several have long — mostly negative — records on LGBT issues.
Most candidates declined to respond to surveys from the Georgia Voice and LGBT political groups, while several Republican candidates have tried to use their opposition to gay rights as campaign strategies.
Among the major Democratic candidates, former Gov. Roy Barnes has the clearest, generally positive record of not shutting out gay constituents, largely due to his former term in office.
Among the Republicans, Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has continued his outspoken opposition to fairness for LGBT couples in his bid for higher office, while former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal has attempted to use former Secretary of State Karen Handel’s past support for issues like domestic partner benefits against her.
Joan Sherwood and Debbie Fraker celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary and 19 years together on April 19. They were married in Toronto, Ontario, in 2004 with the Honourable Justice Harvey Brownstone performing the ceremony.