by Candace Gingrich-Jones
For pretty much my whole adult life there have been very few political issues on which my brother and I agree. But in an interview that The Huffington Post did with my brother, there were actually multiple items that had me nodding my head when usually it would be shaking in exasperation. He stated that the Republicans could no longer ignore the shift in public opinion on marriage equality. Agreed! The percentage of Americans who support marriage equality is the highest it has ever been; in fact, support for marriage equality has increased by 21 percent in just the last eight years, and Gallup's recent poll showed 53 percent of Americans supporting marriage equality.
This support is a direct result of the second thing in the interview that I agree with: "It is in every family. It is in every community." HRC's Coming Out Project has stated for years that people who know someone LGBT are changed by it. Today, more people know same-sex couples, and that has helped them understand the need to legally recognize our relationships. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that of those opposing marriage equality, 60 percent said they didn't know (or didn't know they know!) a gay or lesbian person.
Eureka! There is a third thing I agree with: In the near future there will be more states that vote to recognize marriage equality for same-sex couples. Already we have heard from elected leaders in Rhode Island, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota and Delaware that there will be a push for marriage equality in their states. And when DOMA is struck down as unconstitutional, another barrier to recognizing the relationships of gay and lesbian couples will have fallen.
There also is something that my brother said in the interview with which I do not agree (you knew it couldn't last!). Newt suggested that both he and the Republican Party could accept a distinction between a "marriage in a church from a legal document issued by the state." The fact is that there already is a distinction between ceremonial marriage (whether in a church, a synagogue or a temple, or on the beach, in a fire hall, etc.) and a legal marriage license. Marriage opponents have been effective at clouding this issue, but marriage equality will not and cannot force anyone to perform or hold a wedding ceremony in their house of worship. One of the important pieces of the marriage equality legislation in my home state of Maryland was clearly worded language that spelled this out. (On a related note, Maryland also passed the DREAM Act, another type of bill that my brother suggested Republicans should support.) MORE!
U.S. News - Breaking News and Latest Headlines
Celebrity News, Photos and Videos - HuffPost Celebrity
LGBT News, Culture, Opinion and Conversations
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Wonder Woman Approved! Anderson Cooper, Jeffrey Tambor, Judith Light, Laverne Cox, Rupert Friend, Lynda Carter, Ross Mathews, Jussie Smo...
-
by Alan Bounville Below is my extended response to the article titled “T he LGBT Grassroots vs. HRC: Fighting for a One-Bill Equality St...
-
Zachary Quinto , the former Heroes star who transitioned to the big screen as Mr. Spock in Star Trek, is currently appearing on the New York...
-
Associated Press reporter David Crary tweets that NOM's Maggie Gallagher has been replaced as the organization's chair by Chapman U...
-
While Todd keeps make up artist Alfie Cooper busy at Chunk Studios, Nelson, Reggie and Wood search his house in Silverlake hoping to fin...
-
by MK Scott It is hard to believe that 2009 was the last time Seattle held a Mr. Nude Seattle Contest. Started in the late- 90s, Mr...
-
Writing Scott Evans character of Oliver Fish out of One Life to Live has got to be one of the biggest bonehead decisions in the history of ...
-
One out of four adult men travel with a secret tucked away in their suitcases—a special stuffed animal. That's what hotel chain Travelod...
-
Watch out macho men: German researchers have found a way to make males more sensitive. A hormone-laced potion called "cuddle spray"...
-
Compiled by Mike Webber OK, I know Sunset Beach went off the air in 2000, but while driving through Seal Beach (The site where Sunset Beach ...
Contributors/Series
Our Favorite Sites
- Boy Culture
- Deep Dish
- Edge Seattle
- Fancast
- GLBT Yellow Pages
- Gay Crawler
- Gay Dating on OneGoodLove.com
- Greg in Hollywood
- Jesse Archer
- Kenneth in the 212
- Mark's List in Florida!
- Newser
- Out in Seatttle
- PQ Monthly
- Planet Homo
- Queer Me Up
- Seattle Gay News
- Smoking Cocktail
- The Stranger
- Towleroad
- Trans Lives Matter
- Views from a Broad
- We Love Soaps
- Wicked Gay Blog
Creative Commons License
OutView Online by MK Scott is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.outviewonline.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.outviewonline.com/p/contact-us.html.
No comments:
Post a Comment