Archives – May, 2013
By Jacob Combs
Fifty-six percent of California adults support marriage equality, according to a new poll released yesterday by the Public Policy Institute of California. That number constitutes a record high for the survey, with only 38 percent of respondents opposing equal marriage rights. From Bloomberg News:
“The more that there’s been acceptable and legal change in other states, the more Californians have been accepting, especially among some of those groups that were strongly opposed,” Mark Baldassare, the group’s president, said by telephone.
Approval of same-sex nuptials has almost reversed since 2000, when the institute said its first survey on the subject showed 39 percent in favor and 55 percent against. Support reached 50 percent in March 2010. A poll in January found gay unions favored by 53 percent to 41 percent opposed.
Republican approval has doubled to 46 percent from 23 percent in October 2008, the latest survey said.
In February, I wrote about another poll, conducted by Field, which also showed record high support for marriage equality at 61 percent:
The Field poll’s results found a dramatic increase in support for equal marriage rights since 2010, with a 10 percentage point increase in approval. Democrats and nonpartisan voters favor marriage equality by an identical 71-25 percent split (an increase for nonpartisans of 19 percent over the last three years) and while Republicans remain opposed to equal marriage rights with 39 percent approving and 53 percent disapproving, their support has nevertheless increased 13 percentage points since 2010.
With the Supreme Court due to issue a ruling on the constitutionality of Prop 8 by the end of June, LGBT advocates both in California and at the national level are pondering the next step for marriage equality in the Golden State. Were the Court to stop short of a decision that restored equal marriages to California’s same-sex couples–or if further litigation at the state level threatened to drag on–there is certainly a possibility that California could go back to the ballot in 2014 to repeal Prop 8. As both the Field and PPIC polls demonstrate, any such ballot measure would start out with significant support, and would seem likely to be successful.
May 31, 2013
By Scottie Thomaston
Supreme Court building
– Next week, the final few weeks of the Supreme Court term begins. The Court is widely expected to release the opinions in the marriage cases on the last week of June, but the pace of opinion releases will start to pick up this month.
– Will Illinois pass marriage equality? Today is the last day of the legislative session.
– A new (non-scientific) survey shows that the “gay cure” doesn’t work.
– The mayor of Dallas, TX, still refuses to support a marriage equality resolution, though he says he believes same-sex couples should be able to marry.
– Maine’s court system hands the National Organization for Marriage another loss.
– Delaware lawmakers introduce anti-discrimination bill to protect people who are transgender.
May 31, 2013
By Scottie Thomaston
President Obama speaking at Second Inaugural Address
The Illinois General Assembly adjourns tomorrow, leaving the state house with only the next two days to pass the marriage equality bill. The state senate passed the bill on Valentine’s Day and since then, legislators have been wrangling privately over the vote: 60 votes are required for passage, and it’s expected to be close, if the vote is called before the session’s end. High profile Democrats have weighed in over the course of the past few months, including President Obama and former President Bill Clinton.
At a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fund raiser, Buzzfeed reports, President Obama reiterated his message that the bill should be passed:
With two days left in the Illinois legislative session, President Obama reiterated his support for a marriage equality bill there, telling attendees at a fundraising dinner in Chicago Wednesday night that passage of the bill is “the right thing to do.”
“Here in Illinois, we’ve got a vote on same-sex marriage that’s going to be coming up in the state legislature. And I just want to say for the record it’s something that I deeply support,” Obama said at the event held to raise money for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Another report notes that President Obama is a key ally supporting marriage equality in the state, as a former state and then U.S. Senator in Illinois. As of this writing, there are still a significant number of undecideds on the bill. A few have announced their intentions, but it’s not clear how the rest will vote if the bill is called. Illinois would be the 13th state to allow same-sex couples to marry, and as EqualityOnTrial has written, it is one of the last states where legislative action is possible, since most of the remaining ones have constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. Those would need to be placed on the ballot in a future election.
May 30, 2013
By Jacob Combs
Michigan senators have introduced four pieces of legislation that would change the state’s laws in favor of marriage equality, according to a press release issued yesterday by Equality Michigan.
Three of the bills pertain directly to marriage equality, while the fourth is a resolution calling on the repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. From the press release:
Michigan Senate Joint Resolution W, introduced by Sentor Rebekah Warren (D-Washtenaw), would allow Michigan voters to repeal the 2004 amendment to the state constitution banning same-gender relationship recognition by the government. Senate Resolution 64, introduced by Senator Bert Johnson (D-Wayne), calls on the federal government to repeal their Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Senate Bill 405, introduced by Senator Gretchen Whitmer (D-Ingham), would repeal legal limitations on same-gender relationships put in place prior to the 2004 constitutional ban. Finally, Senate Bill 406, introduced by Senator Virgil Smith (D-Wayne), would recognize same-gender marriages occuring in states where such relationships are already legally recognized.
As we’ve written about before here at EqualityOnTrial, Michigan has some of the most stringent laws in the country against legal recognition of same-sex couples’ unions. Just yesterday, we reported on one couple’s attempt to protect their relationship in spite of the state’s laws:
One same-sex couple in Michigan has taken a novel–and perhaps futile–approach to the state’s draconian marriage equality ban. According to WILX.com, Chris Swope and Bradly Rakowski filed their marriage license with the Ingham County Register of Deeds as proof of joint custody for their house. Under Michigan law, unmarried individuals are not entitled to inherit their partner’s assets if one of them dies.
Curtis Hertel Jr., an employee at the Ingham County Register of Deeds, went looking through Michigan’s marriage laws for such a loophole after receiving calls from gay and lesbian individuals whose partners had died. Although Swope and Rakowski were not prohibited from filing the license by law, it remains to be seen whether the courts will recognize the document if a suit should ever be brought. “We are breaking new ground,” Hertel told WILX. “We’ve never shied away from controversy.”
Earlier this month, a new poll by the Chicago-based Glengariff group found that 56.6 percent of Michiganders favor equal marriage rights while 36.7 percent remain opposed to marriage equality. Those numbers represent a remarkable increase–more than 12 percentage points–of public support for marriage equality in Michigan since last year, a shift that was attributable in large part by Republicans and independent voters changing their minds on marriage rights. Support amongst Republicans increased more than 16 percent since last year, while independent voters’ support jumped by 14 percent.
In addition to the legislative efforts to change Michigan’s marriage laws, there is also a federal lawsuit, DeBoer v. Snyder, currently pending in a Detroit district court. In that case, Judge Bernard Friedman invited the plaintiffs to amend their complaint–which had originally focused only on adoption rights–to challenge Michigan’s marriage equality ban. In March, Judge Friedman placed the case on hold until a final decision by the Supreme Court in the Prop 8 case and the Windsor challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act.
May 30, 2013
By Scottie Thomaston 
– Exxon Mobil will vote again on LGBT antidiscrimination policies, but they have failed to allow these protections in the past. UPDATE: The protections were voted down.
– Another Illinois lawmaker announces support for marriage equality in the final days of the legislative session.
– The Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Ohio has announced support for marriage equality.
– Michele Bachmann, anti-LGBT representative from Minnesota, won’t seek re-election to Congress.
May 29, 2013
By Jacob Combs
Scotland’s government will introduce a marriage equality bill next month, according to Gay Star News, setting up a timeline that could allow for marriages by fall 2014.
As we reported last summer, the left-leaning majority Scottish National Party (SNP) had been expected to announce plans for marriage equality legislation but punted instead, saying it needed more time to include religious protections into the measure.
A public consultation conducted by the government on marriage rights had garnered 77,508 responses–the most in Scotland’s history–but the SNP announced it would be conducing a further consultation on the religious liberties issue. A public comment period on the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) bill closed in March, but the results of the bill’s comment period have not been made public.
Once the legislation is formally introduced, it will be considered by the members of Scottish parliament (MSPs). Speaking to the MSPs, Health Secretary Alex Neil said, “Obviously we have given a commitment to introduce this legislation after the extensive consultation we have had as quickly as possible, which is what we’re doing. I would hope the timetabling would be such that we could see this Bill become law sooner rather than later.”
Here in the United States, one same-sex couple in Michigan has taken a novel–and perhaps futile–approach to the state’s draconian marriage equality ban. According to WILX.com, Chris Swope and Bradly Rakowski filed their marriage license with the Ingham County Register of Deeds as proof of joint custody for their house. Under Michigan law, unmarried individuals are not entitled to inherit their partner’s assets if one of them dies.
Curtis Hertel Jr., an employee at the Ingham County Register of Deeds, went looking through Michigan’s marriage laws for such a loophole after receiving calls from gay and lesbian individuals whose partners had died. Although Swope and Rakowski were not prohibited from filing the license by law, it remains to be seen whether the courts will recognize the document if a suit should ever be brought. “We are breaking new ground,” Hertel told WILX. “We’ve never shied away from controversy.”
Michigan has some of the most stringent laws in the country against legal recognition of same-sex couples’ unions. In addition to its marriage equality ban, the state Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that public universities in the state could not offer domestic partnership benefits to same-sex couples. As the AP noted in its piece, because of that ruling and the 2004 amendment, many public employers in the state have transitioned to offering benefits for “other eligible individuals” in employees’ households, a classification that could include–but does not specifically reference–gay partners.
In 2011, Gov. Snyder signed a law that prohibited health benefits for domestic partners of public employees, although the provision did not apply to public universities. That law has been challenged in court. Another LGBT rights lawsuit, DeBoer v. Snyder, is currently pending in a federal district court in Michigan. In that case, Judge Bernard Friedman invited the plaintiffs to amend their complaint–which had originally focused only on adoption rights–to challenge Michigan’s marriage equality ban. In March, Judge Friedman placed the case on hold until a final decision by the Supreme Court in the Prop 8 case and the Windsor challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act.
May 29, 2013
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