From civil disobedience to lawsuits
Same-sex couples battle for right to marriage
By Leslie Feinberg
District attorneys and legislators, police and
presidential hopefuls are trying to retake the beachheads after
activism and widespread civil disobedience have pushed forward
the struggle for equal access to civil marriage.
In a March 12 news conference, Massa chusetts Gov. Mitt
Romney raised the possibility that he might try to block the
state from carrying out a ruling by its highest court that
Massachusetts must begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex
couples on May 17.
In New York, in an extraordinary move by the state, the
Ulster County district attorney filed criminal misdemeanor
charges on March 15 against two Unitar ian ministers who
performed same-sex marriages in New Paltz, N.Y.
The Revs. Dawn Sangrey and Kay Greenleaf, plus another
minister for whom charges may still be pending, had married 25
couples on March 13. The two had also performed a dozen
same-sex marriages a week earlier, after New Paltz Mayor Jason
West was socked with 19 criminal counts for wedding more than
25 same-sex couples on Feb. 27.
A March 11 California Supreme Court order put a halt to
issuing marriage licen ses in San Francisco to same-sex
couples, pending a court review in May or June. More than 4,000
couples had been married in City Hall in the city by the bay in
the 28 days prior to the court intervention.
More than 2,200 couples obtained marriage licenses in
Portland, Ore., before the state attorney general there stepped
in to put a halt to it.
The city of Asbury Park, N.J., stopped issuing licenses to
same-sex couples on March 9, after an order from the state's
attorney general. The city immediately sued the state to
recognize the first marriage conducted there.
In both California and New Jersey, supporters of same-sex
marriage access--including lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans
couples and municipalities--filed countersuits in the
courts.
But as Tom Teepen wrote in a March 16 column for Cox
Newspapers, "The crush at welcoming city halls may be pushed
back for now, but in its brief season it exposed a huge pent-up
pressure among gays and lesbians to see their commitments
secured. A social eruption like that, once vented, can very
rarely be capped again."
And new fronts of civil disobedience and solidarity are
opening up in the grassroots struggle to win equal access to
civil marriage.
'Arrest us!'
African American leaders held a powerful rally and media
conference on the steps of City Hall on March 14. One of the
organizers, City Council Member Phil Reed, told reporters, "In
the recent debate and discussion about same-sex marriage, the
vast majority of images have been of Caucasian gays and
lesbians.
"The truth of the matter is that there are hundreds of
thousands of African Amer ican gays and lesbians, and many
other groups, who are also supporters of same-sex
marriage."
Organizations that took part in the rally included the
National Black Justice Coali tion, African Ancestral Lesbians
United for Societal Change and Gay Men of African Descent.
The NBJC has launched a countrywide campaign opposing a
federal constitutional amendment that would deny the equal
economic and social rights of civil marriage to same-sex
couples.
Latinos and Latinas rallied in front of the Bronx courthouse
in support of same-sex marriage rights on March 14. Mark Reyes
said in a March 13 statement, "As you know, last week, with the
leadership of the Bronx Lesbian and Gay Health Resource
Consortium, we held a counter-demonstration to a group of
Hispanic evangelical ministers who stood on the steps of the
Bronx Courthouse and not only supported President Bush's
constitutional amendment, but also spewed bigotry against the
gay community in opposing civil marriage rights as well."
A group of some two dozen clergy converged outside police
headquarters in Manhattan on March 11, decrying the legal
injustice of denying same-sex marriage access. "This is
bigotry. This is discrimination," stated Rabbi Sharon
Kleinbaum. The group called on New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
to press state legislators to legalize marriage for all
sexes.
The clergy informed the cops that they had performed
weddings for same-sex couples and challenged: "We say to the
authorities of New York, 'Arrest us'!"
Other Jewish and Christian clergy publicly vowed to wed
couples on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan at 1 p.m. on
March 18.
New Paltz Mayor Jason West has publicly vowed, "I will start
conducting same-sex marriages again as soon as the injunction
is removed." He reports that 1,000 of the 6,000 village
residents rallied in defense at the courthouse on the day of
his arraignment.
In Massachusetts, California, Oregon, Georgia, New Jersey,
New York, Mich i gan, Maryland, Wisconsin, Kansas, Wash ing
ton, West Virginia and other states this demand--marriage in
form, for economic and social equality in content--is being
fought out on many fronts.
Legislative attempts to codify inequality in state
constitutions are resulting in wins, losses and draws. A storm
of suits and countersuits is raging in the courts. The issue
has injected itself into the presidential elections, despite
the fact--and because of the fact--that both leading candidates
of both big business parties oppose same-sex marriage.
And in villages, towns and cities across the country,
individuals are confronting the authorities, insisting that the
state recognize their right to equal access to civil marriage
by issuing licenses.
Reprinted from the March 25, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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