Same-sex marriage: breaking down the closet door
As of March 3, civil disobedience in support of same-sex
marriage is spreading through the U.S. In Portland, Oregon, the
Multnomah County Board of Com mis sioners announced that it
will issue marriage licenses to gays and lesbians today. In
Detroit, supporters of same-sex marriage rallied downtown, with
same-sex couples expected to request marriage licenses at the
Wayne County clerk's office. At the Capitol building in Atlanta
demonstration, gay rights activist Lisa Flick briefly blocked
traffic by sitting down in the street and was dragged away by
police. In New York state, the mayor of New Paltz says he will
continue to perform same-sex marriages despite being charged
with 19 criminal counts, possibly facing jail time for his
actions. Joining him in defiance is Mayor John Shields of
Nyack, who says that, not only will he marry other same-sex
couples, he will seek a marriage license for himself and his
same-sex partner
By Leslie Feinberg
The demand by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and
trans mass movement to end state discrimination against
same-sex marriages is breaking down the closet door.
As activists across the country press for same-sex access to
civil marriage, a Massa chusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling
allowing same-sex marriage in the state is set to take effect
on May 17.
San Francisco continues to issue marriage licenses.
Elsewhere in California, the Oakland City Council is expected
to approve a resolution on March 16 calling on the county clerk
to do likewise. The Berkeley City Council passed a similar
advisory resolution on Feb. 17. Unlike San Francisco, Oakland
and Berkeley are not both cities and counties. Only counties
can issue marriage licenses or sanction weddings.
In New Mexico on Feb. 20, Sandoval County Clerk Victoria
Dunlap issued marriage certificates to 66 same-sex couples. The
state attorney general immediately declared the licenses null
and void.
A week later, on Feb. 27, the mayor of New Paltz in Ulster
County, N.Y.--a village of 6,000, about 75 miles north of
Manhattan--began performing same-sex nuptials, despite the fact
that the state refuses to recognize them as legal. Mayor Jason
West said that one day after the first 25 same-sex couples tied
the knot outside New Paltz Village Hall, more than 500 other
requests had poured in. West vowed to continue the
ceremonies.
The Poughkeepsie Journal reported: "West said he hasn't been
served with any papers from prosecutors or officials who have
said they will punish the mayor for performing what they claim
are illegal ceremonies. Civil liberties advocates and legal
scholars said nothing in New York law forbids the practice.
Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams said he is
waiting for a police report to determine whether to
prosecute."
Chicago Mayor Richard Daly said he is not opposed to Cook
County officials issuing marriage licenses to same-sex
couples.
Activists are rallying by the hundreds and the thousands,
from West Hollywood to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to Columbus, Ohio.
They are demanding that their cities and counties also join in
this rolling defiance of state discrimination, which results in
same-sex couples being denied more than 1,000 rights that civil
marriage confers on heterosexual couples.
In Fort Collins, Colo., more than 400 rallied Feb. 27 to
denounce U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave and her proposed
legislation--euphemistically called the Federal Marriage
Amendment--which would amend the U.S. Constitution to bar
same-sex marriage.
Several hundred same-sex marriage supporters of all
sexualities rallied in downtown Rochester, N.Y., on Feb. 29.
Chuck Bowen, executive director of the Gay Alliance of the
Genesee Valley, encou raged local same-sex couples to travel to
Massachusetts as soon as licenses become available and come
home to challenge Rochester City Hall to recognize the
marriages. Rochester City Council mem ber Bill Pritchard, one
of two openly gay council members, responded: "I'll meet you in
City Hall. I'll be your witness."
In Houston, 16 same-sex couples lined up outside the country
clerk's office, but officials denied their request for
licenses. Couples also demanded the right to marry in Columbia,
S.C., and Minneapolis.
On Feb. 29, activists packed the steps of New York City Hall
to demand that Mayor Michael Bloomberg stop refusing to allow
same-sex couples to marry. More than 500 activists had
assembled at the LGBT Community Center on short notice earlier
in the week, to help build momentum to continue this burgeoning
movement.
And in Ithaca, N.Y., Mayor Carolyn K. Peterson announced
March 1 that the city clerk would immediately begin accepting
same-sex marriage applications and forwarding them to the
state. She said this is intended to force a court ruling. New
York is not one of the states that has passed a law explicitly
banning same-sex marriage, and many legal experts say the state
has no basis to refuse to recognize such marriages.
Reprinted from the March 11, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
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