Five stories from five years of same-sex marriage
Cambridge, Mass. - Susan Shepherd looks up at the rough-hewn pink granite of City Hall, just across the Charles River from downtown Boston. An American flag ripples in the wind. Inside the building, a plaque commemorates Cambridge as America’s birthplace of legal same-sex marriage.
“I can’t believe it’s been five years,” Shepherd says, hugging her wife. “I feel like I just met her yesterday.”
Nor can gay marriage opponents believe what’s happened in Massachusetts since, in their view, traditional marriage came to an end.
Yet in the past five years as same-sex marriage became part of Massachusetts’ landscape, many Bay Staters say something unexpected has happened: Life is as it always was.
Just after midnight on May 17, 2004, Shepherd and Marcia Hams, a Cambridge couple who’d been together three decades and raised a son, became Massachusetts’ first same-sex couple to get a marriage license. They had waited 24 hours in rain and cold, and by the time they got the license, 10,000 supporters gathered on the front lawn of City Hall.
Five years later and 1,300 miles away, Iowa on Monday will allow same-sex marriages. As Iowa enters into uncharted territory for the Midwest, the Bay State may serve as a sign of what may come.
Since same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts, about 12,000 same-sex couples have applied for marriage licenses. Gay marriages now comprise about 4 percent of all marriages performed in the state, meaning there are about 1,500 a year.
There have been some same-sex divorces, too, most notably by the couple whose name was on the court case that legalized same-sex marriage.
To be sure, a sizable chunk of Massachusetts’ 6.3 million residents remain opposed to same-sex marriage, mostly on religious grounds. Some say legal same-sex marriage has led to censorship of those who remain opposed, to infringement on the rights of parents who object to same-sex marriage being taught in schools, and to Catholic Charities of Boston ending adoption work because it refused to allow same-sex couples to adopt.
But polling results show a shift toward acceptance of gay marriage. A 2004 survey by the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston found the state split: 42 percent supported gay marriage, 44 percent opposed it. A similar survey in 2008 found 59 percent in support of gay marriage, 37 percent opposed.
As Iowa enters a new era, a drive through Massachusetts and into Maine shows how same-sex marriage has changed life – for better, for worse or, as many say, hardly at all.
See Five stories from five years of same-sex marriage
DesMoinesRegister.com – Des Moines,IA,USA
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Gay marriage advocate downplays opposition to issue
The Chicago based group that orchestrated the move toward gay marriage in Iowa says it will have observers in 25% of the county recorders’ offices Monday when same-sex couples can first seek licenses to marry — but the group is dismissing the idea there is any opposition to the marriages.
Camilla Taylor is the Lambda Legal attorney who led the Iowa lawsuit which resulted in the Iowa Supreme Court ruling that Iowa’s law saying marriage is between a man and a woman is unconstitutional.
Taylor was asked during a conference call with reporters Thursday if there was confusion among state officials over how they should handle gay marriage issues. Taylor says she hasn’t heard any particular difficulties in working out what the decision means. She says Iowa isn’t the first state to rule that marriage licenses must be issued to same-sex couples, so there is a lot of help available if Iowa officials have questions.
Lambda officials say Iowa has “embraced” the gay marriage ruling, and Taylor dismissed recent attempts in the legislature to bring up a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Taylor says the state legislature “has made it very clear that the state legislature is not interested in putting discrimination into the constitution and that there are a lot of other issues that Iowans care about. She says there are budget issues and the state is recovering from natural disasters, “so I don’t think there is any will to amend the state constitution.”
Democratic leaders have blocked several attempts to bring up the vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Taylor was asked if her confidence would change if Republicans won back control or the legislature or if Iowa voters decided to call for a constitutional convention in 2010.
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Radio Iowa – Des Moines,IA,USA
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New Iowa marriage licenses gender neutral
(Des Moines, Iowa) The Iowa Department of Public Health, which registers marriages in the state, has begun sending county clerks new gender neutral marriage license application forms.
Same-sex couples can begin issuing the forms on Monday, the date imposed by the Iowa Supreme Court when it struck down the state ban …
Arizona School Agrees To Lift Rainbow Ban Following ACLU Demands; Gay Student Now Allowed To Wear Wristband
Quintanilla contacted the ACLU in February after her son Chris’s principal told her he wouldn’t allow her son to wear his cloth wristband with words “Rainbows are gay” to school anymore. Last week, the school finally gave assurances to the ACLU that it would not censor Quintanilla’s wristband in the future.
“Students have a constitutional right to free speech at school, and school officials should be aware of their responsibility for upholding this cornerstone of our freedom,” said Elizabeth Gill, staff attorney for the ACLU national Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project. “This district was right to come to its senses and back down from violating the First Amendment, because students have 40 years of Supreme Court precedent on their side when schools do this kind of thing.”
In its letter, the ACLU reminded PUSD officials about the 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Tinker v. Des Moines in which the Court wrote, “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights… at the schoolhouse gate.” The letter also pointed to Gillman v. Holmes County School District, a Florida case in which a high school principal had attempted to ban symbols in support of LGBT rights, including rainbows, at school. In that case, a federal judge ruled last May that the school had violated students’ First Amendment rights. Both cases were handled by the ACLU, which celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Tinker decision in February.
“The schools we entrust to teach our children about society and their freedoms should know better than to violate one of our most fundamental freedoms,” said Alessandra Soler Meetze, Executive Director of the ACLU of Arizona. “We’re glad that PUSD has seen the light about this, but we’re going to be keeping an eye on this district and hold them to their word that they’ll respect the First Amendment from now on.”
The letter the ACLU sent to the district last month is available here:
http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/lgbt/schoolsyouth/az_armb_letter.pdf.
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Iowa orders clerks to comply with marriage ruling
(Des Moines, Iowa) Iowa state officials have told county clerks they must comply with the state Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex couples to obtain marriage licenses.
In an e-mail to all 99 county clerks, the Department of Public Health which registers marriages in Iowa said that clerks must “issue marriage licenses …
Death threats against gay lawmaker following Iowa ruling
(Des Moines, Iowa) Police in Des Moines, Iowa are investigating death threats against openly gay state lawmaker Sen. Matt McCoy (D).
McCoy met with the Iowa State Patrol at the Capitol but declined to give specifics to the media except to confirm he had been threatened with death.
“That’s all I can …
New threat to gay marriage in Iowa
(Des Moines, Iowa) Iowa Republicans were foiled in two bids Thursday to force the state House to take up a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
The moves came as more than 200 protesters demonstrated at the Capitol demanding action to overturn the Iowa State Supreme Court ruling gay and …
Iowa’s GOP Lawmakers Take Aim at Gay Marriage
Opponents of the Iowa Supreme Court ruling last week allowing same-sex marriages said Friday that they would step up pressure on state lawmakers to block the marriages through a constitutional amendment and predicted political fallout for Democratic state leaders, including Gov. Chet Culver, if they did not join the opposition.
“This isn’t over, not even for this year,” said Bryan English, a spokesman for the Iowa Family Policy Center, which encouraged hundreds of opponents of same-sex marriages to meet and pray outside the State Capitol in Des Moines this week, and plans a similar rally next week. “Everyday folks who get up and go to work were shocked at what happened here, and it’s really gotten people activated.”
Since the court ruled unanimously on April 3 that an Iowa law banning the marriages was unconstitutional, opponents have been searching for a way to begin the process of amending the state’s Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
Because, under Iowa law, that process would take two legislative sessions, however, even opponents acknowledge that nothing now seems likely to prevent Iowa from beginning to allow such marriages on April 27 after the ruling becomes final.
Still, inside the Capitol on Thursday, where supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage packed the gallery, Republican representatives twice tried to bring up a constitutional amendment on marriage. Democrats, who control both chambers, cited violations of House procedures in blocking the efforts.
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New York Times -
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Iowa governor cool to anti-gay marriage amendment
(Des Moines, Iowa) Gov. Chet Culver has ended days of silence on the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision allowing same-sex marriage, saying he disagrees with the ruling but is “reluctant to support” amending the state constitution to reverse it.
Culver said in a lengthy statement that he hadn’t changed his mind that …
Iowa gay marriages delayed
(Des Moines, Iowa) The Iowa Supreme Court is delaying the date when same-sex couples can begin filing for marriage licenses because of budget cuts.
Court spokesman Steve Davis announced Tuesday that people can file for licenses beginning Monday, April 27. That’s three days after the previously announced date of April 24.
Davis …
