2010 Census Will Count Same-Sex Couples In Reversal Of Bush Policy

U.S. Census Bureau officials said Friday that married same-sex couples will be counted as such in the 2010 national tally, reversing an earlier decision made under the Bush administration.

Steve Jost, a spokesman for the Census Bureau, said officials already were identifying the technical changes needed to ensure the reliability of the information, but remained committed to providing an accurate tally of gay spouses.

“They will be counted, and they ought to report the way they see themselves,” Jost said. “In the normal process of reports coming out after the census of 2010, I think the country will have a good data set on which to discuss this phenomenon that is evolving in this country.”

Same-sex couples could not get married anywhere in the United States during the last decennial count. But last summer, when two states sanctioned gay unions, the bureau said those legal marriages would go uncounted because the federal Defense of Marriage Act prevented the federal government from recognizing them.

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Lambda Legal Marks First Anniversary of Historic California Marriage Victory

‘…denying marriage to loving and committed same-sex couples is morally wrong…’
(Los Angeles, May 15, 2009) — On the first anniversary of the California Supreme Court’s historic ruling in In re Marriages, Lambda Legal Marriage Project Director Jennifer C. Pizer issued the following statement:
“One year ago today many thousands of lesbian and gay Californians became full citizens for the first time when the state supreme court ruled that we all are equal under law and everyone – gay and straight alike – must have the same right to marry the person they love. For some of us who’d worked on the case for years, the court’s clarion clear decision gave real meaning to the California Constitution’s promise of equality. And then, as more than 18,000 same-sex couples jubilantly exercised that right all over the state, family and friends shared their joy, cried during their vows, and were changed for the better.

The court’s historic decision also paved the way for the high courts of Connecticut and Iowa, which in turn gave great boosts to the legislatures in Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia. Awareness now is dawning for great numbers of Americans that denying marriage to loving and committed same-sex couples is morally wrong and inflicts real harms—government should not be in the business of discrimination. Public opinion is shifting fast toward fairness. But no minority should have to depend on the generosity of the majority to enjoy basic rights. Proposition 8′s theft of our right to marry has advanced a broadly pernicious recasting of “equal protection” that, if upheld, puts every California minority at risk. It was a sad, knee-jerk response to the sight of couples in love celebrating their happiness.

Paper is the traditional first anniversary gift and there are two obvious examples — our constitution, torn asunder by Prop 8′s antigay exception, and the high court’s imminent decision that we hope will mend that tear. Today’s anniversary reminds us that we win in court and in life when we publicly celebrate our truth, love and joy in equal measures.”

Jennifer C. Pizer is Director of Lambda Legal’s Marriage Project and co-counsel in the cases that established same-sex couples’ right to marry in California and the pending challenge to Proposition 8.

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In Hawaii, Civil unions reawaken gay marriage divisions

The decade-old battle lines over same-sex marriage in Hawaii are being redrawn as lawmakers consider civil unions.

Opponents of civil union measures say it’s just same-sex marriage in a different package. Supporters say public opinion has shifted since Hawaii became the first state to ban gay marriage in its constitution.

An overflow crowd came to testify on one of several measures that would give same-sex partners rights through civil unions much like those in legal marriage.

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KHON2, HI

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Civil unions reawaken gay marriage divisions in Hawaii

The decade-old battle lines over same-sex marriage in Hawaii are being redrawn as lawmakers consider civil unions.

An overflow crowd came to testify on one of several measures that would give same-sex partners rights through civil unions much like those in legal marriage.

“My wife got sick not long ago, she was in the hospital, no one questioned my right to be there by her side,” said Eric Gill, representing the Local 5 union.

Opponents stood sharply against any other rights beyond the reciprocal beneficiaries status conferred as a compromise after Hawaii’s gay marriage ban.

“You will be circumventing the will of the 70 percent of the people who voted your constituents who set you a strong and clear message by their vote to preserve traditional marriage,” said opponent Honolulu City Councilmember Gary Okino.

“The public opinion on this issue has changed dramatically,” said proponent Alan Spector of the Family Equality Coalition. “Today in 2009 this is not the controversial issue that is was in the 1990s.”

“If we feel that the tide has changed and that the people of Hawaii are now saying that we want same-sex marriage, then let’s put it to a (public) vote,” said Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona, an opponent of civil unions.

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KHON2 – Honolulu,HI,USA

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Conservative Groups Launch Preemptive Efforts To Retain Gay Bans

Anti-gay rights groups alarmed at the election of a gay-affirming president are staging preemptive attacks on the pro-gay positions of the upcoming Barack Obama administration.

One such group, the Alliance for Marriage Foundation (AMF), the organization that drafted the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA) in Congress, is working against any attempt to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

The conservative group Concerned Women for America (CWA) objects to several progressive Obama ideologies at Obama Watch, but four out of six of their concerns are gay related.

Both groups list defending DOMA from repeal as a priority.

At the AMF sponsored website www.ProtectDOMA.org facts and information about the law that forbids any federal agency from recognizing legal marriage can be found. The law also allows states to ignore legal gay marriages performed in another state.

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