If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Let's say that a child is born to a same-sex married couple (or registered domestic partnership or civil union). What do you think happens if that same couple later moved to a jurisdiction that fails to recognize their relationship?
One doesn't often have the opportunity to make a quick remark that might affect the course of U.S. policy. I got that chance in an unexpected conversation with Barack Obama in 2007.
Over her french fries and diet Coke a 5-year-old girl saw me become a monster and learned what hate was. When my wife kisses me goodbye in front of my office in midtown, I feel that little girl's stare over and over, but aged 30 years.
Ten years ago, I was a 20-year-old Marine who was about to cause a world of trouble by becoming the first person in the military to publicly speak out against the Iraq War.
Eric Manriquez, a U.S. citizen, has been legally married to Juan Rivera, an undocumented immigrant, for five years in California, yet Rivera can't apply for a green card through marriage as heterosexual spouses can, because the federal government doesn't recognize their union.
When illness strikes or a child is born or adopted, workers should not have to worry about losing a job or critical income. The LGBT community must join the call for paid leave laws and ensure that all workers have the support and time to recover from illness and care for their loved ones.
I am not exactly sure that I can explain how it felt to be at the capitol in St. Paul, MN on the day Minnesota legislators cleared the final hurdle and the senators voted to legalize same-sex marriage.
It's simple: people work better together than alone. To believe that you can stand alone and navigate the world by yourself might be a liberating experience, but at the end of the day it usually adds up to a poor day at the races.
With the flourish of a signature, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton declared yesterday that, "Love is the law."
With victories in Delaware, Rhode Island and Minnesota, the number of states with marriage equality has increased by three in just the last few weeks. Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon and even Nevada are on the horizon, but that's when our momentum may start slowing down.
Any contract that has at its essence an invalid clause is in and of itself invalid. So to me, every marriage is invalid as long as two adults are barred from marriage. It is an immoral clause, and a moral cause.
My team is doing great this season! We keep winning! In the past few games we scored big victories in Rhode Island, Delaware and Minnesota! But at the end of the day, I am not in the action. My partner and I are nowhere near getting to play in the game ourselves.
What I hope it does is bear witness to young people that there is a future here for them in Minnesota, that there is a place where all people can get married, where we are continually working to be more inclusive, more open, and a little more whole.
Recent pastoral letters and press conferences from Roman Catholic Bishops are demonstrating an increasing intolerance for other faiths and beliefs. These statements suggest that individual Catholics are not capable of knowing the strength of their own personal faith.
May we look back 20 years from now and have the joy of remembering that the Supreme Court, instead of leaving us to live in 50 different Americas while the justices themselves lived in one America, found in its wisdom and strength that equal protection of the law is more than just words.
Okay, I'm going to go ahead and say what may sound entirely self-serving. Know what's really keeping the whole herd of clatter-trapping humanity slouching toward anything that might resemble progress? Grandmothers.
