If you have something to say...
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If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
When Ellen publicly came out, her mom quickly became a visible ally to the LGBT community. Betty has continued to be a strong PFLAG mom for more than 15 years and is the spokeswoman for Care with Pride campaign, an initiative to educate and raise visibility on issues related to bullying.
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.
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.
On year ago President Obama's ABC News interview marked an inflection point in the marriage equality debate, and though it might yet take some time for the legal reality of equal marriage laws to catch up to the political reality, an undeniable shift has occurred.
When the time comes that we finally get the marriage equality we've been fighting for, will the fight be over? How does a movement survive the realization of its goals? In other words, is there life after marriage equality? The answer is yes. But the question is no laughing matter.
I've used the "F" word in the past. It's not something I'm proud to admit. And I wasn't comfortable seeing two guys kiss in public. Funny, seeing two women never affected me the same way. The internal conflict grew stronger as I actually got to meet and know gay and lesbian people.
Get ready: we're about to see major marriage news in at least two states. Rhode Island and Delaware are rocking towards legislative votes, and that means we could see access to marriage dramatically expand just in time for summer.
Even with marriage-equality argument at the Supreme Court all done, there's still lots to get excited about: chiefly, the slow, steady stream of politicians coming out to support the freedom to marry.
It is our duty to future generations of LGBTQ people to not rest on our laurels of steadily advancing poll numbers, legislative and court gains, but to press our advantage now for the greatest possible gains.
The day after the U.S. Supreme Court heard two days of historic arguments over marriage equality, I talked with Lee Swislow, Executive Director of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), which coordinated the amicus briefs and the party briefs in United States v. Windsor.
The Supreme Court in hearing argument in the same-sex marriage cases posed two questions that I doubt were ever asked before.
In a state as diverse as California, virtually every one of us has reason to fear if this is the case.
For those who are planning their weddings (and those who are simply romantics looking forward to their big days), I've pulled together 50 songs (some of my personal favorites), from Céline Dion to Luther Vandross, for each of what I hope will soon be the 50 states with legal gay marriage.
Our children know that for a few months in 2008, the law said "yes" to their family. Their moms are legally married (in California, at least). This legal recognition echoes and enforces what their moms and their community keep telling them: that we should be treated equally.
How dare we who are heterosexual presume to control and limit LGBT people's lives? How dare we suffer the conceit that being gay is mutable and can or should be changed by therapy?
The HRC can do more than they have to build credibility among trans people, as well as to trans intra- and extra-community allies, so incidents such as this one regarding the transgender pride flag incident doesn't resonate as negatively in the way this incident did.
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