Category Archives: Freedom to Marry

1 year later: A look back at Obama’s support for marriage

Barack Obama, White House, Democratic Party, gay news, Washington Blade, Robin Roberts

President Obama comes out for marriage equality in an ABC News interview (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)

Amid cheers over recent marriage equality victories in Rhode Island and Delaware, supporters of same-sex marriage are marking the one-year anniversary of President Obama coming out for marriage equality, calling it a milestone that helped lead to the successes of the past year.

It was a year ago, on May 9, 2012, when Obama declared in an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts that he had grown to support same-sex marriage.

“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that, for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama said.

The decision, Obama said, came as the result of speaking with gay members of the armed forces during the debate on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and realizing they should have equal access to the institution of marriage.

But the president was careful to limit the scope of his support. Obama said he was hesitant to make an announcement in favor of marriage equality because he “didn’t want to nationalize the issue” and maintained that he believes the marriage issue remains one best left to the states.

And the announcement wasn’t spontaneous. The president endorsed same-sex marriage after saying for 19 months he was in a state of evolution on the issue. Obama finally made the announcement just three days after Vice President Joseph Biden said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he’s “absolutely comfortable” with married same-sex couples having the “same exact rights” as others.

Obama’s endorsement of marriage equality was seen as a watershed moment because no sitting U.S. president had ever come out for marriage equality and supporters of same-sex marriage hoped his words would influence others to join the president in completing their evolution on the issue.

Arguably, that happened. In the days after the announcement, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that a majority of black Americans, 59 percent, had also come to support same-sex marriage — up 18 points after the president’s announcement.

Dan Pinello, who’s gay and a political scientist at the City University of New York, identified this growth in support of marriage equality among black Americans as one of the most immediate consequences of Obama’s endorsement of marriage equality.

“Polling data show a statistically significant increase in support for same-sex marriage among black respondents for the periods immediately before and after Obama’s announcement,” Pinello said. “In turn, this increased support probably was crucial in a state with a large African-American-voter contingent like Maryland, which narrowly approved of gay nuptials last November.”

The growth in support isn’t limited to black Americans. Another widely noticed poll in March from Washington Post-ABC News found that 58 percent of the American public had come to support same-sex marriage.

And in the wake of the president’s announcement, substantive changes were seen in favor of marriage equality throughout the country. For the first time ever, the Democratic Party platform in 2012 endorsed marriage equality. In another first, voters legalized same-sex marriage in Maine, Maryland and Washington State at the ballot in November, while voters in Minnesota rejected a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. In the past week, Rhode Island and Delaware became the latest to join other states in legalizing marriage equality.

Moreover, a bevy of U.S. senators have followed in Obama’s tracks by coming out for same-sex marriage. The ones who have come out since the beginning of this year include Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo,), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) as well as Republicans Rob Portman (Ohio) and Mark Kirk (Ill.). Now all but three members of the Democratic caucus — Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) — back marriage equality.

Pinello said Obama articulating his views a year ago in favor of marriage equality helped set the tone for the Democratic Party that has enabled other lawmakers to come out for same-sex marriage.

“The president set a standard for the Democratic Party, encouraging its other officeholders to emulate his leadership on the issue,” Pinello said. “For example, I doubt that there would be nearly unanimous support for marriage equality among Democrats in the U.S. Senate today without Obama’s action a year ago.”

On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney reflected on the president’s current views on marriage equality when asked by Sirius XM Radio’s Jared Rizzi if Obama still thinks that state-by-state is the best way to address the issue in the wake of Delaware becoming the 11th state with same-sex marriage on the books.

“There has been enormous progress made,” Carney said. “I think that the facts, as you just recited them, demonstrate the progress made. The president’s views are known. He’s expressed them. Our views on issues like DOMA and Prop 8 have been expressed in legal filings, so I’ll point you to those. For him, it’s a fundamental issue of equal rights, and that’s why he has taken the position that he has taken. But for our legal approach to these issues, I would refer you to the Department of Justice.”

But Obama hit another milestone on Election Day six months after his announcement by winning re-election to the White House despite predictions that coming out for marriage equality would jeopardize his re-election prospects. Although he didn’t win as he did in 2008 North Carolina, a state with a significant evangelical population, Obama walloped Mitt Romney in the electoral college by taking 332 votes in the Electoral College compared to Romney’s 206.

Fred Sainz, vice president of communications for the Human Rights Campaign, said Obama’s victory after coming out for marriage equality is having a major impact as LGBT advocates push more states to legalize same-sex marriage.

“The president proved that elected officials — at the highest of levels — could be for marriage, campaign on it and be reelected, in fact, based on their support,” Sainz said. “Without that shining example, we may not have the number of senators we do today or have been able to recruit the legislators we need to support marriage in Rhode Island and Delaware and soon in Minnesota and Illinois.”

Obama’s support for marriage equality hasn’t been limited to his words in that May interview. Days before the election, newspapers in Maryland, Maine and Washington State published statements from his campaign urging voters in those states to legalize marriage equality at the ballot. After Obama endorsed legislation in favor of marriage equality in Illinois, Organizing for Action, the successor organization to the Obama campaign, sent out action alerts to its members in the state calling on them to help pass the marriage equality legislation.

Most notably, Obama raised the bar on his position in favor of same-sex marriage by having his Justice Department file a friend-of-the-court brief in the pending lawsuit before the Supreme Court challenging California’s Proposition 8. That brief argued the ban on same-sex marriage in California was unconstitutional and suggested similar bans in other states were unconstitutional.

Even before Obama endorsed marriage equality, his administration had already stopped defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court in addition to aiding litigation by filing briefs and arguing against the law in oral arguments.

John Aravosis, who’s gay and editor of AMERICAblog, said Obama has done a “pretty good job” in acting on his position in favor of marriage equality, but added he could do more — particularly in advocating for immigration reform that would enable gay Americans to sponsor foreign spouses for residency within the country.

“If we sort of think through the things that we wanted him to do in the last year on marriage, he’s done a lot of them,” Aravosis said. “The only one I can think of [him not doing] is putting his foot down on immigration reform and saying, ‘This shall not pass if you discriminate against gays.’ It’s the only one I can think of off the top of my head where he needs to do a better job in terms of putting his foot down.”

Aravosis added to some degree the onus is on the LGBT community in terms of “coming up with the list of pro-marriage needs to do” because “rabble-rousing” on the legal briefs in the Prop 8 case eventually led the administration to file them.

It remains to be seen what impact the president’s words will have in future battles over marriage equality. Will lawmakers in Minnesota and Illinois heed Obama’s words as they consider whether to become the 12th and 13th states to legalize same-sex marriage? Will the U.S. Supreme Court draw upon President Obama’s words in rulings against the Defense of Marriage Act and Prop 8?

Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, said he expects Obama’s words from a year ago to continue to have an impact in anticipation of the Supreme Court decision and future legislative wins.

“The president’s strong support for the freedom to marry adds to the case we are making in the Supreme Court, signaling to the justices that America is ready for the freedom to marry and they can do the right thing knowing that not only will history vindicate them, but the public will embrace a right ruling,” Wolfson said. “And we’ve already seen how the president’s leadership — and resonant explanation of how he changed his mind  — adds to the momentum in state battles, ongoing and to come.”

French same-sex marriage bill clears major hurdle

France, same-sex marriage, gay marriage, marriage equality, gay news, Washington Blade

The French Senate (Photo by Romain Vincens via Wikimedia Commons)

The French Senate on Tuesday approved a proposed amendment to a same-sex marriage and adoption bill that would extend nuptials to gays and lesbians.

Le Monde reported the provision passed by a 179-157 vote margin after senators debated it for more than 10 hours — lawmakers on April 2 began to consider the same-sex marriage and adoption bill the National Assembly approved in February by a 329-229 vote margin.

An estimated 300,000 people marched through the streets of Paris late last month in opposition to the measure — police used tear gas and batons against roughly 200 protesters who had tried to march on the Champs Elysées without a permit. More than 100,000 people in January marched through the French capital in support of the proposal.

“The vote of this article marks a victory in the fight against homophobia and for tolerance and democracy,” Sen. François Rebsamen said in a statement to Le Monde.

French lawmakers still need to consider the bill’s remaining provision before it receives final approval, but observers noted the same-sex marriage amendment was the most important hurdle that supporters had to overcome.

President François Hollande, who endorsed marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples during his 2012 presidential campaign, has pledged to sign the bill into law.

“France is poised to become the latest country — 16 on four continents — where loving and committed gay couples can share in the freedom to marry, and it won’t be the last this year,” Freedom to Marry President Evan Wolfson said in a statement that noted lawmakers in Uruguay and New Zealand have approved same-sex marriage bills in recent weeks. “Like France, the United States extols liberty, equality, and fairness; it is time for our country, too, to end the denial of marriage and live up to our best values.”

Kirk becomes 50th U.S. senator to back gay marriage

Mark Kirk, gay news, gay politics dc, enda

Sen. Mark Kirk became the 50th sitting member of the U.S. Senate to back nuptials for same-sex couples on Tuesday. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk on Tuesday became the 50th sitting U.S. senator — and the second Republican in the chamber after Ohio Sen. Rob Portman — to back same-sex marriage.

The announcement came on the heels of one from U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who became the 48th Democrat in the Senate to back gay nuptials. Lawmakers in Delaware and Illinois are mulling legislation that would extend marriage rights to same-sex couples this year, and both announcements could reignite momentum for marriage equality in those states.

“When I climbed the Capitol steps in January,” Kirk wrote on his blog, “I promised myself that I would return to the Senate with an open mind and greater respect for others.”

“Same-sex couples should have the right to civil marriage,” the statement continues. “Our time on this Earth is limited, I know that better than most. Life comes down to who you love and who loves you back — government has no place in the middle.”

Kirk was absent from the Senate for nearly one year after suffering a stroke in January 2012, which he alluded to in Tuesday’s marriage pronouncement.

Kirk has been a long-time supporter of some LGBT legislation, backing employment protection legislation since he arrived in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2001.

He initially opposed U.S. House efforts to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” during his 2010 Senate run. However, after the election, Kirk — who replaced pro-gay appointee Roland Burris — became a yes vote in that chamber, helping push the repeal to passage.

“With the Republican logjam on marriage equality now officially broken, we encourage Senator Kirk’s fellow Republicans in the Senate and his colleagues in the House to join him, Senator Portman, Congressman Hanna, and Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen on the right side of history,” Log Cabin Republicans executive director, Gregory T. Angelo, said in a statement.

“With Senator Kirk’s support, the U.S. Senate is now ready to move to the right side of history in support of same-sex couples’ freedom to marry,” wrote Freedom to Marry President Evan Wolfson in response to the announcement. “Just as we have seen a majority of Americans embrace the freedom to marry, so the Senate is now on the verge of a majority for marriage.”

Kate Clinton Video Blog: Thank Evan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF3aYfXuQ-w

Kate gives a shout out to Freedom To Marry’s Evan Wolfson in the wake of Supreme Court hearings regarding California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act.

Mixed reaction over Verrilli’s Prop 8 arguments

Donald Verrilli Jr, Solicitor General, gay news, Washington Blade

Solicitor General Donald Verrilli’s arguments before the court on marriage are receiving mixed reviews. (Photo public domain)

The U.S. solicitor general’s performance before the Supreme Court on marriage is receiving mixed reviews amid disappointment that he didn’t overtly say same-sex marriage should be institutionalized nationwide as a result of the cases.

U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli was the sole attorney who argued in both cases before the court — one on California’s Proposition 8, the other on the Defense of Marriage Act. The message was the same for both measures: Laws related to sexual orientation should be subject to heightened scrutiny, or a greater assumption they’re unconstitutional.

But the nuance in what Verrilli said should be the outcome of the Prop 8 case is noteworthy. Asked by Chief Justice John Roberts whether the administration wants a ruling that would strike down marriage bans across the country, Verrilli declined to give an affirmative answer.

“We are not taking the position that it is required throughout the country,” Verrilli said. “We think that that ought to be left open for a future adjudication in other states that don’t have the situation California has.”

Under later questioning, Verrilli said a state would have to reach a “very heavy burden” to justify a measure similar to Prop 8, but at the same time said a “caution rationale” — presumably a wait-and-see approach to same-sex marriage — would be “one place where we might leave it open.”

Suzanne Goldberg, a lesbian and co-director of Columbia University’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Law, said she was “uncomfortable” with Verrilli’s assertion that states may have justification to ban couples from marrying.

“He seemed to suggest that they might actually have a legitimate reason for maintaining the exclusion, and that did not seem necessary to me, given the arguments that he was making,” Goldberg said. “It did not feel right for the government’s attorney to suggest that their might actually be a plausible reason for a state to exclude same-sex couples from marriage.”

Goldberg drew a distinction between the arguments presented by the Justice Department in the Prop 8 and DOMA cases. For DOMA, Goldberg noted the administration hasn’t identified any instance in which the federal anti-gay law would be constitutional.

“That wasn’t the government’s position in the DOMA case even though the government said under the weakest standard of review, DOMA might be upheld,” Goldberg said. “But it did not suggest any of the rationales would be sufficient.”

It should be noted that Verrilli’s arguments in the Prop 8 case are consistent with the friend-of-the-court brief filed by the Justice Department against the California measure. The brief never explicitly says all bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional and instead focuses on Prop 8, which is the question before the court.

Richard Socarides, a gay New York-based advocate, said the presentation of that limited argument on marriage equality is not the fault of Verrilli — whom he said “did a good job” — but is the result of the White House making a political calculation on the Prop 8 case.

“I think that they made some political choices that were not the ones exactly I would have made,” Socarides said. “And I think that some of those came back to haunt them.”

Verrilli noted that California offers gay couples domestic partnerships, suggesting the court should rule that states offering some benefits to gay couples, but not marriage, should instead offer them marriage rights. Legal experts have coined this potential decision as the “nine-state solution.”

But Socarides questioned the wisdom of embracing that position, noting justices seemed disinclined to adopt a ruling saying states that offer some benefits to gay couples aren’t doing enough while leaving other jurisdictions unaffected.

“I think that argument is too clever by half,” Socarides said. “I appreciate the fact that I think the White House was trying to thread the needle there a little bit. It may have served its purpose, but I think in retrospect not the best decision.”

David Gans, civil rights director for the progressive Constitutional Accountability Center, found a positive in the limited argument presented by Verrilli: it provides another option to justices unswayed by American Foundation for Equal Rights attorney Ted Olson’s argument in favor of a fundamental right to same-sex marriage.

“In some ways, it was a very useful complement to the argument that Ted Olson made,” Gans said. “What Verrilli offered was sort of an alternative. Olson and Verrilli gave them a broader option as well as a narrow one that would decide this case, but not other cases. In light of some of the concern expressed by justices, in the end, it may prove valuable.”

Several legal experts and LGBT advocacy groups, including the Human Rights Campaign, declined to comment for this article.

Socarides emphasized the Justice Department has already stepped up to the plate in helping same-sex couples win their rights at the Supreme Court by dropping defense of DOMA and participating in the Prop 8 case.

“I would also emphasize that, I think at this point, we’re really quibbling around the edges and that we want to be very grateful for the work that the Justice Department did and for the president’s support,” Socarides said.

That was a sentiment shared by Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, who commended the Justice Department for its work before the bench and in the briefs that were filed.

“Briefs speak louder than arguments, and the Solicitor General effectively dismantled every argument made in defense of excluding gay couples from marriage and inflicting unequal treatment on married gay couples under so-called DOMA,” Wolfson said. “He repeatedly urged the justices to focus on what is really going on: discrimination against gay people and indefensible denial of the freedom to marry, and when they go back and read his briefs in both cases, the justices will see a strong, clear path forward toward the freedom to marry and repudiation of the impermissible discrimination we have endured for too long.”

Poll: 58 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage

Supreme Court, gay news, Washington Blade

The U.S. Supreme Court next week will hear oral arguments in two gay marriage cases. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows 58 percent of Americans now support marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Eighty-one percent of respondents under 30 said they support nuptials for gays and lesbians, compared to only 44 percent of seniors. The survey also found 72 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of independents back nuptials for gays and lesbians.

Thirty-four percent of Republican respondents support same-sex marriage, but this figure jumps to 52 percent among Republicans and GOP-leaning independents who are between 18-49.

The latest survey notes nearly three-quarters of liberals and moderates said they back nuptials for same-sex couples. Only 33 percent of conservative respondents said they support marriage rights for gays and lesbians, but this figure is 23 points higher than in 2004.

The poll further notes same-sex marriage support among all demographics has dramatically increased over the last nine years.

“There can be no doubt that this country is on a one-way road to marriage for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples,” Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said. “This new poll reflects the continued evolution of people’s attitudes through thoughtful conversations over dinner tables and water coolers.”

ABC News and the Washington Post released the poll on the same day HRC unveiled a video in which former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorses same-sex marriage.

The U.S. Supreme Court next week will hear oral arguments in two cases that challenge the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act.

The survey noted 64 percent of respondents said the issue of marriage rights for same-sex couples “should be decided for all states on the basis of the U.S. Constitution.” More than two-thirds of Democrats, independents, liberals and moderates said the Constitution should determine the outcome of the cases.

Fifty-six percent of conservatives and 54 percent of Republicans support the aforementioned position.

“This latest poll underscores America’s dramatic and stunning embrace of the freedom to marry, and says to decision-makers—lawmakers, judges, and even justices—that it is time to end marriage discrimination,” Freedom to Marry President Evan Wolfson said. “With a super-majority of Americans now supporting the freedom to marry, and majority support in nearly every segment of the public, the freedom to marry’s time has, indeed, come.”

Takano calls on Obama to speak out on Prop 8

Mark Takano, United States House, California, gay news, Washington Blade

Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) is calling on President Obama to participate in the Prop 8 case (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A freshman openly gay member of Congress from California is calling on President Obama to participate in litigation challenging Proposition 8 before the Supreme Court as the administration has done in the DOMA case.

In a letter dated Feb. 26, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) asks President Obama to instruct his Justice Department to argue Prop 8 is unconstitutional on the basis it should be subjected to heightened scrutiny — or a greater assumption it’s unconstitutional — just as it did in a brief filed last week in the case against the Defense of Marriage Act.

“I strongly and respectfully ask that the United States provide an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in Perry to explain how heightened scrutiny, the standard that the United States urges be applied to the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, applies to Proposition 8,” Takano writes. “A brief by the United States will assist the Supreme Court to see that Proposition 8 fails heightened scrutiny and does not further any proper governmental objectives.”

Takano explains in his letter that Prop 8, a ballot initiative that was approved by California voters in 2008, affects couples in his state and district who are unable to marry because of the amendment.

“My district includes thousands of loving gay and lesbian couples, who are not able to marry due to Proposition 8,” Takano writes. “They are our families, our friends and neighbors. They are doctors, veterans, teachers, gardeners, firefighters and police officers. They are Americans. Every day that they cannot enjoy the same rights and obligations enjoyed by other Americans, they and their families suffer.”

The White House has repeatedly declined comment on whether it’ll participate in the Prop 8 lawsuit before the Supreme Court, although President Obama has said Solicitor Donald Verrilli is “looking” at filing a brief. In response to the Takano letter, a White House spokesperson deferred comment to the Justice Department, which didn’t immediately respond to a request to comment.

Other LGBT advocates have been calling on President Obama to participate in the Prop 8 case, known as Hollingsworth v. Perry, by filing a friend-of-the-court brief. The deadline for them to file a friend-of-the-court brief is Thursday.

Herndon Graddick, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, announced on Monday that his organization shares the desire for Obama to participate in the Prop 8 case.

“President Obama has already weighed in on DOMA, but as he himself said in his inaugural address: ‘Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well,’” Graddick said. “With less than four days left to act, it is time for the administration to make its views known directly to the U.S. Supreme Court by filing a friend of the court brief in the Proposition 8 case as well.”

Takano’s letter comes on the same day as The New York Times reported that more than 75 prominent Republicans have signed their own friend-of-court brief asking the Supreme Court to strike down Proposition 8.

Among the signers of that brief is Ken Mehlman, the gay former chair of the Republican National Committee, who is credited with organizing the brief. Another signature is from Hewlett-Packard CEO and former California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, who campaigned in support of Prop 8.

Two Republican members of Congress who have sponsored legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act — Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) — are also among the signers. They are the only two Republicans currently holding federal office who signed the brief.

Other signers are former Utah governor and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, who publicly came out in favor of marriage equality last week, as well as GOP strategist Steve Schmidt, who helped with John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign and came out in support of marriage equality in a 2009 interview with the Washington Blade.

Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, said the brief as reported by the New York Times reflects the growing support for marriage equality — even within the Republican Party.

“A who’s who of the Republican Party has come before the Supreme Court to affirm that support for the freedom to marry is a mainstream position that reflects American values of freedom, family, and fairness, as well as conservative values of limited government and personal responsibility,” Wolfson said. “As opposition to the freedom to marry becomes increasingly isolated and the exclusion from marriage increasingly indefensible, Americans all across the political spectrum are saying it’s time to end marriage discrimination, do right by families, and get our country on the right side of history.”

Philadelphia mayor speaks to LGBT bloggers, journalists

Michael Nutter, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, gay news, Washington Blade, marriage equality, gay marriage, marriage equality

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter on Saturday reaffirmed his support of marriage rights for same-sex couples.

“Love who you love, be with who you be with and generally it’s no one else’s business,” he said during the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association and Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr., Foundation’s annual gathering of LGBT journalists and bloggers at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel. “People should be able to do whatever it is they want to do, be together.”

Nutter, who succeeded Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors last year, is among the more than 300 city executives who have joined Freedom to Marry’s Mayors for the Freedom to Marry initiative. He joined Villaraigosa, Houston Mayor Annise Parker and others at a D.C. reception last month that commemorated the campaign’s first anniversary.

Nutter described President Obama’s comments in support of same-sex marriage during his re-election campaign and in his second inaugural address as “very helpful.”

“You hear more and more electeds and others coming out for marriage equality or knocking down the discriminatory effects,” he said in response to gay New York journalist Andy Humm’s question about Pennsylvania state lawmakers’ reluctance to expand LGBT-specific protections in the commonwealth. “I don’t know what’s in the hearts and minds of all the legislators across Pennsylvania, but I’d like to think there’s a certain inevitability to all of this.”

Nutter again highlighted his support of nuptials for gays and lesbians as he continued to answer Humm’s question.

“It’s not like the heterosexual community has demonstrated that we’ve got it all together ourselves,” he said. “If folks want to be married, let people marry. What difference does it make?”

Nutter, who served on the Philadelphia City Council for more than a decade until his 2007 election, further stressed his administration recognizes the “economic vitality that the LGBT community brings” to the city.

Transgender blogger Becky Juro asked the mayor about Nizah Morris, a trans woman who died in Dec. 2002.

A Philadelphia police officer offered Morris a ride to her apartment after she collapsed outside a Center City bar because she had become intoxicated. The officer said Morris left her cruiser a few blocks away – a passing motorist later found her unconscious in the street

The city medical examiner determined Morris’ death was a homicide, but the Philadelphia Police Department rejected its finding.

“We haven’t maybe had the greatest level of cooperation from a bunch of folks, but it is a case that we are certainly paying attention to,” Nutter said. “We want to bring whoever needs to be brought to justice to justice.”

Nutter also described former Philadelphia City Councilman John C. Anderson, after whom a new Center City complex that will contain apartments for LGBT seniors is named, as a mentor. The mayor also responded to a question about the Boy Scouts of America’s Cradle of Liberty Council’s lawsuit against the city over its efforts to evict it from its city-owned building after it refused to change its policy to allow gay scouts and troop leaders.

A federal court jury in 2010 ruled against the city, but the case remains before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

“I want to get a resolution that ultimately entails us not supporting any discrimination in a city-owned building or a building on land we own,” he said. “I’m hopeful that there will be a resolution that gets to that stage where we’re not subsidizing that kind of activity in the relatively near future.”

Nutter also said he has no intentions of running for governor or Congress once his term expires in 2016.

“I have approximately three years on my term here as mayor of my hometown,” he said. “I’m going to serve out my term. I have no idea what I’m going to do next. And I’m not thinking about it right now.”

Freedom to Marry pledges $2 million for state marriage campaigns

Evan Wolfson

Freedom to Marry President Evan Wolfson (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Freedom to Marry on Thursday announced it hopes to raise $2 million for various state same-sex marriage campaigns around the country this year.

The group said it will invest an initial $800,000 through the “Win More States Fund” to groups in Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island fighting to allow gays and lesbians to tie knot.

“Building on our four for four ballot victories in November, Freedom to Marry is calling on supporters to join us in continuing the momentum and winning still more states in 2013,” Freedom to Marry President Evan Wolfson said in a statement. “With the clock ticking on the Supreme Court’s review of marriage cases, we want to make as much progress as we can – and with battles already under way now in state capitals, we all need to put our money where our momentum is.”

The announcement comes as Delaware same-sex marriage advocates await the anticipated introduction of a bill later this year that would allow gays and lesbians to tie the knot in the First State.

Equality Delaware President Lisa Goodman declined to tell the Washington Blade how much money Freedom to Marry gave her organization, but she welcomed the contribution.

“We are thrilled to have Freedom to Marry as one of our national partners and are incredibly grateful for their participation and their expertise,” she said.

Freedom to Marry’s announcement came a day after Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton expressed support for nuptials for gays and lesbians in his annual State of the State address.

An Illinois Senate committee earlier this week approved a bill that would allow gays and lesbians to tie the knot, while the Rhode Island House of Representatives last month overwhelmingly approved a same-sex marriage measure.

Hawaii lawmakers on Jan. 24 last month introduced two proposals that would extend marriage to gays and lesbians in their state. New Jersey legislators in the coming weeks are expected to once again debate the issue after Gov. Chris Christie last February vetoed a same-sex marriage bill they approved.

Indiana lawmakers on Thursday announced they would delay a vote on a proposed state constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman.

“It’s encouraging to see Indiana’s leaders making this choice, because limiting the freedom to marry is never in the best interest of a state, its residents, or its businesses,” Marc Solomon, national campaign director at Freedom to Marry, said. “This announcement gives the people of Indiana some much-needed time to have important conversations about marriage and freedom. As they do, we are confident that lawmakers of both parties will recognize that permanently eliminating the freedom to marry in the state constitution is wrong for Indiana’s families.”

State equality groups have events planned

Chez Foushee, gay news, Washington Blade

Chez Foushee in Richmond, Va. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The LGBT state equality groups Equality Virginia and Equality Maryland both have events planned next week.

On Sunday, Equality Virginia will have its “Love Unites” event in Richmond at Chez Foushee (203 N. Foushee Street, Richmond) with hors d’oeuvres and champagne. Donations for Freedom to Marry will be accepted. Visit loveunitesrichmond.com for details.

Equality Maryland has its Lobby Day on Wednesday in Annapolis. Members will vista state legislators in the capitol to discuss LGBT issues. The group will meet at the Lawyer’s Mall (in front of the Capitol) at 6 p.m. Most of the visits will occur after the rally, but a few are scheduled before. District coordinators with the organization have schedules. Visit equalitymaryland.org for details.