Some couples that sued the city of Ithaca in 2004 for the right to marry have chosen to stay in Ithaca, hoping that same-sex marriage will soon be legal in NY state:
“Some people had considered going to California, when it was legal there briefly,” Hungerford said. “Some have gone to Canada. But the majority of the couples I have kept in touch with continue to wait for it to be legal in New York.”
via Ithaca 50 still hope to be married in N.Y. | pressconnects.com | Press & Sun-Bulletin.
Effective immediately, the new bill repeals the 1913 law that banned couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their union was not legal in their home state. Governor Deval Patrick, who signed the bill, said he was proud to have supported it, and that “equal means equal.”
The article has a quote from a couple that lives in Middletown, NY which is the town right next to mine:
“We’re being recognized as a married couple,” said Joy Spring, of Middletown, N.Y., who planned to marry her partner of seven years, Carla Barbano, in Provincetown on Friday.
Their 11-year-old daughter, Lizzy, will exchange rings with the couple at the wedding.
“It’s extremely important,” Spring said. “If something happened to one of us she’d always be taken care of.”
Gov signs bill to let out-of-state gay couples marry - BostonHerald.com.
According to a report from CBSnews.com, the 2010 census will not include same-sex marriages, even though they are now legal in California and Massachusetts:
The Census Bureau says the federal Defense of Marriage Act bars the agency from recognizing gay marriages in the nation’s 10-year count, even though the marriages are legal in Massachusetts and California.
The agency’s director, Steven Murdock, said in an interview Thursday that the 1996 federal law “has that effect, in terms of being a federal agency. We are restricted by it.”
An article on reuters.com tells the story of many foreigners and immigrants in same-sex couples who, in spite of the legalization of marriage in California, face expired visas and deportation due to federal immigration policies that do not recognize same-sex couples.
For Rita Boyadjian, the recent legal triumph for gay marriage has been bittersweet. Her partner of six years is a German national whose student visa is set to expire. This month, the couple and their 9-month-old baby will move to Germany so they can remain together.
“I am very happy for my friends and I do know a lot of people who are getting married this summer … but I am sad that while the celebrations are going on, I have to leave.”
Gay rights activists estimate that 40,000 binational gay and lesbian couples in the United States are caught in the same legal limbo. A solution, they say, is years away.
Making same-sex marriage an issue to be determined by each state seems to ignore instances, like this one, that require cooperation and agreeing policies between the federal and state governments. Other countries that have legalized same-sex marriage have adapted in such a way:
At least 19 nations worldwide provide some form of immigration benefits to the same-sex partners of citizens and permanent residents, while the U.S. still refuses. They include Canada as well as about a dozen European countries.
Although same-sex marriage is currently illegal in Arizona, the state senate has approved the ban to have a place on the November election ballot. If passed, the bill would amend the state constitution to prevent “activist” judges from setting precedents like the recent decision in California. In one of the longest legislative sessions on record, the state senate voted in a 16-4 decision to allow the vote:
“The long-anticipated vote on the measure followed hours of angry, raucous debate, in which the legislative rule book was used as a weapon to both stall the vote and cut short debate. Senators on both sides of the aisle and the issue lamented a melt-down in the higher chamber, as most of the day’s work was scrapped so that the marriage amendment could be voted on while key senators were present.”
This hasn’t grabbed headlines like the news in California, but Norway’s upper house of parliament recently voted in a 23-17 decision, to favor gender neutral marriage laws. Same-sex couples will now have the same rights as straight couples in marriage, adoption and artificial insemination. I couldn’t help but post the accompanying image of Thor, the Norse god famous for his weapon, when I read this quote from the AP:
“We are so overjoyed. We have worked for this for so long,” said Jon Reidar Oeyan, leader of the Norwegian National Association of Lesbian and Gay Liberation.
“Now we are going to celebrate,” he said. “I didn’t dare until I heard the chairman of the upper house bang the hammer.”
May 2009 Issue
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