The New York Times looks at Maine’s current domestic partner registry, to date the concession in the absence of legalized gay marriage in the state and how cruel (there is no other word) the discrimination obviously is when you examine side by the side the rights enjoyed by heterosexual spouses and those rights denied to homosexual domestic partners.
Kate Kendell, the executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, believes that the recent victories for gay marriage in Iowa and Vermont bode is an indication of a “sea change” of public opinion and that the shifting sensibilities bode well for a favorable decision by the California Supreme Court, Kendell now firmly believing that the Justices will vote to overturn Proposition 8, the narrowly passed voter amendment that effectively eliminated the rights of gay men and women to legally marry in the Golden State.
An Associated Press article Saturday offers a summary of sorts, factoring the week’s somewhat stunning set of events with not only Iowa’s remarkable first day of gay marriage Monday, but with Maine and New Hampshire moving towards legalizing same-sex marriage as well. The article suggests that instead of the sea change Kendell sees, public opinion is indeed shifting on gay marriage favorably and that the issue presents a political opportunity for both the Democratic and Republican Parties.
Richard Socarides, a former advisor to President Clinton during his second term in office, writing in Saturday’s Washington Post asks President Obama a question that in the one-hundred days in office hysteria had gone unasked – where is the promised “fierce advocate of equality for gay and lesbian Americans’ that the candidate Obama assured would be available? Socarides’ point – where is the gay “New Deal” – is more than valid, given the apparent awkwardness with which Obama has with gay and lesbians concerns and issues, for example the President has yet to even mention Iowa’s legalization of gay marriage.
0 comments:
Post a Comment