Florida Agenda

NEW YORK, NY – Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told CNN this week that he supports marriage equality. “I have no problem with it,” the former fourstar general said. “In terms of the legal matter of creating a contract between two people that’s called marriage, and allowing them to live together with the protection of law, it seems to me is the way we should be moving in this country—and so I support the president’s decision.” Powell, a centrist Republican who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 1989 to 1993 under President George H.W. Bush, and as Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005 under President George W. Bush, supported President Obama’s 2008 election campaign.

NAACP Board Endorses Marriage Equality in Miami …and a Majority of Florida Voters Oppose Gay Marriage (But Say it won’t Affect Their Votes)

By Cliff Dunn

MIAMI – In a week where the national conversation continued to focus upon same sex marriage, much of that conversation was focused on events occurring here in Florida. During its annual meeting last weekend in Miami, the board of directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) voted in favor of a resolution to support marriage equality for LGBT Americans. The endorsement of the nation’s oldest and most prominent civil rights organization came barely a week after President Obama publicly announced his support for gay marriage, and is seen as a show of solidarity for the group with the nation’s first African American chief executive. Sources say that all but two of the board’s 64 members voted for the resolution, which read in part, “We support marriage equality consistent with equal protection under the law provided under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.” Roslyn M. Brock, chairwoman of the NAACP board, said in a statement, “We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law.”

According to Julian Bond, the former NAACP chairman and a lion of the 1960s civil rights movement (he was also the first President of the Southern Poverty Law Center), the “tipping point” for many board members was Obama’s televised announcement in support of marriage equality for gay Americans.

Bond also noted that the NAACP’s vote dispels the notion of purported opposition within the African American community towards gay marriage. “This proves that conventional wisdom is not true,” said Bond.

While the cultural reverberations of the NAACP board’s actions were starting to be felt, a new Quinnipiac poll of Florida voters this week indicates that a majority oppose marriage equality.

The survey results, which were released yesterday, show that 50 percent of Sunshine State voters oppose same-sex marriage, and 40 percent support it. Those numbers become less gloomy when a third option—civil unions—is introduced into the equation, with 36 percent of Florida voters saying that same-sex couples should be permitted to marry, another 34 percent supporting legal unions other than marriage for gay couples, and 23 percent saying that no legal recognition should be afforded same sex relationships. In 2008, Florida passed an amendment to the state constitution that defines marriage as union between a man and a woman. Seen in the light of the survey results, the question of President Obama’s recent support of same sex marriage having an impact on how voters will cast their ballots has a surprising answer: 63 percent say Obama’s support for marriage equality will make no difference as to how they cast their vote, and 59 percent said that Republican Mitt Romney’s opposition to civil unions will also not be a factor. The Quinnipiac poll also showed Romney beating Obama in Florida, 46 percent to 41 percent.

WASHINGTON, DC – A new survey from the Pew Research Center finds that an increasing number of Americans favor of gay marriage.

At the same time, a greater number favor gun ownership rights over gun control. The poll’s authors note that both positions represent landmark shifts in public attitudes, reflecting a “small-l” libertarianism taking shape in the culture.

The survey—conducted by telephone between April 4 and 15, and reflecting the opinions of more than 3,000 nationwide respondents, with a margin of error plus or minus three percent—found that 47 percent of Americans favor marriage equality, and 49 percent believe it’s more important to protect the rights of gun owners than to support gun control laws. While not a majority in either case, those who support these positions outnumber their opponents, with 43 percent against same-sex marriage and 45 percent supporting gun control over gun ownership.

According to Pew, strong opposition to gay marriage—which peaked in December 2004 at 38 percent— generally fluctuated around 30 percent until 2010, when it began to decrease, finally reaching its present 22 percent.

Contrarily, strong support—with an all-time modern low of 8 percent, also in 2004—has ticked upwards until it now equals its opposition with 22 percent.

HARBOR SPRINGS, MI – The tribal council of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians is considering an amendment to the tribal constitution that would legalize marriage equality. If the amendment is adopted, the Native American tribe would be the first in Michigan and one of just a few across the nation to legalize gay marriages.

Most of the approximately 4,000- member tribe lives in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula. The proposal is currently being debated during a mandatory public comment period.  The tribe’s constitution presently defines marriage as between “one man and one woman.”

The amendment requires that at least one partner in a married same-sex couple be a member of the tribe.

BOSTON, MA – Last week, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) told CNN’s Piers Morgan that the gay marriage debate has been “settled” in Massachusetts, and said that opponents of marriage equality should “move on” and focus on economic matters.

“It’s settled law in Massachusetts. Quite frankly, everybody’s moved on,” said Brown on the March 19 broadcast of “Piers Morgan Tonight.”

In the past, Brown has said that he opposes marriage equality, but he has never made it a campaign theme. The Republican split with his party in supporting President Obama’s repeal of the Pentagon’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy.

“We’ve moved on. I encourage everyone else to move on,” Brown told the CNN host. “It should be decided state by state basis. I’m focusing on those other things.”

Democrats say that Brown’s record on LGBT rights leaves much to be desired. They point to his opposition of non-discrimination legislation for LGBT persons, and his refusal to take part in an anti-bullying video.

“If Scott Brown thinks marriage equality is settled law in Massachusetts, he should talk to the thousands of gay couples whose marriages aren’t recognized by the federal government,” said Kevin Franck, spokesman for the Massachusetts Democratic Party.

Brown is in a re-election race for his U.S. Senate seat, the one formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy.

His presumed Democratic opponent, Harvard law professor and former U.S. Treasury Department official Elizabeth Warren, has been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign.

WASHINGTON, DC – White House officials are clarifying remarks made last week by Michelle Obama during a New York City fundraiser, explaining that the First Lady was not trying to imply that President Obama’s Supreme Court nominees support same-sex marriage, and that she was not endorsing marriage equality on her own behalf or that of the president.

“For the first time in history, our daughters and our sons watched three women take their seat on our nation’s highest court. And let us not forget what their decisions–the impact those decisions will have on our lives for decades to come–on our privacy and security, on whether we can speak freely, worship openly, and, yes, love whomever we choose. But that’s what’s at stake. That’s the choice that we face,” Obama said on March 19.

“That is a reference to the president’s position on the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA],” White House press secretary Jay Carney said afterwards, referring to the 1996 law that federally defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

In 2011, the Obama administration announced that part of DOMA was unconstitutional and ordered the Justice Department to stop defending the law in court.

There were those on the political left who were hoping that the First Lady was making reference to marriage equality as well as signaling a White House plan to appoint Supreme Court justices who support gay marriages.

WILTON MANORS, FL  – Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Wilton Manors) should expect to start receiving petitions from an unusual constituency: users of the gay hookup app Grindr. The Courage Campaign, a California-based LGBT rights group, announced last week that they have partnered with the developers of the gay-oriented smartphone app in an effort to lobby the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which Wasserman Schultz chairs, to fund marriage equality efforts during this year’s elections cycle.

In a statement, the Courage Campaign described Grindr as “the world’s largest all-male social network.” According to the company, more than 3 million people have downloaded the app. The Grindr campaign will entail the company sending messages to people who have downloaded the app, requesting them to sign a petition in favor of DNC support for same-sex marriage initiatives. The petition will then be sent to DNC Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz, whose 20th Congressional District includes parts of Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

“There’s a social dating site for really every kind of person and flavor,” said Adam Bink, director of online programs for the Courage Campaign, of the petition, which is called “Grindr for Equality.” “We really have to reach people where they are,” he added. Bink noted that Grindr is just the latest in a long line of dating sites and software, including straight dating site OkCupid, and JDate, for Jewish singles. Straight people might have a physical relationship after meeting on those sites, Bink said. Grindr previously encouraged its members to support the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), as well as asking them to support a California law requiring the inclusion of the contributions of the LGBT community in social science lessons.

Washington D.C.- With marriage equality one of the most hotly contested items on the nation’s 2012 social agenda, new data shows that approximately 12 percent of America’s population live in states that permit–or soon will permit— marriage equality. Proponents of same-sex marriage say that recent polling numbers points to widespread cultural acceptance for across-the-board-parity in marriage.

A dozen states have pending court battles, and voter initiatives of one form or another will litter the political landscape of 2012, a year with political as well as social consequences. Six states—Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont—as well as the District of Columbia issue same-sex marriage licenses. All the states as well as the District legislated the marriage laws.

Last week, Washington State lawmakers approved marriage equality, although that is likely to be challenged, possibly by referendum An additional five states–Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Rhode Island–allow civil unions that provide rights similar to marriage. A bill passed last week by both houses of New Jersey’s legislature was vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican. A measure supporting samesex marriage was likewise introduced last week in Illinois, with pending bills from 2011 sessions still active in Hawaii and Minnesota. Marriage equality activists in Maine are also seeking a November ballot initiative to legalize same-sex marriage. In 2009, Pine Tree State voters overturned a state law authorizing marriage equality.

The law had been in effect for just six months. In November, voters in Minnesota and North Carolina will also consider proposals to prohibit same-sex marriage. Legislators in New Hampshire may also weigh a possible repeal of its marriage equality law. In 31 states, voters have approved ballot measures defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Lawsuits that seek to overturn bans on marriage equality or to expand civil unions are being litigated in at least 12 states’ courts, among them Hawaii, Minnesota, and the battleground, California, where a federal appeals court recently ruled against a voter-sanctioned referendum that banned gay marriage. A three-member panel found that the ban was unconstitutional, singling out gays and lesbians for discrimination. Lawyers for the religious and other groups behind the ban beat a midnight deadline to ask the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear the 2-1 ruling that declared Proposition 8 to be a violation of the civil rights of LGBT Californians. The case will likely make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996. It defines marriage exclusively as a union between a man and a woman, and further said that states are not required to recognize samesex marriages that are performed in other states. A 1996 Gallup poll found that 68 percent of Americans opposed same-sex marriage; only 27 percent favored it. Last May, Gallup found that 53 percent of Americans favor major equality, while 45 percent opposes it.

Photo: Australian P.M. Julia Gillard (left), and President Obama, at the White House, 3/7/2011 (Photo: UPI/Kevin Dietsch)

By RORY BARBAROSSA

Australia- Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who personally opposes marriage equality, hosted three same-sex couples for dinner this week at The Lodge, the official residence of the island-nation’s head of government. The event was arranged by the LGBT rights groups Australian Marriage Equality (AME) and GetUp!, which won the dinner as part of a charity auction prize.

AME national coordinator Alex Greenwich was optimistic about the evening’s results. “When you talk about issues like this across the dinner table, you’re really able to engage with people in a meaningful way,” Greenwich said.

Sharon Dane, 54, a social scientist from Queensland—known as Australia’s “Sunshine State– said prior to the evening that she was encouraged to be able to make the case first hand for marriage equality. “It’s very simple,” she told The Australian. “Talking about love is not a difficult thing.” Dane, who married her partner in Canada, said she asked Gillard why their marriage could not be recognized in the land of their birth. “Apart from the sex of the people we’re attracted to, our feelings of love and commitment is not different to anyone else’s,” Dane emphasized.

“We own a business and a property together and my name is not on any of that,” offered John Dini of the Prime Minister’s home constituency of western Melbourne, who, along with his life partner Steve Russell, discussed the business and financial implications of the same-sex marriage ban with Gillard. “Marriage is the easiest way to cover all that,” Dini suggested.

The couples who dined with Gillard claim the Prime Minister said the tides of history are in their favor, and that legislative changes that will permit marriage equality are inevitable.

Gillard added that her own position on samesex marriage remains unchanged. The 50-year-old Prime Minister was born in Wales, but moved to Australia with her family when she was five. A member of the Australian Labor Party, she became Prime Minister in 2010. Gillard, who has never been married and has no children, resides in the Prime Minister’s official residence with her longtime partner, Australian realtor Tim Mathiesen. She does not support the legalization of same-sex marriage, saying that Australia’s “Marriage Act is appropriate in its current form: that is recognizing that marriage is between a man and a woman,” which she believes “has a special status.” However, at the Australian Labor Party conference last December, Gillard negotiated an amendment on marriage equality which will allow a conscience vote for members of parliament.

By Phoebe Moses

LONDON, UK – The former ordained head of the Church of England called attempts to legalize same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom an effort to “undermine” the traditional family.

George Lord Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, told the Daily Mail that “The ideal is for children to be raised by a mother and father who are married,” and said that marriage equality is merely a “power grab” by a secular government to control an institution it does not own.

“The honorable estate of matrimony precedes both the state and the church, and neither of these institutions have the right to redefine it in such a fundamental way,” Carey said.

“I do not believe the British public wants any of this,” he added, saying that the “move to legalize same-sex marriage is undemocratic.” Carey told the British newspaper that a new group, the Coalition for Marriage, had been formed to oppose the government’s plans to change the nation’s marriage laws.

Carey’s comments were met with strong opposition from Britain’s gay rights groups. “Coalition members are entitled to believe that same-sex marriages are wrong, but they are not entitled to demand that their opposition to such marriages should be imposed on the rest of society and enforced by law,” said British LGBT rights advocate Peter Tatchell. “The coalition is out of touch with public opinion. Most British people now support marriage equality.”

In fact, all three of Britain’s major political parties—Conservative, Labor, and Liberal– support same-sex marriage. Speaking last year at the Conservative Party’s national convention, Prime Minister David Cameron was clear about his stand on the issue: “To anyone who has reservations, I say this: yes, it’s about equality, but it’s also about something else: commitment. Conservatives believe in the ties that bind us; that society is stronger when we make vows to each other and support each other. So I don’t support gay marriage in spite of being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I am a Conservative.”