Good News on Gay Rights
By ANDREW ROSENTHALThis week started out with some very bad news for those of us who regard marriage equality as a pressing civil rights issue: Rick Santorum’s runner-up finish at the Iowa caucuses. Even within the Republican party—no friend to gay couples—he’s an extremist. In a 2003 interview with the AP, he made clear that he does not believe in a fundamental right to privacy and supports laws against sodomy. He also seemed to compare homosexuality to “man on child” and “man on dog” sex. (How do those ideas pop into his head in the first place?)
But there’s actually some good news floating around, too. On Wednesday a district court judge in Polk County, Iowa ruled that both spouses in a same-sex marriage should be listed on their child’s birth certificate. That might sound like a small matter, but it’s not: If your name doesn’t appear on your child’s birth certificate, you have to go through costly adoption proceedings.
Then this morning, Gov. Chris Gregoire of Washington announced that she will introduce legislation to legalize same-sex marriage, and took the opportunity to make a strong argument against state-sanctioned discrimination. “Some say domestic partnerships are the same as marriage,” she said. “That’s a version of the discriminatory, separate but equal argument of the past.” I couldn’t agree more.
Finally, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi personally intervened in a deportation case that would have separated a married gay couple. Bradford Wells and Anthony John Makk have lived together for nearly 19 years, and were married in Massachusetts in 2004. But under the Defense of Marriage Act they don’t have the right to spousal immigration benefits. So Makk—an Australian—was about to get booted out of the country. Ms. Pelosi managed to get him a two-year deferment.
I guess that last item’s not wholly good news, since it highlights how bad D.O.M.A. is for marriage, and families generally, but I’m glad to hear at least one couple got a reprieve.
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