60 years: a love story (Why it Matters)

From Oregon Public Broadcasting:

This is the story of an Oregon couple. They married in Washington after more than 60 years together but were racing against the clock.
....
But one couple that made the rainy trek is trying to meet a different kind of deadline. 

Eric Marcoux and Eugene Woodworth have been together since they the day they met in Chicago in 1953. 

“I am here today to be legally married to Eugene Woodworth, with whom I have had an intimate deeply committed relationship for a little over sixty years,” Marcoux says.
Marcoux is 83 years old and Woodworth is 85. 

They can’t marry in Oregon, where a constitutional amendment outlaws same-sex marriage. When same-sex marriage was legalized in Washington last year, they didn’t rush across the state line to get married. 

“No, no, no….” says Woodworth.

“We wanted to have it in Oregon,” Marcoux explains. 

But Woodworth has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, and he’s been given weeks to live. They’re getting married today with the hope that Marcoux might be eligible to receive social security benefits as the surviving spouse.
....
The couple say today’s ceremony is merely a formality. But Woodworth chokes up as his partner slips the ring on his finger. 

“And now by the power vested in me by the state of Washington, I declare you to be legally married. And you may kiss,” the judge finishes the ceremony. 

“We met sixty years ago and this is the first legal thing. It’s such a pity we had to wait that long, ” Woodworth tells the judge. 

After the ceremony ends, the two make their way out to their car for the 20-minute drive home to Oregon.

“We made it. Wonderful we made it,” Marcoux says closing the door.

Living up to the founding ideals of our country

Marriage licenses are available now in Washington and Maryland.  Gay journalist and commentator Dan Savage, in Seattle, is himself applying for a license  registering his marriage ,which took place in Canada. The Stranger offers a heartwarming and inspiring set of pictures and profiles of the license-seekers and the history of the marriage equality movement in Washington State.

Just before 12:01 a.m. last night, as King County Executive Dow Constantine was preparing to personally issue some of Washington State's first same-sex marriage licenses, he took a few moments to recall how long gay couples have been coming into the King County Recorder's office and asking for them. .....

Constantine put it this way: "What we are doing today is living up to the founding ideals of this country."

Why it matters: Civil Unions are not the same (Video sunday)

Why it matters: "partner" vs "spouse"

This is a great description of why civil unions/domestic partnerships just aren't the same. Yes, the word matters. That's why Referendum 74 in WA matters and why Prop8 matters.

 "[T]here is a world of difference between calling someone your ‘partner’ and calling them your ‘husband’. ‘Partner’ is a word that should be preserved for people you play tennis with, or work alongside in business. It doesn’t come close to describing the love that I have for David, and he for me. In contrast, ‘husband’ does. A ‘husband’ is somebody that you cherish forever, that you would give up everything for, that you love in sickness and in health. Until the law recognises David Furnish is my husband, and not merely my partner, the law won’t describe the man I know and adore." - Elton John

Voices of Faith Speak Out: Seattle BIshop calls for marriage equality

Click image for more
Voices of Faith

SeattlePI points us to comments by the Rt Rev Greg Rickel, Episcopal Bishop of Olympia (western Washington state).

 Legalizing same-sex marriage is “a conservative proposal” consistent with basic Christian teaching and the Christian life, Episcopal Bishop Greg Rickel argues in a statement to be released on Thursday.

....

“Christianity has held, when considering relationships of all sorts — but especially in relation to two people in marriage — fidelity to be our value,” Bishop Rickel writes. “Fidelity is the value in most all our sacraments, and also in our life as Christians.”

“It seems to me we have held our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in a Catch-22. We say they cannot live up to our value because they cannot be married, or even blessed in their union. While many of them have begged for this, it is still not possible.”

“If one would think about this carefully, it would be clear what they ask of us, the church and their government, is to put boundaries around their relationship, to hold them in the same regard and with the same respect, which would also mean that we expect the same from them, as any loving heterosexual couple.”
....

“They (gays and lesbians) are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for equal treatment. They are asking to be accountable, as a couple, in community. To me, this is a conservative proposal.”

“I am for it, and I hope we will finally make way for this to happen, not only in our society, but also in our church.”

Three states — Washington, Maryland and Maine — are voting on same-sex marriage this November.

A fourth state, Minnesota, will vote on a contrary measure — heavily supported by Catholic bishops — that would enshrine a definition of marriage as between a man and a woman into the state constitution.

In Washington, polls have shown support for Referendum 74 hovering at 50 percent of the vote.

In the states

The Box Turtle Bulletin has a great overview of the four states that are facing votes on equality this season. We have a good chance in WA, and maybe ME, but the others are going to be much closer. If you can help-- if you live there, or know people who live there, be an advocate for equality. Click on the images below to go to the campaigns for ME, MD, MN, or WA.

Why it matters, from Washington State (video Sunday)

Voices of Faith Speak out in washington: why marriage matters (Video Sunday)

Click image for more
Voices of Faith

The marriage equality bill in Washington state will be on the ballot in an attempted repeal this fall. There is a series of excellent videos from Washington United for Marriage.

 Here's one:

 

Catholic priest declines to support anti-marriage petition drive in WA

From the Advocate:

At least one pastor isrefusing to go along with a plan to use Washington's Catholic churches as signature-gathering centers in an effort to repeal the state's marriage equality law. 

St. James Cathedral won't be taking part in the campaign to add a repeal of the marriage equality law to the ballot in November, its lead pastor announced in a letter to parishioners. Father Michael Ryan said it would be "hurtful and seriously divisive" to go ahead with the plan from Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain.

Rank this one right by the one in Minnesota who called out the Cardinal there for promulgating divisiveness and hate.  The priests get it.  Unlike the bishops!

Lots of activity in the individual states.

Here's a great summary by AP about all the activity in the states this year over marriage equality.  In brief:

MN and NC citizens will vote on amendments to ban marriage between same sex couples, while

ME will try to get the voters to support marriage in a referendum.

MD , WA and NJ have legislative efforts to legalize marriage between same sex couples, while

NH has a legislative effort to repeal marriage equality

In the judicial sphere, we're still waiting for the next chapter of the Prop8 case. At least 8 DOMA cases are winding their way through the courts.

Washington State House approves marriage equality; the governor will sign

Yay, Washington! 

 The state House of Representatives, after two hours of intense debate, voted 55-43 on Wednesday to make Washington the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage.  

 The legislation passed the State Senate last week, and goes to Gov. Chris Gregoire who has promised to sign it into law. Opponents have vowed to collect 120,577 valid voter signatures required to force a referendum in this November’s general election.

Voices of Faith: Thanking God for Marriage Equality

Our LGBT community too often forgets that the people who claim "Christians" oppose equality are ignoring the fact that many many CHristians are passionate supporters of equality. Here's one, The REv Tim Phillips, From SEattle First Baptist Church:

The coming vote in the Washington state legislature is likely to unleash another round of 'holy wars' on lesbian and gay families by those who presume to speak on behalf of God, the Bible, and all "real" Christians. To disagree with those holy warriors means not only to open your politics for debate but to open your Christian faith to attack. It is no wonder that so many progressive followers of Jesus would simply rather not be identified as "Christian" at all.

But there are reasons, as a Christian, to be thankful for this moment in history.

First, because this debate always gets us back to the basics -- what kind of God do we trust and what kind of Jesus do we serve? .... So let's just say that the God we trust and the Jesus we serve seem to move in the direction of the un-conditional. That is pretty basic.

...if we have to talk about conditions, let's talk about the conditions under which any intimate relationship between two adults could thrive -- integrity, mutuality, responsibility, maturity, and a certain amount of support. I think it is safe to say that Christians on all sides of the debate would agree that these are the kinds of values that are commended by Scripture....

The point is: the legal marriage contract creates the conditions under which the expectations of these values come into play for two adults who choose to enter into it. The contract does not guarantee those values but it does create the social -- and I would say 'spiritual' -- expectation of those values and to affirm those in as many settings as a possible is, to my way of thinking, not to diminish the expectations of marriage but to expand them.

The march of equality continues: MD and WA update

A bill for marriage in Maryland is set for a Senate Hearing:

The marriage equality bill will receive a hearing Tuesday afternoon in the Senate Judicial Proceedings committee, with speakers including Governor Martin O’Malley, who is pushing for the legislation this session....

Even if the bill passes both houses of the Democratic-controlled legislature during the 90-day session, there is a strong possibility the measure could be challenged in a referendum this November.

And in Washington, much the same:

Washington state senator Ed Murray, lead sponsor of a bill to legalize marriage rights for same-sex couples in the state, believes that the senate is poised for a Wednesday floor vote on the matter, the openly gay legislator told the Seattle Times. Gov. Chris Gregoire has pledged to sign the legislation into law....

NOM, meanwhile, has also pledged to back a referendum on marriage in the November elections.

Marriage coming to Washington State? Maryland?

The Governor of Washington has agreed to sign a marriage bill if it comes to her.  Yesterday it was announced that there are enough votes in the state Senate, along with enough votes in the House.  It is a good bet that the State of Washington will legalize same sex marriage.   Yeah, Washington!

Meanwhile, the Governor of Maryland is introducing a marriage equality measure today. 

The Baltimore Sun reports that O’Malley’s staff worked throughout the day to fine-tune the religious protections language in the bill, which the governor said in a briefing would make the bill “a little clearer” and, he hopes, ensure that it enjoys “additional support” in comparison with a similar bill that failed last year.

Let's not forget, though, that anti-equality amendments are on the ballot in MN and NC.