New Yorkers are appropriately dressed and poised to tie the knot assuming that they are at some point allowed to do so by the “powers that be.” Protests were held yesterday in New York City, Rochester, Albany, and Buffalo to remind the state of New York’s lawmakers that the LGBT population was not going to be quiet until they were afforded equal marriage protections under the law.
Primed to ultimately join the ranks of their neighbors in Connecticut and Massachusetts, New Yorkers were vocal in their attempt yesterday to prove that same-sex marriage is an equal and civil right. The Empire State held its 7th Annual Wedding March to lend visibility and structure to the fight they have been battling for years.
Thousands of protesters lined the streets of Brooklyn, New York as they awaited the march across the Brooklyn Bridge that would lead them into lower Manhattan. The holding tank was Brooklyn’s Foley Square and the event ran for hours until every last person made their way across the bridge.
Our love affair with New York is never-ending. Case in point - New York’s Our Scene TVreleased the following two videos below for 2010 Pride and they were so beautiful we wanted to share them again with you. The videos feature Cyndi Lauper, Chely Wright, Carson Kressley, B.D. Wong, Sean Penn, and other vocally-supportive LGBT partners and friends.
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A report was released in 2004 in which over 1,138 rights were recognized as being available to straight married couples, but denied to LGBT couples who could not marry under federal law. Part of the report is below.
The Honorable Bill Frist:
Majority Leader:
United States Senate:
Subject: Defense of Marriage Act: Update to Prior Report:
Dear Senator Frist:
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) provides definitions of "marriage" and "spouse" that are to be used in construing the meaning of a federal law and, thus, affect the interpretation of a wide variety of federal laws in which marital status is a factor. In 1997, we issued a report identifying 1,049 federal statutory provisions classified to the United States Code in which benefits, rights, and privileges are contingent on marital status or in which marital status is a factor. In preparing the 1997 report, we limited our search to laws enacted prior to September 21, 1996, the date DOMA was signed into law. Recently, you asked us to update our 1997 compilation.
We have identified 120 statutory provisions involving marital status that were enacted between September 21, 1996, and December 31, 2003. During the same period, 31 statutory provisions involving marital status were repealed or amended in such a way as to eliminate marital status as a factor. Consequently, as of December 31, 2003, our research identified a total of 1,138 federal statutory provisions classified to the United States Code in which marital status is a factor in determining or receiving benefits, rights, and privileges.
Check out NPR's interactive marriage equality map to keep up with the latest updates regarding federal and state marriage equality laws. The map was last updated in 2009.
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