Freedom to Marry 2006 (gospel, virgin, beliefs, hell, attend)

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Freedom to Marry 2006


UUs Focus on Legislative Advocacy While Affirming Marriage Equality

As Freedom to Marry week is celebrated across the United States (February 12-18), Unitarian Universalists in key battleground states have focused their efforts on public witness in support of marriage equality and legislative advocacy. Such efforts are designed to advance equal treatment under the law for all people in committed relationships.

Nationally, the Rev. William G. Sinkford, UUA President, is one of three Human Rights Campaign religion council members speaking in support of marriage equality during Freedom to Marry week. Sinkford is the author of a chapter in a new book to be published by Beacon Press entitled Getting on Message: Challenging the Christian Right from the Heart of the Gospel, edited by Peter Laarman. Sinkford's chapter, "Whom God Has Joined Together," is available for preview in conjunction with Freedom to Marry week activities.

Freedom to Marry week also coincides with the publication of a new UUA book on marriage equality, Michelle Deakin's Gay Marriage, Real Life, which offers ten accounts of same-sex couples and how the decision to marry has affected them and their extended families.

Around the country, the UUA is involved in advocacy in support of freedom to marry cases. Seven states are currently processing legal cases on marriage equality. In New York, the UUA is party to an amicus brief to the state Court of Appeals submitted in support of Hernandez v. Robles , which seeks marriage equality for five same-sex couples. In the New Jersey case of Lewis v. Harris , briefs have been filed and arguments are set to begin in the state’s highest court on February 15. Cases are also pending in Connecticut and Iowa in addition to those detailed below.

In California, the UUA has indicated its support of a case now in the California Court of Appeals for which eight amicus briefs have been filed on behalf of more than 250 religious and civil rights organizations. The case urges the Court to put an end to state laws that deny same-sex couples the protections of marriage. The Court is hearing the State's appeal of the March 2005 decision by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer, which held that California's current statutory ban on marriage of same-sex couples violates the California Constitution.

In Massachusetts, the only state in the country where marriage equality is the law, the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry is honoring both the Arlington Street Church and the Rev. Fred Small, minister of the First Church Unitarian in Littleton, for outstanding leadership in promoting equal marriage at ceremonies to be held on Feb. 15. Small is receiving the Religious Leadership Award; Arlington Street Church is being honored as an Outstanding Congregation.

Celebration, Distress and Hope are Intertwined in Key Battleground States

In Maryland, Virginia, and the state of Washington, celebrations over court victories, distress over restrictive legislation headed for the ballot, and hope over decisions soon to come, are intertwined.

The Maryland decision handed down on January 20, 2006 by Judge M. Brooke Murdock of the Baltimore Circuit Court ruled that barring same-sex couples from the freedom to marry was in violation of the state constitution . Although the state will undoubtedly request a review of the case by the the Court of Appeals, the decision was cause for celebration by UUs working for marriage equality in the state. The Rev. Phyllis Hubbell who with her husband, the Rev. John Parker Manwell, ministers to the Baltimore UU congregation, has been active in efforts to achieve marriage equality in the state. She said, "I think that my husband and I as a clergy couple have a unique voice…we've married many folks who are just as committed. We can speak from our long experience…our marriage has nothing to fear. The religious voice is key; all of us need to be at the table."

Across the Potomac, the prospect for achieving marriage equality through the courts is less optimistic. Governor Tim Kaine has indicated that he will sign a bill, approved by the state Senate by a vote of 28-11 on January 25, which bans all forms of legal recognition of gay couples, including civil union, domestic partnership, and marriage. Against this backdrop, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, VA, publicly presented its support of marriage equality when approximately sixty gay and heterosexual couples, some of whom have been together for twenty-five years or more, reaffirmed their vows of commitment on January 23. On January 25, the Rev. Linda Olson Peebles, Minister of Religious Education at the Arlington church, participated in a prayer breakfast in support of marriage equality held in Richmond in conjunction with Equality Virginia's lobby day. Peebles said, "It is so important for Unitarian Universalist folks to take public stands as religious people on this issue. Since the opposition to rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people is founded on religious positions and cannot be justified otherwise, we need to help people understand that there are different religious beliefs." Marc DeFranics, a single gay parent raising two children who attends the Arlington church, also attended the lobby day events. He observed, "I feel more hopeful about the long-term dance of progress….[although] I suspect the amendment will pass unless people of faith who believe that marriage is a civil right really stand up and get organized. We who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender in this state totally depend now on our straight allies."

A decision in the Washington state case, Castle v. State , where arguments were heard on March 8, 2005, is expected imminently. A finding in favor of the plaintiffs would make equal marriage the law and would also make Washington the second state in the U.S. to support full marriage equality. On December 28, 2005 many UU clergy attended an interfaith rally near Seattle of liberal clergy and lay members in support of gay rights legislation. A second rally was held in Olympia at the state capitol on January 23, 2006, with many UUs and UU clergy joining other Washingtonians in support of LGBT equality. Rev Peg Boyle Morgan, one of the clergy members participating in the rally, said that the event "was very moving as hundreds of UUs from all over the state stood and prayed and sang with people of all faiths, with legislators and with the Governor, all of whom stood in solidarity with us." UUs in the state have also been buoyed by the January passage in the state legislature of the Anderson-Murray anti-discrimination bill which supports the move toward marriage equality in the state. The Rev. Jon Luopa, Senior Minister of University Unitarian Church in Seattle observed, "…many of us are just thrilled that HB 2661, the Anderson-Murray Anti-Discrimination Bill was signed into law this week by Governor Gregoire. This is the culmination of a 30 year struggle to have such legislation passed."

As Sinkford writes in "Getting on Message," "This country's growing pluralism is a blessing - one that the founders of this country could never have imagined but for which they prepared fertile ground by writing their egalitarian ideals into our foundational documents. What we should be doing in this country is continuing to expand the circle of those we include in the promises made in our Constitution. And I believe that despite the backlash we see every time the circle is widened, it never really shrinks back to where it was before."

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For more information:

• Marriage Equality Week Prayer, by the Rev. William G. Sinkford
• UUA coverage of freedom to marry including links to state-by-state coverage
• Freedom to Marry - the national organization working for marriage equality
• Lamda Legal helps to advance many marriage equality cases through the courts
• World Religions and the Struggle for Equality by Harry Knox and Sharon Groves, from the Human Rights Campaign
• 2006 Marriage-Related Bills and Resolutions from the Human Rights Campaign