On the day the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the first of two landmark cases challenging the constitutionality of bans on same-sex marriage, thousands of people gathered across North Carolina yesterday to rally in support of marriage equality for LGBT couples.
[embed=videolink]{"video":"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta9GHogWQFg","width":"400","height":"300"}[/embed]
ACLU-NC Executive Director Jennifer Rudinger was one of several speakers to address a crowd of hundreds from the steps of the Wake County Courthouse in downtown Raleigh. She made the following remarks:
My friends –
My fellow warriors in the fight for fairness, equality, and justice –
We at the ACLU of North Carolina are proud to stand with you today, as we have stood with you for almost 80 years, determined to bring about the day when all people are treated equally and fairly.
We look forward to a day when loving couples can legally enter into committed, stable relationships – care for each other in sickness and in health – and receive equal rights and privileges regardless of whether those couples are gay or straight.
Because we are all equal!
We look forward to a day when children have the right to have both of their loving parents recognized as parents – and afforded all the protections and benefits that the law gives to that parent-child relationship –regardless of whether those parents are gay or straight.
Because we are all equal!
We look forward to day when we don’t need to ask a court of law to recognize our fundamental rights – because we will have the court of public opinion firmly on our side.
That day is coming. As you all know, recent national polls show that 58 percent of Americans support marriage equality, and when you survey people who are under the age of 30, that support jumps to 81 percent. Voters from coast to coast made their support for equality known last November when they voted at the ballot box in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington. As more and more courageous LGBT individuals come out to their family, friends, and coworkers, Americans across the political spectrum are waking up to see the injustice that is being perpetrated by laws that deny the basic human dignity of the LGBT community. They are realizing that America is not yet living up to its creed that we are all equal.
We have come together tonight, as we have so many times over the years and decades of this struggle, to support each other and to hold vigil as the Supreme Court considers two cases. Today, the Court heard a challenge to California’s Proposition 8, which amended the state constitution to prohibit recognition of same-sex marriage. Any lawyer will tell you that a good way to look stupid is to try to predict what the Supreme Court will do in a landmark case such as this one, so I am not here to make predictions. But I want to share with you something Ted Olson said as he ended his arguments AGAINST Prop 8. Quoting Justice Ginsberg, he said, “A prime part of the history of our Constitution is the story of the extension of constitutional rights to people once ignored or excluded.”
Tomorrow, the Court will take up Windsor v. U.S., a case brought by the ACLU, in which we are challenging the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA. Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer shared their lives and their love together as a couple in New York for 44 years. After a 40-year engagement, they were finally able to get married in Canada in 2007, and because New York law recognized foreign marriages, that meant they were considered to be legally married by the State of New York. Two years later, Thea passed away, after living for decades with multiple sclerosis, which had led to her being physically paralyzed. When Thea died, even though New York recognized their marriage, the federal government taxed Edie’s inheritance from Thea as though they had been strangers and hit Edie with a bill for more than $363,000 in estate taxes. Under federal law, a married partner can leave an inheritance to his/her spouse without incurring estate taxes, but because of DOMA, the federal government refused to recognize Edie and Thea’s marriage. Last fall, the appeals court ruled that DOMA was unconstitutional and struck it down.
Tomorrow, the Supreme Court takes up this case.
In 1967, in another ACLU lawsuit called Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court recognized that it was unconstitutional for states to ban interracial marriage. It is time now, in 2013, for the Court to recognize that it is unconstitutional to ban same-sex marriage …
Because we are all equal!
On the day the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the first of two landmark cases challenging the constitutionality of bans on same-sex marriage, thousands of people gathered across North Carolina yesterday to rally in support of marriage equality for LGBT couples.
[embed=videolink]{"video":"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta9GHogWQFg","width":"400","height":"300"}[/embed]
ACLU-NC Executive Director Jennifer Rudinger was one of several speakers to address a crowd of hundreds from the steps of the Wake County Courthouse in downtown Raleigh. She made the following remarks:
My friends –
My fellow warriors in the fight for fairness, equality, and justice –
We at the ACLU of North Carolina are proud to stand with you today, as we have stood with you for almost 80 years, determined to bring about the day when all people are treated equally and fairly.
We look forward to a day when loving couples can legally enter into committed, stable relationships – care for each other in sickness and in health – and receive equal rights and privileges regardless of whether those couples are gay or straight.
Because we are all equal!
We look forward to a day when children have the right to have both of their loving parents recognized as parents – and afforded all the protections and benefits that the law gives to that parent-child relationship –regardless of whether those parents are gay or straight.
Because we are all equal!
We look forward to day when we don’t need to ask a court of law to recognize our fundamental rights – because we will have the court of public opinion firmly on our side.
That day is coming. As you all know, recent national polls show that 58 percent of Americans support marriage equality, and when you survey people who are under the age of 30, that support jumps to 81 percent. Voters from coast to coast made their support for equality known last November when they voted at the ballot box in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington. As more and more courageous LGBT individuals come out to their family, friends, and coworkers, Americans across the political spectrum are waking up to see the injustice that is being perpetrated by laws that deny the basic human dignity of the LGBT community. They are realizing that America is not yet living up to its creed that we are all equal.
We have come together tonight, as we have so many times over the years and decades of this struggle, to support each other and to hold vigil as the Supreme Court considers two cases. Today, the Court heard a challenge to California’s Proposition 8, which amended the state constitution to prohibit recognition of same-sex marriage. Any lawyer will tell you that a good way to look stupid is to try to predict what the Supreme Court will do in a landmark case such as this one, so I am not here to make predictions. But I want to share with you something Ted Olson said as he ended his arguments AGAINST Prop 8. Quoting Justice Ginsberg, he said, “A prime part of the history of our Constitution is the story of the extension of constitutional rights to people once ignored or excluded.”
Tomorrow, the Court will take up Windsor v. U.S., a case brought by the ACLU, in which we are challenging the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA. Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer shared their lives and their love together as a couple in New York for 44 years. After a 40-year engagement, they were finally able to get married in Canada in 2007, and because New York law recognized foreign marriages, that meant they were considered to be legally married by the State of New York. Two years later, Thea passed away, after living for decades with multiple sclerosis, which had led to her being physically paralyzed. When Thea died, even though New York recognized their marriage, the federal government taxed Edie’s inheritance from Thea as though they had been strangers and hit Edie with a bill for more than $363,000 in estate taxes. Under federal law, a married partner can leave an inheritance to his/her spouse without incurring estate taxes, but because of DOMA, the federal government refused to recognize Edie and Thea’s marriage. Last fall, the appeals court ruled that DOMA was unconstitutional and struck it down.
Tomorrow, the Supreme Court takes up this case.
In 1967, in another ACLU lawsuit called Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court recognized that it was unconstitutional for states to ban interracial marriage. It is time now, in 2013, for the Court to recognize that it is unconstitutional to ban same-sex marriage …
Because we are all equal!