Friday, October 12, 2012

HRC - Additional $1 Million to State Marriage Ballot Campaigns





FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 12, 2012
Paul Guequierre | 
paul.guequierre@hrc.org | 202-423-2860

HRC Commits Additional $1 Million to State Marriage Ballot Measures

HRC Four State Total now at $4.4 million

WASHINGTON – Today the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, furthered its commitment to marriage equality, announcing an additional $1 million in the four states facing marriage-related ballot measures in November – Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington. Today’s announced investments bring HRC’s contributions to the four ballot measures to $4.4 million and $7.3 million overall during this election cycle.

“There’s no doubt that 2012 is the year of marriage equality. When you have momentum on your side, you don’t slow down, you double down, and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Our movement is about loving and committed families who deserve nothing less than full equality under the law. HRC is proud of our many volunteers and donors who have raised and donated additional resources to fuel this fight.”

In Maine, voters will be asked for the first time in the country to affirmatively pass marriage for gays and lesbians at the ballot box. Voters in Maryland and Washington are being asked to affirm legislatively passed marriage equality laws. In Minnesota, voters will consider a constitutional amendment to ban gay and lesbian couples from marriage. Throughout the campaigns HRC has provided financial contributions as well as in-kind contributions of staff and research to support the state efforts.

“Our adversaries have bragged that marriage equality has never won at the ballot box. This November, we will take that talking point away once and for all,” added Griffin. “In 2012, fair-minded Americans – and particularly residents of Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington – will support their LGBT friends, family members, and coworkers.”

The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

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Thursday, October 11, 2012

"if two people are in love they should have the right to marry in Maryland."



"Like everyone I know, I am planning to vote this November for Question 6 to legalize same-sex marriages in Maryland. The law will rectify an unfair situation which, if it were not so ugly in its discrimination, would almost be humorous.

"It was all right for Mickey Rooney or Elizabeth Taylor to get married as many times as they wanted, but two males or two females don't have that right.

"Anyone who votes against marriage equality probably is unaware of the institution's history. Men once took wives who virtually had no rights in a patriarchal society. And people of different races were forbidden to marry.



"I believe in love, and if two people are in love they should have the right to marry in Maryland.
Follow @BaltSunLetters for the latest reader letters to The Sun.

"So as a vegetarian and environmentalist, I was astonished by the lack of logic in a recent commentary opposing same-sex unions ("Protecting marriage isn't about hate," Oct. 2). The writer, a self-described "vegetarian" who lives "in a solar house," tries to argue that opposition to marriage equality isn't rooted in bias.

"His argument really gets into the weeds with the false analogy between a vegetarian who eats meat and a person who marries a partner of the same sex. Marriage equality doesn't redefine marriage, it simply ends an unlawful discrimination. Similarly, a person who gets a divorce or doesn't marry has no effect on anyone else's marriage.

"There are no legitimate arguments against marriage equality. Discrimination has long been part of this country's core, and good people have always come together to end discrimination in all its many forms. The fight for marriage equality is just the latest example of that.

Max Obuszewski, Baltimore

Source: Baltimore Sun, Oct 5, 2012



"Gays and lesbians . . . fulfilling the call to live genuine Christian lives"




"In response to Archbishop William E. Lori, Catholics like myself who support passage of Question 6 to legalize same-sex marriages in Maryland by no means disagree with the Book of Genesis and Jesus' words in the Gospel of Mark, which were read last Sunday in support of the Church's position that marriage is between a man and a woman ("Same-sex marriage foes argue case from the pulpit," Oct. 8). We simply believe application of this sacred truth must be expanded. 
"As the Church itself acknowledges the existence of gays and lesbians and has thereby freed them of the burden of sin, so too the time has come to acknowledge that gays and lesbians can find partners with whom they can live a sacred life of love, and raise children together with love and compassion, fulfilling the call to live genuine Christian lives.
"Question 6 does not state that the Church must marry gay and lesbian couples; therefore, there is no need for it to take such a vociferous stance against its passage."
Jeff Konyar, Linthicum

Source: Baltimore Sun Oct 11 2012

Monday, October 8, 2012

Friday, October 5, 2012

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Vote YES on Question 4 - DREAM Act about fairness - Maryland's Catholic Bishops


“Fairness” is at the heart of Maryland bishops' support for the Maryland DREAM Act.

Said Archbishop Lori:


“We consider it (the DREAM Act) a matter of affirming the dignity of these young people, who are here through no fault of their own,” Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori told the Catholic Review. “Educating these young people and making them productive citizens of our country is something good – a source of strength for our country.”

According to a recent article in the Catholic Review, by Maria Wiering, 

"A recent poll found that 60 percent of likely Maryland voters support the DREAM Act, with 26 percent opposed and 14 percent undecided, according to Educating Maryland Kids, a coalition working to protect the law."
"Under the DREAM Act, students must meet clear criteria to be eligible for the in-state tuition rate: they must attend a Maryland high school for three years and graduate, earn college acceptance, attend a community college for two years before transferring to a four-year institution, and promise to pursue citizenship when eligible."
"The Maryland DREAM Act is not the same as the DREAM Act first introduced in Congress in 2001, although they share a name – an acronym for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors."
"Unlike the federal legislation, which includes avenues for establishing permanent residency for undocumented students, the Maryland DREAM Act only affects the price an eligible undocumented student pays for higher education in Maryland."

For more about this important ballot issue, come to an ecumenical presentation on the DREAM Act:

Morgan State University
Baltimore
Wednesday

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

A Letter from Maine


Lector and C4ME Board Member, Kathy Tosney


Dear Friends,

This Sunday is the 30th in Ordinary Time – the plain-living-days minus the seasonal anticipation of Christmas or celebratory energy of Easter. These are days of reality: interacting with real people struggling to “do what’s right” for our families, friends, local communities and larger world.

This week, into this ordinary time, four U.S. bishops inserted extraordinary political demands. All abrogate Vatican II assurances of the primacy of individual conscience over Church dogma, particularly in matters of civil law and liberty.

400,000 Minnesota Catholic households received a letter from their bishops asking for donations to Minnesota for Marriage. It is a secular, political organization seeking a state constitutional amendment that would forever ban same-sex marriage.

San Francisco’s Archbishop-designate degreed that, “gay men and lesbians who are in a sexual relationship of any kind should not receive communion.” In New Jersey, the Archbishop of Newark’s “Pastoral Letter,” said that supporters of marriage for same-sex couples who “continue to receive Holy Communion while so dissenting [from his view on marriage] would be objectively dishonest” and should refrain from the sacrament.

Lectors in Maine received the Bishop’s mandate that the Prayers of the Faithful in every Mass until the November 6th election close with the priest praying:

Lord God and Creator,In the beginning you made man and woman so that they might enter a communion of life and love.We commend to your mercy the citizens of this State that we may be blessed in the knowledge and observance of your holy law.We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Also in Maine this week, another delivery of Catholics for Marriage Equality/God is Love buttons arrived. That’s 7,000 buttons distributed since our 2009 founding! C4ME’s ministry supports those who are harmed by the hierarchy’s politics and encourages Catholics to heed their hearts and vote their consciences for marriage for same-sex couples. Let us recommit ourselves to praying together and acting together over the next forty days to bring justice to our gay and lesbian family and friends and sanity to our church.

Thank you for your part in this healing work of advocacy,

Anne Underwood

Preach the Truth as if you had a million voices. It is silence that kills the world. St. Catherine of Siena
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SOURCE: Anne Underwood, a mentor and friend, works with Catholics for Marriage Equality Maine