Stories indexed with the term ‘marriage equality’

Editor’s Note: David Erik Nelson’s short story “The New Guys Always Work Overtime” won the 2013 Asimov’s Readers’ Award for Short Fiction. You can buy it or download a free copy: [here]

Back in March, for just shy of 24 hours, Michigan was willing to license, solemnize, and recognize the marriage of any two people without getting all particular about their genitals. [1] The three-judge appellate panel is still out on whether the question of a happily-ever-after for non-bigots and wedding-lovers here in Michigan. But that was still a pretty wonderful day.

In one sense that day resulted from a specific victory in court: A courageous couple embarked on a legal battle in order to protect their adopted children in the case that either parent dies, lawyers argued the case, and based on the merit of those oral arguments and the testimony of experts a federal judge issued a very strongly-worded decision.

By itself, all of that was a wonderful example of our legal system basically working as we’d hope.

But here’s the thing:  If that was all that had been done – just plaintiffs and lawyers and experts and a level-headed judge – no one could have gotten married on Saturday, March 22, 2014. No offices would have been open, no staff would have been on hand, and the appropriate forms would not have existed.

So today I want to sing the praises of the quiet heroism of county clerks – who are, for the vast bulk of law-abiding citizens, the daily executors of the Law, which is to say our Will as a People. This column is meant to record in something approaching a permanent way their mettle in helping to bend the Arc of the Moral Universe towards Justice. [Full Story]

Several media outlets report on marriage licenses issued in Michigan, including Washtenaw County, on Saturday, March 22 – following a federal court ruling the previous day that struck down Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage. WEMU reports from the Washtenaw County administration building in downtown Ann Arbor, where more than a dozen wedding officiants were performing ceremonies. [Source] The Detroit News quotes Martin Contreras, who married Keith Orr, his partner of 27 years – they own and run the \aut\ bar in Ann Arbor: “I never thought it would happen in my lifetime. It’s indescribable. I never expected we could get this far.” [Source] Heritage Media published a series of photos from the crowd. [Source]

The Detroit Free Press reports on U.S. District Judge David S. Lawson’s decision to block Michigan from enforcing a law that bans public employers – like school systems or local governments – from offering benefits to same-sex couples. The article quotes Peter Ways, an Ann Arbor Public Schools teacher who was affected by the law: “We’re breathing a sigh of relief right now. This law was clearly meant to target families like ours and to make us feel as though we didn’t count.” [Source]

In an essay published on The DOMA Project’s website, Patricia Davenport of Ann Arbor argues against U.S. immigration laws that discriminate against the foreign spouses of U.S. citizens. Her son is engaged to a Turkish man, and the couple currently live in Istanbul. Davenport writes: “Any law that discriminates in this way against my son, also harms our entire family. This is not a gay issue, this is about American families. And it is time for this to come to an end, so my son and his partner can come home to us.” [Source]

State Sen. Rebekah Warren of Ann Arbor (D-District 18) co-authored a column published by the Detroit Free Press about proposed legislation that would let Michigan voters overturn the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Warren is a co-sponsor of the legislation. “Michigan would become more business-friendly by embracing marriage equality. By upholding discriminatory state policies, we are undermining our state’s ability to attract talent in the 21st Century. Denying two people the right to get married based solely on their gender violates the principles of equality our country was founded on and defies the values of fairness and freedom.” [Source]

Damn Arbor highlights the fact that Washtenaw County showed the largest increase in Facebook profile photo changes this week, using the red and pink “equal” sign to support marriage equality. The changes were analyzed by Eytan Bakshy on the Facebook Data Science Team. The Human Rights Campaign had urged Facebook users to change their profile photos on Monday, March 25, as the U.S. Supreme Court began debating two same-sex marriage cases. [Source]