Press

Senate Majority Leader Attacks Marriage

Just days after the Supreme Court ruled that the government has no place in the bedrooms of America, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist expressed closed-mindedness regarding the treatment of married gay couples in the wake of Canada's decision earlier this month to recognize same-sex couples for the purpose of marriage. In a Sunday, June 29 appearance on ABC's "This Week", Frist said he would "absolutely...of course" support a proposed amendment to the U.S Constitution that would ban state or federal recognition of the marriages of same-sex couples. The amendment would also prohibit conferring "marital status or the legal incidents thereof" on same-sex couples. This could jeopardize hard-won domestic partner benefits, offered in about a dozen states and hundreds of municipalities, as well as by thousands of private employers in the U.S. Furthermore, civil unions, which afford legal equality to Vermont gay couples at the level of state policy, could also be jeopardized by this amendment.

"Marriage rights for same-sex couples are no longer an abstract hypothetical," said Sean Cahill, director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute. "Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples have married in Canada, and they are married. Some are Americans who will return home as married couples. These married gay couples will go about their lives and do the things other married couples do -- apply for mortgages, seek health benefits for their spouses and children, and build a life together. Married Canadian same-sex couples will travel to the U.S. on vacation, to work, or to study. The American people have a choice in how they are going to treat these hopeful newlyweds. They can treat them with respect and dignity and fairness, or they can discriminate against them. We trust that most Americans will do the right thing. We know that many Americans are wrestling with this issue, but that many are approaching it with an open mind. Unfortunately, Senator Frist has closed his mind, and has decided to discriminate against American gay couples and gay couples visiting from our northern neighbor."

Cahill continued, "While anti-gay activists often point to tradition to justify opposing marriage rights for same-sex couples, the United States has a centuries-old tradition of respecting marriages performed in other countries and jurisdictions under the principle of 'comity.' Marriages valid where celebrated are respected everywhere. Even states that banned interracial marriages recognized those performed in states without miscegenation laws. That system has stood the U.S. in good stead up to this point. When heterosexual American couples travel abroad, don't we want other countries to respect their marriages?"

Also, the U.S. Constitution has traditionally been amended to clarify or expand rights, not to single out a group of people to deny them the protections of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, Cahill said."This anti-gay marriage amendment would set a disturbing precedent and is not in the best tradition of American justice. As we approach the Fourth of July, we celebrate the Declaration of Independence that stated that all men are created equal. The attack on gay families by Senator Frist and others in Congress is not in keeping with the 'Spirit of '76' that we celebrate this weekend." The nonrecognition of same-sex marriages means same-sex couples do not have basic elements of economic and family security that straight couples don't think twice about. Couples shouldn't have to litigate to find out if their marriage is intact when they travel. Children of same-sex couples shouldn't have to worry if their parents are still married while on vacation. Banks, businesses, and others shouldn't have to wonder whether their contracts with a couple are still binding.

"The Supreme Court just ruled that the state cannot single out gay people for harassment and discriminatory treatment," Cahill said. "Justice Kennedy, writing for the majority, spoke of 'respect' for gay couples and warned that 'the state cannot demean their existence...' These are important, basic principles of fairness. We urge Americans to reject the divisive politics of the past and reject Senator Frist's attack on gay and lesbian families." In his June 29 ABC News appearance, Frist also misrepresented the impact of the landmark Lawrence v. Texas case, echoing language of anti-gay right wing extremists. Frist told ABC News's "This Week" program that the Lawrence v. Texas decision could mean that "criminal activity" such as "prostitution or illegal commercial drug activity" would have to be allowed as well. Anti-gay activists regularly claim that allowing gay people basic rights will open the floodgates and that the state will not be able to ban any private, consensual activity. U.S. Senator Rick Santorum made similar comments in April comparing homosexuality to child sexual abuse, bestiality, polygamy and incest. In fact, in Lawrence the Supreme Court ruled that there was no compelling state interest that overrode gay couples' right to express intimacy and love in the privacy of their own homes. Courts have found compelling state interests that justify outlawing prostitution and drug activity, and there are certainly compelling state interests justifying outlawing child sexual abuse and other forms of nonconsensual sex. Those issues are not connected in any way to the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in same-sex relationships to express their feelings of affection and love for their partners.

For more on same-sex partner recognition, see the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force report "Family Policy: Issues Affecting Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Families," available in the NGLTF online publications library.

–30–

The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from the ground up. We do this by training activists, organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and by building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movement’s premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., we also have offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis and Cambridge.