Center Blog

In addition to the news that Prop 8 was upheld today in California, another important decision came out in the media today when President Obama announced he would nominate Sonia Sotomayor as his pick for the Supreme Court seat that is currently up for grabs.  If confirmed, Sotomayor would be the second female on the current court, the third woman to ever serve on the court, and the first Hispanic justice to serve on the Supreme Court.  Sotomayor currently acts as a federal appeals judge in Manhattan, and has been labeled a “liberal judicial activist” by conservative groups.  For more on Sotomayor’s background, you can check out articles over at the New York Times  and Washington Post.  Here are a few reactions to the announcement:

Pam Spaulding, founder of Pam’s House Blend has a piece on Huffington Post about Prop 8, LGBT rights and the courts:

For most of us, we won’t have our state legislatures to count on to give us marriage equality, and certainly not “the people” if measures like Prop 8 make it on the ballot — our rights will be ultimately be determined by the courts (and the President, Congress, and SCOTUS).

That said, if any or some marriages are nullified today, perhaps we can channel that anger in a positive way. I’m actually kind of skeptical that one can expect logical or rational reactions from angry people being denied civil rights by technicality, but one can try.

Autumn Sandeen at Pam’s House Blend asks some interesting questions around the timing of Obama’s announcement and the Prop 8 ruling, as well as what this nomination may mean for forcing further conversations about gay marriage, especially by Republicans:

Two Questions:
• Do you think the timing of this Supreme Court pick is designed to coincide with the California Supreme Court ruling? This will definitely force Republicans to discuss gay marriage and other social issues that will no doubt further their party image as one that seeks to divide America over social issues. (Am I being too cynical?)

• Do you think we’ll get an official Obama Administration statement on the Prop 8 ruling? We didn’t get statements on other recent events related to same gender marriage/marriage equality rulings and votes — Do you think because of the Supreme Court pick (a focus on the law day) that the administration will have to respond, or do you think they’ll just try to keep quiet?

Change.org’s Gay Rights Blog talks about what this could mean for LGBT rights:

Of course, it’s unclear how supportive Sotomayor will be, but is pretty clear that the right-wing in this country is going to pounce on her to find out how she might rule on issues like same-sex marriage, overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, anti-discrimination legislation, and more.

One other thing to watch out for?  Sotomayor is Catholic.  Be prepared to watch right-wing groups like the Catholic League jump down her throat and call her anti-Catholic if they detect that she might uphold a woman’s right to choose, or be sympathetic to LGBT issues.

GayPolitics.com highlights some of the responses from the LGBT community:

In piece written by Lisa Keen for Bay Windows, Freedom to Marry’s Evan Wolfson said, “I believe she has the demonstrated commitment to principles of equal protection and inclusion that defines a good nominee to the Supreme Court. In choosing Judge Sotomayor, the first Latino candidate for the Supreme Court, President Obama has made a strong and appealing nomination that should and will receive the supportof those committed to equality for lesbians and gay men.”

The Blade  references HRC’s statement:

The Human Rights Campaign noted in a statement that Sotomayor “has consistently recognized the constitutional right to privacy, first articulated in Griswold [v. Connecticut], that lays the foundation for fundamental rights for LGBT people.”

Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments section about Obama’s announcement!

The California Supreme Court Upholds Prop 8;  Make Your Voice Heard at Day of Decision Protests Tonight
Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Today the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in California. “LGBT New Yorkers aren’t surprised to hear that Prop 8 was upheld today, but we’re certainly disappointed–and angry,” says the Center’s Interim Executive Director Bruce Anderson. “Yet at the same time, we’re buoyed at good news here on the East Coast and in the Midwest in recent weeks, and are more determined than ever to make New York a marriage state soon!”

The Center urges our community to protest the decision tonight at the Prop 8 Day of Decision Protest in Manhattan, just blocks away from the Center.

Get Involved Today:

> Participate in NYC’s Prop 8 Day of Decision Protest tonight at Sheridan Square (Christopher Street and 7th Avenue) in Manhattan at 6PM. Protesters will rally and then march to Union Square. Read more on the Center’s website, Facebook, or see maps of the protest locations).

> Not in NYC? Find a protest at dayofdecision.com

> Share this: Facebook • del.icio.us • Digg • Google • Yahoo! • Furl

Stay Involved Tomorrow:

> Submit a video to our Project Pushback video contest for marriage equality – deadline is June 1!

> Find out about upcoming marriage equality events in NYC on the Center’s website

> Get updates about marriage equality by becoming a fan of the Center on Facebook and by following the Center on Twitter

www.gaycenter.org/marriage

From Marriage Equality New York/Civil Rights Front:

Prop 8 Day of Decision
Tuesday, May 26

Meet at 6pm in Sheridan Square – 7th Ave and Christopher Street (near Stonewall Bar in the West Village) to join the march to Union Square (south side) where we all will rally (starting there about/after 6:45pm)!

Join:
Marriage Equality New York
Metropolitan Community Church
Lambda Legal
Civil Rights Front
Broadway Impact
Human Rights Campaign
Empire State Pride Agenda
Assemblymember Danny O’Donnell
Senator Thomas Duane
several couples married in California (and who want to stay married!)
and many more…

More information:  Facebook, Marriage Equality New York, Civil Rights Front

Then and Now Opening Reception, Thursday, May 28

If you’ve ever been to the Center’s Keith Haring Bathroom, you’ve seen some of the work of the 1989 Center Show.   This Thursday 5/28, check out the original artwork as well as new pieces by LGBT artists at Then and Now: An Exhibition Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Center Show.

On Saturday 5/30, the Center and the Bi Writers Association are hosting a free one-day summit on Putting the ‘B’ in LGBT to address bisexual inclusion and visibility within the LGBT movement.  As the Center’s Interim Executive Director Bruce Anderson noted, “Many people aren’t quite sure how the ‘B’ fits into LGBT.  As a result, mention of bisexual people often goes missing from discussion of LGBT rights issues.”

Genderqueer and interested in parenting?  Join  Center Kids, Center Families on Wednesday 5/27 for a Genderqueer Parenting Meet and Greet for parents and people interested in becoming parents.

Straightlaced Premiere, Tuesday, May 26

Tonight 5/26 is the NYC Premiere of Straightlaced–How Gender Has Got Us All Tied Up at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College (tickets or more info).  The Center is happy to be a community partner for this event!

Also, this is the last week to participate in the Center’s May Membership Drive!  Don’t miss your chance to earn free tickets to Broadway and Off-Broadway Shows The 39 Steps, Irena’s Vow and The Marvelous Wonderettes. Recruit a new Center Member today!

Membership Drive: Join Now!

Watch a video message about Project Pushback, then enter your video promoting the freedom to marry!

Project Pushback is a joint project of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the Center in NYC

A Message from Bruce Cohen and Donna Deitch

If a picture says a thousand words, imagine what you can convey in a 60-second video designed to promote the freedom to marry? Because we’ve spent our careers producing and directing movies and television, we know the enormous power of video.

And we aren’t the only ones.  For decades, opponents of equal rights for LGBT people have used ads full of lies and distortions to scare voters. Just weeks ago, after our victories in Vermont and Iowa, the so-called “National Organization for Marriage” launched an appalling ad campaign ominously warning viewers of the impending “storm” of equal marriage rights that would take away their freedom. Claims that seem incredible to us may actually influence people who don’t know any better.

It’s more clear than ever before that our opponents are willing to say or do anything in their quest to deny LGBT people equal civil rights.  We are writing about an exciting opportunity to create our own messages — messages that promote fairness and freedom.

Project Pushback is looking for 60-second videos designed to change hearts and minds in support of marriage equality.  We’re proud to be two of the judges who will award $2,500 to the creator of the video we select as the best from the 10 favorites chosen by the public.  Here’s your chance to get involved and help make a difference!

Visit the Project Pushback website and show us what you’ve got before June 1! Even if you’re not interested in entering, check out the videos that have been submitted — public voting will begin on June 2. The People’s Choice winner will get $1,000 and anyone could win a new Sony HD video camera.

Our community and its allies boast the most creative minds anywhere.  Let’s put them to work on behalf of the freedom to marry!

Sincerely,

Bruce CohenProducer, Milk

Donna DeitchDirector, Desert Hearts

From today’s Wall Street Journal:

In October 2006, Gerry Studds, the first openly gay U.S. congressman, took his dog out for a morning walk and collapsed with a blood clot in his lung. He died a few days later.

Ever since, his widower, Dean Hara, married legally to Mr. Studds in Massachusetts, has been trying in vain to collect survivor benefits from Mr. Studds’s federal pension and health insurance — tens of thousands of dollars he says he would be getting if he were straight.

Now, in a lawsuit, Mr. Hara, two other gay widowers and seven gay couples also wed in Massachusetts are challenging the law that keeps them from getting federal marital benefits.

Associated Press

The late Representative Gerry Studds, (D., Mass.), left, with Dean Hara, on their wedding day in Boston, along with their dog Bonnie in May 2004.

The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, signed into law by former President Bill Clinton, defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman. That means the government must ignore same-sex marriages even if a state chooses to recognize them, as Massachusetts and four other states have done. A recipient of many federal benefits must be either an opposite-sex spouse or, in some cases, a child.

Although DOMA has been unsuccessfully challenged before, the new lawsuit is different because of the number of plaintiffs, its sharp focus on the marital-benefits issue and because the plaintiffs all are legally married or survivors of legal marriages.

A victory for them would increase the financial benefits of gay marriage, which could help spread the practice. Though legal experts say courts would be reluctant to invalidate laws set by Congress, supporters hope a victory will put pressure on Congress to repeal DOMA, a rescission that President Barack Obama says he favors even though he opposes gay marriage.

A victory for the government would strengthen the hand of gay-marriage opponents, who view the law as the last line of defense against a practice that they consider immoral and damaging to the institution of marriage. Some conservatives fear that this lawsuit is part of a Trojan-horse campaign to make gay marriage a reality nationwide over the will of voters. They see the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court here in March, as an important one. “It’s very significant because the ramifications are extraordinary,” says Brian Raum, an attorney at the conservative Alliance Defense Fund.

The lawsuit also comes after many companies have been extending health-care and other benefits to same-sex couples and domestic partners. Human Rights Campaign, a gay-advocacy group, says that over half of Fortune 500 companies provide health benefits to the gay partners of employees.

Plaintiffs say DOMA means they pay higher taxes because they can’t file a joint return, and they can’t collect spousal Social Security benefits, among other restrictions. Their lawsuit argues that the government discriminates against their marriages and infringes on their constitutional right to equal protection under the Fifth Amendment.

The suit also advances a federalist argument, saying that marriage is a matter for states to define, not for Washington. It doesn’t attempt to make gay marriage legal nationwide or force the practice on 42 states that ban it.

The Department of Justice declined to comment on the litigation, and hasn’t yet responded in court. Lawyers on both sides say President Obama’s position on DOMA doesn’t mean his Justice Department won’t vigorously defend the lawsuit.

“It’s far from a slam dunk, but it’s a powerful and plausible case,” according to Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law School professor who says he’s sympathetic to the plaintiffs but isn’t involved in the lawsuit. “It’s a surgical attack on DOMA rather than trying to hit it with a bludgeon.”

Lynn Wardle, a professor at Brigham Young University law school who specializes in family law, says the notion that the federal government must defer to the states’ definition of marriage is wrong. Mr. Wardle, who is opposed to gay marriage, says that in cases that predate the gay-marriage debate, the government has overruled state definitions of marriage when it alleged couples created sham marriages to gain citizenship for one of the parties, or for tax benefits. Preventing activist judges from redefining marriage is precisely why DOMA was enacted, Mr. Wardle says.

Harvard’s Mr. Tribe says that while the U.S. government isn’t constitutionally obligated to follow the states’ definition of marriage, it has historically done so, and would need to justify why it departed from this practice in the case of gay marriage.

In a 2005 case, in which a lesbian couple in Florida challenged DOMA, the government argued that straight marriage fosters procreation, encouraging the “stable generational continuity of the United States.” In that case, a federal judge in Tampa upheld DOMA and said there was no precedent to “acknowledge or establish a constitutional right to enter into a same-sex marriage.”

While gay-marriage advocates don’t expect Congress to take up DOMA anytime soon, they acknowledge the lawsuit is in part designed to nudge Congress toward action. “We are hoping this will prompt Congress to take a closer look at these issues,” says Mary Bonauto, civil-rights project director at the Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, which represents the plaintiffs.

The group filed the 2004 case that made Massachusetts the first state in the country to allow same-sex couples to wed. Ms. Bonauto also won a similar case in Connecticut last year. Since then, three more states — Iowa, Vermont and Maine — authorized gay marriage.

Plaintiffs say the constitutional arguments are overshadowed by the nitty-gritty concerns of daily life. “I work with people every day, we are doing the same job, but they all are making more money just because they are in a straight marriage,” says Mary Bowe-Shulman, an attorney at a Massachusetts state court.

When Ms. Bowe-Shulman added her spouse, Dorene, a cancer survivor, to her health plan, the government started taxing her on the value of Dorene’s insurance, she says — a tax that doesn’t apply to straight married couples. Combined with other federal taxes assessed because they are single in Washington’s eyes, the Bowe-Shulmans, who have two daughters, say they paid $3,332 in extra taxes in 2006 alone.

Congressman Studds and Mr. Hara got engaged in 1991. Mr. Hara, who is 51 and works as a financial adviser, remembers watching the congressional debate on DOMA from the visitors’ gallery. “I don’t think we ever thought we’d be married,” he says. The pair were among the earliest to wed after the 2004 Massachusetts court ruling.

By then, Mr. Studds had retired from Congress and was receiving a pension and federal health coverage. In June of last year, an administrative judge put an end to Mr. Hara’s attempts to get survivor benefits, saying “a same-sex marriage in any jurisdiction cannot be recognized for benefit entitlement purposes,” according to the lawsuit.

Mr. Wardle acknowledges that the “equality argument” advanced by plaintiffs “seems to have some legs.” One solution to the benefits debate, he suggests, would be to redefine the rules of awarding the benefits so that committed gay couples are entitled to them, while still keeping a federal definition of traditional marriage intact.

Write to Philip Shishkin at philip.shishkin@wsj.com

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A15

For information about events that address marriage equality and how you can get involved, visit the Center’s website.

From the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund:

Wednesday, May 20th is statewide GENDA Call-In Day. Although the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) has been passed by the Assembly and has enough support to be passed by the Senate, we need to act now to ensure that GENDA gets out of committee and to the Senate floor for a vote. The time is NOW to take action and make our final push to get the Senate to end discrimination against transgender New Yorkers.

Here’s what we need you to do on Wednesday: First, get on the phone and call lead Senate sponsor Tom Duane and tell him that you want him to bring GENDA to the Senate floor and pass it.  Second, call your Senator and tell him/her the same thing. We’re in the final stretch and it is vital that they hear from you.

You can reach Senator Duane at (518) 455-2451. You can find your State Senator’s Albany phone number here.

GENDA would amend the state’s human rights law to include anti-discrimination protections based upon gender identity and expression, providing crucial civil rights protections for transgender New Yorkers by banning discrimination in housing, employment, credit, public accommodations, and other areas of everyday life. It would also add enhanced penalties for hate crimes against transgender New Yorkers. With the trial of Dwight R. DeLee in the murder of Lateisha Green set to begin next month, we’re all acutely aware of the importance of getting this legislation passed.

With more than half of the Senators indicating their support for GENDA, we know that we have enough votes to get it passed in the Senate if it comes to the floor for a vote. Now is the time to call Senator Duane and your State Senator!

Here are some things you can tell them when you call:

• You’re calling about GENDA, S.2406 (do give them the bill number).

• It is time to end discrimination against transgender New Yorkers.

• Ask lead Senate Sponsor Tom Duane to bring the bill to the floor for a vote now.

• Ask your Senator to vote for GENDA when it comes to the floor.

• 78% of New York voters support GENDA.

• Unions representing 2.1 million New Yorkers support GENDA.

• Fortune 500 companies based in cities like Rochester, Corning, New York City and White Plains support GENDA.

• Clergy from over 20 different denominations support GENDA.

Working together, we can make this happen! Start making those phone calls!

Read more at Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund or Empire State Pride Agenda.

Check out these photos from AIDS Walk NY 2009.  Thanks to all of the Center’s walkers and supporters!

AIDS Walk NY 2009. Photo by Pat Pasenello.

View photos on Flickr or Facebook, and see the Center’s AIDS Walk page.

Broadway Impact — a “community of actors, directors, stage managers, fans, producers….united by the simple belief that anyone who wants to should be able to get married” — has organized a rally for marriage equality in New York State, and it’s happening this Sunday!  Here are all the details:

Date: Sunday, May 17th
Time: 5-7pm
Location: 6th Ave. and 45th St.

Appearances by:
Audra McDonald
Cheyenne Jackson
David Hyde Pierce
Gavin Creel
Kristin Davis
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn
Senator Tom Duane
Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell
The Cast of Hair

Rally Co-sponsors:
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
Broadway Impact
Civil Rights Front
Empire State Pride Agenda
Human Rights Campaign
Marriage Equality NY

“Send a clear message to our Senators that there’s no room for discrimination in the Empire State.”

More info at www.broadwayimpact.com

Gender Identity Project cordially invites you to attend our 5th annual

TRANS PROM

GIP dance extravaganza for trans and gender-non-conforming people, their partners, friends and allies.
18 and over!

THIS YEAR’S THEME WILL BE “HOLLYWOOD IN THE 90’S”

Friday, May 15
8pm-Midnight
FREE

For more information, contact Cristina H. at cherrera@gaycenter.org, or call (212) 620-7310, x273

It’s never too late to do your Prom the right way! Join us in our annual tradition of recreating your Prom the way you always wanted it. The event is free and is open to everyone 18 and over. So whether you’re trans, gender-queer, transsexual, gender-questioning, two-spirit, or a friend, ally or family member, come have a great time!

Find this event on Facebook, and invite your friends!

Find more information on our website…