Tuesday, April 07, 2009

A Great Day for Marriage Equality

I'm sure everyone has seen the great news by now: Vermont's legislature overrode the Governor's veto, making Same Sex Marriage legal in that state. They're now the fourth current state in the U.S. that allows gay marriage, and the first state where it was legalized by the Legislature and not the Courts!

It wasn't the only good news today, though, on the Marriage Equality front. Washington D.C.'s City Council voted unanimously to recognize gay marriages performed in other states as valid in the District.

Meanwhile, in Iowa, the Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Mike Gronstal, shot down an attempt by the Minority Leader to enlist him in an effort to change the state's constitution to get around the court's ruling last week.

Gronstal gave an awesome speech in response:

"One of my daughters was in the workplace one day, and her particular workplace at that moment in time, there were a whole bunch of conservative, older men. And those guys were talking about gay marriage. They were talking about discussions going on across the country. And my daughter Kate, after listening for about 20 minutes, said to them: 'You guys don't understand. You've already lost. My generation doesn't care.' I think I learned something from my daughter that day, when she said that. And Ive talked with other people about it and that's what I see, Senator McKinley. I see a bunch of people that merely want to profess their love for each other, and want state law to recognize that. Is that so wrong? I don't think that's so wrong. As a matter of fact, last Friday night, I hugged my wife. You know I've been married for 37 years. I hugged my wife. I felt like our love was just a little more meaningful last Friday night because thousands of other Iowa citizens could hug each other and have the state recognize their love for each other. No, Senator McKinley, I will not co-sponsor a leadership bill with you."

We could use more public officials like Senator Gronstal, people who put what's right and what's fair ahead of political considerations.

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