Well, it indeed became official late last week that Washington state's referendum on marriage equality was in fact a win for marriage equality. Washington will thus be included with Maine and Maryland as the first three states to approve gay marriage by a popular vote, rather than strictly through legislative or judicial action. They all did so in this November's elections. These three new states will now join the six other states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and Iowa) and the District of Columbia as jurisdictions where gay and lesbian couples may marry. New battleground states to watch, according to Queerty: New Jersey, Rhode Island, Illinois, Oregon, and Delaware.
For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.
4 comments:
Very interesting Steve, so the dominoes are continuing to fall. Taking it to a direct vote of the people seems like a much more reasonable approach than a judicial or legislative determination. Although this can go the other way in conservative jurisdictions, like Texas where the voters passed a constitutional amendment a few years ago essentially prohibiting gay marriage. Hopefully the more recent (and reasonable) trend continues...
I agree, Scott, and thanks for your comments. I also hope the more recent and reasonable trend continues. However, conservative jurisdictions like Texas, as you suggest, will continue to be much more difficult to bring around. When Gov. Rick Perry actually went out of his way to make public statements and run ads critical of gay marriage, he made clear he resides in a state which, apart from Austin perhaps, is for the forseeable future hopelessly blinded by the ignorance and irrationality of the "Christian" right.
You are exactly right about Texas. I live in Austin and have offices in both Houston and Austin so I spend a lot of time in both and throughout the state. Texas is tremendously conservative and Austin (ironically the capital) is the one liberal island in the entire state. Austin's motto (seen on bumper stickers everywhere) is "Let's Keep Austin Weird."
Oh and I can't let a mention of Rick Perry pass without referencing my favorite moment of the election, the brain freeze: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTNjhcyx7dM
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