Marriage/Partner Recognition
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) families deserve the same respect, recognition and protection as all other families. Family recognition and the many rights and protections it provides is essential to the well-being of our families.
Update: Victory in California!
On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court made the historic decision to support the freedom to marry. Get more details in our press release [1], and download these great FAQs (updated 5/15/08) [2] on marriage for same-sex couples in California.
Also, read this important guide, Make Change, Not Lawsuits [3]. It was produced by four legal organizations and the Task Force and four other leading national LGBT organizations,explains why ill-timed lawsuits are likely to set the fight for marriage back and outlines other ways to fight that are more likely to win.
Why It Matters:
Legally recognized partnership such as marriage in Massachusetts and California and civil unions in Connecticut and New Jersey must, and in those cases do, secure essential rights and protections for our families and children. But same-sex couples, even those legally recognized by their states, are denied the 1,138 federal benefits available to or required of married opposite-sex couples. The denial of those benefits hurts our families.
What We’re Doing:
The Task Force has been at the forefront of the national effort to defeat anti-same-sex marriage amendments (that often include bans on any recognized legal status, such as civil unions) and promote family recognition. We:
- Launched an online marriage action center to assist in the successful defeat of the Federal Marriage Amendment.
- Helped build and lead a broad civil rights, labor and religious coalition to advocate against the Federal Marriage Amendment in the Senate and in the House with a strategic and cooperative grassroots lobbying and message campaign.
- Vigorously advocated against U.S. Supreme Court nominees whose records were hostile to LGBT rights and to protections for our families.
- Joined forces with a host of civic, religious, labor and civil rights leaders and organizations to run a nationwide Marriage Matters [3] ad campaign.
- Support our partners [3] in contested states to organize grassroots power from the ground up.
- Work with state and local activists [3] to defeat anti-LGBT family recognition amendments.
Welcomed Beyond Marriage: A New Strategic Vision for All Our Families & Relationships, which calls for government support of all our households, including single-parent households, senior citizens living together and serving as each other’s caregivers, and close friends or siblings living in non-conjugal relationships and serving as each other’s primary support and caregivers. The complete text of the Beyond Marriage statement can be found at http://www.beyondmarriage.org [4].
What You Can Do:
- Support [4] the work of the Task Force.
- Get involved! Learn how at our Activist Center [4].