Submitted by Leland Traiman, Aug 7, 2008 13:17

Massachusetts and California do not have Marriage Equality! Marriage Equality is having all of the rights of marriage, including the 1138 federal marriage rights, not a legal category labeled "marriage" which is devoid of those rights. Barack Obama supports granting "civil unions and other legally-recognized unions" (including domestic partnerships and marriage) the 1138 federal rights of marriage. Presently, that includes 10 states! That would be Marriage Equality! Who cares what it is called? The vast majority of the LGBT community is more interested in their rights than the title. The backlash to our marriage-only strategy has brought us an entirely new body of anti-gay laws: the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and 45 states passing laws or constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. 17 of those laws/constitutional amendments went further by also prohibiting civil unions and domestic partnerships. However, domestic partnerships and civil unions have never been successfully reversed on a direct challenge. The difference between California's same-sex marriage and California's comprehensive domestic partnerships is moot. When will our community start putting reality before rhetoric? True Marriage Equality can only be won in Washington, DC. That is where we should be focusing our energies.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.