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Lambda Legal Applauds Third New Civil Union State in Six Months

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"This is what momentum looks like."
April 15, 2011

"It is time to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage, and Lambda Legal and many others will continue to fight for that goal."

(New York, April 15, 2011)—Yesterday, the Delaware House of Representatives voted 26-15 to approve a civil unions bill that will provide same-sex couples who enter into such civil unions the same rights, protections and obligations now granted in Delaware to married couples. The Senate had approved the measure earlier, and the Governor has announced he will sign the bill into law. It will go into effect on January 1, 2012.

Lambda Legal's national Marriage Project Director Camilla Taylor issued the following statement:

"Another state has taken an important step forward and we congratulate the elected officials and advocates who fought so hard to secure legal recognition for same-sex couples and their families. This is what momentum looks like—from Hawai`i to Delaware, the number of states where same-sex couples and their children will have a sense of security and legal recognition in times of crisis and joy is steadily increasing, and support for equality is growing across the country. In my home state of Illinois, people will start celebrating civil unions in June.

"There are now five states plus the District of Columbia where same-sex couples can marry, 18,000 couples married in California, eight states where civil unions are available or will be soon, and four more states with broad protections through domestic partnerships. That's 19 places in this country where same-sex couples are no longer invisible under the law and can live their lives with greater security.

"But this patchwork of laws and protections is not equality. Equality is the freedom to marry the person you love and be included under the same laws as your neighbors. It is time to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage, and Lambda Legal and many others will continue to fight for that goal."

Read Status of Same-Sex Relationships Nationwide.

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Contact Info

Contact: Jonathan Adams 212-809-8585 ext 267; jadams@lambdalegal.org

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.

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