Lambda Legal Condemns Attempt to Amend U.S. Constitution to Prohibit Marriage by Lesbian and Gay Couples

(NEW YORK, Wednesday, May 15, 2002) - Lambda Legal today condemned as “misguided” and “cynical” a bill introduced by a small group of right-wing members of Congress that would amend the U.S. Constitution to prohibit any state from allowing marriage by lesbian and gay couples.

“We agree with the proponents of the constitutional amendment that marriage is important, and that’s precisely why every loving couple and family needs access to it,” said David Buckel, senior staff attorney and coordinator of Lambda Legal’s Marriage Project. “To take the extraordinary step of amending the Constitution to prohibit states from giving gay couples and their children the legal protections they need and deserve is an affront to justice,” Buckel added.

Lambda Legal litigated the first of the lawsuits seeking the freedom to marry for all couples, which resulted in a landmark pro-family decision in Hawaii later overturned at the polls with a million-dollar campaign by the radical right. Since then, gay couples have made enormous headway in better protecting their families, with marriage in the Netherlands, “civil unions” in Vermont, strong domestic partnership benefits in California and Hawaii, and a vast array of other types of domestic partner benefits from employers looking to retain good employees. But nowhere in the United States do lesbian and gay couples have the full equality that comes with the choice to honor their commitment to each other through civil marriage.

Lambda Legal pointed out that many families can be strengthened by the rights and responsibilities that civil marriage provides. For example, with marriage a spouse can:

• protect children through a strengthened parent-child relationship;
  
• rely on financial support from the other spouse;
  
• participate in health care and medical decisions, and have hospital visitation;
  
• take medical leave to care for an ill spouse;
  
• automatically inherit the home and personal possessions.

“It is sad that a few members of Congress would rather engage in a misguided and cynical political ploy than speak out for support for all loving couples and families,” Lambda Legal’s Buckel stated. “Fortunately, more and more Americans are recognizing that our government should be supporting all families, regardless of whether the parents are gay or not,” he added. [Two thirds of Americans believe that same-sex couples will win the freedom to marry. (Wall Street Journal/NBC, September 1999).]

Lambda Legal is the nation’s oldest and largest legal organization, dedicated to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and people with HIV or AIDS. Headquartered in New York, Lambda Legal has regional offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and will be opening an office in Dallas in June.

Contact: David Buckel, 212/809-8585 ext. 212
Jennifer Grissom, 212/809-8585