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Same-Sex Marriage, Human Rights, and the Law
Articles
Online Articles:
BuddyBuddy.com: US-based Partners Task Force for Gay & Lesbian Couples. Numerous articles and resources, especially their “Global Status of Legal Marriage” report.
EGALE: Marriage Challenge. Canada, October 2001. EGALE Canada’s collection of articles about eight couples who sued the federal government on marriage equality.
Lambda Legal Defense. "Government Employers Offering Domestic Partner Benefits." 10 March 2002. *LL also has an article on California's AB25.
Press for Change. "New Zealand Attorney General v. The Family Court at Otahuhu, The judgment which established in New Zealand Law the principle that, for the purposes of marriage, trans people should be legally recognised in their reassigned sex." November 1994.
International Jurisprudence and Policy Precedents Regarding Sexual Orientation (1999). A PDF file from IGLHRC showing the policies of the United Nations and regional human rights bodies (primarily Europe).
“The Heart Has Reasons That Reason Does Not Know: The Conundrum of Same-Sex Transgender Marriage”. An article by Kristine W. Holt, Esq. who is an attorney with offices in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Holt has done extensive work on the defaming of marriage for transgendered persons based on birth sex, transgender discriminatory laws and sexual orientation and is therefore a good resource for anyone dealing with trans discrimination.
Wockner News. Rex Wockner has three brief news articles in his journal International News which cover same-sex marriage issues in other countries. The first two articles, from issue #368, 14 May 2001, are titled "Geneva Gays Tie the Knot" and "Canadians Support Gay Marriage." The third article, from issue #411, 11 March 2002, is titled "Finnish Partnership Law Takes Effect."
Economic Benefits of Marriage Under Federal and Oregon Law - April 14, 2004 By Terence R. Dougherty An NGLTF PDF comparing the benefits of married couples to those of same-sex couples with domestic partnerships.
Economic Benefits of Marriage Under Federal and Massachusetts Law - March 24, 2004 By Terence Dougherty An NGLTF report that "focuses specifically on the economic costs under federal and Massachusetts law borne by same-sex couples who are not able to legally marry, compared to their married heterosexual counterparts" in PDF form.
Human Rights Campaign Links. The following documents are all from the HRC website:
U.S. House Rejects Same-Sex Marriage Ban. An article on the rejection of the constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality.
Federal Benefits of Marriage. An article discussing the lack of federal benefits for same-sex couples.
The Cost of Marriage Inequality to Children and Their Same-Sex Parents. A report on the impact of marriage inequality on the children and parents of queer families. This links to a PDF with the full report.
The Cost of Marriage Inequality to Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Seniors. A report on the impact of death on same-sex relationships not allowed marriage equality. This links to a PDF with the full report.
The Business Cost Impact of Marriage for Same-Sex Couple. A report on the reality of cost impacts of same-sex marriages. This links to a PDF with the full report.
Editorials/Op-Ed in Support of Marriage Equality. HRC’s directory of editorials on marriage.
Real Stories of Real People. These are personal stories that are important to get a sense of the impact of the marriage equality debate on families.
Our Families, Our Stories. The HRC's directory of queer family profiles.
NGLTF PDFs. The following are all in PDF form from the NGLTF Marriage Center.
A Family Story: A Profile of Akilah Monifa and Ruth Bolden. The battle of a lesbian couple in their attempt to adopt a child.
Forced to Move to Canada to Stay Together: A Profile of Charles Zhang and Wayne Griffin The struggles of a binational couple trying to stay together.
Growing Up With a Lesbian Mom: A Profile of Tina Fakhrid-Deen. A profile of the daughter of a lesbian and how she comes to terms with her mother's sexuality.
Lesbian Family Denied Health Coverage for Terminal Cancer: A Profile of Lisa Stewart. The fight of one family to stay together both physically and financially in the face of death.
Lost in the Twin Towers: A Profile of Larry Courtney & Eugene Clark. The story of a man who lost his partner of 14 years and how marriage inequality affected him after his partner's death.
Speak From Your Heart With Family and Friends - August 18, 2004. Info on "breaking the ice and speaking to your family and friends" about the issue of same-sex marriage.
Organizations
ACLU Lesbian & Gay Rights Project. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) is a general human rights organization. Their Lesbian and Gay Rights Project contains a section on same-sex relationships, with news articles, resources and legal documents.
Freedom to Marry is an organization dedicated to marriage equality. They have compiled a databases of resources (some by state) and news articles pertaining to the same-sex marriage debate and partnership benefits for non-married couples. They are the organization who founded Freedom to Marry Day (now also Freedom to Marry Week). The also host the Coalition Against Discrimination in the Constitution (CADC), an organization listing national organizations working against discrimination in the U.S. Constitution.
Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) is a gay and lesbian organization working towards legal equality. Their marriage resources are listed on their main page, including documents on “Marriage and Taxes,” a “Marriage Toolkit” and legal information.
Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, or GenderPAC (GPAC) is a transgender national resource organization. They have current news on the same-sex marriage debate, as it relates to gender stereotyping and the gender-sex dichotomy. GPAC has a very extensive publication, The Gender LAW Guide, which, though pertaining to general transgender legal issues, also includes a section on transgender marriage.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an organization for LGBT equal rights. The HRC has an extensive Marriage Center consisting of documents covering all the issues affecting queer and transgender marriage including information on several states and countries, legislation, a section on "other relationship recognition issues" and information on how to be an activist.
International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) is a Europe based organization marketed as “a world-wide federation of national and local groups dedicated to achieving equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people everywhere.” Unfortunately they have no marriage center, so you will have to search their site for legal information and resources.
Lambda Legal is a national equal rights organization for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered people and those living with HIV or AIDS. Lambda has information on laws for all of the United States, including an wide-ranging section called the “Marriage Project” with history (in Spanish and English), legal facts, essays, publications, activist information and links on marriage equality.
Lesbian & Gay Immigration Rights Task Force has information (currently on their main page) on immigration in regards to marriage equality and is a good resource for those seeking information regarding marriage and binational queer couples.
Marriage Equality California (MECA) has national, as well as local (California) information on the marriage equality debate, most of which is listed on their “Marriage Links, References & Resources” page or their “Resources” page.
National Center for Lesbian Rights has an excellent publications section with queer and transgender resources. Some of their marriage documents are primarily related to California or Canada, though the majority of the NCLR’s resources are general, with some documents in Spanish. They also include a general article on transgender and marriage.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) is one of the leading queer national organizations and includes a Marriage Center on their site. The Task Force covers such topics as “Legal and Policy Analysis,” “Opposition Research,” views from Presidential candidates, opposition to amending the Constitution, “The Courts and Marriage Equality,” public opinion polls, personal profiles, statistics and essays.
The Partners Task Force for Gay & Lesbian Couples offers essays and legal data on marriage, as well as information on ceremonial marriage and domestic partnership.
The Transgender Law & Policy Institute (TLPI) has a PDF entitled “Transgender People and the Federal Marriage Amendment: Frequently Asked Questions” as well as some links to additional trans marriage resources.
Information (sites unaffiliated with an organization)
Gay & Lesbian International Lobby Summary of the Recognition of Gay & Lesbian Partnerships in Europe shows the countries that have passed partnership laws or practice marriage equality.
Queer Resources Directory (QRD) houses a list of resources pertaining to family, marriage and partnerships under the heading of “Queers and their Families”, as well as a list of world sources.
Rainbow Query is a directory of queer resources on the web. They have a search option on their main page, including a search for marriage
Eastgarden Countries (c. 1998) is a personal page that claims to list all countries and their laws pertaining to queers, but the page was never completed and has not been updates since May 2000.
Homosexual Rights Around the World lists all laws pertaining to queers from countries all over the world. The majority of these are sodomy laws, but other laws are listed for more liberal countries.