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More suspense from the Supreme Court, with an announcement in the Prop 8 case pushed
back to Friday at the earliest. Meanwhile, a setback in a Nevada lawsuit, but now the
case goes to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. That court previously ruled in favor of marriage
equality in the Prop 8 case. And with a string of losses and plummeting poll numbers, anti-gay
groups are quickly running out of donors.
At the American Foundation for Equal Rights, I'm Matt Baume, and welcome to Marriage News
Watch fro December 3, 2012.
Once again, there's no word from the Supreme Court about the Prop 8 case or the multiple
cases involving the Defense of Marriage Act. All of those cases have been re-conferenced
for this coming Friday, December 7. That means we may get word by the following Monday, the
10th.
This ongoing suspense is difficult for everyone, but it's particularly agonizing for the thousands
of gay and lesbian couples who are waiting to find out whether they can get married.
Fortunately, the wait is nearly over in Maine. This week the state announced that couples
can begin getting marriage licenses on December 29th. But there's a catch: while there's no
waiting period for marriage in Maine, December 29th is a Saturday. It's unclear whether there
will be special hours to accommodate the start of marriage. But more details are expected
soon.
And there's been a temporary setback in Nevada. A federal judge ruled in the case Sevcik v
Sandoval that there is a legitimate government interest in limiting marriage to heterosexual
couples. Lambda Legal will appeal the ruling to the Ninth Circuit, a court that has proven
relatively receptive to arguments for marriage equality. Earlier this year, the Ninth Circuit
upheld a ruling that found Prop 8 to be unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, organizers in Illinois are laying the groundwork for a massive field organization.
With new offices in Westmount and Springfield, Equality Illinois plans to lobby lawmakers
to pass a marriage bill in the upcoming 2013 session.
And new polling in Michigan shows a majority supports the freedom to marry. This continues
a trend over the last year and a half in Michigan, with support steadily climbing and opposition
dropping.
That mirrors the trend nationally. A new survey this week from CBS shows 51 percent of Americans
support marriage equality with 41 percent opposed. This is the 18th national survey
to show majority support.
And that steady climb in support isn't just apparent in polling. You can also see it in
fundraising, with donors to anti-gay groups growing increasingly scarce. A new investigation
from the Human Rights Campaign shows that in 2011, the National Organization for Marriage
had only two major donors responsible for 75 percent of the anti-gay group's budget.
NOM raised 6 point 2 million dollars in 2011, down from 9 point 1 million in 2010.
This year, NOM suffered defeat in all four states with marriage on the ballot. We look
forward to seeing the effect that their losing streak will have on NOM's ability to retain
donors in the future.
We'll be getting news from the Supreme Court any day now. Remember to subscribe here on
YouTube and at AFER.org for breaking news alerts on the Prop 8 and DOMA cases. At the
American Foundation for Equal Rights, I'm Matt Baume. We'll see you next week.