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Prop 8 hibernates this week, but events in Maryland and Rhode Island draw big crowds.
Plus more good news from Hawaii and New Hampshire. And I'll talk to Bilerico's Phil Reese about
how their five-year plan to win civil unions in Illinois finally paid off.
I'm Matt Baume from Stop 8 dot org, and welcome to this week in Prop 8 for February 14, 2011.
The big news about Prop 8 this week ... is that there isn't any news about Prop 8 this
week. Nothing happened!
At least, nothing happened in California. There was still a lot of activity in other
states, from New Hampshire to New York to Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, and Rhode Island.
Now, when I started Stop8, two and a half years ago, it was all about Proposition Eight.
But now, there's so much happening around the country that the name doesn't really seem
inclusive enough. So, that's this week's comment bait: should I change the name of this thing?
What would you call a project that's all about Americans fighting for -- and winning --
the right to marry the ones we love?
Leave your thoughts in in the comments below.
And now let's look at what's going on in the states.
In New Hampshire, gay couples can currently get married, and a new survey shows that 62
percent of residents want to keep it that way. Only five percent said that marriage
equality makes them, quote, very upset.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo called for a vote on a marriage equality bill sometime
before June.
And in Hawaii, a civil unions bill moved closer to passage with an 11 to 2 vote by the House
Judiciary Committee.
This week Maryland heard testimony on a marriage equality bill.
And that testimony proved unexpectedly persuasive, with one Senator changing his mind to support
the bill after hearing anti-gay testimony that he called "appalling." Senator James
Brochin had previously opposed the measure, but he said, quote, The demonization of gay
families really bothered me.
Bothers us too.
And then there's Rhode Island. Commenters on Joe My God pointed out that we overlooked
Rhode Island in our last two episodes, and that's why we're debuting our brand new feature:
Rhode Island, You've Got Style.
Rhode Island lawmakers heard testimony Wednesday regarding a bill that would finally allow
gay couples to marry.
Just as in Maryland, hundreds turned out to rally and speak to lawmakers. The Rhode Island
bill's currently working its way through committee but it has a good chance of passing.
It prospects were bolstered by a new study showing that Rhode Island stands to gain a
million dollars over the next three years if it legalizes marriage equality. The money
would come from a variety of sources, including fairer income taxes and sales taxes on weddings.
And finally, Illinois made headlines two weeks ago when Governor Pat Quinn signed a civil
unions bill into law. Now that was a long-fought struggle that took years of work. And to find
out more about it, I spoke with Illinois activist Phil Reese, who writes for Bilerico and produces
the Same Sex Sunday podcast.
Phil gave me a behind-the-scenes look at how exactly they got civil unions passed, and
how they plan to defend the law from attack as they move forward towards marriage.
We spoke for about twenty minutes, and I pulled out some of the best highlights to feature
here on the show. Or you can click here to watch the full uncut interview.
For now, here's the excerpts
from
the conversation.