From: NGLTF@aol.com Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 12:44:27 -0500 Subject: Marriage Update ************************************ PRESS RELEASE National Gay and Lesbian Task Force 2320 17th St. NW; Washington, DC 20009 Contact: Tracey Conaty (202) 332-6483 tconaty@ngltf.org ************************************ NGLTF ANTI-MARRIAGE UPDATE GEORGIA JOINS IDAHO, SOUTH DAKOTA AND UTAH IN BANNING SAME-GENDER MARRIAGE KENTUCKY AND ARIZONA BILLS DEFEATED WHILE KANSAS MEASURE GOES TO THE GOVERNOR Washington, D.C., April 5, 1996...Georgia Governor Zell Miller made his state the fourth in the nation to explicitly prevent gay and lesbian couples from marrying. Miller signed into law a bill similar to ones passed this year in Utah and Idaho prohibiting same-gender marriage. South Dakota put their anti-marriage law on the books during the 1995 legislative year. In Kansas, similar legislation is now making its way to the Governor's desk after it was passed by the state Senate late this week. Currently, same-gender marriage is not legal anywhere in the United States. The Georgia bill, and measures like it, have been introduced throughout the country this year by anti-gay legislators. Right wing groups, in anticipation of the possible legalization of same-gender marriage in Hawaii sometime next year, have launched an all out assault on the right to marry. In other recent marriage legislation developments, Kentucky activists were victorious in having an anti-marriage amendment withdrawn from an unrelated bill. In Arizona, an anti-marriage amendment was thwarted when it was replaced with a broadly worded amendment asserting the importance of "strong family values." In Delaware, a measure was introduced banning both same-gender marriages in the state and recognition of legal, same-gender marriages from other states. According to NGLTF, with information provided by Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and grassroots activists across the country, 14 states currently face legislation intended to ban same-gender marriage. Those states are AL, AK, CA, DE, FL, HI, IL, KS, MI, MO, OK, SC, TN, and WI. Anti-marriage measures in 13 other states have been withdrawn or defeated. Along with AZ and KY, they are CO, IA, MD, ME, MS, NM, RI, VA, WA, WV, and WY. Activists interested in obtaining a copy of the map (free) or NGLTF's marriage organizing manual, To Have and To Hold ($10), should contact Tracey Conaty at the number listed above. Those interested in obtaining talking points on same-gender marriage and other materials should contact Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund at (212) 995-8585. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is a progressive organization that has supported grassroots organizing and pioneered in national advocacy since 1973. Since its inception, NGLTF has been at the forefront of virtually every major initiative for lesbian and gay rights. In all its efforts, NGLTF helps to strengthen the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender movement at the state level while connectin these activities to a national vision for change. ###