Subject: *M*: ACLU Criticizes Allies for Jumping Ship on Gay Marriage
From: [email-masked] (Doug Case)
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 11:32:08 -0800

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                  AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
                               http://www.aclu.org
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                              News from the ACLU...
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ACLU Criticizes Allies for Jumping Ship on Gay Marriage;
Submits Testimony Calling Bill Unconstitutional, Bad Public Policy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, July 11, 1996

WASHINGTON   As a Senate committee examined a bill that would deny
recognition of marriages between lesbian and gay couples, the American
Civil Liberties Union criticized many of its traditional allies,
including stalwart civil rights activists, for jumping ship on this
issue of fundamental fairness.

In testimony submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the ACLU
called the proposed legislation  the so-called Defense of Marriage
Act   "unprecedented, discriminatory, and unconstitutional" and said
it would have the effect of treating legally married gay couples as
strangers under Federal laws and programs.

"We challenge our allies who are supporting this divisive measure
to set aside political expediency and recognize that the right to
freely decide whom to marry is as fundamental a human right as
exists," said Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU's National
Washington Office. She added that the vote on the same-sex marriage
legislation will be included in the ACLU's biennial civil liberties
ratings for members of Congress.

"This goes beyond legislators saying they are not ready to accept
same-sex marriages," Murphy said. "This is an unnecessary and mean-
spirited attempt by some in Congress to select out lesbians and gay
men for discriminatory treatment."

Murphy termed unacceptable the silence from many traditional civil
libertarians, and, in contrast, pointed to a recent interview with
Rep. John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia. In comments published late last
month, Lewis said that African-Americans should not, and cannot,
legitimately draw a distinction between their struggle for equal
treatment before the law and that of gay men and lesbians.

"Certain rights are basic human rights," Lewis said. "You cannot
tell individuals they cannot fall in love. Dr. King used to say when
people talking about interracial marriage:  Racists don't fall in love
and get married. Individuals fall in love and get married.'"

The ACLU agreed. "As long as our nation attaches a wealth of
economic and legal benefits to civil marriages, denying those same
benefits to lesbians and gay men is nothing short of outright
discrimination," said Matthew Coles, Director of the ACLU's National
Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.

"At this moment, gay men or lesbians can lose their homes to the
government when a partner becomes ill, are barred from intensive care
units when their partners are desperately ill, or lose everything when
a partner dies because society refuses to recognize their
relationships," Coles said.

In its testimony, which was signed by Murphy and Coles, the ACLU
said that a second provision of the bill would attempt to carve a "gay
exception" to the Constitution's Full Faith and Credit Clause by
allowing states to ignore marriages performed in any other state.
That clause guarantees that the rights conferred to citizens in one
state will be honored by the other states.

The Full Faith and Credit Clause absolutely requires states to
honor the judgements of other state courts -- including divorce,
inheritance and commercial judgments -- which often take into account
marital status.  To that extent, the bill is an "unmistakable
violation of the Constitution," Coles said.

The issue of same-sex marriage has been raised in response to a
Hawaii Supreme Court ruling in May 1993 that the denial of marriage
licenses to three lesbian and gay couples appears to violate the
state's Equal Rights Amendment.  The Justices sent the case back to
the trial to decide if the state can prove a "compelling state
interest" in denying the marriage licenses.

The trial is now scheduled for September 10. Although legal
observers say the state will have difficulty meeting its burden, a
final decision from the Hawaii Supreme Court is not expected until at
least 1997.

In a letter to H. Alexander Robinson, an ACLU legislative
representative, Rep. Harry Johnston, a Democrat from Florida, said
that "the truth is that this legislation is a thinly disguised attempt
to generate a hot-button political issue."

"I have been married for 42 years," Johnston added, "and believe
that marriage is both a basic human right and a private, personal
decision."

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Contact:  Phil Gutis, (202) 675-2312
               Denny Lee, (212) 944-9800 ext. 424