NEW YORK - In four major parades across the country marking Gay Pride Day this year, winning the right to legally marry was the central issue for gay and lesbian men and women -- some of whom have been living as couples for decades.

Signs pressing for ”marriage equality” drew cheers from the tens of thousands of people who lined Capitol Hill sidewalks in Washington, DC for the Jun.. 27 event. Dozens of other marches took place across the county and internationally in New York City, Seattle, Washington, Atlanta, Georgia, as well as Berlin, Rio, Toronto, Mexico City and Paris, among others.

Gays in ruffled wedding dresses, atop wedding cake floats, wearing feathered costumes or leather thongs, called for the legalization of their same-sex relationships. In New York City, just before the parade began, dozens of same-sex couples were united in a symbolic -- but not legally binding -- wedding ceremony.

The weddings were performed by J.M. Sorrell, a justice of the peace from Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage became legal this year. She told the 60 couples gathered to exchange vows how she cried when she officiated at her first legal gay wedding.

Evan Wolfson, executive director of the national advocacy group Freedom to Marry, said, ”Let us celebrate today and then go to work. New York should lead, not lag.”

An estimated 300,000 people lined Fifth Avenue for the parade.

Over the past decade, the legal parameters of what constitutes a ”family” have been expanded in some states, with Massachusetts ruling that same-sex couples can adopt children and devising child visitation right for a former partner of a lesbian.

Four years ago, however, the court ruled against a Boston policy that extended health benefits to unmarried partners of gay employees, arguing that it violated the legal definition of dependents. The court, however, encouraged the Legislature to change the law to reflect the current social reality.

Massachusetts has one of the highest concentrations of gay households in the country, with 1.3 percent of the total number of coupled households, according to the 2000 census. In California, 1.4 percent of the coupled households are occupied by same-sex partners. Vermont and New York also registered at 1.3 percent, while in Washington, D.C., the rate is 5.1 percent.

Mark Argasinski, 39, of Yonkers, New York and a spectator at the 35th annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride march, confirmed what was apparent to most parade watchers.

”This year is much more political,” he said.

Regarding a new initiative by Pres. George W. Bush for a Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, Argasinki said: ”It's basically a slap in the face of the gay community. He's...writing discrimination into the Constitution.”

A resolution approved this weekend by the Criminal and Social Justice Committee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors opposing a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage will come up for a vote by the Mayors' Conference this week.

The proposed federal marriage amendment would define marriage as between a man and a woman, invalidating any gay marriages nationwide, including those in Massachusetts, which has allowed same-sex marriages since last month.

The mayors' resolution states that the amendment would restrict the ability of local governments to determine marriage policy, and may be interpreted as prohibiting local governments from granting domestic partner benefits.

The marriage issue was repeated over and over in yesterday's nationwide Pride Day, as gay and lesbian newlyweds in San Francisco hoisted poster-sized reproductions of their marriage licenses. They were joined by Mayor Gavin Newsom and others who helped promote same-sex unions in the history-making wedding march at City Hall earlier this year.

Newsom, 36, the straight, Irish Catholic Democrat who thrust the marriage debate onto the nation's agenda by directing his administration to certify marriages for gays and lesbians, shared grand marshal duties alongside veteran gay rights activists.

For some minorities and gays, Pres. Bush broke a 2000 pledge to be ”a uniter, not a divider,” and this threatens the Republican Party with the loss of crucial votes.

”The (GOP) big tent has not gotten any bigger,” said David Bositis, spokesman for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. ”In fact, it's gotten even smaller.”

A majority of gays and racial minorities voted Democratic in 2000, according to interest groups and academics that track such trends. Bush could gain hundreds of thousands of votes in 2004 by making inroads among these groups if these voters think he has kept his promise.

The marches are the culmination of Pride Month 2004. Officially called the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride March, the parade commemorates the Stonewall uprising of 1969, when gay bar patrons resisted a police raid.

As part of their ”Judging Discrimination” campaign, representatives from Lambda Legal, a national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, handed out postcards to the crowd with photos of conservative judges who have voted against anti-gay legislation, said Eric Ferrero, communications director for Lambda Legal.

These postcards can be sent to the White House to challenge rhetoric surrounding ”activist judges”, who are given this label only because they don't support a right-wing antigay agenda, Ferrero said.

”People come out to the march because they want to have a good time, but I think they also want to be engaged in what's happening in the country right now. We want to find a way to celebrate but also give people specific things they can do to get involved,” Ferrero said.

But the stars of the parade were couples like Gus Archilla and Elmer Lokkins, who married in Canada last year after living together for 58 years. They waved from a convertible with a ”Just Married” sign on the bumper.

© Copyright 2004 IPS - Inter Press Service

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