Debate on Gay Marriage

ANGELA DALLARA [email]
Dallara is communications associate with Freedom to Marry. The group's goal is "to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage once and for all. Drawing on the history of other social justice movements in the United States, we know that victory will ultimately come from persuading either Congress or the Supreme Court to end marriage discrimination. To achieve that victory, we must secure the freedom to marry in a critical mass of states and grow majority support across the country." Resources, including live blogging of the Supreme Court proceedings are available at: freedomtomarry.org.

MATTILDA BERNSTEIN SYCAMORE [email]
Author of The End of San Francisco, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore said today: "Here we go again -- as the powers-that-be in the United States devise new ways to stifle dissent, destroy the environment, privatize public resources, and continue the path of never-ending war, another debate about gay marriage between straight homophobes who think that all queers deserve to burn in hell and self-hating gays who think that all gay people deserve marriage -- really, what's the difference? The mainstream gay movement is now obsessed with obtaining straight privilege at any cost -- marriage and military inclusion instead of ending these fundamental institutions of oppression; hate crimes legislation instead of abolishing the prison industrial complex; and maybe even ordination into the priesthood, such lovely icing on the wedding cake. What a nightmare -- we need to get back to fighting for gender, sexual, social, and political self-determination for everyone, as a start."

She is also editor of That's Revolting! Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation. In 2008, she wrote the piece "Why One Queer Person Is Not Celebrating California's Historic Gay Marriage Decision."

BRAD REGA [email]
Rega has been camped out in front of the Supreme Court. He's a grad student in anthropology at American University and an intern with the Institute for Public Accuracy. He said today: "Same-sex marriage is something new and for the most part has a relatively lesser sense of urgency compared to other gay rights and protections such as employment discrimination. For decades, it has been perfectly legal in many states to fire a person or deny promotion due to one's sexuality. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which has been introduced in nearly every Congress for almost 20 years, includes protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation. ... As one person in line at the Supreme Court mentioned to me 'is it the MRC (Marriage Rights Campaign) or the HRC (Human Rights Campaign)?'"