We Couldn’t Agree More: ABA Backs Marriage Equality
“RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges state, territorial, and tribal governments to eliminate all of their legal barriers to civil marriage between two persons of the same sex who are otherwise eligible to marry.”
And with those words, the American Bar Association (ABA) today overwhelming voted to support equal marriage rights for all lesbian and gay couples— across the nation.
As the incoming ABA president Stephen Zack asked “Why would anyone in this country not want two people who love each other to enjoy the blessings of marriage and the protections of law?”
We couldn’t agree more.
As a newly-appointed member of the ABA’s Commission of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (joining GLAD’s Transgender Rights Director Jennifer Levi, who is already a commissioner) as well as a current vice-chair of the Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity subcommittee of the IRR Section of the ABA (where I serve with GLAD’s Civil Rights Director Mary Bonauto, who also serves as a vice-chair), I couldn’t be more excited about how far the ABA has come in its journey toward supporting full legal equality for the LGBT community.
Over the past 30 years, the ABA has adopted a series of policies urging state legislatures and state courts to extend legal protections to same-sex couples and their families. For example, in August 1995, the ABA adopted a policy supporting the enactment of legislation and implementation of public policies that would ensure that child custody or visitation is not denied or restricted on the basis of a parent’s sexual orientation. An August 2002 ABA policy favors the availability of victim compensation and victim assistance funds for the surviving partners of victims of terrorism or other crime to the same extent as they are available to spouses. In February 1999, the ABA adopted a policy supporting “the enactment of laws and implementation of public policy [providing] that sexual orientation shall not be a bar to adoption when the adoption is determined to be in the best interest of the child.” In 2003, the ABA adopted a policy supporting state laws and court decisions permitting second parent adoptions by nonmarital partners, including same-sex partners.
And just last year, the ABA approved a recommendation urging the repeal of Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denies federal marital benefits and protections to lawfully married same-sex spouses. The timing could not have been more relevant to GLAD’s Gill case, which recently won a ruling from the federal district court in Boston that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional.
The fact that the ABA, one of the most respected legal organizations in the country, has added its stamp of approval for marriage equality is tremendous. It is through these crucial building blocks that we will hopefully reach our final goal of full and equal respect for the lives of LGBT individuals everywhere.