GLAD: Support the Perry Case, Fight for Justice
Lee Swislow, Executive Director of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, made the following statement about Perry v. Schwarzenegger:
As the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial opens today, our thoughts and good wishes are with Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier, Paul Katami and Jeffrey Zarrillo, the plaintiffs. Like so many others across the country, they have been denied the precious, fundamental right to marry the person they love. The plaintiffs have an unassailable legal theory and a powerful team of lawyers. For the sake of the plaintiffs, we hope for an ultimate victory so that all gay and lesbian people in California will some day soon be able to marry the person they love. A victory would also reanimate the integrity and vitality of our constitutional promises of equality and liberty made to all Americans.
While we are neither counsel nor plaintiffs in Perry – or even Californians – we can’t sit around and let the high profile nature of this one case distract us from all the other work that still needs to be done right now. For GLAD, this means fighting the barefaced federal discrimination of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) with our lawsuit Gill v. Office of Personnel Management. Ending the federal government’s denial of all the rights, protections and obligations of federal law to legally married same-sex couples. Ending double standards for gay and non-gay married couples is a crucial next step in the fight for marriage equality. In New England, where GLAD works, we will also apply all our resources to making marriage equality a reality in Rhode Island, restoring marriage equality for the people of Maine, and defending hard-won marriage equality in New Hampshire.
No successful civil rights movement has ever relied on a single case or a single strategy to achieve equality. We can all help produce the win we hope for in Perry and educate the Supreme Court to see the merits of these plaintiffs’ powerful claim to be treated like all other Americans. Whether we are working on legislation, changing hearts and minds by having conversations with our neighbors, educating the general public, or pursuing litigation, we all have to keep working at the local, state, and federal levels to see that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans are treated as full and equal citizens. Let’s work, support each other, and keep our eyes on the prize of full equality.
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Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders is New England's leading legal organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status, and gender identity and expression.