Evan Wolfson Quotes
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When it comes to federal programs, even if states are discriminating, the federal government should not.
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Americans will see that when lesbians and gay men are given access to most of the rights and obligations of civil marriage, the sky will not fall and the institution of marriage will be even stronger.
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Instead, they're channeling their support to groups like 4-H Clubs, Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs and other youth programs that do not discriminate.
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The right wing would love nothing more than for us to spend all of our airtime discussing distractions such as polygamy, bestiality and other from their point of view doomsday scenarios rather than engage the public about committed same-sex couples being discriminated against.
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Gay people want the freedom to marry for the same reasons non-gay people do.
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Judicial restraint is a buzzword just like activist judge. Everybody's in favor of judicial restraint, but what does it mean? If it means not acting as a check against majoritarian excesses or upholding constitutional rights against improper government action, then restraint is not something admirable.
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Most Americans assume they can get married anywhere they choose without discriminatory or unfair barriers. Unfortunately gay couples still do not have that basic fair treatment.
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They had a tremendous impact. Not just because they underscore that this is a civil rights question, but they're making it clear this is a question of fairness that affects real families, including Latinos and African Americans many of whom are the most vulnerable when discriminatorily excluded from marriage.
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The 1913 law is an artifact of an era of trying to block racial equality. It's serving its mission of discrimination.
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It's the same poison in a new bottle being presented for those who want to drink it.
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There is no marriage without engagement.
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I think that the American people are grappling with this, but will respect leadership and will be willing to fight for a candidate's convictions.
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I think it's terrific. I think Feingold has given one more indication that as people think this through, they realize, as he said, that it's time to end this discrimination.
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This is exactly what the right wing is afraid of. People have had a year of legal marriage in Massachusetts to see how ending marriage discrimination helps gay and lesbian families and hurts no one.
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I think there's tremendous significance and opportunity in Americans seeing legally married gay couples treated with respect in our nation's capital.
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Marriage is also a social statement, preeminently describing and defining a person's relationship and place in society. Marital status, along with what we do for a living, is often one of the first pieces of information we give to others about ourselves. It's so important, in fact, that most married people wear a symbol of their marriage on their hand.
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I'm not in this just to change the law. It's about changing society. I want gay kids to grow up believing that they can get married, that they can join the Scouts, that they can choose the life they want to live.
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What is so powerful here is that we have the first federal appellate court and it's a case coming out of Utah affirming in the strongest, clearest, boldest terms that the Constitution guarantees the freedom to marry and equal protection for all Americans and all means all, including gay couples.
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The Constitution was never amended to take away rights from a group of Americans.
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When it comes to special use of forts and military bases and public parks, where they're getting terms nobody else gets, that has to stop.
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Courts should always do the right thing. But if winning were as simple as making a good argument and filing a good brief, then we would have won the freedom to marry 40 years ago. We must put the legal work next to the public education work next to the legislative work next to the organizing work, and that's what's brought us so far.
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My marriage is my marriage, and it means I'm able to share in the same aspirations of commitment and love and support and dedication and connectedness, and that my parents are able to dance at our wedding and that our family and friends are able to support and celebrate and hold us accountable for the commitment we've made to one another. That takes nothing away from anyone else.
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We've seen a steady improvement in the number of people who support marriage equality for same-sex couples.
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It's emotional as well as economic, practical as well as personal, tangible as well as intangible.