Marriage Equality

At some point during Tuesday's marathon marriage-equality hearing in Trenton, I had a revelation. This entire show is about me! But stardom is not an unalloyed joy, particularly when total strangers make assumptions about who you are, how you ought to live, and whom you should love. Or if you exist at all. A same-sex marriage opponent cited celebrities such as Anne Heche, Cynthia Nixon, and Sinead O'Connor as evidence of the supposedly malleable and possibly ephemeral nature of gay identity.

A few weeks ago, on the eve of the New Jersey Legislature's commendable leap out of the dark ages, a pollster rang up Diane Marini at her rented house in Collingswood. "I'm calling from Garden State Equality," the man said excitedly before popping the question. "Are you in favor of gay marriage?" Diane, 59, didn't know whether to laugh, sob, or slam down the phone in disgust. So she did all three at once, confusing chihuahuas Norton and Winkie, four-legged stand-ins for the lost love of her life.

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. - Opening a new front in the battle over same-sex marriage, Gov. Christie called Tuesday for the issue to be put to voters in November as a proposed amendment to the state constitution. The Republican governor's proposal, which would need three-fifths approval in the Legislature to be implemented, could for the first time in U.S. history ask voters to legalize same-sex marriage via a ballot question. Christie's announcement came at an unusually timed news conference after a town-hall meeting in central New Jersey just as Democrats in Trenton held the first hearing on their new marriage-equality bill.

1967. That was the year, barely half a lifetime ago, when the Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in Loving v. Virginia, ruling that laws against interracial marriage unconstitutionally violated one of the "basic civil rights of man. " That such legislation, so archaic, so baldly contrary to the founding principles of our nation, was the law of the land in so many states until so recently is remarkable. When it comes to the right of gay and lesbian couples to be married, that similar discriminatory legislation is still the law of the land in so many states is tragic.

DURING HIS 2012 campaign for re-election, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey was mysteriously absent from the headlines - so much so that Ed Rendell said he was running a "noncampaign. " Now, after cruising to victory, Casey seems to be all over the news. In December, the Democrat sacrificed his NRA-approved standing to rally behind new gun laws. And earlier this month, he announced that he is jumping the fence to support same-sex marriage. Daily News reporter Sean Collins Walsh sat down with Casey last week in his Washington office (the same one John F. Kennedy occupied during his brief Senate career)

Delivering a politically charged speech, Vice President Biden criticized China, touted American innovation, and told the University of Pennsylvania's Class of 2013 to "never forget the future is in your control. " "You're the most competent, caring generation this nation has produced," Biden told the 5,000 graduates Monday at Penn's 257th commencement at Franklin Field. "We are so well-positioned to lead the world into the 21st century, and we have to take advantage of that. " Biden hailed advances in science and technology, saying that people with prosthetic legs can climb mountains and that electric vehicles can operate efficiently.

TRENTON - Democratic leaders in the Legislature have agreed to try to override Gov. Christie's gay-marriage veto and are open for the first time to putting the question to voters in November if the override attempt fails. Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D., Mercer), one of two openly gay state lawmakers, said Democratic leaders in the Senate and Assembly agreed to renew the push for marriage equality during a meeting Thursday. The strategy could include putting the question to voters in November with Christie on the ballot.

I applaud the general tenor and openness towards marriage equality in The Inquirer's Feb. 28 editorial on civil unions, "Still second class. " But I disagree that civil unions are the best that New Jersey can currently do and with the editorial's stance that marriage-equality proponents should wait before pushing for full marital rights for gays and lesbians. The editorial points out that companies are refusing to grant domestic-partner benefits to same-sex couples based on federal mandates, and that basic rights such as hospital visits are still cumbersome for same-sex couples.

WASHINGTON - Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, said Monday that he supports same-sex marriage, reversing his position and joining a long line of Democrats who have changed their minds on an issue that has seen a rapid shift in public opinion. Casey, a moderate Democrat on social issues and a pro-life Catholic, said letters from constituents had "a substantial" impact on his views. He singled out one in which a woman with two children and an 18-year-long relationship said she wanted her family to be treated "equally and with respect.

Delivering a politically charged speech, Vice President Biden criticized China, touted American innovation, and told the University of Pennsylvania's Class of 2013 to "never forget the future is in your control. " "You're the most competent, caring generation this nation has produced," Biden told the 5,000 graduates Monday at Penn's 257th commencement at Franklin Field. "We are so well-positioned to lead the world into the 21st century, and we have to take advantage of that. " Biden hailed advances in science and technology, saying that people with prosthetic legs can climb mountains and that electric vehicles can operate efficiently.

DURING HIS 2012 campaign for re-election, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey was mysteriously absent from the headlines - so much so that Ed Rendell said he was running a "noncampaign. " Now, after cruising to victory, Casey seems to be all over the news. In December, the Democrat sacrificed his NRA-approved standing to rally behind new gun laws. And earlier this month, he announced that he is jumping the fence to support same-sex marriage. Daily News reporter Sean Collins Walsh sat down with Casey last week in his Washington office (the same one John F. Kennedy occupied during his brief Senate career)

I'M GLAD so many politicians who once opposed gay marriage are now supporting marriage equality for all. As I've been saying for years, "One in two heterosexual couples destroy their marriages every year in this country. Shouldn't gay couples be given a chance to do the same?" So hooray for the converts. But that doesn't mean I like their evolutionary process. As far as I can tell, the converts fall into two camps: Those who shrewdly leap aboard the let-'em-wed bandwagon before it mows them down.

WASHINGTON - Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey said Monday that he now supports same-sex marriage, reversing his position and joining a long line of Democrats who have changed their minds on an issue that has seen a rapid shift in public opinion. Casey, a moderate Democrat on social issues and a pro-life Catholic, said letters from constituents had "a substantial" impact on his views. He singled out one in which a woman with two children and an 18-year-long relationship said she wanted her family to be treated "equally and with respect.

NOTHING makes 150 years fall away quite like seeing the blood of Abraham Lincoln. Visiting a friend in rural northeastern Pennsylvania a few years back, I was ushered to the local historical society in the town of Milford. A dark patch on the 36-star wool flag displayed there is a stark reminder of the first assassination of a U.S. president, whose head it cradled after he was shot at Ford's Theatre. The stain is also somber testimony to the fact that the struggle for equality that he came to personify remains a mission unfinished.

  PERHAPS THE next big thing that the U.S. Supreme Court should undertake, after marriage equality, is the issue that plagues boomers like myself whose generational identity is eternally affiliated with youth and revolution: How old is too old? In this new world, what is the end parameter of our shelf life? The recent retirement of the pope and New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg in quick succession had bad news and good news for boomers like myself and other youthful seniors who are grappling with notions of old age. Pope Benedict XVI's radical decision to step down at age 85 suggests that we all have an expiration date, and despite current evidence to the contrary - We still go to work!

WASHINGTON - A Baptist congregation that supports same-sex marriage positioned itself next to a Baptist congregation that vehemently opposes it. A faith group that opposes gay unions held a giant banner next to a married lesbian couple with a hand-lettered sign quoting Matthew. A gay man wearing his Army uniform passed out leaflets near a cross-dresser in sequins and tulle gyrating to Cher. Whatever their garb and their stance, most said they were there because they believe in family.

ATLANTA - After hearing arguments this week, the U.S. Supreme Court could issue a ruling on same-sex marriage that proves as historic - and as polarizing - as Roe v. Wade or Bush v. Gore . Or perhaps, as some legal experts suggest, the court will choose not to make history just now, ruling more narrowly or skirting the issue altogether. On Tuesday, the high court will consider California's Proposition 8, which recognizes marriages only between a man and a woman. The state constitutional amendment, passed with 52 percent of the vote in 2008, has since been declared unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court judge and the federal appeals court in San Francisco.

WASHINGTON - In a historic argument for gay rights, President Obama on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to overturn California's same-sex marriage ban and turn a skeptical eye on similar prohibitions across the country. The Obama administration's friend-of-the-court brief marked the first time a U.S. president has urged the high court to expand the right of gays and lesbians to wed. The filing unequivocally calls on the justices to strike down California's Proposition 8 ballot measure, although it stops short of the soaring rhetoric on marriage equality Obama expressed in his inaugural address in January.