Here's part two of my piece at the LGBT online publication EDGE that has a look at the road to marriage equality otherwise known as gay marriage.
LINK TO FULL STORY AT EDGE PUBLICATIONS
There's some interesting insight about why the word "marriage is essential to those who advocate that nothing short of 'marriage' is acceptable, as well as brief information on who and which organizations are seeking to overturn California's Supreme Court ruling:
Full story at EDGE
Mid Atlantic Battlegrounds?
New York may well remove exclusion from marriage as early as next year, having already agreed to recognize marriages from out of state. New Jersey will likely move to full marriage; the State Legislature passed a civil union bill at the behest of a court ruling, but there seems to be near-universal agreement that it is not fulfilling the court’s mandate of a "separate but equal" institution to marriage. Before this year is out, a Connecticut court decision like California’s may mandate the same thing-full marriage equality.
The Right
But a virtual who’s who of familiar right wing social conservative organizations have also converged on California and are making the overturning of the California court decision a priority. "There are a number of national religious right groups that are lending their resources to this effort," said Peter Montgomery, spokesperson at the People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group based in Washington DC.
The Word
They worry that the word "marriage" itself creates an obstacle to a more middle ground approach for some level of official recognition that might bestow the benefits of marriage without inflaming the passionate opposition inflamed by what they see as the potential redefining of an institution much of society still associates with religion and other traditions.