LGBT Advocacy Group Clarifies Union Legalities

The queer rights advocacy group Members of Marantha: Riversiders for LGBT Concerns addressed the legal ramifications of same-sex marriage in a forum that celebrated Freedom to Marry week.

About eighty community members and supporters attended the event at Riverside Church yesterday, sending the organizers scrambling for more chairs. "To be within a religious institution and to see so much participation is really hopeful and encouraging," forum organizer and Maranatha member Chad Gurley said.

Riverside Church issued a Gay Lesbian Statement of Inclusion in 1985, and its clergy has performed same-sex union ceremonies since 1991.

In addition to addressing religious, political, and social issues of same-sex marriage, the most pressing questions from those in attendance concerned the legal labyrinth that the existence of civil unions and domestic partnerships has forced same-sex couples to navigate.

Juanita Kirton and her partner Carol Lee attended the forum to better understand the marriage license they recently obtained in Canada. They were confused about the potential benefits of a domestic partnership in New York City. Kirton learned that domestic partnerships provide no more rights in the city than her foreign marriage license.

"That cleared that up for me," she said.

Her confusion is symptomatic of a system that several LGBT community members referred to at the meeting as "separate and unequal." Panelist Cathy Marino-Thomas, co-executive director of Marriage Equality New York, spoke about the struggle and confusion of trying to raise two children without the legal protections granted to married couples.

"The government's decided that we're not valid, that our family's not valid," she said.

She described being in limbo after being granted a marriage license in Boston. New York does not recognize the license, so she gains no rights, and the state won't allow her to get a more beneficial Canadian marriage license unless she first obtains a divorce.

Inter-faith minister Kiyana Horton presented a religious viewpoint. She described love as a universal truth that marriage solidified in a covenant.

"If I can't get into my wife's hospital room, they're blocking my covenant," Horton said.

The Empire State Pride Agenda Foundation, and many other organizations present, promoted activism, including rallies for marriage equality and campaigns to write, call, or bring concerned community members by busloads to speak with state legislators.

Lee felt inspired to take on an activist role. "To find that venue to participate so that my voice can be heard-it really touched home," she said.