Date: Tue, 9 Apr 1996 13:07:35 -0700
From: glaad@glaad.org (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)
Subject: GLAAD COMMENDS NEW YORK TIMES  EDITORIAL FAVORING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND
 ENCOURAGES NEWS MEDIA DISCUSSION

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Mark F. Johnson
News Media Director
(212) 807-1700
johnson@glaad.org

GLAAD COMMENDS NEW YORK TIMES  EDITORIAL FAVORING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND
ENCOURAGES NEWS MEDIA DISCUSSION

NEW YORK, NY--April 9, 1996--The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
(GLAAD) commends  The New York Times  for its Sunday April 7, 1996
editorial entitled "The Freedom to Marry."   The editorial points out the
"unfairness of  government denying a whole class of citizens the important
benefits that flow from civil marriages."

In addition,  The New York Times  rightly compares the same-sex marriage
debate to the controversy thirty years ago that surrounded the right of
partners of different races to marry.  According to the editorial,
Americans will most likely "look back thirty years from now and wonder what
all the fuss was about."  The Times  attributes the divisive and
controversial arguments over same-sex marriage to social intolerance.  "I
applaud their position on this very fundamental issue of right versus
wrong, justice versus discrimination and progress versus historic bigotry,"
said Mark F. Johnson, GLAAD's News Media Director.  "I hope that others in
the news media will encourage the public to think fairly about this issue
as well," he added. A decision on whether same-sex couples  can marry may
be handed down in a Hawaii lower court as early as August 1996.  If the
Hawaii court votes that same-sex couples may marry, the decision will have
a significant impact all over the nation.  Four states--Georgia, Idaho,
South Dakota, and Utah--have already adopted laws to deny recognition to
same-gender unions and so far eleven other states have yet to vote on
similar legislation.  The editorial further cautions that lack of uniform
marriage rights among the states could create "an absurd, demeaning and
unconstitutional situation where marriages lawful in one state would
suddenly be void when a couple crossed state lines, if some states allowed
same-gender marriages while others outlawed them."

"Same-sex marriage will perhaps be the biggest social issue that this
nation faces as we go into the 21st century,"  Johnson stated.  "It would
be great for public awareness and education if the media promoted healthy,
intelligent discussions on this subject," he continued.  "Securing equal
marriage rights would add one more layer of fairness to our society."


GLAAD is a national organization that promotes fair, accurate and inclusive
representation as a means of challenging discrimination based on
orientation or identity.

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Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
glaad@glaad.org
VISIT THE GLAAD WEB SITE AT http://www.glaad.org!

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, GLAAD, is a national
organization that promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation of
individuals and events in the media as a means of combatting homophobia and
all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity.
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