On
the news that Washington State Gov. Christine Gregoire and New York
State Gov. Andrew Cuomo both voiced their strong support for marriage
equality today, Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign,
the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights
organization, issued the following statement:
“From coast to coast,
more and more Americans are coming to appreciate the values they share
with committed gay and lesbian couples: the desire to love, honor and
protect the person they love. By voicing their strong support for
marriage equality, Governors Gregoire and Cuomo propel this issue
forward. They confirm what most Americans already believe: committed gay
and lesbian couples deserve the ability to marry and establish families
protected by law.”
Gov. Gregoire today
voiced her support for marriage equality legislation that will soon be
introduced in Washington State. New York State passed similar
legislation last year, and today, Governor Cuomo listed it as one of his
top accomplishments for 2011 in his annual “State of the State”
address. Governor Cuomo said that prior to the passage of this
legislation, gay and lesbian New Yorkers were treated as “second-class
citizens by the government.”
It’s notable that both
Governors are Catholics – a group that supports legal recognition of
gay and lesbian couples by wide margins. According to the Public
Religion Research Institute, Catholics are more supportive of legal
recognition of gay couples than members of any other Christian
tradition. On the issue of allowing lesbian and gay couples to get a
civil marriage license at city hall, 71 percent of American Catholics
say they are in favor.