Parker helps U.S. mayors back gay marriage

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Houston Mayor Annise Parker again lobbied for marriage equality, in case the wedding ring doesn’t help you catch on, this time helping the U.S. Conference of Mayors overwhelmingly support a resolution calling on the federal courts to end gay marriage bans.

Dozens of mayors backed the resolution from Freedom to Marry on Monday, including Parker and others from states that ban gay marriage.

“The United States Conference of Mayors reaffirms its support of the freedom to marry for same-sex couples and urges the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, to speedily bring national resolution by ruling in favor of the freedom to marry nationwide.”

Parker married longtime partner Kathy Hubbard in a Palm Springs ceremony in January, then toasted their nuptials with a public reception in Houston. Parker is one of nine mayors across Texas that back gay marriage, according to Freedom to Marry. Not on that list is Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings. He didn’t sponsor the Freedom to Marry resolution but said later that he backs marriage equality.

Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, applauded the resolution in a prepared statement issued after the vote.

“From small towns to big cities, America’s mayors know that including gay couples in the freedom to marry does nothing but strengthen families and communities for all. The U.S. Conference of Mayors has made it clear that it’s time for the federal appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court to follow the lead of numerous states and a wave of over 20 federal and state courts and bring an end to marriage discrimination nationwide. A year after the Supreme Court demolished the arguments propping up marriage discrimination, it’s time for the Court to finish the job and rule in favor of the freedom to marry once and for all.”

The full resolution approved on Monday:

2014 Resolution on the Freedom to Marry by the U.S. Conference of Mayors

Resolution adopted June 23, 2014

1. WHEREAS, The United States Conference of Mayors has long stood for full equality for same-sex couples, including endorsing the freedom to marry in 2009; and 

2. WHEREAS, since the time of that resolution, support for marriage for same-sex couples has grown to nearly 60 percent nationwide, with majorities in every region of the country and opposition diminishing dramatically; and

3. WHEREAS, today, nineteen states plus the District of Columbia have now ended discrimination in marriage, so that now 44 percent of Americans live in a state where same-sex couples can marry; and

4. WHEREAS, in 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the core of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, and in so doing eviscerated justifications for excluding same-sex couples from marriage; and 

5. WHEREAS, as of June 17th, 2014, every one of the 15 federal district court judges who has ruled in a marriage case has found that state marriage discrimination violates the US Constitution; and

6. WHEREAS, there continues to be an untenable patchwork imposing great legal uncertainty and hardship on committed same-sex couples in the 31 states that deny their freedom to marry and refuse to respect their lawful marriages, even as the federal government rightly treats these couples as married for federal programs and purposes; and 

7. WHEREAS, more than 400 mayors from 39 states and the District of Columbia have so far signed on to be a Mayor for the Freedom to Marry,

8. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors reaffirms its support of the freedom to marry for same-sex couples and urges the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, to speedily bring national resolution by ruling in favor of the freedom to marry nationwide.

Resolution submitted by: Greg Stanton, Mayor of Phoenix, AZ; Annise D. Parker, Mayor of Houston, TX; Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles; Michael Nutter, Mayor of Philadelphia, PA; Kevin Faulconer, Mayor of San Diego; Christopher Cabaldon, Mayor of West Sacramento; Ed Lee, Mayor of San Francisco; Michael Coleman, Mayor of Columbus, OH; Jonathan Rothschild, Mayor of Tucson; Charlie Hales, Mayor of Portland, OR; Frank Cownie, Mayor of Des Moines; Michael Brennan, Mayor of Portland, ME; Pedro Segarra, Mayor of Hartford, CT; Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor of Baltimore, MD; Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City, NY; Martin J. Walsh, Mayor of Boston, MA; Francis Slay, Mayor of St. Louis, MO; Ed Murray, Mayor of Seattle, WA; Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago, IL; Bill Harrison, Mayor of Fremont, CA; Michael B. Hancock, Mayor of Denver, CO; Kasim Reed, Mayor of Atlanta, GA; Julián Castro, Mayor of San Antonio, TX; Greg Fischer, Mayor of Louisville, KY; Martin J. Walsh, Mayor of Boston, MA; Toni Harp, Mayor of New Haven, CT; McKinley L. Price, Mayor of Newport News; Mark Kleinschmidt, Mayor of Chapel Hill, NC; Sly James, Mayor of Kansas City, MO

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