There Will Be 36! Marriage Equality Will Begin In Florida Next Week

Next week Florida will almost certainly become the 36th state where same-sex couples can get legally married when a federal judge's injunction against the Sunshine State's constitutional amendment banning marriage equality goes into effect at 5pm on January 5, 2015. U.S. District Court judge Robert L. Hinkle ruled on New Year's Day that his order applies specifically to the couple who filed before him but that his ruling makes it clear that the statute barring the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex is unconstitutional and if clerks act based on an unconstitutional law he will entertain all such couples being added as parties to the original lawsuit.

This is how the Judge puts it:

The preliminary injunction now in effect thus does not require the Clerk to issue licenses to other applicants. But as set out in the order that announced issuance of the preliminary injunction, the Constitution requires the Clerk to issue such licenses. As in any other instance involving parties not now before the court, the Clerk’s obligation to follow the law arises from sources other than the preliminary injunction.

Hat/tip to Joe Jervis 

Rep. David Jolly (FL-13) Becomes 8th Republican To Endorse Marriage Equality

Congressman David Jolly, Republican of Florida, became just the 8th member of his party currently serving in Congress to endorse marriage equality today. Just like Congressman Charlie Den of Pennsylvania did this past May, Rep. Jolly announced his position in light of a recent ruling striking down his state's ban on marriage equality.

Last week, a state judge struck down Florida's state constitutional ban on marriage equality. (Since it was just a state judge, and only applied in one county, I didn't even cover the news here at MadProfessah.com). No same-sex couples were able to get married as a result of the decision.

However, the more interesting political fallout of last week's marriage ruling was that Rep. Jolly (who recently won a special election to be the newest member of Congress a few months ago) was asked about his position on marriage equality and answered thusly:

“As a matter of my Christian faith, I believe in traditional marriage," said Jolly in a statement to The Post. "But as a matter of Constitutional principle I believe in a form of limited government that protects personal liberty. To me, that means that the sanctity of one’s marriage should be defined by their faith and by their church, not by their state. Accordingly, I believe it is fully appropriate for a state to recognize both traditional marriage as well as same-sex marriage, and therefore I support the recent decision by a Monroe County Circuit Judge.”

Peculiarly, even though there are just 4 members of Congress who have endorsed marriage equality, half of them are in the Senate. Just a few weeks ago Senator Susan Collins announced she is in favor of marriage equality (which her state has had since 2012). Jolly joins his fellow Floridian Republican Congressmember Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in supporting marriage equality, which is significant since all the other House Republicans who support marriage equality represent states which already have marriage equality, something Florida does not. Yet.

POLL: Majority Support for Marriage Equality In Florida

A new poll from Qunnipiac shows that marriage equality is supported by a strong majority in Florida, less than a decade after a state constitutional ban was passed by voters with more than 60% support.

Florida voters support 56 – 39 percent allowing same-sex couples to marry, with 57 – 39 percent support among women and 55 – 40 percent backing among men. Support is 65 – 31 percent among Democrats and 64 – 30 percent among independent voters, with Republicans opposed 64 – 32 percent. Every age group supports same-sex marriage except voters over 65 years old, who are divided with 45 percent in favor and 49 percent opposed.

There is a federal lawsuit fighting for the rights of same-sex couples to get married in Florida, as there is in 45 other states at this point. There really is a race to see which state beneath the Mason-Dixon line will become the first to have marriage equality. Personally, I think it is going to be Virginia though I am pleased to see more focus on LGBT equality in the South.

Now There Are 6: Sen. Nelson (D-FL) Supports Marriage Equality. Who Will Be Next?

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida has become the
51st U.S. Senator to endorse marriage equality

Exactly 7 days ago there were nine remaining members of the Democratic caucus who did not support marriage equality. Here was the list then:

• Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. Up for reelection in 2018.
• Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Up for reelection in 2018.
• Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida. Up for reelection in 2018.
• Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Up for reelection in 2018.
• Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware. Up for reelection in 2018.
• Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana. Up for reelection in 2018.
• Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Up for reelection in 2014.
• Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas. Up for reelection in 2014
• Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota. Retiring from Senate in 2014.

Here is the list today:

• Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. Up for reelection in 2018.
• Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Up for reelection in 2018.
• Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida. Up for reelection in 2018.
• Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Up for reelection in 2018.
• Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware. Up for reelection in 2018.
• Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana. Up for reelection in 2018.
• Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Up for reelection in 2014.
• Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas. Up for reelection in 2014
• Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota. Retiring from Senate in 2014.

Notice that now all the Senators from blue states have now endorsed marriage equality. But also notice that there are three "red state Senators" who are not up for re-election until 2018. Do they really think that they will have a more opportune moment than now to switch their position? I suspect they are waiting to see what happens at the United States Supreme Court in June.

Senator Bill Nelson of Florida became the latest to join the right side of history by releasing a statement which said this yesterday:

"It is generally accepted in American law and U.S. society today '. . . that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' I believe that. The civil rights and responsibilities for one must pertain to all. 

"Thus, to discriminate against one class and not another is wrong for me," he said in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times editorial board. 

"If we are endowed by our creator with rights, then why shouldn't those be attainable by gays and lesbians? Simply put, if the Lord made homosexuals as well as heterosexuals, why should I discriminate against their civil marriage? I shouldn't, and I won't. 

"So I will add my name to the petition of senators asking the Supreme Court to declare the law that prohibits gay marriage unconstitutional."

Wow. Yes, he really did refer to God three times in a statement supporting a legal position for why marriage equality bans should be struck down and the right to civil marriages should include same-sex couples.

The main significance of Nelson's statement is that now a majority of Senators support marriage equality, something which on Tuesday I predicted would happen within the week!

I'm perfectly willing to give the two Democratic senators running for re-election in red states in 2014 (Landrieu in Louisiana and Pryor in Arkansas) a pass until November 5, 2014, the day after the mid-term election. Until then, we're looking at you Senators Heitkamp, Donnelly and Manchin! Donnelly and Machin are both anti-choice so those will be hard to move, but they have the exampleof Pennsylvania's Bob Casey to follow there. As for Heitkamp, women are substantially more supportive of marriage equality than men, although curiously none of the four female Republican senators (Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Deb Fischer of Nebraska North Dakota, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska) have endorsed marriage equality. I would put my money on Sen. Collins joining the marriage equality caucus, since after all her state has recently voted to support marriage equality! But she's also up for re-election in 2014.

The political calculus is interesting: who is more likely to endorse marriage equality, a Democratic female senator from a red state not up for re-election until 2018 (e.g. Heitkamp), or a Republican female Senator from a blue state who is up for re-election in 2014 (e.g. Collins)? Or a Republican male senators from a blue state not up for re-election until 2018 (Dean Heller of Nevada)? Or someone else? And does it matter if they are pro-choice or not?

Another soon-to-be-pressing question is "Senator, now that you support equality in marriage for same-sex couples, do you also support their civil right not to be discriminated in employment, housing and public accommodations?"