Transcripts For ALJAZAM Inside Story 20131113 : vimarsana.co

Healthcare site. The death toll in the philippines continues to rise in the wake of typhoon haiyan. More than 2300 people have died so far, and rescue workers are struggling to get food into the hardest hit areas. Hawaii has become the 15th state to recognize samesex marriage. The governor signed a gay marriage bill today that puts the states new law into affect. On december 2nd. The state is expecting to see additional revenue as a destination for same sex weddings and honeymoons. Inside story is next. With hawaii joining the list today, 15 states have now legalized gay marriage. Civil rights clash with states rights as the courts as an Equality Movement hits a new movement in america. Thats on inside story. Hello, im ray suareza. When the governor of hawaii signed samesex marriage into law wins it brought the issue full circle to where it began. It was 1991 when a woman sued to have the right to marry her partner. Since that lawsuit the pace of change towards samesex marriage is nothing short of astonishing. On this edition of inside story were going to discuss this sweeping social change including the fact that a majority of states still limit marriages to heterosexual couples. Hawaii became the 15th state in the u. S. To recognize samesex marriage on wednesday. [applause] approved in the state senate and signed by democratic governor neil abercrombie. It overrules the limitation of marriage on the island state. We stand on the principles of equality and justice and liberty for all mostly we stand on the principle that all marriages are now equal. Reporter earlier this month Illinois Legislature also passed the samesex marriage bill. Now its in the hand of democratic governor pat quinn, who is expected to sign the measure into law soon. At the end of the day all were talking about is treating each family with the same equal law. Reporter in october new Jerseys Supreme Court unanimously decided it would begin recognizing samesex marriages, too, rejecting appeals to delay the position. Marriages are equal in new jersey . Reporter a move where governor Chris Christie dropped his opposition. A statement from his office these three latest join a growing list of states in the midst of changes to marriage law. Today 15 states plus the direct District Of Columbia see samesex marriage as legal, and ten regular civil unions an partnerships. And 30 have included outright ban against gay marriage. Today, more than a third of the u. S. Population lives in states that recognize gay marriage. More people leave congress and newer people step in who are from our generation. I think if its not changed now or sometime soon it will be changed then. According i, 57 of americans were opposed to legalizing marriages for gay and lesbian couples. But now the majority in 2013 support gay marriage with 53 and 43 against. The first lawsuit filed came from hawaii 20 years ago. Congress passed the defense of marriage act or doma, and this year the Supreme Court struck down doma ruling that it was unconstitutional to deny marriage rights. Today i get to look at the man that i love and finally say, will you please marry me . Reporter the verdict opened the doors to a flood of federal benefits to legally married samesex couples. Now they can file federal taxes jointly, share Social Security retirement and not pay an estate tax if theyre the surviving spouse and sponsor a green card. Six states still refuse to give benefits to the national guard. Each say it conflicts with their own state law. One of those states is texas where governor rick perrys office said the Texas National guard is a state agency, and as such is ply kateed to adhere to the Texas Constitution and the laws of this state which clearly define marriage as between one man and one woman. Marriage licenses are usually accepted in all states without question, but for samesex couples state by state moves are still complex and limited. Joining us now to talk about the new law in hawaii is nania bear, the First American to sue for her right to marry her partner. Here we are 25 years later. When you first embarked on this, did you imagine that it would take this long . I could not have foreseen what was going to happen. I will say that the day we actually applied for a marriage license in 1990 we really thought we might get one. When we didnt, my partner always thought we were going to win. I dont know that she thought it was going to take this long, but its very sweet to finally be here. Were lawyers ready to take on your case in the early 90s . Were they encouraging about your prospects of success . No, we were not very sophisticated. This was not part of organized effort. We were in love. We wanted to get married. We applied for a license. At that time there was no organization gay or otherwise, that was willing to represent us. The aclu did submit friend of the court briefs. They were the first group on board, but we went with dan foley, a wonderful constitutional lawyer who was in private practice, and he will always be a hero to me. What changed . And were the things that happened along the way that encouraged you that this really was going to end in a result where hawaiians will be able to get married in samegender couples . You know, we won in court with the hawaii Supreme Court. Apparently the public of hawaii was not ready for it yet, and so amended the constitution to say that the legislature could limit marriage to a man and a woman. And as a result the case did not change the law at that time. The change in Public Opinion has been enormous. 23 years is a very long time in my lifetime, but in terms of gaining civil rights and changing Public Opinion the change has been very fast and quite gratifying to see. How do you say that, though. When you see the earth shifting under your feet in this way, how do you think about it . You know, i think first of all the 1993 Court Decision from hawaii made gay activists and our allies and people all over the world think this could really happen. Maybe courts could really get this, and we could move forwar forwards. So there have been legal opinions, but it has involved gay people coming out and talking about why equal rights, why marriage, why families are important to them. And it involves allies speaking on our behalf. It has taken millions of people working on this. Weve had a lot of victories lately, and thats been terrific, but its not done. We still have 35 states where people cant get married, and its not inevitable that well have equal rights across the country unless we continue to work for it. Has it also taken a significant change among gay people themselves. This was not something talked about during the early years of Gay Liberation when mimicking a heterojokeaheterosexual institu. There were people, marriage, who wants it . We want Gay Liberation, not a gay citizenship movement. Were not trying to be just like straight people. But there were people who really did want marriage, the rights and the benefits and protections and obligations that go with marriage, and the respect in status that go with marriage. It was an agreement. There was also concern that as a result of our suit there would be backlash, and of course there was. There was the defense of marriage act that was recently overturned. Institutional amendments across the country. With hawaii and likely illinois being filled in for Marriage Equality advocates, you might say all the obvious places are done or just about all of them. You yourself no longer live in hawaii. You live in one of those states where it may be a harder row to hoe. Does adding states go ahead harder from here on out . Yes, i think its going to be tough, and i think we have to work very hard on it, that means continuing to work at the federal level, and it also means working at the ballot box to repeal some of those constitutional amendments. I think were going to have to work nationally and state by state. Its going to be a challenge. We have to keep working, and were going to win. One of the two women who started it all in the state of hawaii. Anina bahr. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. More on the samesex Marriage Story and the ongoing battles going on in courthouses around the country. This is inside story. Report. Guilty of a violent crime. Desperate people do desperate things. But when is it too much time . I heard the word life, but i didnt understand that meant i was gonna die in prison. Could a landmark ruling give him a Second Chance . My day will come. A controversial special report. I was completely retraumatized by the fear of this offender. Locked up for life america tonight 9 eastern, tonight, on al Jazeera America. Determining using some sort of subjective interpretation of their policy as to whether or not your particular report was actually abusive, because if it doesnt contain language that specifically threatens you directly or is targeted towards you specifically, they may not consider it abuse. They may consider it offensive. And in that case they just recommend that you block that person. I dont want to minimise this, because i mean, theres some really horrible things that are on line, and its not its not just twitter, what has happened through social media and the anonymity of the net is that you see websites, hatefilled websites targetting all sorts of groups, popping up. There has been a huge number of those that exist as well. I want to tell you that we tried really hard to get some of those people, both from the National Organizations and people who argued some of the court cases who have been prominent opponents we werent able to secure them for todays program, this is a story with a lot of Development Still to go, and we promise well have them with us in the future. Joining us now are david, Senior Researcher at the pew research center. And in boston, lee, executive director of gay and lesbian advocate defenders or glad. And how have things changed in recent years, and is it something that makes somebody who watches statistics and Public Opinion research say, wow . Yes. The short answer is yes, it does. Weve gone through a lot of change from a nation where we opposed samesex marriage to where the majority support samesex marriage. These trends are very unusual because in most social issue you just dont see Movement Like this. For example, about ten years ago 60 of americans said that they opposed samesex marriage. Today 50 , over half of americans say they support it. So weve seen this dramatic shift unlike probation wher aboe numbers have stayed the same over the last decade or the Death Penalty where the numbers have moved a little bit more in opposition to the Death Penalty, by most americans support the Death Penalty. So yes, support of samesex marriage has been a big move. When you see this, what do you explain it yourself . It absolutely com comports wh that. Not only as an american walking the streets but someone who in is a same sex relationship. Many people bend over backyards to show how supportive they are. When you think about marriagelet me go back for a moment. When we started litigating in the late 90s we talked about rights and benefits. Lawyers looking for that lega grounding but thats not why people get married. Its not why straight people get married, its not why samesex couples get married. We get married because we fall in love and we want to share our lives. When we talked about that deep reality, people understand it. When you wrote that essay that got a great amount of attention at the time making a conservatives case for gay marriage, werent there a lot of conservative who is said, yeah, that makes sense to me. As you look back at it now, is it what you were writing about then coming true . When you say a lot do you mean two or three . What were doing here is trying to strengthen the culture of marriage. This is a gay responsibility revolution, people who want to care for each other, commit to each other, their children and society. I think thats a very big part of whats changed in the last five years. Gay marriage has gone from being seen as a threat to being part of marriage and family. People know the gay couple next door. They see the lesbian mom at the pta meeting and theyre going, wait a minute, this is a conservative idea, and thats played an important role. Could you have imagined when you wrote that essay how quickly things would continue to move. Pi know it was already under way. When i started writing on gay marriage in 1995 my father advised me not to. Not that he had anything against gays or gay marriage. He said people will think youre a nut if you endorse this crazy idea. And at the time that seemed right. But i thought were talking two or three generations. What weve seen in the last 30 years has been miraculous. Well have a short break now. Well continue our discussion on samesex marriage in a moment. This is inside story. Al Jazeera America is a straightforward news channel. Its the most exciting thing to happen to american journalism in decades. We believe in digging deep. Its unbiased, factbased, indepth journalism. You give them the facts, dispense with the fluff and get straight to the point. Im on the ground every day finding stories that matter to you. In new orleans. Seattle bureau. Washington. Detroit. Chicago. Nashville. Los angeles. San francisco. Al Jazeera America, take a new look at news. Welcome back to inside story. Im ray suarez. Were continuing our discussion on samesex marriage in america, and lee, im wondering with the addition of illinois and hawaii to the list, has all the lowhanging fruit been picked . Are the games from here on out going to go tougher . Well, i wouldnt refer to some of the previous states as exactly lowhanging fruit. Its taken a lot of work. But yes, its going to get tougher. Right now were waiting for a decision from the highest court in new mexico around whether their constitution demands Marriage Equality. But after new mexico it gets tougher. Were looking at a lot of states with constitutional amendments. On the other hand the 2012 Election Results showed that we can win at the ballot box, and people are Gathering Signatures in oregon to be on the ballot to repeal that states constitution amendment. But the work will be more difficult moving forward. A third of americans, thats over 100 Million People who live in a state where samesex couples with get married. Are we moving toward a stasis for a while, and can american sustain two marriage regimes . It will have to sustain two marriage regimes for a while. While Public Opinion is slightly in favor of samesex marriage, and it hasnt tipped. And the states that it havent tipped is often in the south. Those will be tough battles. Were looking at a number of years that this will continue. On the other hand, the intellectual has shifted. And th a lot of conservatives dt want to put a stake in this patch of ground any more. Is there almost a wavelength, a momentum to Public Opinion . Is it fluid in a way that once youve chewed up a lot of territory, there is sometimes lulls where things stay pretty much as they are . Yes, sometimes that does happen, and i think its important to point out that there may be a little bit of an under estimation of opposition to samesex marriage. Some people have done some studies that show when people are asked about this, even when they know that theyre going to be anonymous, that their name is not going to be associated with their answer sometimes there is potentially a social pressure to sayto give an answer that they think the interviewer wants to hear. In the case of samesex marriage there is a chance that two, three, four, and even five percent of the support for samesex marriage may be softer than the polls indicate because some of the people asked either may not feel 100 shore o sure,y may feel opposed to samesex marriage but feel like its not acceptable to say that any more. Which is in itself a sort of momentum. I feel like pointing out what lee and jonathan said, the parts of the country that are most supportive, new england is a region of america that has the highest level of support for samesex marriage. All New England States have now legalized samesex marriage. Support for samesex marriage is softest, the central Southern States like texas, mississippi, alabama, the atlantic Southern States as well, you know, thats where virtually nothere arent any states that have legalized samesex marriage. Yes, the battle is Going Forward unless there is some sort of gamechanging Supreme Court decision the battles Going Forward are going to be tougher. Lee, lets turn to that part of the country where support for samesex marriage is low, but where the presence of the government is very large in the form of the military. Is having the federal government pushing its own policies make it tougher to sustain as a matter of legal tactics, as a matter of looking for the nex nextdoes it make it tougher to hold on to the antiposition from a legal point of view to have the federal government in your state and supporting Marriage Equality. Well, from a legal point of view there are over 30 lawsuits in 20 states across the country and many are in federal court, and theyre using this as part of the justification, the decision that the court made, he declare that its unconstitution, and it may apply to a fundamental right to marry. Certainly i think some of the Equality Movement<\/a> hits a new movement in america. Thats on inside story. Hello, im ray suareza. When the governor of hawaii signed samesex marriage into law wins it brought the issue full circle to where it began. It was 1991 when a woman sued to have the right to marry her partner. Since that lawsuit the pace of change towards samesex marriage is nothing short of astonishing. On this edition of inside story were going to discuss this sweeping social change including the fact that a majority of states still limit marriages to heterosexual couples. Hawaii became the 15th state in the u. S. To recognize samesex marriage on wednesday. [applause] approved in the state senate and signed by democratic governor neil abercrombie. It overrules the limitation of marriage on the island state. We stand on the principles of equality and justice and liberty for all mostly we stand on the principle that all marriages are now equal. Reporter earlier this month Illinois Legislature<\/a> also passed the samesex marriage bill. Now its in the hand of democratic governor pat quinn, who is expected to sign the measure into law soon. At the end of the day all were talking about is treating each family with the same equal law. Reporter in october new Jerseys Supreme Court<\/a> unanimously decided it would begin recognizing samesex marriages, too, rejecting appeals to delay the position. Marriages are equal in new jersey . Reporter a move where governor Chris Christie<\/a> dropped his opposition. A statement from his office these three latest join a growing list of states in the midst of changes to marriage law. Today 15 states plus the direct District Of Columbia<\/a> see samesex marriage as legal, and ten regular civil unions an partnerships. And 30 have included outright ban against gay marriage. Today, more than a third of the u. S. Population lives in states that recognize gay marriage. More people leave congress and newer people step in who are from our generation. I think if its not changed now or sometime soon it will be changed then. According i, 57 of americans were opposed to legalizing marriages for gay and lesbian couples. But now the majority in 2013 support gay marriage with 53 and 43 against. The first lawsuit filed came from hawaii 20 years ago. Congress passed the defense of marriage act or doma, and this year the Supreme Court<\/a> struck down doma ruling that it was unconstitutional to deny marriage rights. Today i get to look at the man that i love and finally say, will you please marry me . Reporter the verdict opened the doors to a flood of federal benefits to legally married samesex couples. Now they can file federal taxes jointly, share Social Security<\/a> retirement and not pay an estate tax if theyre the surviving spouse and sponsor a green card. Six states still refuse to give benefits to the national guard. Each say it conflicts with their own state law. One of those states is texas where governor rick perrys office said the Texas National<\/a> guard is a state agency, and as such is ply kateed to adhere to the Texas Constitution<\/a> and the laws of this state which clearly define marriage as between one man and one woman. Marriage licenses are usually accepted in all states without question, but for samesex couples state by state moves are still complex and limited. Joining us now to talk about the new law in hawaii is nania bear, the First American<\/a> to sue for her right to marry her partner. Here we are 25 years later. When you first embarked on this, did you imagine that it would take this long . I could not have foreseen what was going to happen. I will say that the day we actually applied for a marriage license in 1990 we really thought we might get one. When we didnt, my partner always thought we were going to win. I dont know that she thought it was going to take this long, but its very sweet to finally be here. Were lawyers ready to take on your case in the early 90s . Were they encouraging about your prospects of success . No, we were not very sophisticated. This was not part of organized effort. We were in love. We wanted to get married. We applied for a license. At that time there was no organization gay or otherwise, that was willing to represent us. The aclu did submit friend of the court briefs. They were the first group on board, but we went with dan foley, a wonderful constitutional lawyer who was in private practice, and he will always be a hero to me. What changed . And were the things that happened along the way that encouraged you that this really was going to end in a result where hawaiians will be able to get married in samegender couples . You know, we won in court with the hawaii Supreme Court<\/a>. Apparently the public of hawaii was not ready for it yet, and so amended the constitution to say that the legislature could limit marriage to a man and a woman. And as a result the case did not change the law at that time. The change in Public Opinion<\/a> has been enormous. 23 years is a very long time in my lifetime, but in terms of gaining civil rights and changing Public Opinion<\/a> the change has been very fast and quite gratifying to see. How do you say that, though. When you see the earth shifting under your feet in this way, how do you think about it . You know, i think first of all the 1993 Court Decision<\/a> from hawaii made gay activists and our allies and people all over the world think this could really happen. Maybe courts could really get this, and we could move forwar forwards. So there have been legal opinions, but it has involved gay people coming out and talking about why equal rights, why marriage, why families are important to them. And it involves allies speaking on our behalf. It has taken millions of people working on this. Weve had a lot of victories lately, and thats been terrific, but its not done. We still have 35 states where people cant get married, and its not inevitable that well have equal rights across the country unless we continue to work for it. Has it also taken a significant change among gay people themselves. This was not something talked about during the early years of Gay Liberation<\/a> when mimicking a heterojokeaheterosexual institu. There were people, marriage, who wants it . We want Gay Liberation<\/a>, not a gay citizenship movement. Were not trying to be just like straight people. But there were people who really did want marriage, the rights and the benefits and protections and obligations that go with marriage, and the respect in status that go with marriage. It was an agreement. There was also concern that as a result of our suit there would be backlash, and of course there was. There was the defense of marriage act that was recently overturned. Institutional amendments across the country. With hawaii and likely illinois being filled in for Marriage Equality<\/a> advocates, you might say all the obvious places are done or just about all of them. You yourself no longer live in hawaii. You live in one of those states where it may be a harder row to hoe. Does adding states go ahead harder from here on out . Yes, i think its going to be tough, and i think we have to work very hard on it, that means continuing to work at the federal level, and it also means working at the ballot box to repeal some of those constitutional amendments. I think were going to have to work nationally and state by state. Its going to be a challenge. We have to keep working, and were going to win. One of the two women who started it all in the state of hawaii. Anina bahr. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. More on the samesex Marriage Story<\/a> and the ongoing battles going on in courthouses around the country. This is inside story. Report. Guilty of a violent crime. Desperate people do desperate things. But when is it too much time . I heard the word life, but i didnt understand that meant i was gonna die in prison. Could a landmark ruling give him a Second Chance<\/a> . My day will come. A controversial special report. I was completely retraumatized by the fear of this offender. Locked up for life america tonight 9 eastern, tonight, on al Jazeera America<\/a>. Determining using some sort of subjective interpretation of their policy as to whether or not your particular report was actually abusive, because if it doesnt contain language that specifically threatens you directly or is targeted towards you specifically, they may not consider it abuse. They may consider it offensive. And in that case they just recommend that you block that person. I dont want to minimise this, because i mean, theres some really horrible things that are on line, and its not its not just twitter, what has happened through social media and the anonymity of the net is that you see websites, hatefilled websites targetting all sorts of groups, popping up. There has been a huge number of those that exist as well. I want to tell you that we tried really hard to get some of those people, both from the National Organizations<\/a> and people who argued some of the court cases who have been prominent opponents we werent able to secure them for todays program, this is a story with a lot of Development Still<\/a> to go, and we promise well have them with us in the future. Joining us now are david, Senior Researcher<\/a> at the pew research center. And in boston, lee, executive director of gay and lesbian advocate defenders or glad. And how have things changed in recent years, and is it something that makes somebody who watches statistics and Public Opinion<\/a> research say, wow . Yes. The short answer is yes, it does. Weve gone through a lot of change from a nation where we opposed samesex marriage to where the majority support samesex marriage. These trends are very unusual because in most social issue you just dont see Movement Like<\/a> this. For example, about ten years ago 60 of americans said that they opposed samesex marriage. Today 50 , over half of americans say they support it. So weve seen this dramatic shift unlike probation wher aboe numbers have stayed the same over the last decade or the Death Penalty<\/a> where the numbers have moved a little bit more in opposition to the Death Penalty<\/a>, by most americans support the Death Penalty<\/a>. So yes, support of samesex marriage has been a big move. When you see this, what do you explain it yourself . It absolutely com comports wh that. Not only as an american walking the streets but someone who in is a same sex relationship. Many people bend over backyards to show how supportive they are. When you think about marriagelet me go back for a moment. When we started litigating in the late 90s we talked about rights and benefits. Lawyers looking for that lega grounding but thats not why people get married. Its not why straight people get married, its not why samesex couples get married. We get married because we fall in love and we want to share our lives. When we talked about that deep reality, people understand it. When you wrote that essay that got a great amount of attention at the time making a conservatives case for gay marriage, werent there a lot of conservative who is said, yeah, that makes sense to me. As you look back at it now, is it what you were writing about then coming true . When you say a lot do you mean two or three . What were doing here is trying to strengthen the culture of marriage. This is a gay responsibility revolution, people who want to care for each other, commit to each other, their children and society. I think thats a very big part of whats changed in the last five years. Gay marriage has gone from being seen as a threat to being part of marriage and family. People know the gay couple next door. They see the lesbian mom at the pta meeting and theyre going, wait a minute, this is a conservative idea, and thats played an important role. Could you have imagined when you wrote that essay how quickly things would continue to move. Pi know it was already under way. When i started writing on gay marriage in 1995 my father advised me not to. Not that he had anything against gays or gay marriage. He said people will think youre a nut if you endorse this crazy idea. And at the time that seemed right. But i thought were talking two or three generations. What weve seen in the last 30 years has been miraculous. Well have a short break now. Well continue our discussion on samesex marriage in a moment. This is inside story. Al Jazeera America<\/a> is a straightforward news channel. Its the most exciting thing to happen to american journalism in decades. We believe in digging deep. Its unbiased, factbased, indepth journalism. You give them the facts, dispense with the fluff and get straight to the point. Im on the ground every day finding stories that matter to you. In new orleans. Seattle bureau. Washington. Detroit. Chicago. Nashville. Los angeles. San francisco. Al Jazeera America<\/a>, take a new look at news. Welcome back to inside story. Im ray suarez. Were continuing our discussion on samesex marriage in america, and lee, im wondering with the addition of illinois and hawaii to the list, has all the lowhanging fruit been picked . Are the games from here on out going to go tougher . Well, i wouldnt refer to some of the previous states as exactly lowhanging fruit. Its taken a lot of work. But yes, its going to get tougher. Right now were waiting for a decision from the highest court in new mexico around whether their constitution demands Marriage Equality<\/a>. But after new mexico it gets tougher. Were looking at a lot of states with constitutional amendments. On the other hand the 2012 Election Results<\/a> showed that we can win at the ballot box, and people are Gathering Signatures<\/a> in oregon to be on the ballot to repeal that states constitution amendment. But the work will be more difficult moving forward. A third of americans, thats over 100 Million People<\/a> who live in a state where samesex couples with get married. Are we moving toward a stasis for a while, and can american sustain two marriage regimes . It will have to sustain two marriage regimes for a while. While Public Opinion<\/a> is slightly in favor of samesex marriage, and it hasnt tipped. And the states that it havent tipped is often in the south. Those will be tough battles. Were looking at a number of years that this will continue. On the other hand, the intellectual has shifted. And th a lot of conservatives dt want to put a stake in this patch of ground any more. Is there almost a wavelength, a momentum to Public Opinion<\/a> . Is it fluid in a way that once youve chewed up a lot of territory, there is sometimes lulls where things stay pretty much as they are . Yes, sometimes that does happen, and i think its important to point out that there may be a little bit of an under estimation of opposition to samesex marriage. Some people have done some studies that show when people are asked about this, even when they know that theyre going to be anonymous, that their name is not going to be associated with their answer sometimes there is potentially a social pressure to sayto give an answer that they think the interviewer wants to hear. In the case of samesex marriage there is a chance that two, three, four, and even five percent of the support for samesex marriage may be softer than the polls indicate because some of the people asked either may not feel 100 shore o sure,y may feel opposed to samesex marriage but feel like its not acceptable to say that any more. Which is in itself a sort of momentum. I feel like pointing out what lee and jonathan said, the parts of the country that are most supportive, new england is a region of america that has the highest level of support for samesex marriage. All New England States<\/a> have now legalized samesex marriage. Support for samesex marriage is softest, the central Southern States<\/a> like texas, mississippi, alabama, the atlantic Southern States<\/a> as well, you know, thats where virtually nothere arent any states that have legalized samesex marriage. Yes, the battle is Going Forward<\/a> unless there is some sort of gamechanging Supreme Court<\/a> decision the battles Going Forward<\/a> are going to be tougher. Lee, lets turn to that part of the country where support for samesex marriage is low, but where the presence of the government is very large in the form of the military. Is having the federal government pushing its own policies make it tougher to sustain as a matter of legal tactics, as a matter of looking for the nex nextdoes it make it tougher to hold on to the antiposition from a legal point of view to have the federal government in your state and supporting Marriage Equality<\/a>. Well, from a legal point of view there are over 30 lawsuits in 20 states across the country and many are in federal court, and theyre using this as part of the justification, the decision that the court made, he declare that its unconstitution, and it may apply to a fundamental right to marry. Certainly i think some of the Court Decision<\/a>s are providing more weight to what might be an ultimate federal division. Another point that is important to make with the end of the defense of marriage act whether your state recognizes marriage or not, the federal government will in many situations means that more samesex couples in Southern States<\/a> and some of these more challenging states are going to get married. As i said earlier, knowing people who are married, hearing their stories, i think that will also help move Public Opinion<\/a> even to these much more challenging states. Lee from glad joining me from boston. Onthat and david here in washington, thanks a lot. Thank you. And thats it for the team from washington, d. C. And from me, ray suarez. For now thanks for watching inside story. Good night. Every year in america over 11 thousand babies die on the day that theyre born. Most are just born too early. Their vital organs, heart and lungs still unformed. Even those who survive beyond 24 hours often die before their first birthday. But if the baby is african american, they are more than twice as likely to die. Fault lines travels to cleveland, ohio to look at what is causing these deaths, and to try to find out why the United States<\/a> has the worst rate of infant mortality in the","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia801607.us.archive.org\/15\/items\/ALJAZAM_20131113_220000_Inside_Story\/ALJAZAM_20131113_220000_Inside_Story.thumbs\/ALJAZAM_20131113_220000_Inside_Story_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240620T12:35:10+00:00"}