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	<title>SwamplandCategory: Gay Marriage &#124; Swampland &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>SwamplandCategory: Gay Marriage &#124; Swampland &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>For Minnesota Gay Marriage Sponsors, It&#8217;s Personal</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/15/for-minnesota-gay-marriage-sponsors-its-personal/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/15/for-minnesota-gay-marriage-sponsors-its-personal/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 May 2013 04:08:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Patrick Condon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=95670</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(ST. PAUL, Minn.) — As a crowd of thousands roared from the lawn of the state Capitol, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton signed the bill Tuesday that makes gay marriage legal here come Aug. 1. &#8220;What a day for Minnesota!&#8221; the Democratic governor declared, as American and rainbow flags flapped in a sweltering hot wind. The Minnesota State Patrol estimated about 6,000 people made up the massive crowd, and many headed to downtown St. Paul afterward for a street party celebrating the bill&#8217;s passage. Dayton&#8217;s signature on the bill ended an intense two years for gay marriage supporters and opponents in this Midwestern state, which swung from a failed push to constitutionally ban same-sex weddings into a successful bid to becoming the 12th state to affirm them. Watching over Dayton&#8217;s shoulder as he signed the bill were the measure&#8217;s two chief sponsors, Rep. Karen Clark and Sen. Scott Dibble. For them, it was vindication for a long and sometimes demoralizing struggle for gay rights. &#8220;I thought it would happen someday, but I didn&#8217;t know I would be able to be here to be part of it,&#8221; Clark said Tuesday, a few hours before the ceremony. Clark can now marry her partner of 24 years, in the only state she&#8217;s ever lived. The longest-serving openly gay lawmaker in the country, Clark, 67, had already been out of the closet for a decade when she was elected to the Legislature in 1980. She grew up on a farm in Rock County, in the state&#8217;s southwestern corner, and came out to her parents, now both dead, in her mid-20s. (MORE: A Timeline of the Fight for Gay Rights) &#8220;The very first thing my mother said was, &#8216;I will always love you,&#8217;&#8221; Clark recalled. In 1993, her by-then elderly parents marched with her in the Minneapolis gay pride parade a few weeks after she led the effort to extend Minnesota&#8217;s civil rights protections to gay people. But by 1997, the same Legislature passed the &#8220;Defense of Marriage Act,&#8221; which restricted marriage to only opposite-sex couples.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=95670&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link>
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		<title>Minnesota Gov. Dayton Signs Gay Marriage Bill</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/14/minn-governor-to-sign-bill-allowing-gay-marriage/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/14/minn-governor-to-sign-bill-allowing-gay-marriage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 May 2013 08:49:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Patrick Condon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=95549</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(ST. PAUL, Minn.) — Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday signed a bill making gay marriage legal in Minnesota, the 12th state to take the step, as thousands of onlookers cheered. &#8220;What a day for Minnesota!&#8221; Dayton, a Democrat, declared moments before putting his signature on a bill. &#8220;And what a difference a year and an election can make in our state.&#8221; Rainbow and American flags flapped in a sweltering breeze during the ceremony, held on the Capitol&#8217;s south steps. The crowd, estimated by the State Patrol at 6,000, spilled down the steps and across the lawn toward downtown St. Paul. Dayton thanked legislators for &#8220;political courage&#8221; before signing the bill just a day after it passed the state Senate. It passed the House last week. The push for gay marriage was a rapid turnabout from just six months ago, when gay marriage supporters had to mobilize to turn back a proposed constitutional amendment that would have banned gay marriage. Minnesota already had such a law, but an amendment would have been harder to undo. But voters rejected the amendment, and the forces that organized to defeat it soon turned their attention to legalizing gay marriage. Democrats&#8217; takeover of the Legislature in the November election aided their cause. MORE: U.S. Marine Makes First Ever Same-Sex Marriage Proposal in the White House)<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=95549&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/ap_minngaymarriage_may14.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Gay Marriage</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Minnesota Senate Next Stop for Gay Marriage Bill</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/10/minnesota-senate-next-stop-for-gay-marriage-bill/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/10/minnesota-senate-next-stop-for-gay-marriage-bill/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2013 17:03:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Brian Bakst and Patrick Condon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=95353</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ST. PAUL, Minn. — Supporters already are celebrating the Minnesota House&#8217;s passage of a measure to legalize gay marriage, but there are a few more steps before it gets to Gov. Mark Dayton&#8217;s desk. &#8220;It&#8217;s not time to uncork the champagne yet. But it&#8217;s chilling,&#8221; Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-Hopkins, said at a spirited rally in the Capitol rotunda a few minutes after the House voted 75-59 to let same-sex couples start getting married in Minnesota come Aug. 1. The state Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill Monday, and leaders expect it to pass there too. Dayton has pledged to sign it into law, and a spokesman said the Democratic governor likely would do so at a Tuesday ceremony. Final passage would make Minnesota the 12th state in the country to allow gay couples to wed, and the first in the Midwest to pass such a law in its Legislature. It comes just six months after the state&#8217;s voters rejected banning gay marriage in the state constitution. The bill passed in the House after more than three hours of debate that was emotional at times but remained respectful throughout. Many hundreds of demonstrators on both sides of the issue chanted, sang and waved signs outside the House chamber, prompting heightened security at the Capitol. But no disruptions were reported. Rep. Karen Clark, the bill&#8217;s sponsor, said her only goal was equal treatment under state law for same-sex couples. In a deeply personal speech, the Minneapolis Democrat talked of the support she got from her own family after coming out as gay decades ago. &#8220;My family knew firsthand that same-sex couples pay our taxes, we vote, we serve in the military, we take care of our kids and our elders and we run businesses in Minnesota,&#8221; Clark said. Four of the House&#8217;s 61 Republicans voted for the bill, while two of its 73 Democrats voted no. None of the four Republicans committed support beforehand. One, Rep. Jenifer Loon of Eden Prairie, said she made up her mind during the debate, in which lawmakers listened with rapt attention<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=95353&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/10/minnesota-senate-next-stop-for-gay-marriage-bill/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/gay-marriage-minnesota.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Gay Marriage Minnesota</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Same-Sex Couples Welcome Delaware Gay Marriage Law</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/07/delaware-to-become-11th-state-with-gay-marriage/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/07/delaware-to-become-11th-state-with-gay-marriage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 May 2013 21:19:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Randall Chase</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=95015</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[DOVER, Del. (AP) — Mikki Snyder-Hall married her partner, Claire, in California in 2008, and moved two years ago to Rehoboth, a gay-friendly Delaware beach town. Now they&#8217;re looking forward to July 1, when Delaware officially becomes the 11th state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage after Gov. Jack Markell signed a gay marriage bill into law Tuesday. &#8220;As of July, we are considered married,&#8221; said Snyder-Hall said. The couple said that while they don&#8217;t intend to have another wedding ceremony, they may have another reception to celebrate their new legal status in Delaware. Markell, a Democrat, signed the measure into law just minutes after its passage by the state Senate on Tuesday. &#8220;I do not intend to make any of you wait one moment longer,&#8221; a smiling Markell told about 200 jubilant supporters who erupted in cheers and applause following the 12-9 Senate vote barely half an hour earlier. (MORE: How Gay Marriage Won) &#8220;Delaware should be, is and will be a welcoming place to live and love and to raise a family for all who call our great state home,&#8221; Markell said. Delaware&#8217;s same-sex marriage bill was introduced in the Democratic-controlled legislature barely a year after the state began recognizing same-sex civil unions. The bill won passage two weeks ago in the state House on a 23-18 vote. While it doesn&#8217;t give same-sex couples any more rights or benefits under Delaware law than they have in civil unions, supporters argued that same-sex couples deserve the dignity and respect of married couples. They also noted that if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars married gay couples from receiving federal benefits, civil unions would not provide protections or tax benefits under federal law to same-sex couples in Delaware. &#8220;All couples under the law should be treated equally by their government,&#8221; Lisa Goodman, president of Equality Delaware, a gay rights group that drafted the legislation and led the effort to get it passed, told lawmakers near the end of Tuesday&#8217;s three-hour debate. Under<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=95015&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/07/delaware-to-become-11th-state-with-gay-marriage/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>RI Lawmakers to Vote on Gay Marriage</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/24/ri-lawmakers-to-vote-on-gay-marriage/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/24/ri-lawmakers-to-vote-on-gay-marriage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:11:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / David Klepper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=93919</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(PROVIDENCE, R.I.) — State lawmakers in Rhode Island could decide whether the nation&#8217;s smallest state becomes the 10th to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. Following months of review and debate, the state Senate is set to vote on gay marriage legislation Wednesday afternoon. The bill easily passed the House in January and has the support of independent Gov. Lincoln Chafee. Gay marriage legislation has been introduced in Rhode Island&#8217;s General Assembly for nearly two decades only to languish on the legislative agenda. Heavily Catholic Rhode Island is now the only state in New England that does not allow same-sex couples to marry. Gay marriage is law in nine states and the District of Columbia. Wednesday&#8217;s vote comes after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 7-4 Tuesday to forward the legislation to the Senate floor. Dozens of supporters cheered and cried following the vote. Ken Fish, a 70-year-old gay man from Warwick, said he watched the committee vote with a mixture of disbelief and elation. &#8220;It&#8217;s almost unreal to think we&#8217;re here, after all these years,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I wasn&#8217;t sure we&#8217;d ever get here.&#8221; If the bill passes the Senate it must return to the House for a largely procedural vote on small changes made to the bill on the Senate side. House Speaker Gordon Fox, D-Providence, said a final vote could come as early as next week. (MORE: France Legalizes Gay Marriage Despite Vocal and Angry Opposition) Support for the bill has grown since it passed the House in January. On Tuesday, the Senate&#8217;s five Republicans announced they would all support the legislation, further improving the bill&#8217;s chances. &#8220;We&#8217;ve got one more step, but I expect it to pass with overwhelming support,&#8221; said Sen. Dawson Hodgson, R-North Kingstown. Opponents aren&#8217;t giving up on efforts to turn back the legislation. Sen. Harold Metts, D-Providence, said he planned to fast and pray ahead of Wednesday&#8217;s debate. &#8220;Culture may change, but God has an immutable character,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;ll be praying all night.&#8221; Chafee encouraged supporters to contact their senators ahead of the vote<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=93919&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/gay-marriage-ri_yang.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Lincoln Chafee</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Republican Party Says No to Same-Sex Marriage</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/12/republican-party-says-no-to-same-sex-marriage/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/12/republican-party-says-no-to-same-sex-marriage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:54:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zeke J Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=92830</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Republican National Committee voted unanimously Friday to reaffirm the party’s commitment to upholding the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, upending party efforts to grow support among younger voters. A resolution introduced Wednesday by Michigan committeeman Dave Agema, who came under fire last month for posting an article describing gays as “filthy” on his Facebook page, passed the full RNC by a voice vote and without debate. A second resolution reaffirming “core values” of the party — including opposition to same-sex marriage — was also passed. RNC officials collected the resolutions, which were opposed privately by some committee members, together with a resolution honoring Ron Paul and another calling for a sustained investment in the U.S. space program — an effort to avoid debate on the floor. The very fact that the vote took place was seen by some Republicans as flying in the face of one recommendation in the RNC’s Growth and Opportunity Project report. (MORE: Why An American Male Pro Athlete Will Soon Come Out) “There is a generational difference within the conservative movement about issues involving the treatment and the rights of gays — and for many younger voters, these issues are a gateway into whether the Party is a place they want to be,” the report stated. &#8221;If our Party is not welcoming and inclusive, young people and increasingly other voters will continue to tune us out.” “You’ve got to be kidding me,” said one young Republican operative. Two former RNC staffers, Liz Mair and Marcu Nuñez, penned a column in National Review on Friday calling for the measure to be struck down. The so-called autopsy urged not just correcting the party’s tone on the issue, but also to address its policies. The report “opened a beehive,” said Iowa national committeeman Steve Scheffler. More than a dozen conservative leaders condemned the report’s urging for moderation on same-sex marriage in advance of the RNC meeting, warning their supporters would stop backing the party. &#8220;We respectfully warn GOP Leadership that an abandonment of its principles<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=92830&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/12/republican-party-says-no-to-same-sex-marriage/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/rtr36nyy.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">gay marriage</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">zekemiller</media:title>
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		<title>Tim Johnson Endorses Gay Marriage</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/08/sen-tim-johnson-endorses-gay-marriage/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/08/sen-tim-johnson-endorses-gay-marriage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:19:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Rogers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=92348</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sen. Tim Johnson (S.D.) leaves the Final Four. There are now only three Senate Democrats who oppose gay marriage—Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), and Mary Landrieu (La.). &#8220;After lengthy consideration, my views have evolved sufficiently to support marriage equality legislation,&#8221; said Johnson. &#8220;This position doesn&#8217;t require any religious denomination to alter any of its tenets; it simply forbids government from discrimination regarding who can marry whom.&#8221; Two weeks ago, Johnson announced that he was not going to seek a fourth term, and retire in 2014. In the weeks since, many of Johnson&#8217;s colleagues have flipped on the gay marriage issue, including: Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Bob Casey (Pa.), Kay Hagan (N.C.), Jon Tester (Mont.), and Mark Warner (Va.). Claire McCaskill (Mo.) switched her stance a day before Johnson&#8217;s retirement announcement. Johnson&#8217;s retirement gives him some room to maneuver in his socially conservative state. In 2006, South Dakota banned same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships with a constitutional amendment backed by 52% of voters. South Dakota defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman back in 1939. There are now 54 sitting Senators who endorse same-sex marriage.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=92348&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/08/sen-tim-johnson-endorses-gay-marriage/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/d44f4c4f281f2d0a2d0f6a7067004767.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Tim Johnson</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/509f545dfcf07266c1eb847a42170416?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
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		<title>Senate Democrats and Gay Marriage Is March Madness</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/05/senate-democrats-and-gay-marriage-is-march-madness/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/05/senate-democrats-and-gay-marriage-is-march-madness/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:24:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Rogers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=92211</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dan Amira and Jonathan Chait of New York magazine have a pitch-perfect March Madness breakdown of the Senate Democrat holdouts who oppose gay marriage— Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Tim Johnson (S.D.), Mary Landrieu (La.). The list got cut down to a Final Four after Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.) endorsed gay marriage earlier today. Here&#8217;s the first two paragraphs: Dan: Well, Jon, it&#8217;s been a crazy month, but today, after Joe Donnelly and Heidi Heitkamp dropped out of the tournament, we&#8217;re down to the Final Four: Mark Pryor, Joe Manchin, Tim Johnson, and Mary Landrieu. The moderate powerhouses are the only remaining Democratic senators who haven&#8217;t come out in support of gay marriage — but only one can be the last Democratic senator not to support gay marriage. Let&#8217;s take a look at the field. Landrieu is an interesting case, don&#8217;t you think? You could argue she should have been knocked out last week. Jon: I&#8217;m going to get a lot of heat from Landrieu&#8217;s fan base, but I&#8217;ll just say it: She does not belong in this tournament. She said last Thursday, &#8220;The people of Louisiana have made clear that marriage in our state is restricted to one man and one woman. While my personal views have evolved, I will support the outcome of Louisiana&#8217;s recent vote.&#8221; She has already dropped the e-word. We&#8217;re seeding her a distant No. 4. You can read the whole article here.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=92211&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/05/senate-democrats-and-gay-marriage-is-march-madness/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/a_560x375.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Gay marriage</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
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		<title>Bill Nelson Now Endorses Gay Marriage</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/04/bill-nelson-now-endorses-gay-marriage/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/04/bill-nelson-now-endorses-gay-marriage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Apr 2013 21:56:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Rogers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=92157</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Senate Democrats who oppose gay marriage are becoming an endangered species. Today Florida Senator Bill Nelson told the Tampa Bay Times: &#8220;Simply put, if The Lord made homosexuals as well as heterosexuals, why should I discriminate against their civil marriage? I shouldn&#8217;t, and I won&#8217;t.&#8221; Nelson added that he will add his name to the petition of senators urging the Supreme Court to declare prohibitions on gay marriage unconstitutional. Nelson joins six other Senate Democrats—Tom Carper (Del.), Bob Casey (Pa.), Kay Hagan (N.C.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Mark Warner (Va.), and Claire McCaskill (Mo.)—who have flipped on the issue of same-sex marriage in the past two weeks. Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois also backed gay marriage earlier this week. That makes Nelson the 51st senator to support same-sex marriage, giving the position majority backing in the U.S. Senate. On Tuesday I mentioned that Nelson would &#8221;be a good bet&#8221; to endorse gay marriage due to public opinion in his state. According to a Washington Post poll from October, 54% of Floridians think same-sex marriage should be legal. Nelson also voted for the repeal of the military&#8217;s &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221; policy in 2010. There are now six Senate Democrats who disapprove of gay marriage: Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Tim Johnson (S.D.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.).<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=92157&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/04/bill-nelson-now-endorses-gay-marriage/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/rtr3ckwm.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">U.S. Sen. Nelson speaks to reporters as a previously caught live Burmese python is held by Wildlife Commissioner Bergeron before Nelson took part in a hunt for pythons during a state-sponsored snake hunt, near in the Everglades</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
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		<title>Sen. Tom Carper Endorses Same-Sex Marriage</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/02/sen-tom-carper-endorses-same-sex-marriage/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/02/sen-tom-carper-endorses-same-sex-marriage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Apr 2013 15:03:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Rogers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91916</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Citing the Bible&#8217;s Golden Rule, Sen. Tom Carper (Del.) announced his endorsement for same-sex marriage on Facebook. &#8220;All Americans ultimately should be free to marry the people they love and intend to share their lives with, regardless of their sexual orientation,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That&#8217;s why today, after a great deal of soul searching, I&#8217;m endorsing marriage equality.&#8221; Carper no doubt has seen many of his Democrat colleagues— Sens. Bob Casey (Pa.), Kay Hagan (N.C.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Mark Warner (Va.), and Claire McCaskill (Mo.)— flip on the issue in the past two weeks, and decided it was safe to announce his support in liberal Delaware. A Delaware News Journal poll released in January showed 52% in favor of same-sex marriages. After Sen. Bob Casey (Pa.) announced his approval yesterday, there are now seven Senate Democrats who disapprove of gay marriage: Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Bill Nelson (Fl.), Tim Johnson (S.D.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.). The next one to leave the Senate Democrats&#8217; anti-gay marriage room is anyone&#8217;s guess. But if one were to pick a Senator based on popular opinion, Florida&#8217;s Nelson would be a good bet. According to a Washington Post poll from October, 54% of Floridians think same-sex marriage should be legal. Yesterday Moveon.org released its petitions targeting the last Democratic holdouts. Here is Carper&#8217;s full statement: As our society has changed and evolved, so too has the public&#8217;s opinion on gay marriage – and so has mine. I pray every day for God to grant me the wisdom to do what is right. Through my prayers and conversations with my family and countless friends and Delawareans, I&#8217;ve been reminded of the power of one of my core values: the Golden Rule. It calls on us to treat others as we want to be treated. That means, to me, that all Americans ultimately should be free to marry the people they love and intend to share their lives with, regardless of their sexual orientation, and that&#8217;s why today, after a great deal of soul searching, I&#8217;m endorsing<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91916&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/02/sen-tom-carper-endorses-same-sex-marriage/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/rtxo0hr.jpg?w=139</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">U.S. Senator Tom Carper speaks during a news conference in Riyadh December 1, 2005. Carper is in the..</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
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		<title>Another Senate Democrat Backs Gay Marriage</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/01/another-senate-democrat-backs-gay-marriage/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/01/another-senate-democrat-backs-gay-marriage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:04:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Rogers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91856</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In another victory for gay rights advocates, Bob Casey (Penn.) has joined the rush of Senate Democrats—recently including Kay Hagan (N.C.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Mark Warner (Va.), and Claire McCaskill (Mo.)— who now endorse same sex marriage in America. &#8220;After much deliberation and after reviewing the legal, public policy and civil-rights questions presented, I support marriage equality for same-sex couples and believe that DOMA should be repealed,&#8221; Casey told the Philadelphia Gay News today. The reversal comes after intense public pressure on Casey, a pro-life Catholic who is among Washington&#8217;s more culturally conservative Democrats. His office received some 10,000 calls and emails in recent days urging him to follow his fellow Democrats who have reversed their opposition to the right of gays to marry, according to central Pennsylvania&#8217;s PennLive. A wide range of groups applied pressure, including Marriage Equality for Pennsylvania, Keystone Progress, Equality Pennsylvania and MoveOn.org. In a statement detailing his new position, Casey said the letters to his office from LGBT Pennsylvanians pleading with him to reconsider had a &#8220;substantial impact on my position on this issue.&#8221; &#8220;At a time when many Americans lament a lack of commitment in our society between married men and women, why would we want less commitment and fewer strong marriages?&#8221; But Casey may also have been influenced by recent polling suggesting majority support for gay marriage in his state: Fifty-two percent of Pennsylvanians now support same-sex marriage, according to a February Franklin and Marshall College poll, a figure that roughly matches recent national opinion surveys. Casey, who was already a supporter of civil unions, had sent recent signals that he was reconsidering his marriage position. Two weeks ago, his spokesperson told TIME that Casey &#8220;is closely following the debate&#8221; around the Defense of Marriage Act, whose constitutionality has been challenged before the Supreme Court. There are now eight Senate Democrats who still disapprove of same-sex marriage: Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Bill Nelson (Fl.), Tom Carper (Del.), Tim Johnson (S.D.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.). According to The Hill, there are only 11 Democrats<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91856&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/01/another-senate-democrat-backs-gay-marriage/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/rtr3a3hs.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">U.S. Sen. Casey Jr. speaks to supporters during his election night rally after defeating Republican challenger Tom Smith in Scranton, Pennsylvania</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
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		<title>TIME Managing Editor Richard Stengel on New &#8220;Gay Marriage Already Won.&#8221; Cover</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/28/time-managing-editor-richard-stengel-on-new-gay-marriage-already-won-cover/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/28/time-managing-editor-richard-stengel-on-new-gay-marriage-already-won-cover/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:16:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>TIME Staff</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91583</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TIME&#8217;s Rick Stengel stops by the Morning Joe set to discuss David Von Drehle&#8217;s cover story &#8220;Gay Marriage Already Won.&#8221;<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91583&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/28/time-managing-editor-richard-stengel-on-new-gay-marriage-already-won-cover/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/screen-shot-2013-03-28-at-11-58-03-am.png?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Rick Stengel</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/3cb61b88047e46fa55ea7dd6bf87ec1c?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">timeadmin</media:title>
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		<title>How Gay Marriage Won</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/28/how-gay-marriage-won/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/28/how-gay-marriage-won/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>David Von Drehle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Domestic Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91519</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Eager to be eyewitnesses to history, people camped for days in the dismal cold, shivering in the slanting shadow of the Capitol dome, to claim tickets for the Supreme Court’s historic oral arguments on same-sex marriage. Some hoped that the Justices would extend marriage rights; others prayed that they would not. When at last the doors of the white marble temple swung open on March 26 for the first of two sessions devoted to the subject, the lucky ones found seats in time to hear Justice Anthony Kennedy — author of two important earlier decisions in favor of gay rights and likely a key vote this time as well — turn the tables on the attorney defending the traditionalist view. Charles Cooper was extolling heterosexual marriage as the best arrangement in which to raise children when Kennedy interjected: What about the roughly 40,000 children of gay and lesbian couples living in California? “They want their parents to have full recognition and full status,” Kennedy said. “The voice of those children is important in this case, don’t you think?” Nearly as ominous for the folks against change was the fact that Chief Justice John Roberts plunged into a discussion of simply dismissing the California case. That would let stand a lower-court ruling, and same-sex couples could add America’s most populous state to the growing list of jurisdictions where they can be lawfully hitched. A court still stinging from controversies over Obamacare, campaign financing and the 2000 presidential election may be leery of removing an issue from voters’ control. Yet no matter what the Justices decide after withdrawing behind their velvet curtain, the courtroom debate — and the period leading up to it — made clear that we have all been eyewitnesses to history. In recent days, weeks and months, the verdict on same-sex marriage has been rendered by rapidly shifting public opinion and by the spectacle of swing-vote politicians scrambling to keep up with it. With stunning speed, a concept dismissed even by most gay-rights leaders just 20 years ago is now embraced<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91519&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/28/how-gay-marriage-won/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/970_cover_0408.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">TIME Magazine Cover, April 8, 2013</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/3b01e022cef5411570e897eb6a138f88?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">christinelim</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Gay Marriage</media:title>
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		<title>Send Us Your Gay Marriage Photos</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/28/send-us-your-gay-marriage-photos/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/28/send-us-your-gay-marriage-photos/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:45:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>TIME Staff</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Domestic Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91411</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91411&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/28/send-us-your-gay-marriage-photos/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/970_wgaymarriage_0408.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Gay Marriage</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timeadmin</media:title>
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		<title>With Flip-Flop Frenzy Over, Anti-Gay Marriage Democrats Dig In</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/27/with-flip-flop-frenzy-over-anti-gay-marriage-democrats-dig-in/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/27/with-flip-flop-frenzy-over-anti-gay-marriage-democrats-dig-in/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2013 01:57:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Rogers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91540</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After the sudden flip of several Senate Democrats from opposition to endorsement of gay marriage this week, the stampede may have come to an end, leaving a handful of holdouts in states where opinion still lags the national trend. Now that Sens. Kay Hagan (N.C.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Mark Warner (Va.), and Claire McCaskill (Mo.) have switched, just nine Senate Democrats remain in opposition, a core group that includes some of the party&#8217;s most socially conservative members: Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Bob Casey (Pa.), Bill Nelson (Fl.), Tom Carper (Del.), Tim Johnson (S.D.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.). Showing no sign of concern about shifting national opinion in his culturally conservative state, Manchin told TIME through a spokesman: “I believe that a marriage is a union between one man and one woman.” “My beliefs are guided by my faith, and I support the Defense of Marriage Act,” he added. DOMA, passed in 1996, prohibits same-sex couples from receiving the federal benefits that married couples earn. Pryor, Johnson, Heitkamp, and Landrieu had nothing to add to their existing opposition to same sex marriage. Pryor&#8217;s office told TIME that his position hasn’t changed, either. A spokesman for Johnson, who recently announced he will retire at the end of this year, said that Johnson believes the question is “up to the individual states.” (His own state of South Dakota banned not only same-sex marriage in 2006, but also civil unions and domestic partnerships.) He declined to discuss Johnson&#8217;s personal view on whether same sex marriage should be legal. If there&#8217;s tension between Johnson&#8217;s public position and his private opinion, he&#8217;s not alone. Landrieu has straddled that line, telling BuzzFeed Saturday, &#8220;I feel very strongly that people should be allowed to love who they love, but unfortunately my state has a very strong ban against gay marriage constitutionally.&#8221; Not only that, but last month a Public Policy Polling survey found that just 29 percent of Louisianans back  gay marriage. It&#8217;s similar story in other southern states. In Manchin&#8217;s home of West<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91540&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/rtr3bp0a.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Senator Manchin speaks to the media on Capitol Hill in Washington</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
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		<title>The Controversial Language of Gay Rights</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/27/the-controversial-language-of-gay-rights/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/27/the-controversial-language-of-gay-rights/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:32:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Katy Steinmetz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91485</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When Obama tweeted in support of same-sex marriage this week, he used the hashtag #MarriageEquality. That term, like so many words and phrases inherent to America&#8217;s grapple over gay rights, is a loaded one. (After all, who wants to oppose equality?) TIME spoke to language experts about hot-button phrases associated with the arguments the Supreme Court Justices heard today, many of which make reporting on the topic a tricky proposition. Take traditional marriage. On the one hand, opponents of same-sex marriage can use that language to purposefully elevate heterosexual marriage as a more established, legitimate relationship. In a piece assessing journalists’ coverage of same-sex-marriage battles for Columbia Journalism Review, Jennifer Vanasco highlights this point: She uses “traditional marriage advocates” to refer to people against same-sex marriage and “gay marriage” to name the issue. “Gay marriage” and “same-sex marriage” are neutral terms. But “traditional marriage” is not. It’s a phrase used by conservatives to imply that marriage between a man and a woman has been the norm forever &#8230; But, says linguist Ben Zimmer, while the appeal to tradition is an important part of the argument against legalizing gay marriage, referring to heterosexual marriage as “traditional” undermines that position too. “By calling it traditional marriage, you’ve already ceded the ground that there is another kind of marriage,” he says. With the attempt to distance comes (perhaps inadvertent) recognition. Or take opposite-sex marriage as a label for the marriage of a man and a woman. That phrase is used by journalists covering controversies over same-sex marriage, as in this New York Times article about the Supreme Court posted today: The 1996 law did not allow the Internal Revenue Service to treat Ms. Windsor as a surviving spouse, and she faced a tax bill of about $360,000 that a spouse in an opposite-sex marriage would not have had to pay. Yet that phrase has been criticized by proponents of &#8220;traditional marriage&#8221; for being politicized in the other direction. “Kindergartners will be told that some adults choose same-sex marriage and some choose opposite-sex marriage,” Catholic League President Bill Donohue wrote in 2009. “There is no<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91485&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/rainbow-supreme-court.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Rainbow Supreme Court</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/05bfb17f05eff70efc8061bb1a213e86?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Katy Steinmetz</media:title>
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		<title>TIME&#8217;s Massimo Calabresi on the Supreme Court&#8217;s Gay Marriage Cases</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/27/times-massimo-calabresi-on-the-supreme-courts-gay-marriage-cases/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/27/times-massimo-calabresi-on-the-supreme-courts-gay-marriage-cases/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:24:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>TIME Staff</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91486</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[From Massimo Calabresi: Well it&#8217;s kind of a rule of thumb for those covering the Supreme Court not to try and draw judgements from the oral arguments because they often go in a very different direction, as we&#8217;ve seen in a number of recent cases. I would say that [Justice Anthony] Kennedy is clearly an important vote on this, having been the author of the case that kind of opened the door for marriage rights, the Lawrence case, and if one had to make a judgement about where he stood today, one would conclude that he was leaning towards knocking down DOMA.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91486&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/27/times-massimo-calabresi-on-the-supreme-courts-gay-marriage-cases/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/screen-shot-2013-03-27-at-3-14-20-pm.png?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Massimo Calabresi</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">timeadmin</media:title>
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		<title>Watching Kennedy: The Court&#8217;s Swing Voter Offers Clues to a Gay-Marriage Ruling</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/27/watching-kennedy-the-courts-swing-voter-offers-clues-to-a-gay-marriage-ruling/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/27/watching-kennedy-the-courts-swing-voter-offers-clues-to-a-gay-marriage-ruling/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:45:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Crowley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91424</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This morning the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments about the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that prevents the federal government from recognizing state-level same-sex marriages. In an effort to divine how the case might be decided, activists, journalists and legal experts will study each Justice’s questions and utterances with the kind of exhaustive, even absurd, scrutiny typically reserved for wills and ransom notes. But the words of Justice Anthony Kennedy — the swing vote on a panel whose other eight members, four to a side, are relatively predictable — will likely offer the most valuable clues. If yesterday’s arguments around a different gay-marriage case are any indication, however, they may be tantalizingly inconclusive. When the court heard arguments on Tuesday about the constitutionality of Proposition 8, a 2008 California ballot measure that banned gay marriage in the state, Kennedy occasionally seemed in sync with conservative Justices like Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito, who warned, among other things, that an institution as old as heterosexual marriage should not be redefined until its potential societal effects are clearer. Redefining marriage would lead society into to &#8220;uncharted waters,” Kennedy said, and (mixing metaphors) potentially over a “cliff.” In an exchange with Charles Cooper, the private lawyer arguing for backers of Proposition 8 (which California’s governor and attorney general declined to defend themselves), Kennedy said that &#8220;[the] sociological information is new. We have five years of information to weigh against 2,000 years of history or more.” (MORE: Pride and Prejudice: An Interactive Timeline of the Fight for Gay Rights) But Kennedy then pivoted to a new perspective, suggesting that same-sex-marriage bans are causing an identifiable harm right now. “On the other hand,&#8221; he continued, “there are some 40,000 children in California &#8230; that live with same-sex parents, and they want their parents to have full recognition and full status. The voice of those children is important in this case, don&#8217;t you think?” Kennedy said those children may be suffering an “immediate legal injury” as a result. With that, he had flipped the<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91424&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/27/watching-kennedy-the-courts-swing-voter-offers-clues-to-a-gay-marriage-ruling/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/kennedy.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Anthony Kennedy</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/25edc643b57a776abbc75835c699af51?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">crowley100</media:title>
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		<title>Pride and Prejudice: An Interactive Timeline of the Fight for Gay Rights</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2013/03/26/pride-and-prejudice-an-interactive-timeline-of-the-fight-for-gay-rights/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2013/03/26/pride-and-prejudice-an-interactive-timeline-of-the-fight-for-gay-rights/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2013 03:01:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>TIME Staff</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91417</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91417&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/pride-and-prejudice-an-interactive-timeline-of-the-fight-for-gay-rights.jpeg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">pride-and-prejudice-an-interactive-timeline-of-the-fight-for-gay-rights</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timeadmin</media:title>
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		<title>Alaska Sen. Mark Begich Endorses Gay Marriage—Again</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/26/alaska-sen-mark-begich-endorses-gay-marriage-again/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/26/alaska-sen-mark-begich-endorses-gay-marriage-again/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:16:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Rogers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91328</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today BuzzFeed reported that Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, a Democrat, now endorses marriage equality, citing a statement the website procured from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Other news organizations like The Huffington Post have picked up on the news, heralding it as another position switch by a leading national politician. But the Begich endorsement of same-sex marriage is not new. In fact, Begich endorsed gay marriage last year, in a statement to HRC as the group gathered information to create its congressional scorecard of the 112th Congress, which has been online for months. &#8220;HRC included members’ position on marriage equality as part of our 112th Congress scorecard,&#8221; said an HRC spokesman to TIME on Tuesday. &#8220;Last year when we were assembling scores and statements, Sen. Begich’s office indicated he supported our statement on marriage equality.&#8221; In a TIME article Monday on Senator Mark Warner’s new endorsement of gay marriage, eleven other Senate Democrats were named as non-supporters of same sex nuptials. Begich was not on the list. HRC’s website has crashed due to an extraordinary amount of traffic as the Supreme Court debates California’s Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage. You can, however, find the HRC’s 112th Congressional Scorecard here. Update:  A HRC spokesman told TIME, &#8220;We got confirmation from Begich’s staff on July 31, 2012.&#8221;<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91328&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/26/alaska-sen-mark-begich-endorses-gay-marriage-again/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/163222717.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Graham And Begich Discuss Legislation To Prevent Gun Violence</media:title>
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