National Call-in: Election Day Relationship Recognition Victories

On November 6, four states featured relationship recognition measures on their ballots. In all four states –Maryland, Minnesota, Maine, and Washington– voters awarded major victories to same-sex couples. In Minnesota voters struck down a ban on marriage equality. Maryland, Maine, and Washington became the first three states to legalize marriage for same-sex couples through a ballot referendum. However, Arizona was the first state to reject a ballot initiative that would have banned forms of relationship recognition for same-sex couples, doing so in 2006. Experts from all four states will join us to discuss how victory was achieved and what the results mean for the LGBT community. Mary Bonauto, director of the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD)’s Civil Rights Project; Carrie Evans, executive director of Equality Maryland; Jamie Pedersen, Washington State Representative and vice president and general counsel of McKinstry; and John Sullivan, corporate secretary of Minnesotans United for All Families examined how victory was achieved and what the results mean for the LGBT community.