Ed. Note: This post is from Brian Rice of HRC’s Board of Governors on a recent meeting he attended with other activists in Connecticut. Senator Dodd came out for marriage equality publicly yesterday in an op-ed in the Meriden Record-Journal.
Last week at a meeting with members from the Human Rights Campaign, Love Makes a Family, the Connecticut Alliance for Business Opportunities, and other Connecticut activists, Senator Christopher Dodd announced his support for marriage equality and the repeal of Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. Senator Dodd has been a long time supporter of civil rights for the LGBT community, consistently scoring 100% on HRC’s Congressional Scorecard.
In June 2007, while running as a candidate for president, Senator Dodd completed a questionnaire indicating his support for the repeal of Section 3 of DOMA, but he believed at that time that marriage was only between a man and a woman. HRC and Love Makes a Family organized a meeting with Senator Dodd to see if his position on marriage equality had evolved since the Connecticut Supreme Court ruling in October, holding that same-sex couples were entitled to fully marriage equality under the Connecticut Constitution. The twelve attendees shared their personal stories with Senator Dodd and asked him to continue his support for the repeal of DOMA and to come out in favor of marriage equality. After a long discussion about DOMA, I asked Senator Dodd if his views on marriage on equality had evolved since 2007. He responded that, yes, his views had evolved and that he supports full marriage rights for gays and lesbians. The attendees let out a huge cheer and extended ovation.
Senator Dodd also let us know that he was committed to ensuring that federal rights were portable, so that a same-sex couple married in Connecticut would receive the federal benefits of marriage even if they relocated to a state without marriage equality. He also said that he was committed to finding a vehicle in the Senate to advance hate crimes legislation and hoped that the bill would be passed soon. Finally, he agreed to look into adding sexual orientation and gender identity to a bill called the Affordable Health Choices Act, a move that would provide for research regarding the health concerns of the LGBT community.
HRC thanks Love Makes a Family, Pat Russo, and Senator Dodd’s staff, particularly Barbara Menard and Patrick Grant, for their assistance organizing the meeting and working with Senator Dodd on issues of concern to the LGBT community.
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