WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Biden signed the bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act, which codifies same-sex and interracial marriage and family equality into Federal law for the first time in history at a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House.  NCLR has issued the following statement:  This afternoon, President Biden not only ended the discriminatory so-called Defense of Marriage Act, he also enshrined marriage equality into a federal statute for the first time in the history of the United States,” said NCLR Executive Director Imani Rupert-Gordon. “By signing th ..read more

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congress took a historic step toward legislatively protecting marriage equality in federal law for the first time in a bipartisan vote of 61-36, with 12 Republican Senators joining every Democratic Senator in voting aye on the legislation. This summer the House of Representatives passed the Respect for Marriage Act with a strong bipartisan majority of 267 members – including 47 Republicans – reflecting the will of the more than  71% of Americans who support the freedom to marry. A statement from NCLR Executive Director Imani Rupert-Gordon on the Senate passage ..read more

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court denied review of the Ninth Circuit’s 2021 ruling that allowed for the public release of the video recording of the federal trial challenging Proposition 8 – the 2009 ballot initiative that reversed the California Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision by amending the California Constitution to permit discrimination against same-sex couples. “NCLR is thrilled that the United States Supreme Court has finally ended the decade-long legal back-and-forth over the release of the recordings from the Proposition 8 hearings in 2009,” said NCL ..read more

U.S. House of Representatives Approves Respect for Marriage Act WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Respect for Marriage Act (H.R. 8404) by a bipartisan vote of 267-157. The bill repeals the disgraceful Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 – and codifies additional federal legal protections for the marriages of same-sex couples, transgender people, and interracial couples. The bill has the strong support of President Biden. “NCLR applauds the House of Representatives for removing the discriminatory and unco ..read more

In North Carolina this week, anti-LGBTQ extremists tried to do the unthinkable. They introduced House Bill 780, also known as the “Uphold Historical Marriage Act” in an attempt to turn back the clock and, once again, whip up anti-LGBTQ sentiment. The bill directly challenges the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges by seeking to nullify same-sex couples’ marriages.   North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper weighed in yesterday: “This bill is wrong. We need more LGBTQ protections, not fewer.” And Republican House Speaker Tim Moore noted ..read more

“Perseverance in almost any plan is better than fickleness and fluctuation”—Alexander Hamilton When we adopted our NCLR tag line—”The audacity to fight for justice, the perseverance to win”—it was before President Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope” and years before the cultural phenomenon that is “Hamilton” ushered in a refreshed examination of Alexander Hamilton’s writings. But now the words of one of our nation’s early founders are particularly powerful and prescient. Never before have the audacity to fight and perseverance to win mattered more. In the weeks since an election which unmoored ..read more

Now that Trump has won the presidential election, we are hearing concerns and fears from many same-sex couples who are concerned that their marriages may be challenged or invalidated.  We are also hearing from couples who are not yet married, but worried that they may lose the right to marry under a Trump administration. While there are many reasons for concern about the new administration, the freedom to marry—and the security of our existing marriages—are not in serious jeopardy. There is no realistic possibility that anyone’s marriage will be invalidated.  The law is very strong t ..read more

By a slim margin, this nation has elected a demagogue who trafficked in bigotry, stoked racist hatred and normalized misogyny. The election of Donald Trump as President threatens basic principles of human dignity and justice. Many of our most cherished values—inclusion, honoring difference, embracing equality, dismantling oppressive systems—are in jeopardy, but we will not be deterred. This is the moment we are called to resist. We are about to be tested as never before, and speaking for myself, and NCLR, we will not stand down, sit idle or be silent in the face of oppression, bullying or thre ..read more

It’s already being called “this summer’s hot documentary”—and soon, you can see The Freedom to Marry documentary for yourself at a theater near you! The Freedom to Marry is a new, “War Room” style film by award-winning filmmaker Eddie Rosenstein that provides an emotional, behind-the-scenes view of how love won – with a front-row seat of the campaign and strategy that ended marriage discrimination nationwide. It’s a story of triumph and transformation—a story that forever changed the course of history and the laws of our nation. And it’s a story that you helped to shape. Capturing the story o ..read more

“…Later that night I held an atlas in my lap ran my fingers across the whole world and whispered where does it hurt? it answered everywhere everywhere everywhere” —Warsan Shire   Two days after a sniper killed five Dallas police officers, this poem, by expat Somali poet Warsan Shire, who came to world’s attention when her words were spoken on Beyonce’s visual album “Lemonade,” showed up in my Twitter feed. That was three days after the killing of Philando Castile in Minneapolis, which occurred one day after the killing of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, which followed by 25 days the body ..read more