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BreakingNews.ie
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- BreakingNews.ie
Tens of thousands expected to take part in Dublin's Pride parade
Tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in Dublin's Pride parade on Saturday. The organisers said the event also celebrates a milestone 10 years of marriage equality. Advertisement Thousands will make their way through Dublin city for the annual parade ahead of speeches and entertainment in Merrion Square's Pride Village. President Michael D. Higgins has sent a message to all those celebrating Pride today and across the summer — President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) June 28, 2025 The parade will start at O'Connell Street at around 12:30pm, and travel along Eden Quay and Custom House Quay before crossing the Talbot Memorial Bridge, up Lombard Street and Westland Row before finishing at Merrion Square. The non-ticketed festival at the Pride Village will include music, food stalls, acts and speeches on the main stage. In his last year as president, Michael D Higgins offered his warmest greetings to all those marking Pride 2025. Advertisement He said: 'This annual celebration is a vital affirmation of the rights, dignity, and joy of our LGBT+ communities. 'It is a time, too, to remember with gratitude the courage of those who paved the way for progress when marching was not safe, who gave voice to truths that were long silenced, and who set the foundations for the inclusive Ireland that we continue to strive towards today. 'In recent years, great strides have been made in advancing the rights and recognition of LGBT+ people in Ireland. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dublin Pride (@dublinpride) 'In celebrating Pride this year, we are also marking the 10th anniversary of the Marriage Equality referendum, a moment that spoke of the kind of Ireland we aspire to be: inclusive, generous, an Ireland that is unafraid to affirm the equal worth of all of our citizens. 'Yet, we must also acknowledge that the journey is not complete. Advertisement 'A truly inclusive society is one where all can live authentically and creatively, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression, where all can participate fully, and where all voices are not only heard but valued, in all their richness and diversity. Ireland Weekend weather to be warm with next week bringing... Read More 'Pride remains a vital expression of that vision in challenging us to deepen our commitment to human rights, to solidarity, and to the kind of republic that cherishes all of its people equally. 'In a time when hard-won rights are being questioned in many parts of the world, such vigilance and unity are more vital than ever.' There will be road closures in the city centre. Advertisement
New York Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Before Same-Sex Marriage Was U.S. Law, They Said ‘I Do' in Massachusetts
On Thursday, 10 years will have passed since the U.S. Supreme Court established same-sex marriage as a right guaranteed under the Constitution. But many of the tens of thousands of American L.G.B.T.Q. couples who have wed in the decade since might never have exchanged vows if it hadn't been for seven couples who sued the State of Massachusetts in 2001 after they were denied marriage licenses. The state's high court ruled in their favor in November 2003, and six months later, hundreds of gay couples descended on churches and synagogues and town halls across Massachusetts to make their unions official. As they did so, they were helping to set in motion a period of profound change. By the time the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015, that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage, 37 states and the District of Columbia already allowed it and public opinion was moving swiftly toward acceptance. Today, though, the picture is more complicated. Last month, a Gallup survey found that while 68 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, approval among Republicans had slipped to 41 percent after peaking at 55 percent in 2021 and 2022. And the Supreme Court's 2022 ruling that a right to abortion could not be found in the Constitution raised fears among many supporters of same-sex marriage that the court could overturn the Obergefell decision on similar grounds. Those who said 'I do' in Massachusetts on May 17, 2004, were among the first same-sex couples to be legally married in the United States. (The marriages of thousands of couples who were issued marriage licenses in San Francisco earlier that year were later voided by the California Supreme Court.) Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CNN
3 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Analysis: 10 years after Obergefell, is a backlash brewing?
Marriage equality was a major political issue in the United States for a generation, but today it's no big deal. The vast majority of Americans now believe same-sex couples should have the right to get married. But there are some new signs of a brewing backlash this year, and a very different Supreme Court could, at least in theory, take away what it gave same-sex partners 10 years ago. Ten years ago this week, in 2015, the US Supreme Court gave same-sex couples access to marriage nationwide, which was controversial at the time but today seems obvious to a large portion of the country. Seventeen years ago, in 2008, California voters voted to ban same-sex marriage in their state. Twenty-one years ago, in 2004, President George W. Bush's reelection campaign won in part — maybe in large part — because Ohio was among 11 states that year where voters also approved state constitutional bans to outlaw same-sex marriage, potentially driving turnout. That year, in CNN's presidential exit polls, just one-quarter of Americans thought same-sex couples should be able to legally marry. A larger portion approved of civil unions. Twenty-nine years ago, in 1996, a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman. But today, a decade after the Supreme Court's landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision, close to 70% of Americans approve of same-sex marriage, according to some polls. The country has done a 180. 'It's been transformative for so many people to be able to have a family that is recognized as a family under law,' said Mary Bonauto, who argued in favor of marriage equality before the Supreme Court and is senior director of civil rights and legal strategies at GLAD Law in Boston. The decision changed lives for millions of Americans, Bonauto said: They can file taxes together, get health insurance together and plan for families together. In that regard, it strengthened marriage in the US. Opposition to marriage equality has never been a part of President Donald Trump's populist political message, and it has gone largely unremarked that his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is a married gay man. Bessent is the first openly gay married man to be appointed by the Senate in a Republican administration. But while Trump has no issue with same-sex marriage, there is a brewing backlash among religious conservatives. ► Southern Baptists, at their annual meeting this month, called for the passage of laws challenging the decision. ► Symbolic resolutions calling on the court to revisit Obergefell have been introduced in at least nine state legislatures. ► Efforts to create a new legal class of marriage — covenant marriage, based on conservative religious teachings — that would be between a man and a woman and make divorce more difficult, have sputtered, so far, in Missouri and Tennessee this year. For context, House Speaker Mike Johnson entered into a covenant marriage in Louisiana. ► Kim Davis, a former county clerk from Kentucky who drew nationwide attention when she defied court orders and refused to issue marriage licenses in 2015 after the Obergefell decision, is still fighting to have the Supreme Court revisit the decision. There are Supreme Court justices who came to the bench decades ago, when opposition to gay marriage was a major political issue, who now — with a much more conservative court — would like to revisit the decision and take away nationwide marriage equality. When the court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Justice Clarence Thomas called on justices to also revisit Obergefell. In answer, Democrats, who then controlled the House and Senate, worked with Republicans to pass a law, the Respect for Marriage Act, that voided the Defense of Marriage Act and would require states to honor marriage certificates in the unlikely event that the Supreme Court overturned Obergefell. Justice Samuel Alito, another vocal critic of the decision, has also endorsed taking another look. If Thomas and Alito were to get their wish, it's possible things could turn out differently. The ideological balance on the court has been upended in the past 10 years. Two justices who supported the majority in the Obergefell decision — Justice Anthony Kennedy and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg — have been replaced by more conservative justices. But conservative does not necessarily guarantee a vote against gay rights. It was Justice Neil Gorsuch, who replaced Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote a more recent landmark decision that extended federal civil rights protections to LGBTQ people. He has sided with Thomas and Alito in other decisions related to the LGBTQ community. Bonauto said she's optimistic the decision will hold, but 'that optimism also rests on continued vigilance since there are those who seek to undo it.' In opposing the Obergefell majority, Chief Justice John Roberts predicted that the court's action could actually mobilize opposition to same-sex marriage. Better to let states vote in favor of it in time, he argued. 'Stealing this issue from the people will for many cast a cloud over same-sex marriage, making a dramatic social change that much more difficult to accept.' He was wrong, according to public opinion surveys. Marriage equality is now the norm — although Gallup polling has shown Republican support declining over the past three years, from a peak of 55% in 2022 to just 41% this May. Kristen Soltis Anderson, a Republican pollster and CNN contributor, wrote for the New York Times about polling she conducted with a coalition of GOP pollsters for the organization Centerline Liberties. 'Republicans remain very open to the idea that the government should not be in the business of meddling with or punishing people because they are gay or lesbian,' she concluded. But that openness does not extend to the entire LGBTQ community, Anderson wrote, which was clear from how much Republican candidates, including Trump, focused on trans issues during the 2024 election. 'Republican voters seem to have made a distinction between the 'L.G.B.' and the 'T,' she wrote, noting opposition to things like gender-affirming care and trans women in sports. I asked Bonauto if she sees any corollary between the very long fight for marriage equality and other LGB rights and the current fight for trans rights. 'What I see is that it was easy when people didn't know gay and lesbian Americans, bisexual Americans, to treat them as dangerous outsiders,' Bonauto told me. 'And I feel like that's what's happening with transgender people now, where so few people know a transgender person or have a transgender person in their family. It is, in fact, a small minority of people.' Aggressive legal actions by states regarding trans rights today do somewhat mirror efforts to limit marriage rights years ago. But Bonauto said she's an optimist. 'When you get to know people, it can be the beginning of a process of just sort of awakening to this idea of, okay, that's just another person.' Americans, she said, tend to help one another once they get to know each other.
CNN
3 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Analysis: 10 years after Obergefell, is a backlash brewing?
Marriage equality was a major political issue in the United States for a generation, but today it's no big deal. The vast majority of Americans now believe same-sex couples should have the right to get married. But there are some new signs of a brewing backlash this year, and a very different Supreme Court could, at least in theory, take away what it gave same-sex partners 10 years ago. Ten years ago this week, in 2015, the US Supreme Court gave same-sex couples access to marriage nationwide, which was controversial at the time but today seems obvious to a large portion of the country. Seventeen years ago, in 2008, California voters voted to ban same-sex marriage in their state. Twenty-one years ago, in 2004, President George W. Bush's reelection campaign won in part — maybe in large part — because Ohio was among 11 states that year where voters also approved state constitutional bans to outlaw same-sex marriage, potentially driving turnout. That year, in CNN's presidential exit polls, just one-quarter of Americans thought same-sex couples should be able to legally marry. A larger portion approved of civil unions. Twenty-nine years ago, in 1996, a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman. But today, a decade after the Supreme Court's landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision, close to 70% of Americans approve of same-sex marriage, according to some polls. The country has done a 180. 'It's been transformative for so many people to be able to have a family that is recognized as a family under law,' said Mary Bonauto, who argued in favor of marriage equality before the Supreme Court and is senior director of civil rights and legal strategies at GLAD Law in Boston. The decision changed lives for millions of Americans, Bonauto said: They can file taxes together, get health insurance together and plan for families together. In that regard, it strengthened marriage in the US. Opposition to marriage equality has never been a part of President Donald Trump's populist political message, and it has gone largely unremarked that his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is a married gay man. Bessent is the first openly gay married man to be appointed by the Senate in a Republican administration. But while Trump has no issue with same-sex marriage, there is a brewing backlash among religious conservatives. ► Southern Baptists, at their annual meeting this month, called for the passage of laws challenging the decision. ► Symbolic resolutions calling on the court to revisit Obergefell have been introduced in at least nine state legislatures. ► Efforts to create a new legal class of marriage — covenant marriage, based on conservative religious teachings — that would be between a man and a woman and make divorce more difficult, have sputtered, so far, in Missouri and Tennessee this year. For context, House Speaker Mike Johnson entered into a covenant marriage in Louisiana. ► Kim Davis, a former county clerk from Kentucky who drew nationwide attention when she defied court orders and refused to issue marriage licenses in 2015 after the Obergefell decision, is still fighting to have the Supreme Court revisit the decision. There are Supreme Court justices who came to the bench decades ago, when opposition to gay marriage was a major political issue, who now — with a much more conservative court — would like to revisit the decision and take away nationwide marriage equality. When the court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Justice Clarence Thomas called on justices to also revisit Obergefell. In answer, Democrats, who then controlled the House and Senate, worked with Republicans to pass a law, the Respect for Marriage Act, that voided the Defense of Marriage Act and would require states to honor marriage certificates in the unlikely event that the Supreme Court overturned Obergefell. Justice Samuel Alito, another vocal critic of the decision, has also endorsed taking another look. If Thomas and Alito were to get their wish, it's possible things could turn out differently. The ideological balance on the court has been upended in the past 10 years. Two justices who supported the majority in the Obergefell decision — Justice Anthony Kennedy and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg — have been replaced by more conservative justices. But conservative does not necessarily guarantee a vote against gay rights. It was Justice Neil Gorsuch, who replaced Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote a more recent landmark decision that extended federal civil rights protections to LGBTQ people. He has sided with Thomas and Alito in other decisions related to the LGBTQ community. Bonauto said she's optimistic the decision will hold, but 'that optimism also rests on continued vigilance since there are those who seek to undo it.' In opposing the Obergefell majority, Chief Justice John Roberts predicted that the court's action could actually mobilize opposition to same-sex marriage. Better to let states vote in favor of it in time, he argued. 'Stealing this issue from the people will for many cast a cloud over same-sex marriage, making a dramatic social change that much more difficult to accept.' He was wrong, according to public opinion surveys. Marriage equality is now the norm — although Gallup polling has shown Republican support declining over the past three years, from a peak of 55% in 2022 to just 41% this May. Kristen Soltis Anderson, a Republican pollster and CNN contributor, wrote for the New York Times about polling she conducted with a coalition of GOP pollsters for the organization Centerline Liberties. 'Republicans remain very open to the idea that the government should not be in the business of meddling with or punishing people because they are gay or lesbian,' she concluded. But that openness does not extend to the entire LGBTQ community, Anderson wrote, which was clear from how much Republican candidates, including Trump, focused on trans issues during the 2024 election. 'Republican voters seem to have made a distinction between the 'L.G.B.' and the 'T,' she wrote, noting opposition to things like gender-affirming care and trans women in sports. I asked Bonauto if she sees any corollary between the very long fight for marriage equality and other LGB rights and the current fight for trans rights. 'What I see is that it was easy when people didn't know gay and lesbian Americans, bisexual Americans, to treat them as dangerous outsiders,' Bonauto told me. 'And I feel like that's what's happening with transgender people now, where so few people know a transgender person or have a transgender person in their family. It is, in fact, a small minority of people.' Aggressive legal actions by states regarding trans rights today do somewhat mirror efforts to limit marriage rights years ago. But Bonauto said she's an optimist. 'When you get to know people, it can be the beginning of a process of just sort of awakening to this idea of, okay, that's just another person.' Americans, she said, tend to help one another once they get to know each other.
Bloomberg
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Republicans' Retreat From Gay Marriage Truly Threatens It
June marks LGBTQ Pride Month, a time of celebratory parades, parties and rainbow-drenched gatherings all across the country. This month also marks the 10th anniversary of the Obergefell v. Hodges decision — the landmark US Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in every state. That case, which included several same-sex couples — some with children — ushered in an increased acceptance, visibility, and frankly, comfort level among members of the LGBTQ community and their families. In subsequent years, the support for marriage equality ticked up among all groups, most starkly among Republicans who for years ran as defenders of traditional marriage, supporting only unions between one man and one woman. The trend saw Republican support reach 55% in May of both 2021 and 2022 — a peak, and up from 37% in May 2015 — according to a Gallup poll tracking the party's alignment with same-sex marriage. But something has shifted in the last few years. As happens with social progress, there has been a concerted and successful backlash to LGBTQ equality, driven by conservatives. Gallup founda clear erosion in support of same-sex marriage among Republicans, with only 41% supporting it today, a 14-point drop in just three years. That decrease dovetails with findings that only 38% of Republicans now say same-sex relations are morally acceptable, down from 56% in 2022. Overall, 68% of Americans support same-sex marriage, including 88% of Democrats and 76% of independents. The path to that level of acceptance took nearly 30 years — in 1996, when Gallup began tracking, only 27% of US adults approved. But the fight, of course, for LGBTQ equality has stretched far beyond three decades — a struggle marked by courage and persistence. Any sign of backtracking threatens to deny LGBTQ Americans and their families 'equal dignity in the eyes of the law,' to quote Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the Obergefell decision. The downward trend in support should come as no surprise. The war on 'woke' specifically targeted LGTBQ people, and not just transgender girls who want to play sports. Gay people, their history, traditions, status and culture have been targeted for erasure, whether in the form of book bans or attacks on drag queen story hour. The Department of Defense erased images that contained 'gay' as a keyword in an effort to purge any trace of diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI). Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reportedly plans to strip gay civil rights leader and Navy veteran Harvey Milk's name from a ship. Companies such as Target Corp, once willing to dedicate parts of their stores to Pride merchandise, began a retreat last year fearful of conservative backlash. And several companies scaled back or declined to renew their sponsorship of Pride events this year, as my colleague Beth Kowitt wrote.
