Giannoulias takes stand in favor of gay marriage (running for US Senate in Illinois)

Giannoulias takes stand in favor of gay marriage
He also wants to end military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy

September 3, 2009

BY MARK BROWN Sun-Times Columnist

Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias said Wednesday he favors legalization of same-sex marriage and, if elected, would seek to repeal a federal law that defines marriage as being between one man and one woman.

In an interview, Giannoulias said individual states should be able to decide for themselves whether they allow same-sex couples to marry, but that all states should be required to afford legal recognition to same-sex marriages performed in states where they are sanctioned.

Giannoulias also would require the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages, now prohibited by the Defense of Marriage Act he wants repealed. He says this would have the effect, in part, of allowing gay and lesbian couples to file joint federal income tax returns and receive Social Security survivor benefits.

To top it off, he wants to repeal the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
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http://www.suntimes.com/news/brown/1750844,CST-NWS-brown03.article

but if there's no public option, I'm completely sitting out 2010 and possibly 2012.

Why would you boycott progressives? It doesn't teach a lesson to the culprits.

and they can't get it done.

Why even bother any more? All that work, donating money I didn't have, phone banking, working my butt off, donating to candidates from outside my state, FOR WHAT?

Fuck that noise. For what I'm getting fromt eh work, I'll sit at home, thankyouverymuch.

Few are breaking promises. Democrats ran conservative candidates in many districts, and they won and are acting like the conservatives they said they were. This isn't some great betrayal; rather it's a question of the relative weakness of progressives in congress. We haven't had a progressive majority since after the 1964 election. This is the closest we've come since...

carry on.