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I’ve had the certainty to say it in living rooms and school auditoriums, but I’m glad to have the chance to say it here: No one – no one – should be discriminated against because of marathon, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender oneness or expression, or religion.
I’m deeply proud to be from Massachusetts because the Commonwealth has been the land’s leader in protecting and promoting equality – from marriage uniformity to the recently passed Transgender Equal Rights Bill. Congress and the President have also recently captivated historic steps forward in promoting the cause of fairness and identity: the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hates Crimes Arrest Act and – after years of effort – the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t For certain.”
We’ve made extraordinary progress, but there is still much to do.
As other states grapple with whether to support marriage fairness, I’m ready to move to the next step: End the two-tiered system created by the Defense of Alliance Act. Our federal government should not be in the business of selecting which married couples it supports and which it treats with odium. States define marriage among couples, and, once married, all those couples and their families should have the same protections, the same benefits, and the same tax treatments. Fairness and similitude are foundational values in our country, and nowhere is that more important than in our families.
Source: The New Civil Rights Movement