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lattsburgh Mayor Dan Stewart first
Pcame to elected ofiice in 1993, captur-

ing a seat on the City Council. In
2000, he defeated long-term incumbent Mayor
Clyde Rabideau, making Stewart the first
openly gay mayor in New York. In a brief
between-meetings interview last month with
Out in the Mountains writer Cynthia Potts,
Mayor Stewart weighed in on current events.

“At first, the Constitution outlined
the rights of white, property-owning males,”
said Dan Stewart, the Republican mayor of
Plattsburgh, NY. “Then it was amended to
expand those rights to white men who didn’t
own property. Then women got the vote. Then
came civil rights — every time the Constitution
has been amended, it has been for an expan-
sion of rights, to make our society more inclu-
sive.”

At the exact moment Mayor Stewart
was making his comments, protesters were
gathering outside the Massachusetts State
House, where legislators were considering an
amendment to the State Constitution which
would define marriage as consisting of one
man and one woman." Many believe this to be ~
the precursor of a national trend, spurred on
by President Bush’s State ofthe Union
address. ‘ A . ,

“Thisiwill be the first negative
amendment to the Constitution, designed to
deny rights rather than expand them,” Stewart

continued. “The only other time this has been
tried was Prohibition. The administration
needed a scapegoat. By using gay marriage as
a wedge issue, it diverts attention from other
serious problems.”

He had been in office just six
months when Stewart was one of a dozen gay
and lesbian leaders invited to meet with then-
presidential-candidate George W. Bush in
2000. During a four-hour meeting, Bush was
quoted as saying, “We judge people based on
their heart and soul. That’s what the campaign
is all about  I’m mindful that we’re all God’s
children.”

Yet now, Stewart finds himself “in
direct opposition to the president and the
national Republican party. This [federal mar-
riage amendment] policy is one of open, bla-
tant discrimination.” ’ ‘

“All this to protect marriage,”
Stewart said, with a bitter chuckle. “Many,
many of the people in the House and Senate
who will vote on this legislation have been
divorced. Many more of those who will be
casting their opinions on this issue have been
divorced. The same people who are so deter-
mined to ‘protect’ marriage as an institution
have played a very large part in making it a
dysfunctional institution."

Contacted by phone, Stewart’s long-
time partner, Jon _
Recor, agreed. “They cont’d on p,

§attshrs  

it

Dan Stewart fisemt ts fast on Marriage,
23 fits Unions, and the Htegtuitlieart Party.

  -Republican Mayor

 

Dodging Bullets, Breaking Laws: Marriage Equality Marches On

 

' BY MARGARET PORTER

ether we’re for or against
marriage as an institutim,
whether we lgbts assimilate,
ignore or rebel, there’s no getting
past the fact that equal marriage
rights for sarne-sex couples has
become a defining issue for the
first decade of the new century.
Here’s the score: San Francisco
has issued thousands of licenses,
Massachusetts is a draw, and Ohio

inside ou:

this §s.sa.se’e contents

is a total loss as the governor
signed a rabidly anti-gay measure
into law. ‘

Last month,
MassEquality.org and other pro-mar-
riage equality organizations
achieved a measure of victory
when the Massachusetts legisla-
ture adjourned its two-day consti-

‘tutional convention without pass-

ing any of several amendments
excluding same-gender couples
from the right to marry. The legis-
lature reconvenes the session this

month — March 11 — to try again.
And in what amounts to

an act of civil disobedience, San
Francisco’s recently elected mayor
Gavin Newsom directed county
clerks to issue marriage licenses to
same-gender couples on Lincoln’s
birthday, February 12. The first
couple married were lesbian
activist icons Del Martin and
Phyllis Lyon, who have been
together 51 years. They were mar-
ried two days before their anni.ver-,

sary.

“Phyllis and I demon-
strated our commitment to one
another more than half a century
ago,” said Martin. “Today, San
Francisco has demonstrated its
commitment to us through equali-
ty and fairness.”

_ On that first day, 95 mar-
riage licenses were issued, accord-
ing to news reports, with no pub-
licity but increasing word of
mouth and eventual news reports.
Some couples had arrived expect-
ing the repeat of an annual demon-

   

stration, requesting licenses and
being denied. Other couples
dropped everything to rush down
to City Hall, pay their $82, and be
married. Lines extended the length
of the hallways, out the doors and
down the steps. On the second
day, same-gender couples from
across the. state began arriving. In
the following days couples arrived
from around the country, as
opposing court action was held off
for more
than a week.

cont’d on p. 8

News 1-3
Editorial 4
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