‘Freedom Nevada’ campaign launched to legalize same-sex marriage

A coalition of progressive and equal rights groups on Thursday launched a campaign to promote passage of a Nevada law allowing same-sex couples to legally marry, the latest effort in a gay marriage movement sweeping the nation.

The action, timed to coincide with Valentine’s Day, comes days after Nevada’s Democratic attorney general filed a legal brief with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals saying the law is “no longer defensible in court.” Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval said he agreed with her legal reasoning.

The Freedom Nevada campaign aims to ensure passage of an expected 2016 ballot measure that would amend the Nevada Constitution — which since 2002 has defined marriage as between a man and a woman — to recognize all marriages regardless of gender, opening the door to same-sex matrimony if the courts don’t act sooner.

“Freedom Nevada is a campaign to share stories and foster conversation — showing that every gay and lesbian person is part of someone’s family and should be treated with compassion and respect,” said Laura Martin, communications director for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada. “It’s a public discussion about freedom and liberty.”

The campaign was launched at news conferences in Las Vegas and Reno by PLAN, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, the Human Rights Campaign and Freedom to Marry, an organization promoting marriage equality.

Theo Small and his domestic partner, Antioco Carillo, are one of eight couples challenging Nevada’s gay marriage ban. Small said the two have been a couple for eight years and believe it’s time they were accorded the same rights as heterosexual couples.

“Our hope is to be one of the Nevada couples who can get married,” Small said. “We ask for the bells of marriage equality to ring in our state.”

Tod Story, the ACLU executive director, said the group will argue for equal rights and point out financial benefits of allowing same-sex marriage in Nevada.

“The reason gay couples choose to spend their lives together are the same as everyone else,” Story said.

As for any financial windfall from both local and tourism-related gay marriage, he added, “We have lost out on a considerable amount of revenue.”

Business and religious leaders pledged support, including Las Vegas Bishop Dan Edwards and Reno Mayor Bob Cashell.

Nationwide, 17 states and the District of Columbia allow gay marriage.

According to the Williams Institute’s analysis of the 2010 census, 7,140 same-sex couples live in Nevada, where a 2009 state law allowing registration of “domestic partners” offers many of the same legal protections as married couples.

Public opinion has flipped in the Silver State since gay marriage was outlawed in the Nevada Constitution in 2002, when Question 2 passed with 67.1 percent voter support. Recent polls show a growing majority of Nevadans favor repealing the constitutional amendment and allowing same-sex marriage.

In October 2013, the Retail Association of Nevada surveyed 500 likely Nevada voters and found 57 percent favored repeal, with 36 percent opposed.

The change in attitudes is apparent in the Nevada Legislature, which last year approved Senate Joint Resolution 13 to amend the Constitution “to require the recognition of all marriages, regardless of gender.” It passed largely along party lines: 12-9 in the Senate and 27-14 in the Assembly.

SJR13 began the process of amending the constitution. If the 2015 Legislature approves it a second time, the issue will go before voters in 2016.

State Sen. Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas, came out as homosexual during the debate over SJR13, making him the fifth openly gay lawmaker in the Legislature, all Democrats.

Atkinson, who first won an Assembly seat in 2002, said he voted against the ballot issue that outlawed gay marriage. At the time, Republicans dominated the state, running the Senate and holding most state offices.

“Being gay, I didn’t necessarily think that marriage could be a possibility,” Atkinson said. “There was a lot of negativity back then. … We’re looking at a much different state now.”

More than a decade later, Democrats dominate the Legislature and hold most state offices, he noted.

Asked if gay marriage in Nevada is inevitable, Atkinson said, “I think it’s becoming that simple.”

He said he hopes the issue is decided by the courts, which could declare Nevada’s gay marriage ban unconstitutional.

“We’re hoping that just because we want to get it over with,” said Atkinson, who added that he is in a committed relationship. “I hope to get married, but I won’t do it until it’s legal here.”

State Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas, became the first openly gay Nevada lawmaker when he was elected to the Assembly in 1996. He said he believes discrimination is fading.

“In the last 15 to 20 years that I have been in office, the acceptance of marriage equality has changed from two out of three opposed to … now slightly more than half are in favor of it,” he said. “That trend will continue to grow as more states pass marriage equality legislation or the courts rule to overthrow discriminatory legislation.”

Opponents of gay marriage often object on religious grounds or argue that it undermines the institution and family values.

Richard Ziser, whose Coalition for the Protection of Marriage led the petition drive to ban gay marriage, said Nevada still appears divided. He predicted more than half of all voters could reject gay marriage.

Now that the state has dropped its defense of the law, Ziser’s coalition is the main defender of the ban.

“Homosexual rights are trumping religious rights these days,” Ziser said. “We’re going to defend the amendment. It was voted on by the majority of the people, and it is still the law.”

Ziser attributes the change in attitudes about gay people to the media, including television and movies that portray homosexuals in the most positive light.

“Even in situations where you have heterosexual and gay situations, it’s always the married male that’s the fool or the idiot,” he said. “That’s how morals or mores of people get changed.”

Ziser said he is tired of being portrayed as “some kind of ogre” for opposing gay marriage.

“Nobody likes to be referred to as hateful or bigoted,” he said. “I don’t hate anybody.”

Contact reporter Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal .com or 702-387-2919. Follow @lmyerslvrj on Twitter.