Armenia to have a Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage

On July 15, a state commission formed by President Serzh Sargsyan on publicized its draft constitutional amendments envisaging Armenia’s transformation into a parliamentary republic with a largely ceremonial head of state not elected by popular vote.

Under the new Constitution, the president of the republic will be elected by an electoral college consisting of National Assembly members and representatives of local government bodies. It is widely believed that President Sargsyan has initiated the reform to be able to stay in power in some other capacity after completing his second and final presidential term in 2018.

 Lawmakers discussing plans to amend Armenia's constitution back in 2005 expressed broad support for a ban on same-sex marriages. 10 years later we still witness the same intention. The Constitutional amendments refer to changes for the freedom of marriage. Article 35 of the (current) Constitution of The Republic of Armenia states: Men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry and found a family according to their free will. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and divorce. Article 34, in contrast, according to the amendments, states: Men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry with each other and found a family according to their free will. Thus, the new Constitution is limiting the freedom of marriage to opposite sex, Armenia is to join the countries who have a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

The draft Constitution is expected to be completed by early August. Subsequently, the draft shall be submitted to the President. If approved, it will be introduced to the National Assembly, and then a Referendum Day will be set.

Are we on the right side of history?

AGLA NY at Pride March 2013
Photo by Engin Beri

In a landmark ruling for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights, the Supreme Court of the United States on Wednesday struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996 law signed by then President Bill Clinton blocking federal recognition of same-sex marriages. In a separate case, the court ruled that it could not take up a challenge to Proposition 8, the California law that banned same-sex marriage in that state. That decision means that marriage equality will once again be legal in California.

This is a watershed moment in the fight for equality with the Supreme Court delivering justice to millions of Americans and to the thousands of LGBT Armenian-Americans who have been denied their rights under the U.S. Constitution.

Yet it is increasingly clear that we now have two Americas – one where our relationships are recognized and we are protected from discrimination in 13 States and the District of Columbia, and another that has yet to feel the effects of our progress and LGBT people remain second-class citizens, including in the State of Florida.

Sadly, we find many LGBT Armenian-Americans living under this same pretext for far too long – in an America that celebrates and protects who we are as Armenians and the other in our community centers and churches that marginalize and stigmatize LGBT Armenians for whom they love. No one should choose between who they are and whom they love.

I recognize that there are deeply held views on this issue and deeply fierce opposition by the Armenian Church hierarchy. But we cannot pretend to be a nation seeking restorative justice and recognition of our painful history and add the word “but” if we are truly genuine in our collective quest for justice for all.

This is a debate about equal rights under the law. It is about freedom from discrimination and stigmatization the way we were once discriminated and stigmatized as Christians in the Ottoman Empire. It is about the legal protections and responsibilities, and more than 1,100 rights, obligations and benefits afforded by the legal institution of marriage that, prior to the DOMA ruling, were denied to same-sex Armenian American couples. It is also about real people: your sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and neighbors. And finally, it is about witnessing and reflecting the love and commitment between two people.

Given our 1,700 years of Christian heritage, I’d like to sum up the whole law in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” Galatians 5:15.

For if truly we, as the Armenian nation, are on a quest to bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice for all, then surely we must stand on the right side of history by resisting all forms of bigotry and dedicating ourselves to the advancement of social justice and human dignity of both the living and the deceased.

And if truly we belong to the body of our Lord Jesus Christ through the One, Holy, Catholic (Universal) and Apostolic Church, then surely we are commanded to love, treat with respect and defend our LGBT Armenian sisters and brothers and any other marginalized groups both in the U.S. and in our beloved Hairenik (fatherland), no matter what your Biblical conviction is on homosexuality. This we know as absolute: Christ’s ministry was inclusive and he said that if we commit hate in our hearts we have committed murder – thus, we should take discrimination, hate-talk and the bullying of any marginalized group very seriously. If our tragic history hasn’t taught us anything, then I do not know what will. To learn more specifics on how the Supreme Court rulings on DOMA and Prop 8 might affect you, please visit www.hrc.org/SCOTUS.

Michael Toumayan
source: Florida Armenians

Michael Toumayan is a program assistant at the Human Rights Campaign and an independent political commentator on the Caucasus and Middle East.
A graduate of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, he holds a master’s degree in conflict resolution and mediation from Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel. He can be reached at michael.toumayan@hrc.org.

Same-sex binational couples in America: You can marry, but don’t leave your state

On June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States of America decided the fate of over 25,000 same-sex binational couples in America in the case of U.S. v. Windsor. The ruling struck down Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which for federal purposes had defined marriage as “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ [as] only a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife.”

This federal definition had meant that for years same-sex couples had to pay federal estate tax when one spouse died, couldn’t receive normal spousal benefits if one spouse was employed by the federal government, and worse, couldn’t apply for a green card for the foreign spouse, even if their state recognized them as married. In fact, DOMA denied same-sex couples access to more than 1,000 federal programs and benefits available to opposite-sex married couples.

Same-sex couples who wanted to live together in America had limited options. Some of the foreign spouses managed to live legally in the U.S. on student visas, paying enormous sums of money in order to have legal immigration status. Some from countries known for homophobia and/or criminalization of same-sex sexual acts sought asylum in the U.S.. Many had no legal immigration status, forced to live in constant fear of being deported and separated. Without green cards, none of the foreign spouses could adopt their US citizens’ children, even in states that allow same-sex couples to adopt.

The Supreme Court decision is a step towards changing this. The federal government will now recognize same-sex marriages from states that offer them. Unfortunately, only 13 states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Washington, Maryland, Maine, Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota, and California) and the District of Columbia currently allow same-sex marriage. Same-sex foreign spouse recipients of green cards will then be eligible to co-adopt in states that have gay marriage (so that the spouse can get a green card) and allow this (Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, California, and the District of Columbia).

As this small list of states that will have actual legal equality shows, the new Supreme Court ruling is far from actually granting same-sex couples actual equality. Same-sex couples whose states do not permit same-sex marriage will still be ineligible to apply for green cards, and foreign spouses without green cards will still be ineligible to adopt. (Since the Supreme Court ruling doesn’t address whether or not same-sex civil unions will qualify as “marriages” for federal purposes, one can expect many heated cases about this in the near future.)

Even those same-sex couples who can get married will face problems if they chose to move to another state. Section 2 of DOMA, which the Supreme Court did not rule on, allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed under the laws of other states. What that means is that a couple who legally marries in New York and then moves to a different state that refuses to recognize their New York marriage will no longer be considered legally married, leading to a taxing and benefit nightmare for the couple.

One can only hope that at some point in the near future the Supreme Court will use actions instead of soaring rhetoric to prove their commitment to equality and strike down the rest of DOMA. However, this may take a while. In the meantime, congratulations to the binational couples of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Washington, Maryland, Maine, Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota, and Washington D.C. on your new rights—go get married!! Just don’t leave your state…

Carrie Tirrell