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Archive Version of
Partners Task Force for Gay and Lesbian Couples Online from 1995-2022 Demian and Steve Bryant originally founded Partners as a monthly newsletter in 1986. By late 1990 it was reformatted into a bi-monthly magazine. Print publication was halted by 1995 when Demian published Partners as a Web site, which greatly expanded readership. In 1988, the Partners National Survey of Lesbian & Gay Couples report was published; the first major U.S. survey on same-sex couples in a decade. In 1996, Demian produced The Right to Marry, a video documentary based on the dire need for equality that was made clear by the data from the survey mentioned above. The video featured interviews with Rev. Mel White, Evan Wolfson, Phyllis Burke, Richard Mohr, Kevin Cathcart, Faygele benMiriam, Benjamin Cable-McCarthy, Susan Reardon, Frances Fuchs, Tina Podlodowski, and Chelle Mileur. Demian has been the sole operator during the last two decades of Partners. Demian stopped work on Partners Task Force in order to realize his other time-consuming projects, which include publishing the book “Operating Manual for Same-Sex Couples: Navigating the rules, rites & rights” - which is now available on Amazon. The book is based on the Partners Survey mentioned above, his interviews of scores of couples, and 36 years of writing hundreds of articles about same-sex couples. It’s also been informed by his personal experience in a 20-year, same-sex relationship. Demian’s other project is to publish his “Photo Stories by Demian” books based on his more than six decades as a photographer and writer. |
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A pre-primary poll of 443 likely New Hampshire Republican voters, conducted in mid-February, 1997, showed that the largest percentage did not consider same-sex marriage a factor in how they would vote. Nonetheless at a Republican rally in Iowa, seven of the eight candidates endorsed a resolution asserting that the state should “not legitimize homosexual relationships by legalizing same-sex marriage.” These survey results indicate the candidates are not listening well to most of their constituents. The term “gay marriage” was unfortunately used in the survey questions. The phrase is inaccurate and misleading. A better term would be “legal marriage for same-sex couples.”
When getting a marriage license, opposite-sex couples are not asked if they are straight. Their sexual orientation is not known. The same will be true for legal marriages that are offered to same-sex couples. The marriage discrimination is based on the biological sex of the couple, not their orientation.
The numbers disapproving of the anti-marriage position increased once voters were given information about the full anti-gay context of the candidate’s rally. Poll conducted by Lake Research, Inc. The survey’s error margin is plus or minus 4.7 percent. Poll sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, 202-628-4160. |
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