Is anyone listening to the call from HRC?

[DURHAM D]

Chad Griffin spoke first. He is back in California tonight after spending the day in Nevada.

Valerie Jarrett is talking now. She is in Africa with the President and First Lady. She commented that Air Force One erupted yesterday when the news came. Everyone on the plane was watching scotusblog and just as the news came across they lost internet connection. They got the word by phone.

1st edit: Valerie has spoken with Holder twice today as they are working as rapidly as possible to figure out what can be done among all the agencies.

Also, Chad mentioned that one of the first calls he got yesterday was from Hillary Clinton. Chad is from Hope, Arkansas and went to work in the Clinton WH when he was very young so they have been friends for many years.

2nd edit: Valerie is getting emotional now and thanking everyone.

3rd edit: Now the HRC Legal Director - Brian Moulton. He is talking now about the Windsor case and the fact that Lawrence v. Texas was just 10 brief years ago. Thanking Kennedy.

Next steps: 12 states now, plus CA in 25 days and DC will quickly have full federal rights and the Justice Dept. is working rapidly to get it all up and running. Uncertain about the rest of the states. Every state has different rules re: domicile, place of celebration, etc.

4th edit: DAMN. My carrier (Frontier) just dropped the call. It happens all the time and they can't seem to find the problem. I can not get back on.

Is anyone else listening?

Before it dropped Brian was discussing the Prop 8 decison and the fact they were disappointed that it was so narrow. They were hoping for more.

[MannyGoldstein]

1. It's fantastic that they all became such fans of Gay equality

Only two-thirds of Americans were in favor of gay marriage before the Obama administration suddenly became fierce advocates.

[dsc]

2. listening here

can't type and listen though

[DURHAM D]

3. I will look forward to your observations.

[dsc]

4. to cut to the chase

If you are in a marriage state then you should be able to pretty quickly start getting benefits. If you aren't, then some will be quick and others not so much. The military and immigration have used the place where the marriage took place to determine legality, so those people should be good to go in the 25 days it takes for a decision to be delivered. The IRS and SS were mentioned as ones which look at where you are when the benefit is applied for, in the case of SS that is by law. The HRC will have a page devoted to how the government is doing in this regard and he said that it will likely be an agency by agency roll out as agencies finish.

[MNBrewer]

5. This will be especially tricky for couples where one partner lives in a M.E. state and...

and the other doesn't. Say a spouse gets transferred to North Dakota or North Carolina from Iowa or New York. How is the IRS going to deal with the tax status of such dual-marriage-equality-state couples?

[dsc]

6. that is a good question

[MNBrewer]

7. Until the Federal Government accepts all legally married Same-Sex couples uniformly

SSM is STILL second class with respect to the Federal Government.

[DURHAM D]

10. It seems to me the problem is the 30 or so states that

have amendments or laws prohibiting same sex marriage. They will basically need to be picked off one at a time.

[DURHAM D]

8. Thanks for the update.

This is going to be difficult for the agencies and also really difficult for HRC (and the other organizations) to get a handle on the variations in each state.

I am afraid that because of our state amendment and Art Pope's control of the legislature NC will be one of the last states to evolve, if ever.

[dsc]

9. given the redistricting rules here

it may well be 100 years before that amendment goes unless the GOP changes its position.