Freedom means freedom for everyone.
- Liberty and the right to pursue happiness are core American values. We are all created equal under God with the same rights, responsibilities, and freedoms.
- The freedom to marry the person you love is a basic freedom that should not be denied to anyone.
- If adults can pay taxes, vote, serve in the military, start a business – then we should not judge. We should grant them the freedom to marry the person they love.
- The government should stay out of the private lives of adults, including gays and lesbians.
It’s as simple as the Golden Rule.
- Singling out one group of people for unfair treatment by not letting them marry the person they love is not how we do things in Nevada.
- No one should be told it is illegal to marry the person they love.
- Allowing loving and committed gay and lesbian couples to marry would tell our children and grandchildren that in Nevada we believe in treating others as we would want to be treated ourselves.
Allowing marriage will boost our state’s economy and business competitiveness.
- To be competitive, Nevada companies must attract and retain the best talent in the world. The state must demonstrate a commitment to diversity or risk losing top talent to other regions.
- The muddled patchwork of the current laws creates uncertainty, inefficiency and waste for businesses. The freedom to marry saves companies money and reduces government spending.
Marriage matters to gay and lesbian couples.
- Gay and lesbian couples want to marry for similar reasons as anyone – to make a lifetime promise of commitment and responsibility to the person they love.
- Marriage is one of the sacred moments in life when people make a public promise of love and responsibility for the one they love and ask their friends and family to hold them accountable.
- Marriage upholds values as old as our nation: commitment to others, stability, responsibility and most importantly, family. Denying gay couples the freedom to marry weakens society by hurting our community, neighbors and families.
Allowing committed gay and lesbian couples to get married does not change the meaning of marriage.
- All couples who marry in the United States must get a license for a civil marriage, usually at a courthouse or city hall. These civil marriages would also be available to same-sex couples.
- Proposals to allow civil marriage for committed same-sex couples also protect clergy and religious institutions’ right to refuse to perform marriages inconsistent with their religious beliefs.
We can win marriage in Nevada through one of two methods.
- The Nevada state constitution currently discriminates against same-sex couples by specifically excluding them from marriage.
- We can win marriage either by amending the constitution by a vote of the people in 2016 or by winning the Sevcik v. Sandoval case in federal court. Both paths are being pursued simultaneously.
- To get marriage on the ballot in 2016, the legislature will need to finish the job it started in 2013 by passing a second legislative referral, identical to SJR13. If this happens, then in November 2016, the voters will be asked to amend the state constitution, stripping away the discriminatory language and replacing it with the freedom to marry.