Read this article about Fargo ND and I think it helps illustrate why national marriage rights are needed. The boundaries we call state borders do not often define who we are, who we love, where we work, reside, and the rights we need to protect our families. I so often hear people talk about LA or NYC- as if in those places gays and lesbians live all that differently than they do where I live, Pittsburgh PA. Yet where I am is light years ahead in terms of LGBTQ rights compared to some other locales. But LGBTQ rights, aren’t some esoteric mind thing, but real lives, real people and real families, loved ones and friends.
Homosexuality in general, and gay marriage in particular, are hot topics in North Dakota. The state does not even recognize sexuality as a category of discrimination, making it legal to fire someone for being gay or to refuse to rent a property to them. “This is a very conservative state,” said Boschee. “Things are changing, but people don’t like to talk about it.”
Soon they will have little choice. The state has until Friday to respond to a legal challenge to its decade-old constitutional ban on recognising same-sex marriage. North Dakota is the last American state to have its ban challenged, even as a dozen others have seen theirs overturned.