<p class=rtecenter><em>Equally Blessed praises Vice President for supporting marriage equality</em></p> <p><strong>May 7 2012</strong>. <a href=http://www.equally-blessed.org>Equally Blessed</a> a coalition of four faith Catholic groups who work on behalf of equality for lesbian gay bisexual and transgender people in the church and wider society released the following statement in response to Vice President Joe Biden&rsquo;s comment on marriage equality made yesterday on Meet the Press:</p> <p>&ldquo;While Washington insiders puzzle over whether Vice President Joe Biden was speaking for the Obama DignityUSAistration when he endorsed marriage equality Sunday on Meet the Press one thing is crystal clear: Biden a faithful Catholic was speaking for the majority of lay people in his church.</p> <p>&ldquo;According to recent polling by Pew Research Center for the People &amp; the Press 52 percent of Catholics support marriage equality while only 37 percent oppose it. And Catholic support for marriage equality in the Pew poll has climbed six percentage points since 2010 despite the hierarchy&rsquo;s costly and divisive campaign against it.</p> <p>&ldquo;That poll may actually underestimate Catholic support for marriage equality. When the Public Religion Research Institute asked Catholics if same-sex couples should be able to enter into the kind of marriages &ldquo;you get at City Hall&rdquo; 71 percent said yes.</p> <p>&ldquo;In expressing his support for equal justice under the law Biden joined the growing number of Catholic leaders&mdash;including governors John Baldacci of Maine Andrew Cuomo of New York Christine Gregoire of Washington John Lynch of New Hampshire Martin O&rsquo;Malley of Maryland and Pat Quinn of Illinois&mdash;who have been willing to break with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and speak out on behalf of LGBT people and their families.</p> <p>&ldquo;The members of Equally Blessed salute the vice president for his willingness to risk the censure to which the Catholic hierarchy will now subject him. And we thank him and his wife Dr. Jill Biden a longtime advocate for LGBT rights for their courage and their support.&rdquo;</p> <p class=rtecenter> ###</p> <p>Equally Blessed is a coalition of faithful Catholics who support full equality for lesbian gay bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people both in the church and in civil society. Equally Blessed includes four organizations that have spent a combined 115 years working on behalf of LGBT people and their families: <a href=http://www.cta-usa.org>Call To Action</a> <a href=http://www.dignityusa.org>DignityUSA</a> <a href=http://www.fortunatefamilies.org/>Fortunate Families</a> and <a href=http://www.newwaysministry.org/>New Ways Ministry</a>.</p>