Campaign Issue

Don Bivens makes marriage equality an issue in his campaign for U.S. Senate from Arizona.

By Glenn Gullickson

Don Brivens

Senate candidate campaigns for marriage equality

A candidate for the U.S. Senate from Arizona says he will make marriage equality an issue in the upcoming campaign.

"I'm in favor of full marriage equality," Don Bivens said during a telephone interview. "I think it's an issue we need to talk about."

"As a civil institution, marriage should be equal for everybody. It's a matter, frankly, of fundamental fairness," Bivens said. "We can't have laws of any kind that treat people separately when they actually are the same."

Bivens, a Democrat, is starting the discussion in a video that's posted on his campaign website. He said he hopes to build a coalition of Arizonans supportive of full marriage equality by offering an online petition that voters can sign.

In the black and white, 1 minute, 38 second video, about a dozen people join Bivens in voicing support for marriage equality.

As an attorney, Bivens said his stand on marriage equality is motivated by his legal career's goal of "righting social injustice."

Bivens said that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the federal law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman, should be repealed. "I have serious doubts about the constitutionality of DOMA," he said.

There's also work to be done on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which should include protections for gender identity, Bivens said.

Even though Arizona has a reputation for electing conservative candidates, Bivens said he thinks voters are coming around to support marriage equality. "I think most people think in terms of fairness and equality for their fellow citizens," he said. ‘I'm standing up for the right thing."

The campaign is Bivens' first for elective office, although he is former chair of the state's Democratic Party, a job he said that put him in touch with Arizona's LGBT leadership. "I want the community to be involved in this campaign," he said.

The centerpiece of his campaign will be rebuilding the middle class and addressing issues of inequity, Bivens said. "We need to get our middle class back front and center," he said.

Bivens is running for the seat that will be open with the retirement of Sen. Jon Kyl, a Republican. The candidate noted that it's the first time since 1994 that an incumbent senator hasn't run for re-election in Arizona and one of a handful of open seats in the nation.

Bivens was the first Democrat to announce for the Senate seat, but he's expected to face competitors in the August primary for the right to run in November. U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake is campaigning for the Republican nomination.

For more information on Bivens, visit www.bivensforsenate.com. To view the video and sign the petition, visit www.bivensforsenate.com/marriageequality. -E