Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came very close to endorsing same-sex marriage during this morning’s State Department LGBT pride event. Clinton made the case that personal experiences and connections with gay people usually nudge reluctant lawmakers to support marriage equality:

CLINTON: If we can convince people to speak out about their own personal experience, particularly in their own families, it does begin to change the dialogue. If you followed closely the debate in New York, one of the key votes that was switched at the end was a Republican senator from the Buffalo area who became convinced that it was just not any longer fair for him to see one group of his constituents as different from another. Senators stood up and talked about nieces and nephews and grandchildren and others who are very dear to them, and they don’t want them being objectified and discriminated against. From their own personal connections and relationships, they began to make the larger connection with somebody else’s niece or nephew or grandchild and what that family must feel like. So we have to continue to stand up for the rights and the well-being of LGBT people.

Watch it:

Hillary Clinton is the only Clinton family member who has not publicly come out in support of same-sex marriage.

The New York Senate’s vote in favor of same-sex marriage on Friday established New York as the largest state to recognize marriage equality and more than doubled the number of Americans living in a state that recognizes gay and lesbian unions. But you wouldn’t know that from watching Fox News.

A ThinkProgress analysis of cable news coverage of the marriage vote on Friday from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. revealed that Fox News mentioned “New York” and “marriage” just five separate times, compared to 32 mentions on MSNBC and 23 on CNN. The latter two networks also produced segments about the historic vote both before and after it occurred, with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow hosting an hour special about the new law. Fox, by contrast, ran specials on the Casey Anthony murder trial and a re-run of The O’Reilly Factor, and only mentioned the new law in “News Alerts”:

Ignoring stories which benefit the LGBT community and undermine social conservative causes, however, is the norm at Fox. Back in March, Fox remained silent after a major law firm reversed its decision about defending an explicitly anti-gay law, and last year the network failed to report on former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman — who had orchestrated President Bush’s gay-bashing 2004 re-election campaign — coming out as gay.

Before they would vote on marriage equality in New York, Republicans insisted that the bill include so-called “religious exemptions.” In the end, protections were put in place exempting religiously affiliated groups from recognizing the solemnization of a same-sex union; beyond weddings and similar ceremonies, however, same-sex marriages need to be recognized just like other marriages. In Rhode Island, where marriage equality was tabled and civil unions are still being considered, proposed exemptions go much further, and dangerously so. The Corvese Amendment, strongly condemned by Marriage Equality Rhode Island, allows that religious organizations can deny civil unions altogether (PDF):

15-3.1-5. Conscience and religious organizations protected. – (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, no religious or denominational organization, no organization operated for charitable or educational purpose which is supervised or controlled by or in connection with a religious organization, and no individual employed by any of the foregoing organizations, while acting in the scope of that employment, shall be required:

(1) To provide services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges for a purpose related to the solemnization, certification, or celebration of any civil union; or

(2) To solemnize or certify any civil union; or

(3) To treat as valid any civil union; if such providing, solemnizing, certifying, or treating as valid would cause such  organizations or individuals to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.

(b) No organization or individual as described in subsection (a) above who fails or refuses to provide, solemnize, certify, or treat as valid, as described in subdivision (a)(1), (a)(2) or (a)(3) above, persons in a civil union, shall be subject to a fine, penalty, or other cause of action for such failure or refusal.

What was the fear in New York may become the reality in Rhode Island. Were this bill passed in its current form, religiously affiliated schools, hospitals, and businesses could completely ignore any civil union and deny couples the rights those unions are meant to accord. The way this reads, a nurse at a Catholic hospital (as an “individual employed by any of the foregoing organizations”) could deny same-sex partners the right to see their ill loved ones.

Rather than protecting religious organizations’ religious beliefs, this language is unabashedly concerned with ensuring that religious organizations and individuals can continue to discriminate against same-sex communities without repercussions.

A new study about the health of LGBT Nebraskans (PDF) found that the stigma in such conservative areas has a very negative impact on physical and mental health. In fact, 50 percent of respondents had serious suicidal thoughts in their lives, but not just as young people. According to researcher Dr. Jay Irwin, the numbers are high across the entire population:

IRWIN: We already know suicide attempts among LGBT youth are nearly three times the rate of their heterosexual counterparts, but having nearly 50 percent of respondents indicate serious thoughts of suicide is quite high, even in light of other studies of LGBT populations. [...] We found people who had seriously considered suicide in their 20′s, again in their 40′s, and then again in their 60′s.

Transgender individuals were more likely to report suicidal thoughts.

The study also confirmed other impacts of societal stigma, such as increased smoking rates. In Nebraska, 26 percent of the LGBT population smokes compared to 20 percent of the overall population. Still, close to 75 percent of respondents considered their health to be excellent or very good.

Another researcher on the study, Dr. Christopher Fisher, points out that research on the LGBT community in the Midwest is lacking and some unique issues might be at play there:

What little research has happened with LGBT populations has occurred predominately in the big cities and on the coasts. However, the issues facing LGBT in New York or Los Angeles are different than in the rural Midwest. Isolation, stigma, and lack of social outlets are experiences that continue to need to be addressed. We hope this report will give community organizations needed information to help improve the health and well-being of the people they serve.

Proven again by this study is the fact that the ability to be “out” is crucial for engaging in healthy behaviors. Just as coming out helps people feel happier and be more productive at work, it also reduces the internalized stigma that leads to many health risks. Only by combating anti-LGBT stigma in society can the community’s health disparities ever be overcome.

During an appearance on Fox News Sunday yesterday, presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said she supports New York’s right to institute marriage equality because “it’s state law. And the 10th amendment reserves to the states that right.” Fellow 2012 contender Newt Gingrich agreed, telling reporters in Indianola, Iowa on Saturday morning that the New York law is legitimate because it passed through the state legislature rather than going through the courts:

”Iowa was a very different case from New York. I mean, Iowa was seven judges deciding that they would arbitrarily overturn the laws and the culture of the state of Iowa which is fundamentally different. I mean New York at least, whether you agree or disagree with the outcome, it is in the elected process and it is in the legislature and it is with the governor and that’s the right venue.

“I helped sponsor the Defense of Marriage Act which basically doesn’t transfer automatically to all 50 states. I think the president should be, frankly, enforcing that act and I think we are drifting towards a terrible muddle which I think is going to be very, very difficult and painful to work our way out of.

“I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. I think that’s what marriage ought to be and I would like to find ways to defend that view as legitimately and effectively as possible.”

But Gingrich also supports a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman, which, if it were ever enacted, would invalidate New York’s accomplishment.

Despite his support for the process through which marriage became law, the thrice-divorced former speaker of the House had no praise for the outcome, predicting that the country was “drifting towards a terrible muddle which I think is going to be very, very difficult and painful to work our way out of.”