Different reasons for different people, but marriage matters for everyone

April 08, 2011

By Freedom to Marry's New Media Intern Joe Girton 

Every day, the end of marriage discrimination grows nearer as more and more people hear the stories and see the faces of gay and lesbian Americans who merely want the freedom to marry the person they love. Following President Obama’s landmark declaration of DOMA’s unconstitutionality, we’ve launched the “Say I Do” campaign to show the White House the critical mass we’ve reached. Marriage matters to people, and we want the President to know why.

Increasingly, people are realizing that there is simply no good reason to exclude gay and lesbian couples from marriage. As Emily from Gwinnett County, Georgia, says: “love is love.” This is the simple equation on Americans’ minds, and with this campaign, we hope to make that clear to Capitol Hill. 

To others, it’s more about the dignity and practicality of a federally recognized relationship. For many couples, staying together just isn’t an option without federal recognition: Joseph from Pennsylvania, one of many responders to our invitation to couples to share their stories, is just one of thousands of binational couples across America faced with the gut-wrenching prospect of separation by deportation. 

In a point that any parent can understand, Timothy from Pennsylvania just wants his kids to be able to recognize his commitment to his partner in universally accepted terms: husband and husband.

For reasons as numerous as the countless loving, committed couples in this country, the freedom to marry has unstoppable momentum. Let’s show the President the sheer variety and multiplicity of these perspectives, and why it’s not a question, but a certainty, for so many. 

Want to share why you support the freedom to marry? Click here to tell us your story.