Freedom Oklahoma launches to amplify conversations around why marriage matters
April 01, 2014
Today, marriage supporters from across the state of Oklahoma came together to launch Freedom Oklahoma, a robust, broadbased bipartisan campaign to move marriage forward and make the case that Oklahoma is ready for the freedom to marry.
Freedom to Marry is proud to serve as a founding and leading member of the public education campaign, a project of statewide LGBT organization The Equality Network. The campaign launched today in Oklahoma City on the steps of the state Capitol.
We stand alongside this coalition of local and national partners and supporters from across the state, all with the aim of broadening the conversation about marriage for same-sex couples across the state. The campaign will showcase the diversity of Oklahomans who support the freedom to marry, and sending the message that now is the time to allow everyone in the Sooner State to marry the person they love.
Freedom Oklahoma was founded weeks after the state’s announcement that it would appeal the marriage victory in Bishop v. Smith, a federal court decision struck down a state constitutional amendment restricting marriage to different-sex couples. Oral arguments will be heard in Bishop v. Smith at the United States 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on April 17.
Troy Stevenson, Executive Director of The Equality Network, said today:
We will lift up the voices of loving gay and lesbian couples as well as business, faith and civic leaders and Oklahomans from every walk of life who believe in the freedom to marry. Equality is denied to thousands of loving and committed Oklahoma couples, and that cannot stand. Freedom means freedom for everyone and every Oklahoman must be afforded equal protection under the law.
Rebeka Radcliff and Kim McDonald, a married couple who lives in Tulsa, spoke today at the press conference about why they need their marriage respected where they live. They said:
Oklahoma is the state where we fell in love. Oklahoma is where we want to raise our son. Oklahoma is and will always be special in our hearts and the place where we want to spend the rest of our lives together. I hope that finally, one day, we can be a legally respected married couple in the state where we live. Only then will it truly be home.