Freedom to Marry

Freedom to Marry E-Update
Issue # 14 | March 29, 2006

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  • Special to Freedom to Marry! LGBT Parents: Building Blocks of the Marriage Movement
    by Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director of Family Pride

    Marriage Equality Matters!

    Lambda Legal, National Black Justice Coalition, Asian Equality, National Latina/o Coalition for Justice, and Freedom to Marry have teamed up to spearhead a campaign featuring a diverse array of people of color depicting the wide-ranging support marriage equality has across the country.

    To view the banner ad and mini poster, visit Lambda Legal.

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    Why Marriage Matters
    America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry

    FREEDOM TO MARRY
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    www.freedomtomarry.org info@freedomtomarry.org

    • A Note from Executive Director Evan Wolfson

    Dear ${token1} —

    Two recent polls, a national survey by the Pew Research Center, and the nonpartisan Field Poll in California, confirm that the more we talk about gay couples and the freedom to marry, the more people favor inclusion.

    First, the most surprising, and encouraging, finding: As the Pew poll reports, "'Strong' opposition to gay marriage, which surged in 2004, has ebbed to a new low." Resistance to ending discrimination in marriage has fallen significantly among most demographic groups, with “substantial declines even among Republicans.”

    Groups who have long opposed equal marriage, including, also, seniors, Catholics, and non-evangelical Protestants, are showing that they, too, can be softened and swayed by the mainstream's flow toward acceptance and inclusion.

    "Among people age 65 and over, for example,” reported Pew, “strong opposition to gay marriage jumped from 36% in 2003 to 58% in 2004, but has fallen to 33% today. White evangelical Protestants are the only major group in which a majority still strongly opposes gay marriage, but even here the intensity of feeling has receded somewhat.”

    Likewise, California's Field Poll found that Californians support legal recognition of the relationships between lesbian and gay couples by a 3-to-1 margin, with 44% supporting equal marriage rights, a huge jump from just five years ago.

    Although a slight majority of Americans — only 51%, far less than many think — for now continue to oppose same-sex couples's freedom to marry, Pew reports that opposition has “declined significantly from 63% in February 2004, when opposition spiked following the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision and remained high throughout the 2004 election season.”

    Why are we seeing this dramatic and continuing movement toward support for the freedom to marry? The power and resonance of the shared stories of committed couples seeking and — in places such as Canada, Spain, and, of course, Massachusetts — exercising the freedom to marry. The more we ask our neighbors to think this through, the more they move, even many of the seemingly unmoveable.

    If anything, survey results show that we’ve been under-optimistic. Not only is the middle moving, but those who have traditionally been against us are also beginning to embrace the need for equality in marriage.

    Polls are snapshots at a given moment, and during a period of national civil rights conversation such as we are having now, such snapshots can mislead. What ultimately counts is not the snapshots, but the movie, the long-term trend that unequivocally shows the American people’s growing acceptance of marriage equality.

    Click here to read more in my recent editorial about why we need to drop our under-optimistic approach, Marriage Equality Moves Forward, on www.TomPaine.com.

    — Evan Wolfson

    Follow developments in the movement for marriage equality on our website, and in future issues of Freedom to Marry's bi-monthly E-Update.



    LANDSCAPE
    Beating back anti-gay attackers from coast to coast

    Right-wing opponents of equality continue their assault on gay families, stooping so low as to amend the constitutions of states to take away basic safeguards intended to protect all Americans. 2006 will see at least seven more states stampeded into constitutional attacks — Alabama, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

    Fortunately, as in the previous waves of this anti-gay offensive, other states continue to reject putting people's basic constitutional rights up for a vote. In four states so far this year -- Washington, Iowa, West Virginia, and New Hampshire -- the hard work of statewide equality groups and allies once again kept these discriminatory measures off of the ballot.

    For example, the New Hampshire House voted overwhelmingly last week against a proposed anti-gay amendment to the state constitution aimed at fencing gay couples and their kids out from marriage and any other recognition of their families. And in Minnesota, a January poll reports that 54% of registered voters oppose the discriminatory amendment currently before the legislature. By more than a 3-to-1 ratio, respondents said lesbian and gay couples "should have the same rights and responsibilities as everyone else."

    In Minnesota and in other states, more work is needed to block these anti-gay and un-American measures from reaching the ballot. And in the states where the constitutional rights of a minority have now been put up for grabs, gay families and fair-minded non-gay people need to speak urgently, personally, and authentically about why marriage matters and why discrimination, particularly in the constitution, must be rejected.

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    ON THE HORIZON
    New York High Court to Hear Marriage Case

    New York State's highest court — the Court of Appeals — is set to hear oral argument on the constitutionality of the continued discrimination against lesbian and gay couples seeking the right to marry. The argument will be on May 31st.

    "It couldn't be more fitting that the case seeking to end the discrimination against same-sex couples who want to marry is being heard the day before an entire month celebrating LGBT people and their families," said Susan Sommer, Senior Counsel at Lambda Legal.

    This is the first of several lawsuits in New York challenging discrimination in marriage to reach the high court, and follows last month's state supreme court oral argument in a case brought by couples in New Jersey.

    Lambda Legal, the ACLU, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, GLAD, and others have similar cases seeking equal marriage rights in California, Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, and Washington.

    Meanwhile, the Washington State Supreme Court is likely to rule any time now on the freedom to marry cases there. Work is needed in all of these states now to create the climate that encourages the judges to do the right thing, and assures their independence and awareness of how the denial of marriage harms couples and their kids.

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    GET ENGAGED!
    Looking for Leaders: Help Enlist Diverse Voices of Equality

    Can you think of a prominent national or local leader — famous or influential in a particular circle — who should be speaking out on why marriage matters and the need to end discrimination in marriage?

    Freedom to Marry is working to enlist civic, business and religious leaders to lend their voices to the civil rights conversations underway throughout the country.

    Freedom to Marry’s Voices of Equality is a diverse group of prominent Americans speaking out about discrimination in marriage. They can be found at every level of society and in every community.

    From Congressman John Lewis to youth activist Marina Gatto, from Buddhist leader Lama Surya Das to Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, America needs to hear these voices for marriage equality.

    We'd love to work with you on recruiting more support — or get your ideas on whom we should approach. Contact us with your ideas for more Voices of Equality, or [click here] to share your idea online.

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    “The collective impact of our individual choices can help dismantle a status quo in which gay and lesbian people are subject to overt discrimination in marriage, in the military, and in employment. We aim for a world that is more joyful and more just.”
    — Ian Ayres & Jennifer Gerarda Brown in Straightforward: How to Mobilize Heterosexual Support for Gay Rights