A Note from Evan Wolfson

Much has been said lately about right-wing groups such as Focus on the Family (and the Republican Party) once again rolling out their anti-gay so-called “Marriage Protection Amendment,” which seeks to enshrine discrimination into our nation’s Constitution. While our opponents’ attack on a vulnerable minority to divide voters and stir up their base during a critical election year is heinous, the response from our side (including much of the Democratic Party and Republican moderates) is nowhere near strong or authentic enough.

While it is true that our nation has many pressing concerns, too many on our side cling to the argument that the crucial national conversation about ending discrimination in marriage is a distraction from other “more important” matters. Not only do they miss the opportunity to make the case for ending marriage discrimination and thereby persuade the reachable-but-not-yet-reached, they send an additional insult to the couples around the country who consider their lives, and those of their children and loved ones, to be very important indeed.

Click HERE to read the rest of Evan’s Note.

— 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.

Freedom to Marry Welcomes Roey Thorpe

Respected movement leader is Freedom to Marry's new Program Director

Freedom to Marry is thrilled to announce that Roey Thorpe, currently executive director of Basic Rights Oregon, will be coming onboard as our next program director, succeeding Rodney McKenzie, who will be doing marriage field organizing in California. With a wonderful mix of experience, temperament, stature, leadership and management skills, and vision, Roey will be an invaluable asset to our team and to our work with state and national organizations and allies.

Read more HERE.

Good Luck to Freedom to Marry Alumni!

We bid a fond adieu to Noran Camp, Rodney McKenzie, and Pedro Julio Serrano

After 3 years here building our organization, Noran is taking on the role of Counsel to the Committee on Standards and Ethics of the New York City Council. Rodney is returning to his first love, grassroots organizing, in California. He’ll be a key partner in our work to win marriage there. We are also sad to say goodbye to Pedro Julio, though he’ll still be nearby at the Task Force.

Reports from the Front

Soulforce buys billboards in Senator Frist's hometown

Soulforce, the organization founded to end religion-based discrimination of gays and lesbians, is placing sixteen billboard posters in and around Bill Frist's hometown of Nashville, Tennessee to call attention to Republican pandering to the so-called religious right.

Read Soulforce's press release HERE.

APA denounces anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment

Because the American Psychological Association (APA) has documented that gay and lesbian couples form warm and loving relationships and share the same need and desire for structure and support as any other family; and because they also have noted that gay and lesbian parents are as fit and loving, and that their kids deserve the same protections as any others, the APA has been a strong supporter of the freedom to marry.

They have recently come out again to voice their support for ending discrimination in marriage, to strongly oppose the attempt to deny same-sex couples the right to civil marriage and to again express the need to fully recognize the parental rights of lesbians and gay men. The APA has an official policy adopted by the Council of Representatives that affirms APA’s opposition to policies that deny same-sex couples legal access to civil marriage.

The APA is asking their members to take action. Learn more HERE.

The Latest News

For the latest news, opinions, and polls, including these articles, check out our website.

Debate kicks off on so-called marriage amendment
Arizona Republic
June 5, 2006
"While passage is unlikely when the full Senate votes Tuesday or Wednesday, some analysts say the effort, whether it succeeds or fails, is aimed more at soothing and re-energizing the GOP's religious conservative base. Irritation is rising among those core GOP supporters over how the Republican-led Congress has handled such issues as immigration reform, the federal budget and judicial nominations."

OPINION: Anti-marriage vote serves only to divide nation
LA Times
June 4, 2006
"Whatever else Americans may think about [marriage equality], few consider it one of the country's most serious moral challenges. By elevating it so prominently, this week's debate is likely to deepen the sense that Washington is fixated on the preoccupations of ideological minorities while slighting most Americans' day-to-day concerns."

OPINION: Legislating hate
TomPaine.com
May 31, 2006
"'An enduring trait of Nigerian letter scammers—indeed, of most con artists,' the author wrote, 'is their reluctance to walk away from a mark before his resources are exhausted.' Today the conservative base, particularly the religious conservatives, is like that mark. They give their money and their time to the Republican Party, offered up in exchange for the firm promise that a pot of gold—the banishment of homosexuality, the criminalization of abortion, the return of a time when life was simpler and everyone knew their place—will be theirs come election day."