A Note from Evan Wolfson
As 2006 winds down, it's a good time to take a look back, rest and recharge, and get ready to return in January for what already is shaping up to be a historic and potentially transformative year.
It's dawned on me in the past few weeks that 2006 was actually a pretty hard year, but, at the same time, a year in which supporters of the freedom to marry clearly made deep progress.
* * * *
Crucial battles loom in 2007 — including the Gettysburg that is California. As I wrote in Why Marriage Matters, the key to winning is conversation: Gay people talking to non-gay people about our lives, our love, and our commitment, and why marriage matters, and non-gay people speaking out for fairness and equality and treating people the way you'd want to be treated. Everyone can be a part of this conversation, and Freedom to Marry's team, including you, is committed to redoubling our work to bringing more people in and helping each of us make sure our voice is heard in 2007. Together, we are the ones making the "inevitable" happen. Someone's got to do it.
Happy New Year!
Read the rest of Evan's note HERE.
Follow developments in the movement for marriage equality on our website, and in future issues of Freedom to Marry's bi-monthly E-Update.
Reports from the Front
Freedom to Marry Launches Photo / Video Contest & Mini-Grant Drive
Every year, right around President Lincoln's Birthday and Valentine’s Day, gay and non-gay people around the country gather in living rooms, rectories, parks and civic halls to celebrate our lives, our loves, our families and the victories of our movement from the year before. The 10th Annual Observance of Freedom to Marry Week, from February 11-18, 2007 is a time to celebrate and share our stories, reflect on the values of equality and love, while also engaging our neighbors in the movement for equality and fairness.
In honor of the 10th annual observance, Freedom to Marry is sponsoring three special funding opportunities: A Photo Contest, a Video contest and special Freedom to Marry Week Mini-Grants.
For the contests, we’re looking for documentation of creative ideas in action, in high-quality photos or videos that tell the story of how you community prepared for and/or celebrated Freedom to Marry Week. We’d love to see images of in what kind of spaces our Freedom to Marry Week poster found itself placed. Did you see the poster at your local dry cleaners? Take a photo! Did you find the poster in your favorite eatery? Show us a picture! Did you participate in a conversation about the Freedom to Marry in your local church, synagogue, community group, or living room? Perhaps you went to a local rally, bake sale, picnic or community meeting about ending discrimination in marriage? Send us a photo or a video of the event! You could win money for your favorite local organization working on marriage equality.
The one-time-only Freedom to Marry Week Mini Grants are aimed toward programs associated with Freedom to Marry week that educate the public on marriage equality.
Click HERE for the latest information on these and other Freedom to Marry Week events. Together, we’ll make this the best Freedom to Marry Week yet.
Wanna learn to win?
The Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute's renowned Candidate & Campaign Training is coming to Philadelphia this February 22 to 25. National political experts will teach you how winning campaigns work and help you decide whether a run for elective office is for you. Openly LGBT candidates are running and winning in record numbers. Join us in Philadelphia to see how they're doing it. The Philadelphia training will be held in partnership with Liberty PA, OutFront! Philadelphia, and Log Cabin Republicans of Pennsylvania. Go to www.victoryinstitute.org/training to learn more and apply today.
Resolution passed by NJ Civil Rights Commission
The New Jersey Commission on Civil Rights unanimously passed a resolution in support of marriage equality.
Read the whole text of the resolution HERE.
The Latest News
For the latest news, opinions, and polls, including these articles, check out our website.
OPINION: Not-so-true believers
Los Angeles Times
December 17, 2006
The Republican Party's governing class is deeply hostile to social conservatism, and its leaders manage to fool
the base over and over again. This delicate situation was thrown into stark relief last week when Bay Windows, a
Boston newspaper covering gay and lesbian issues, published an interview it had conducted with MA Gov. Mitt Romney
in 1994. Romney, now a leading candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, had characterized the religious right
as "extremists." Was he lying then or is he lying now?
OPINION: Every minority feels pain of
discrimination
Miami Herald
December 15, 2006
...[G]ay people were not kidnapped from Gay Land and sold into slavery, nor lynched by the thousands. On the
other hand, they do know something about housing discrimination, they do know job discrimination, they do know
murder for the sin of existence, they do know the denial of civil rights and they do know what it is like to be used
as scapegoat and bogeyman by demagogues and opportunists. They know enough of what I know that I can't ignore it.
See, I have yet to learn how to segregate my moral concerns. It seems to me if I abhor intolerance, discrimination
and hatred when they affect people who look like me, I must also abhor them when they affect people who do not.
OPINION: A
bright gay future for marriage
TomPaine.com
December 13, 2006
E. J. Graff writes, "American opinion keeps ticking steadily farther in favor of recognizing same-sex couples, a
few points more each year. Trust me, you haven’t seen opinions change this fast on any other social issue in your
lifetime. Americans, like others all over the world, are slowly but steadily getting comfortable with their LGBT
sisters, uncles, neighbors and coworkers—and becoming more and more willing to have the state recognize their
bonds."
