A Note from Evan Wolfson
As the new year dawns, we begin building on the foundation won in 2006 and the increasing receptivity to marriage equality. We must coax people past complacency or false comfort in the idea that justice is "inevitable" and therefore can wait. The right way to end discrimination in marriage is, of course, to end discrimination in marriage, not repackage it, whether as civil union or any other mandatory other status.
Under American law, marriage, of course, is a civil union (a legal status created by government license) - but civil union is not marriage, and pointedly so. There are a million songs about love and marriage, but civil union and domestic partnership are words without the music. We must explain why separate and unequal status is insufficient and unnecessary, and ultimately demeaning when offered in order to perpetuate couples' exclusion from marriage itself.
Person by person, month by month, let's describe how marriage - and only marriage - offers a comprehensive array of protections and responsibilities under state, federal, and international law. As I relate in my book, Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry, this safety net affects every area of life from birth to death, with taxes in between. The rules relating to marriage (not civil union or domestic partnership) have been worked out through courts and legislatures to cover a multitude of contingencies, and cannot be replicated by any other contract, statute, or new invention by the state. No separate status provides that security and economic justice, not to mention the dignity of full inclusion and cultural meaning, to same-sex couples and their kids. Around the world, everyone knows what marriage entails. No newly invented status brings what comes, tangibly and intangibly, with a legal marriage license and the two words, "I do."
So here's a New Year's Resolution for all of us. Join with state and national gay and non-gay groups dedicated to this just cause. Seize the opportunity to make a difference. We can win the freedom to marry, if we do our part. People are ready to rise to fairness. Use the resources available on our website to make the up-coming 10th Annual Observance of Freedom to Marry Week 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.
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
Show the Love!
Freedom to Marry Week posters are popping up all over the country! Help spread the word. Ask your local businesses (cafés, restaurants, dry cleaners, gyms, schools, etc.) to share the love and put a poster in the window. Snap a picture and send it in – it could win you $500.00! *
*Enter the Freedom to Marry Week Photo / Video Contest!
Also, because of popular demand, we have extended the mini-grant deadline to February 2. Keep the great ideas coming!
Mombian Hosts a Blog Carnival for Freedom to Marry Week
Freedom to Marry Week Blogging Event: Are you a blogger? Want to support Freedom to Marry? LGBT-parenting blog Mombian will be hosting a "Freedom to Marry Blog Carnival" on February 14. Any blogger who writes in support of marriage equality between now and then is invited to submit a post by leaving a comment at: http://mombian.com/2007/01/04/freedom-to-marry-week-and-blog-carnival/ or sending e-mail to freedomtomarry@mombian.com. Entries will be compiled and showcased at http://www.mombian.com on February 14.
CA NAACP To Be Honored With Marriage Equality Award
The California State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), whose president is Freedom to Marry Voice of Equality Alice Huffman, will receive the Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin Marriage Equality Award at Equality California's (EQCA) 2007 San Francisco Equality Awards event on February 10.
Read more HERE.
Victory Fund is hiring
The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, the nation’s largest LGBT political action committee (PAC), is searching for a Political Director.
Victory Fund is an agile PAC working to elect openly gay and lesbian candidates throughout the US. Their work is focused on identifying strong candidates and providing the resources to help them win. They are looking for a motivated, energetic, enthusiastic leader to join their senior team and manage their political operations. If you want to help advance the cause of LGBT equality, please click HERE to read on.
Freedom to Marry Welcomes New Steering Committee Member
Sam Thoron has been actively involved in Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG), since 1990, recently serving as National Board Chair. He also sits on the Board of Directors of Marriage Equality USA. Sam and his wife Julia have been married for over 43 years, live in San Francisco where they raised their two sons and daughter, and are now the proud grandparents of five.
Read more about Sam HERE.
The Latest News
For the latest news, opinions, and polls, including these articles, check out our website.
Report: 'Generation Next' supportive of marriage equality
New York Times
January 10, 2007
Forty-eight percent of young adults age 18 to 25 said they were Democrats or leaned that direction while 35 percent said they were Republican or leaned that way in 2006, according to Pew polling. The study also found a great acceptance for the idea of marriage for same-sex couples. Forty-seven percent of those age 18 to 25 favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry while 30 percent of those 26 and older favor marriage equality.
OPINION: California court can bring reason to marriage debate
The Mercury News
January 8, 2007
The whole threat-to-marriage argument against gay unions never made sense. Stable, monogamous relationships are an important building block of a strong society, and we ought to support them. Why shouldn't that premise apply to gay couples? How can extending legal protections to them cause harm to anyone else? This is the way social change takes place — in fits and starts — as those of us who were around for the civil rights battles of the 1960s well remember.
COLUMN: To your battle stations
Bay Windows
January 4, 2007
It's time to recommit to the struggle for marriage equality. Tuesday's sickening loss during the last day of the constitutional convention (ConCon) brought us one step closer to a statewide ballot campaign on the civil marriage rights of same-sex couples. Whether you are just coming out, transgender, heterosexual or ideologically opposed to marriage, you do not want to see this campaign in Massachusetts. Not if you care about public civility, at any rate.
