Winning in the States

Winning in the States

To win enough states, we had to employ a variety of means — legislation measures, litigation, and learning to win at the ballot. These resources showcase the various types of campaigns — and highlight best practices for working to create national momentum through building-block work in the states.

  • Winning in Court

    Many people presume that judges issue rulings in court based simply on the facts at hand, without public opinion playing any role at all. However, history tells us that how judges read laws and constitutions very much reflects where public opinion is (or, at least, what they think the public will accept). Leading up to the final Supreme Court marriage victory, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in an interview that “there hasn’t been any major change…in which there wasn’t a groundswell among the people before the Supreme Court put its stamp of approval on the inclusion in the equality concept of people who were once left out.” That’s why Freedom to Marry’s strategy – while always building toward a win in the Supreme Court, and very much embracing litigation as a key methodology – was to marshal and invest energy and resources in making as strong a case in the court of public opinion as our advocates and plaintiffs were also making in the court of law. Here’s a look at key tactics we employed to creating the climate to win and hold victories in the courts.

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  • Winning Legislative Campaigns

    For many years into our campaign, pundits (and even some movement colleagues) declared that a state legislature would never vote in favor of the freedom to marry – the politics were too risky, they insisted, and lawmakers wouldn’t put their seats on the line for the LGBT community, especially on something as controversial and edgy as marriage. Our strategy said we needed to build a critical mass of states and support, and that meant we had to learn to win in legislatures, particularly in states where the courts refused to affirm the freedom to marry. This document examines how our movement secured these legislative victories.

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  • Winning at the Ballot

    Through hard work and many ups and downs, we learned how to win marriage in the courts, in the legislatures, in the heartland as well as the coasts, and with Republicans as well as Democrats…but heading into 2012, the one barrier we had not yet overcome was winning an up-or-down vote of the public on a marriage-related ballot measure. Figuring out how to do this was the primary task Freedom to Marry set itself after the pivotal 2011 win in New York. With sharp analysis and critical strategic overhauls led by Freedom to Marry, as well as on-the-ground work and organizing in key battleground states, the movement resoundingly transformed the political momentum and narrative by winning four out of four ballot campaigns in the 2012 election. This resource takes a look inside the marriage ballot campaigns, reveals lessons learned from each, and demonstrates how social movements can successfully turn the tide by persuading the American people to support their mission.

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  • Winning Bipartisan Support

    Freedom to Marry put real effort into building bipartisan support, and demonstrating that support in order to show that specific states – and ultimately the country – were ready for the freedom to marry. Despite the partisan division in the US (and the real differences between the parties on gay people and on the freedom to marry), we knew we needed to show momentum on both sides of the aisle both to create the climate for the Supreme Court and to secure the building-blocks of progress in the states and majority support called for in our national strategy. In many legislatures, securing at least a few GOP votes was essential for the win. And at the ballot, though we relied on Democratic and Independent votes to provide the bulk of our support, we also needed to make a strong case to Republicans to pick up a slice of voters while sustaining the narrative and refuting attacks. Finally, in making the case to judges and ultimately justices, many of whom were appointed by Republicans, we wanted to show that our support was not only from the Democratic side of the aisle. Again, that’s not to say that our support wasn’t overwhelmingly from Democrats, because it was. But the investment of time and the enlistment of GOP operatives and strategists to help build trust and enlist support was a crucial part of making the case that all of America was ready, and of reducing the resistance and beginning to move conservatives, Republicans, Evangelicals, and seniors to our side.

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  • Building State Coalitions

    Freedom to Marry’s work in the states almost always consisted of quickly and efficiently establishing state campaign coalitions, promoting team work, providing and enhancing expertise and a playbook of effective tactics, and generating the needed funding. By bringing together local and national partners, we were able to ensure that the state campaigns benefitted from lessons learned in prior states and got a head start in the political persuasion work required to win. This document provides a look at how we arrived at this model for winning in the states in synergy with work at the national and federal levels to fulfill the overall national strategy.

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  • Creating Public Education Campaigns

    After the landmark win Hawaii court win in the 1990s – followed by an anti-marriage constitutional amendment in the state that took away politically what we were winning legally – marriage organizers learned painfully that there was not just one, but two courts we would have to win before winning the freedom to marry nationwide. In addition to making the case in the court of law, we needed to make the case and win in the court of public opinion.. From the get-go, Freedom to Marry invested in developing and deploying public education tactics and models aimed at starting or sustaining conversations about why marriage matters. Sparking millions of everyday conversations between family and loved ones was the key to changing the public’s understanding of what gay relationships and who gay people are. This document provides insight into marriage campaigns committed to this initial step in the marriage conversation nationwide.

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