This week, Freedom to Marry is launching the largest-ever national public education campaign aimed at increasing popular support for same-sex marriage. Appropriately, their first Why Marriage Matters ad ran on Valentine’s Day.
The campaign is a good reminder that our fight for equality is not over. We’re still in the heat of a social and political battle – a battle that rages on across the U.S.
“There is so much happening that it is a challenge even for the most ardent marriage-equality supporters to keep track of,” said Molly McKay, media director of Marriage Equality, a national group that favors same-sex marriage. “This is a national fight being fought out on various local grounds. Rhode Island, New York, those are states right now where all eyes are looking.”
Lawmakers in Rhode Island and Maryland are taking up bills to legalize gay marriage. Advocates in New York are making a renewed push. Opponents are fighting for constitutional bans in Indiana and Wyoming. Challengers are seeking to re-impose bans in Iowa and New Hampshire.
California waits patiently for a court decision that determines our marriage-equality fate. Rumors are circulating in the press that a court decision on Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage here after voters approved it in 2008, is due sooner than later. Will the California ban be enforced or judged unconstitutional?
An Associated Press report says the flurry of nationwide activity has activists on both sides of the debate encouraged that 2011 will be a year of gains for them. Both sides? That seems a bit contradictory, but it is accurate. The LGBT community is winning, and yet we are still losing.
Gay marriage is legal only in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa, as well as in the District of Columbia. Yet, 30 states have constitutional amendments banning gay marriages. Pending the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Proposition 8, California is one of those.
Maggie Gallagher, chairwoman of National Organization for Marriage (NOM), which opposes same-sex marriage, said the group is working to increase that number by adding Indiana, Wyoming and North Carolina. North Carolina is the only state in the South that does not have such an amendment. The Wyoming Senate has already passed a resolution that would allow Wyoming voters to choose whether to change that states constitution to ban same-sex marriages; the resolution now goes to the House for consideration.
In early January, just days after Lincoln Chafee replaced Donald Carcieri as governor of Rhode Island, advocates on both sides of the same-sex marriage debate ramped up their annual battle. This year, the fight is taking on new intensity because, while Carcieri vowed for eight years to veto any bill to legalize gay marriage, Chafee supports it.
Yet, NOM just mailed brochures throughout the state that included the headline: “Imposing same-sex marriage has consequences.” The brochure listed four “real consequences” of “redefining marriage to a genderless institution.”
These are just a few examples of how the other side is striving to limit our rights. The list goes on and on. There are more challenges across the country, but just like McKay said, it is a challenge even for the most ardent marriage-equality supporters to keep track of all of them.
“By engaging friends, families and neighbors in personal conversation about why marriage matters, each of us can help fair-minded people wrestling with a lack of information and uncertainty, and change hearts and minds,” said Freedom to Marry’s Founder and President, Evan Wolfson.
Those personal discussions are working, and the polls are showing a greater support of gay marriages.
A plan to repeal the New Hampshire equal rights ended last week because surveys show that 51 percent opposed any changes to the legislation recognizing gay and lesbian couples, with an additional 21 percent strongly opposed to repealing it.
Imagine if we had those numbers in California. Proposition 8 passed in 2008 by only 4 percent.
As we wait for the courts to decide the outcome of our local debate, we should still not sit silently as our brothers and sisters in other states continue to fight for their rights.
San Diego LGBT Weekly encourages all San Diegans to take action and support the ambitious Why Marriage Matters campaign. Freedom to Marry has launched whymarriagematters.org, an online resource for those interested in learning how to get involved.
Sign the Freedom to Marry Pledge, ask your elected officials to stand up for marriage, start a conversation with friends and family members and share your story. If you are able, make a donation to support the Why Marriage Matters campaign. Even $10 can make a difference.
JONATHAN YOUNG, Editor
San Diego LGBT Weekly
