With the historic court victories on the issue of marriage equality recently in Kentucky and here in Texas, it's a good time to showcase the good work going on in the South to advance full equality for all. I already wrote about the national Freedom to Marry's Texas campaign, Why Marriage Matters - Texas. Now, a more comprehensive southern campaign for marriage equality is taking shape.
Earlier in the week, Freedom to Marry launched a project focused on ensuring southerners see full marriage equality in their home states. Partnering with the Campaign for Southern Equality (shown in the above video), along with 11 other southern civil rights organizations, Freedom to Marry has introduced Southerners for the Freedom to Marry. A bipartisan endeavor, co-chairs include Reps. John Lewis (D-GA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), George W. Bush advisor Mark McKinnon (TX), and pop singer Lance Bass (MS). The $1 million campaign was launched at an event in Atlanta with the city's mayor (and co-chair of Mayors for the Freedom to Marry), Kasim Reed, who had this to say:
I was slow moving from recognizing civil unions to marriage equality. My grandfather was a minister and I grew up in a household that was pretty religious and I consider myself pretty religious and I had some struggles. My journey is the same journey that many southerners must take.
Rev. Lesley Brogan and her partner Linda Ellis, of Georgia, also made an appearance with their two sons, John and Sam.
Our commitment service was held in November of 1991. That day, we asked our friends and those family members who could, to celebrate our relationship, to support us and to hold us accountable to the commitments that we were making to each other, forever. And we knew that forever would be here in Georgia. It’s where our friends and family are, it’s where we met, and it’s where we call home.
In the 22 years since, we've worked very hard to ensure that our family, especially John and Sam, have the strongest protections possible. We are lucky, and count ourselves blessed, to live in the community that we do – to have the "village" that we have – and to be able to afford certain protections, including traveling out of state to legally marry. We know that many gay and lesbian couples across GA are not so lucky.
If you ask our sons, they'd tell you that we're just like any other old married couple. But the truth is, we're not. And we're ready to be. So, Mayor Reed, Evan - we are glad that you are here. Thank you. We stand with you - and with the thousands of other gay and lesbian couples across the state of Georgia who deserve the basic freedom to marry. We will do everything that we can to support this effort, because it’s time for marriage for all Georgians.
Freedom to Marry founder and president Evan Wolfson on the new campaign:
We're here to celebrate the voices of people all across the South who believe in the Golden Rule. We want to ensure that the voices of the South are heard in this national conversation about why marriage matters. We're here to convey the message to decision-makers across the country that America--all of America--is ready for the freedom to marry.
Indeed.
It's hard to think of a person more fitting to kick off this latest campaign in our broader civil rights struggle than Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis. The beautiful launch video:
Have I mentioned how much I love and respect John Lewis? The long and short of it if you couldn't watch the video:
I fought too hard and too long against discrimination based on race and color not to stand up--and speak up--against discrimination against our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. I see the right to marry as a civil rights issue.
A whole section of the Southerners for the Freedom to Marry website is devoted to the personal stories of regular southern couples who happen to be gay or lesbian. The stories are at once beautiful and heartbreaking, and I encourage you to look at them. Take
this one, the story of Michael and Robert Crawford-Shorty II, who married in Atlanta in 2012 but cannot have their marriage recognized by the state:
"Marriage equality is important to us because the foundation of our country lies on the words, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,'" Robert added. "Love falls under the premise of 'pursuit of happiness.' Love knows not a color, gender, sexuality, religion, or anything else that discriminates."
The grooms wrote love notes for each other before the big day...Robert wrote in his, "Michael is everything to me and more. Often when I reflect back over our relationship, tears form in my eyes. His smile alone lifts my spirits, and his presence places my soul at ease. He is my glimpse into heaven and an earthly representation of God’s love for me. He pushes me to always strive for greater never settling for mediocrity. He is my calm in the midst of the storm of life."
"Robert is one like none other," Michael wrote in his note to his husband. "I love Robert because he doesn’t let anything or anyone deter him from the calling of what God has predestined for him. He is sweet, strong, short and sensitive to all my needs. He unselfishly gives all that he has to everyone who he comes in contact with, always showing them the better side of every situation."
I'm sorry...I think there's something in my eye...
Harvey Milk was right when he emphasized the importance of coming out and visibility to our movement. The Southerners for the Freedom to Marry project will only help advance that visibility, which is a (perhaps the) crucial key to our cultural, legislative, and court victories. We're on the cusp of winning this struggle as state after state--yes, even here in the South--falls in the line of dominoes leading to full equality.
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