Happy Freedom To Marry Week!

Freedom To Marry Week 11th Annual Observances Feb. 10-16, 2008

By Evan Wolfson - Freedom To Marry

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Freedom to Marry Week 2008 is one more chance to ask those around us to put themselves in same-sex couples’ shoes and ask, 'How would I feel if I couldn't marry the person I love?'

Awareness of the Need to End the Exclusion of Same-Sex Couples from Marriage at a New High
(New York, February 11, 2008)— Gay and non-gay organizations have scheduled over 100 events in 21 states across the nation in honor of the 11th Annual Freedom to Marry Week (Feb. 10-16), seizing an opportunity to highlight how the denial of marriage harms families, while helping no one. The renewed conversations come as major court decisions, legislative progress, and ballot-measures all will be claiming space on the country's calendar this election-year.
“Freedom to Marry Week 2008 is one more chance to ask those around us to put themselves in same-sex couples’ shoes and ask, 'How would I feel if I couldn't marry the person I love?',” said Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry and author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality and Gay People's Right to Marry. “With state high court decisions in marriage cases pending in Connecticut, California, and Iowa; legislatures from New Jersey to Washington, Maryland to Illinois, New York to California, dealing with the reality that civil unions don't work and the freedom to marry matters; and conversations among the reachable middle moving hearts every day, Freedom to Marry Week offers an opportunity to give people the information they need to rise to fairness.”
Freedom to Marry Week occurs every year, right around President Lincoln's Birthday and Valentine's Day, to give gay and non-gay people around the country an opportunity to gather to talk about our lives, our loves and our families, celebrate the victories from the year before and continue the fight for the freedom to marry.
For event listings and to learn more about Freedom to Marry Week, visit: http://www.freedomtomarry.org/get_involved/freedom_to_marry_week_2008.php

Freedom to Marry is the gay and non-gay partnership working to win marriage equality nationwide. Launched in 2003, Freedom to Marry is headed by Evan Wolfson, nationally recognized as a central "architect of the marriage equality movement." Freedom to Marry guides and focuses this social justice movement on a nationwide level, serving as a strategy and support center for national, state, and local partners, a catalyst that drives and shapes the national debate on marriage equality, and an alliance-builder fostering support from non-gay allies.

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Freedom to Marry Releases Candidates’ Guide

via 247gay.com

Following last week's historic ruling in Iowa, in which a Polk County judge found no good reason for excluding same-sex couples from marriage, Freedom to Marry is releasing a new online publication, Candidates' Guide on How to Support Marriage Equality and Get Elected.

The guide explains that candidates should support the freedom to marry not just because it is the right thing to do, but also because it is in their interest. The guide also makes the case, reinforced last week in Iowa, that the debate over ending marriage discrimination will not go away, and lays out for candidates how to stand on clear principle, make the case for ending exclusion and throw the challenge back at opponents.

"Candidates' stand on ending the denial of the freedom to marry signifies a lot about their values, character, and authenticity," Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry and author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality and Gay People's Right to Marry, said in a statement. "To help them rise to fairness, it's important that we create a space for more Americans and their elected representatives by talking about why marriage matters and the need to end exclusion."

After a month of discussion about whether candidates could or should avoid talking about marriage prompted by the Aug. 9 HRC/Logo presidential forum, August ended with the powerful marriage ruling in Iowa, a state which for many is an epicenter of presidential campaigns.

As Freedom to Marry noted throughout August in a series of articles, candidates, even those saying marriage is primarily "a state issue," will continue to be pressed to talk about marriage discrimination.

The Candidates' Guide offers assistance in answering questions such as why marriage matters, the difference between the freedom to marry and parallel or lesser legal mechanisms such as civil union and how to respond to opponents' claims.

As the Harkin Steak Fry approaches on Sept. 16, with most of the Democratic presidential candidates scheduled to attend, and as Republican candidates so far have criticized the Iowa judge for doing his job, Freedom to Marry suggested candidates should use the new guide to be ready to discuss how court decisions such as the ruling for marriage in Iowa represent fairness for families and the American values the candidates profess.

The Candidates' Guide on How to Support Marriage Equality and Get Elected is available on the Freedom to Marry website in pdf form. For further reading on last week's Iowa court decision, visit Freedom to Marry's Iowa decision information webpage.

Source: Freedom to Marry

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