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Yesterday afternoon,
Judge Vaughn Walker lifted the stay on his court ruling that declared Prop 8 unconstitutional. Judge Walker ruled that Prop 8 will no longer be enforced as of August 18 at 5pm PST, making California the sixth state where same-sex couples are able to marry.
The opposition is, predictably, threatening some legal maneuvers to stop the Gay marriages from starting up again, so I'm guardedly optimistic. I'll be celebrating when they start...
As the battle plays on, a big part of this is public opinion. That translates to votes. And while a new survey found out this week that 52% of Americans now believe we Gays and Lesbian should have the Constitutional right to marry, and I'm delighted we've reached "majority," we need to do more...
Frankly, myself and a large number of other frustrated people in the aftermath of losing Gay Marriage with Prop 8's passage looked back at the commercials our side ran and felt it was a lost opportunity. The ads that I remember seeing seemed to avoid mentioning or showing GAY people at all (I remember a Latina woman in a wedding dress who couldn't quite get past the parked cars in the driveway to make it to the altar where her male fiance was waiting for her, and an older woman talking about her three children and wanting her off camera lesbian daughter to have equality) - and while Gay Marriage is an issue of equality, it's about OUR QUEER Equality.
This time, we're all getting a say in how we're talking about GAY Marriage (a.k.a. Same-Sex Marriage), to the public at large.
The Courage Campaign Institute is asking us to vote:
So go check out the four videos they're considering to edit into a 60 second Public Service Announcement for our side. For the equality of gay and lesbian couples who love each other, and who want to get married. For all GLBTQ people, our allies, and our families...
Go watch them. And vote. I can't wait to hear which one you like best!
Namaste,
Lee
3 comments:
I liked how the first one spelt out what the marriage commitment meant to them. Sadly, Barry's video was difficult for me to hear, even with the sound right up.
Honestly, none of them captured me right off. I'm not saying that their stories aren't important, but I don't think this is the right direction to go with a PSA. I can't help but think of that video where the man is going door to door asking if he can marry someone. That has a gripping cleverness that makes you want to stay tuned in.
I was torn, but I ended up voting for Matt and Sean.
I also love the "Sinead's Hand" video--the one where the man has to go door to door asking if he can get married. But what I like about these videos is that they're *real.* It's not just a clever idea, it's people's real stories, warts and all. "Sinead's Hand" is an Irish one. I think the tag line is, "How would you feel if you had to get permission from 4 million people to get married?" How I would feel is: wow, that's a piece of piss (as the Irish say) compared to getting permission from 300 million people!
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