FreedomtoMarry

I absolutely believe we will win the freedom to marry nationwide -- and our work is not done until everyone everywhere shares in the full measure of liberty and equality every American deserves. But winning is not won -- and it makes a big difference whether it's in 1 year or 10 years. So while we have the momentum and see the victory ahead, the reason we are winning is because we are doing the work of persuasion, organizing, education, and enlisting. If we stop that work and wait for change to waft in, we may be waiting way longer than necessary...and every day's denial is a real day of hardship, injustice, and indignity for families across the country.

There are 3 main drivers to the momentum that is clearly on our side. One is the cumulative effect of millions of conversations and persuasion and progress. We now have 19 states with the freedom to marry, up from zero about a decade ago. We now have 59% support nationwide, up from 27% in 1996 when I was doing the world's first-ever trial on the freedom to marry, in Hawaii. And people have gotten to see with their own eyes families helped and no one hurt -- and America is now with us. Two is the additional constitutional clarity provided by the Supreme Court a year ago in the Windsor case. The Court demolished all the arguments made to justify discrimination against gay married couples, and now 22 rulings in federal and state courts have embraced the language and logic of the Court's ruling. And three, there are now married gay couples in every corner of the country, and the conversation is everywhere. The federal government is treating those couples as what they are -- married -- for federal purposes, even in states that discriminate. And from Georgia to Utah, Oklahoma to Florida, Arkansas to Indiana, people are speaking up and creating the climate for the Supreme Court to finish the job nationwide.

We actually met the old-fashioned way: online. For most of the time I've been doing the marriage work, over decades (!), I was whinily single. But I got lucky and met a wonderful person who would put up with me and who keeps me laughing... and after nearly 10 years together, we finally won the freedom to marry here in NY, where we live, and were able to marry. I still feel the glow and joy of our beautiful wedding day, even nearly 3 years later.

Freedom to Marry's strategy (which you can find on our website -- it's not a secret) has always said we would win nationwide by persuading the Supreme Court to bring the country to national resolution. That means we don't have to win within the 4 corners of each of the 50 states... but we do have to win enough states and win over enough hearts and minds to create the climate that encourages the courts to do the right thing for the whole country. We believe we have secured that critical mass of states and support -- America is ready -- and that's why we're seeing wins in the courts like today's. Now we must work together to urge the Supreme Court to finish the job nationwide, sweeping away all marriage discrimination, as the Court did with interracial marriage bans in the best-named case ever, Loving v. Virginia, back in 1967.

The people of Texas include the minority who are gay, as well as the majority who aren't... and includes those gay Texans's family, kids, loved ones, friends, co-workers, and fellow citizens. In America, we invented two great political principles. The first is that here, we have no king; the people rule... and so most things get decided by a vote. The second, equally important, great American principle, is that certain fundamental freedoms, rights, and liberties are so important that they belong to every individual, and should not be put up for a vote. They are "inalienable," and Americans protect those freedoms for all, even those who are in the minority or who are unpopular. States don't have rights, we, the People, do. And the freedom to marry, like freedom of religion or the freedom of speech, etc., cannot be voted away by the majority. That's how we protect the rights of all of us, all Americans, including Texans, including gay people.