Marriage Equality Petition

Please sign the petition below and ask your friends to do the same. By doing this you will let your elected leaders know that you support marriage equality. By sending this to your friends and family members they will know not only that you support support marriage equality, but you will give them an opportunity to engage their social networks in the cause as well. If they have questions, this petition can serve as an important opportunity to start a dialog about the freedom to marry with people you know.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: I Support the Freedom to Marry

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

The freedom to marry is a basic human right. The decision to marry is a deeply personal choice.

Marriage is about love commitment and mutual concern. Legal marriage brings with it over 1400 legal rights--over 1100 federal protections and several hundred state rights.

Marriage provides tangible and intangible protections. These cannot be approximated through the drafting of legal documents such as wills, nor can they be obtained through inferior legal regimes such as domestic partnerships or civil unions.

Ending the exclusion of same-sex couples and their families from marriage will help families and harm no one. At issue is civil marriage, not religious marriage. Faith traditions will always have the right to decide at what weddings to officiate and what marriages to recognize.

Couples who would freely choose to accept the responsibilities of marriage should not be denied the right because the partners are of the same sex.

Denying same-sex couples the freedom to marry stigmatizes all members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community as second-class citizens. The harm extends far beyond couples and includes their children, their extended families and gay youth as well.

Denying same-sex couples the freedom to marry is particularly harmful to older couples and surviving partners who are denied the basic protections legally married couples take for granted every day from social security survivor's benefits to the right to share a room in a nursing home.

I support the freedom to marry because we all have a stake in assuring that every American is treated equally under the law, and that American values of fairness and freedom, choice and commitment, and the pursuit of happiness are respected and upheld.

I stand ready to support the freedom to marry by talking to friends and family about the importance of marriage equality and the obstacles gay and lesbian families face everyday because they lack the freedom to marry.

In knowing that a copy of this petition will be sent to elected leaders, I add my voice to the hundreds of thousands across the country who are willing to lobby our legislators in support of ending the exclusion of same-sex couples and their families from marriage.

Signed by:

Campaign Launched:
February 01, 2008

Background Information

Marriage is a powerful and important affirmation of love, a source of social support and recognition, and the legal gateway to protections and responsibilities which are invaluable to the safety and security of every family. Loving and committed couples doing the work of marriage in their everyday lives deserve the choice to make their commitment legal and be protected by law through marriage.

Marriage Provides Protections & Responsibilities. The legal and economic consequences of marriage affect virtually every area of life, from access to health care to parenting and immigration rights, from Social Security benefits to transferring property without adverse tax consequences. These protections are due those who are already shouldering the responsibilities of caring for each other and their families.
Marriage Protects Children & Families. All children deserve the right to insurance coverage, social security, emergency care and inheritance rights no matter who their parents are. All families benefit from the intangible reassurance that comes from knowing that your family is safe and secure.
Marriage is a Matter of Social & Economic Justice. The inequities and the legal and cultural second-class status that exclusion from marriage reinforces affect all gay people, but fall hardest on the poor, the less educated, and the otherwise vulnerable.
Marriage is Part of the American Promise: As defined by the United States Supreme Court, "The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men." Every American deserves fair treatment under the law and the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the very rights our country was founded on.
There’s No Substitute for Marriage. While civil unions and domestic partnerships represent significant advances toward recognition of same-sex relationships, they are not a substitute for full and equal marriage.
Marriage Equality is About Civil Marriage, Not Religious Marriage. This is not about forcing any church to perform or extend religious recognition to any marriages it doesn't want to. This is about the right to the civil marriage license issued by the state, which religious groups should not interfere with (just as the state should not interfere with religious ceremonies).

To learn more about the freedom to marry and what you can do to get involved, visit www.freedomtomarry.org