Freedom to Marry Week: February 10th to 16th

Every year, right around Pres. Lincoln's Birthday and Valentine's Day, gay and non-gay people around the country gather to celebrate our lives, our loves, our families and the victories of our movement from the year before. Freedom to Marry Day, Tuesday, February 12th, is a day to celebrate and share our stories, reflect on the values of equality and love, while also engaging our neighbors in the movement for equality and fairness.

If you're interested in helping plan an event here in Washington, DC for Freedom to Marry Day, join the DC for Marriage Yahoo Group to network with local folks working for Marriage Equality.

Freedom to Marry Week is sponsored nationally by Freedom to Marry.

Momentum Builds for DC Marriage Equality Forum

Momentum is building for the DC Marriage Equality Forum taking place this Thursday at 7:00 PM at the Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.

There are articles about the forum in both Metro Weekly and the Washington Blade this week. And of course, we have great co-sponsors for the event including The Gertrude Stein Democrats, the Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance, the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League, AQUA DC, and DC Black Pride. And thanks to Burgundy Crescent, we have a great team of volunteers lined up.

I'm thrilled to share with you that Sabrina Sojourner, pictured left, will be be moderating what is sure to be an intense discussion. Sabrina Sojourner has served as DC Shadow Representative to Congress, elected with over 80% of the vote. Sabrina and her partner Letitia Gomez were recently featured in a Washington Post Article which discussed their retirement plans and touched on the extra challenges they face as a same-sex couple.

It's important that we have a skilled facilitator like Sabrina to walk us through the discussion portion of the evening, and I greatly appreciate her willingness to lend a hand.

Please make plans to join us!

Metro Weekly Article on DC Marriage Equality Forum

In conjunction with The Center, ''Home for GLBT in Metro DC,'' DC for Marriage, a nascent local organization, will present a public forum to discuss marriage equality on Thursday, Dec. 6. It's the group's first event following the initial conversations that founded the group about eight months ago.

"Lane Hudson [and I] met at a community forum earlier this year," explains Michael Crawford, president of the new group, while Hudson serves as a board member. The forum was "State of the Movement," a Feb. 20 event presented by the D.C. chapter of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association. "We both asked questions around marriage and that's how we connected. For the last few months, we've been talking to community leaders, asking if there is interest in a marriage campaign here in the District, getting advice on who else we should talk to."

continue reading this article in Metro Weekly.

Blade Article on Marriage Equality Forum

Gay activists will be watching with interest when the newly formed gay group D.C. For Marriage holds its first public event on Dec. 6, which it is billing as a Community Forum on Marriage Equality in the District of Columbia.

Most of the founding members of D.C. For Marriage have called on the city government to pass a same-sex marriage rights bill as soon as this year. Two of the group’s founders, gay activists Lane Hudson and Michael Crawford, argued at a gay forum earlier this year that existing gay groups were being overly cautious in holding back on pushing for a same-sex marriage rights bill in D.C. after Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007.

continue reading this article in the Washington Blade