Marriage Equality

[Mrs. K2]

Posted: 6/5/09 at 1:04pm

Hey BroadwayWorld!

This Schele Williams and I am very passionate about Marriage Equality. I am a new member of the Empire State Pride Agenda and I know that our community can make a real difference is getting this legislation passed. We have 2 weeks to get this done so please read the info below and write letters! Thanks, Schele

Calling on the Broadway World!

The Campaign for Marriage Equality Needs You!

There are only four weeks to win marriage equality in New York State. New York's legislative session ends June 22nd, 2009. We need the State Senate to act on this bill. What can we do in the next 4 weeks to make sure they do? Both write and call your state senator with a different theme every week.

Letters and phone calls keep our issues at the forefront of their mind. Do this now, and get your friends, family and coworkers involved. We don't want to look back and ask why we didn't do more when it mattered, as many people did in California after Prop 8 passed. Your Senator's phone & address can be found at these websites:

http://www.prideagenda.org/marriage and http://www.BroadwayImpact.com. Below are just a few of the many themes you could include in your letters. Be creative!
4 or More Reasons to Write and Call Your Senator about Marriage Equality

Access to spousal health care benefits and making medical decisions.
Spousal housing in retirement communities and protection if one partner dies.
Protection for children of lesbian and gay parents.
Civil unions are separate and not equal.
No faith community will be forced to perform same-sex marriage, and many faith leaders and traditions support same-sex marriage.
NY's economy would benefit from marriages performed here instead of in other states or Canada!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/5/09 at 3:11pm

Thank you, Schele. Your activism is appreciated.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/5/09 at 4:59pm

Right ON!
Keep the emails and calls coming.

[TimesSquareRegular]

Posted: 6/5/09 at 6:23pm

If everyone takes a few minutes out of their day to call, write, etc ......

Don't be one of those people who does nothing, and then wonders why things didn't go the way we'd like.

[winston89]

Posted: 6/6/09 at 12:23am

I sent out a couple of emails to the right people. My one concern is that nothing will get done within the four weeks and the issue will get pushed back until the senate reconvenes in the fall. Having interned two different summers one with a Legislator for Nassau County and for one of the local offices for the state senator, I learned that the last few weeks before they are let out for the summer is akin to a child in school just waiting for that final bell to ring so that they are free until the fall. By that I mean they tend not to focus on anything new and just push around old things to look and keep busy and focus on new things in the fall.

[Mrs. K2]

Posted: 6/7/09 at 12:09am

Winston89,

I promise you that Empire State Pride Agenda is doing everything humanly possible to get this done ASAP. The pressure is on for all the representatives that are on the fence. We haven't seen it so much in NYC but there is a massive TV Ad campaign going on in upstate New York. I can't imagine how all of our friends in California feel that thought Prop 8 would never pass. We in NY has the opportunity to be proactive and learn from that experience. The Pride Agenda is putting the pressure on but they need our letters to support their hard work. Let's make it happen!!!

Schele

[mgcproductions]

Posted: 6/7/09 at 1:19pm

i will be on the red carpet of the tony awards handing white ribbons for marriage equality to all the nominees and presenters! the ribbons are provided by broadway impact!!!
lets hope they all wear them!!!

[teka21]

Posted: 6/7/09 at 4:16pm

Love this- I'll be watching for those ribbons!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 6:37pm

Thanks again, Mrs. K2.

Keep fighting the good fight!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 3:33pm

Why is this thread pinned?

[nealb1]

Posted: 8/14/09 at 3:29pm

I've never really been a "political" person, per say. I think of myself as a person with a great deal of common sense and fairness.

Marriage Equality should be for everyone.

Regardless of how you feel about marriage...man/woman, man/man, woman/woman, etc.....that's really not the issue anymore. The bottom line on California's Prop 8, is that it legalizes discrimination, and that's just wrong - anyway you look at it.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 8/16/09 at 10:57am

Friday, August 28th - 2:30-3:30 PM at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park

http://www.broadwayimpact.com/

"For one afternoon, we will join together to discuss ideas and propose ways in which we can all help spread the word about this historic moment for the marriage equality movement.

If we can come together with specific, positive actions and send a clear message to the world that we will not stand for injustice and inequality on or off Broadway, within any of our theatres, nor anywhere else in our vast community all across the country, then we will truly begin to effect great change!

This is our time to take the lead on the road to equality. Please join us as we hear our own leaders from every corner of our industry speak about what can be done, NOW.

CLEVE JONES himself will be there to kick things off. Other speakers include, Public Theater Artistic Director OSKAR EUSTIS, Producer DAVID STONE (Wicked, Next to Normal, Spelling Bee), veteran Broadway Stage Manager NANCY HARRINGTON, two time Tony nominee and co-founder of BroadwayImpact GAVIN CREEL, and many others.

Come get fired up and help make sure that for the next six weeks everyone within this great community is doing whatever they can to let the world know about OCTOBER 11, 2009."

[Eris0303]

Posted: 8/17/09 at 10:32am

Obama administration says marriage law unfair

[HRman]

Posted: 8/17/09 at 5:11pm

Thanks for posting this. Hoping for more strides by his cabinet.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/18/09 at 1:02pm

Oh Obama, such a fierce advocate.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 8/20/09 at 6:18pm

Obama is confusing the heck out of me with his views on same-sex marriage...is he for it or not?

[zoraksferal]

Posted: 8/20/09 at 7:36pm

^^ Honestly, who can even say anymore. Maybe that is his goal, to confuse us of his actual position by switching it up every once in a while.

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 8/21/09 at 4:48am

Why is anyone surprised by how Obama is acting towards gay issues? He comes from a crazy anti-gay church, so why does one think that the crazy anti-gay bologna wouldn't have rubbed off on him?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/23/09 at 5:34pm

You're as confused about Obama's church as you are about Patti LuPone's status with Equity.

Obama's church is one of the most pro-gay in the country. Say what you want about Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermons about white people, he has always been a staunch advocate for the GLBT community, much more so than Obama.

You're probably confusing Obama's pro-gay church with Rick Warren, the pastor of the Saddleback Church in California, whom Obama invited to the inauguration.

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 8/24/09 at 12:42am

No, sorry...his church is very anti-gay. Heck, they even honored some loony tune who hates gays. Obama is not an advocate for gay people. I could have told you that from the start.


See link Updated On: 8/24/09 at 12:42 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/24/09 at 9:38am

As always, you're wrong in calling Trinity a "crazy anti-gay church."

Trinity Church has long been the OPPOSITE of anti-gay.

From an article in Windy City Times, the Chicago gay newspaper, during the controversy over Rev. Wright in March 2008:

===

Over the years, Wright has included LGBT-inclusive sermons, and has also been very welcoming to HIV-positive individuals. Trinity had one of Chicago's first church-run HIV/AIDS ministries. Toward the end of 2007, Wright voiced his opposition and disgust of anti-gay violence in a sermon following news of the murder of Trinity's openly gay choir director Donald Young, according to congregation members.

Former congregation member and current minister Sherri Jackson said that although she has 'outgrown' Trinity, she had several positive experiences while there.

'I'm grateful for that part of the journey, and to have been under Wright's leadership, and his spiritual guidance, his scholarly teaching of liberation theology and Black theology?that's what I was in search for,' Jackson, an out lesbian, said.

She appreciated the church's work in HIV/AIDS ministry, same-gender-loving ministry and on domestic violence issues, noting that many churches avoid addressing those issues from the pulpit.

'It has always been a very welcoming place for LGBT individuals to come,' said Ronald Wadley, who has been a member of Trinity since 1987, and has participated in the church's same-gender-loving ministry program. He said he has had nothing but positive experiences with the church and Wright.

Prior to coming to Trinity, Wadley said he was raised in a Baptist church that taught anti-gay messages. He applauds the leadership at Trinity for refusing to 'gay-bash from the pulpit.'

'I'm a very vocal, very political, African-American gay man, and being able to also go to church and worship God and not have to feel like I'm going to hell because of who I am and who God created me to be is very important,' Wadley added. 'What I love about Trinity is I never have to step in that door and wonder, 'Oh God, what's the pastor going to say about gay folks today that's not welcoming?'
Rev. Jeremiah Wright Gets LGBT Support

[tazber]

Posted: 8/24/09 at 12:25pm

It's only white gays that they hate.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 8/24/09 at 12:45pm

Bingo!

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 8/24/09 at 1:07pm

What is the churches' stance on same-sex marriage?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 8/24/09 at 2:18pm

The one in Iowa is against it.
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