Check it out! These stunning print advertisements are appearing in ethnic media across the state. (Click on the ads to view them in a larger format.)

One ad features Patricia Flores and her grandson, Jesse, talking about why she supports the freedom to marry. It emphasizes that Latino families support their LGBTQ family members, and that no one should face discrimination when they hope to marry the person they love. This ad is running in La Raza, La Voz, and El Sol de Yakima

The second ad features Khương and her daughter, Cúc. It emphasizes Khương’s love for her daughter, and how happy she is that Cúc has found someone who loves her and will take care of her. It also speaks to the immigrant experience in America, reflecting that in the land of freedom, the freedom to marry the person you love means so much.

Have you heard the ads playing on Spanish radio? Click here and here to listen. Click here to read the script translation in English.

These ads are part of the Why Marriage Matters ongoing public education effort in communities of color to make the case for marriage for gay and lesbian couples across Washington. With your help, we’re changing hearts and minds statewide, but our message can only be as powerful as our ability to share them far and wide.

Be one of the first to use Facebook, Twitter and email tools below to share it with your friends!

Thanks to Western States Center for leading the work in communities of color.

The post Love and Commitment: Why Marriage Matters in Communities of Color appeared first on Why Marriage Matters Washington.

Families have been at the front lines of the campaign to defend the freedom to marry for all Washingtonians, and it’s time to celebrate our solidarity with a fun-filled day at the zoo!

Pride Foundation presents Families United for Marriage: LGBTQ Day at the Zoo at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo in support of the freedom to marry on Saturday, October 13^th from 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM. A free adult and child ticket will be given to the first 50 families to join us. Free t-shirts, snacks, and face painting will be available for everyone! All families are welcome.

Enter at the South Gate to pick up your free tickets and then join us at the Beech Grove.  Additional tickets may be purchased at ticket windows:  Adults $11.75; Kids 3-12 $8.50; Kids 0-2 Free.  And don’t forget to RSVP on Facebook!

The post Join us at the Zoo! appeared first on Why Marriage Matters Washington.

What I want more than anything for my children is love and happiness. Whether or not they become successful by the world’s standards means little. What I wish for them is a life that is full, work that is fulfilling and true love.  From the looks of things, both of my boys are interested in the opposite sex. As they grow and mature this may prove to be the case, or it may not. Either way my feelings and wishes for them will remain the same.

My children do not see any reason why there should be laws against same-sex couples marrying. It seems silly to them. Of course if you love someone and want to marry them, you should be able to! Why not? And I must tell them it is because some find it unacceptable and believe it should not be allowed. This makes no sense to them and I am left wondering why it makes sense to anyone.

I grew up in a fundamental Christian home. I learned that marriage was between one man and one woman. I was encouraged to date and I did so from an early age. I was a good Christian girl who went to church regularly, read her Bible and said her prayers. I was engaged by the time I was sixteen years old. I married my high school sweetheart at eighteen, and we remained married for nearly twenty two years. I believe I had a good marriage. I loved my husband and my life.

Sudden and unexpected circumstances led to the demise of my marriage.  Practically overnight I was left to pick up the pieces of our lives. Yet somehow through all of the pain and sadness, I was fortunate to come out the other side a wiser, more thoughtful and enlightened woman. I have had an opportunity to discover who I really am.

I do not fault my religious upbringing for my failed marriage. I do not believe that all I learned was evil or wrong. What I do believe is that I was not given the freedom to truly become the woman I was meant to be. There were no other options for me, even though I always knew these feelings were buried somewhere inside.

Now at almost forty one years old, I am in love with a woman. She makes me very happy and I make her happy. Despite warnings from people opposed to same sex relationships, my children are not worse for the wear because I have a girlfriend. If anything I would say the opposite is true. They feel loved, supported and secure. My happiness and well-being makes them happy, too.

My hope is that one day there will no longer be heterosexual marriage or same sex marriage, but just plain marriage. I hope that all children will be free to grow up to be who they are meant to be and to love whomever they want to love. I hope that children of same sex couples will not be left feeling less than, or different from children of heterosexual couples. Marriage does matter, and it is time to make it available to ALL loving and committed couples.

The post What I Want For My Children appeared first on Why Marriage Matters Washington.

Do you find yourself wishing you could respond to attacks on the freedom for all loving couples to marry? We see them on television, in the newspaper, and even hear them from people we know.  Well guess what?  You can respond – in your local newspaper.  Letters to the editor are brief opinions on articles that have appeared in the paper, that are written by everyday citizens just like you.  Op-eds are longer pieces that detail an opinion on a current issue. Believe it or not, letters to the editor are one of the most read sections of many publications.  It’s important that we get our voices out there on this issue!

Here are a few things to remember when writing a letter to the editor or op-ed:

• Stay on point.
  It’s easy to go down the proverbial rabbit hole and find yourself throwing everything but the kitchen sink into your argument.  Choose one point to discuss and back it up with a personal story.

• Keep it positive and inclusive.
  Avoid name-calling, using a language of “us” and “them,” and using acronyms that might not make sense to everyone, like “LGBT.”

• Only submit your writing to one paper.
  Editors like to print content that is unique to their publication.

The next step is to find your local paper here.  Keep an eye out for articles you’d like to respond to with a letter to the editor, and check out the paper’s guidelines for op-eds on their website.  You’ll find more tips here and a great example of an op-ed here. If you have questions or need help with your op-ed or letter to the editor, please email laurie@pridefoundation.org.

The post Write a Letter to the Editor or an Op-Ed appeared first on Why Marriage Matters Washington.

My husband, Keith and I have been married for 33 years. Marriage is a lot of hard work, but it’s worth it. When you find someone you love, that you can be with, that just completes you. Keith and I know how much our marriage means to us. That’s why we we’ve been excited to see more conversation taking place about the importance of marriage equality throughout Washington state.

When Keith and I were growing up, we didn’t know much about gay people, and we certainly never thought about same-sex couples getting married. Over the years, like most families, we have gotten to know many gay and lesbian people: family members, people we work with, and members of our church.

When our own son Khalil told us he was gay, there wasn’t any hesitation for us: We love him for who he is. Given our family structure, we only considered what this would mean to Khalil; it didn’t change or alter how we felt about him. Khalil was conceived in love and basks in that love today, not only from his family but also from the special person in his life.

When we spend time around Khalil and his partner, we’re always so touched by their clear love for each other. They are there for each other for the long haul, in sickness and in health. Watching them reminds us of our own relationship. It’s made us realize that all committed couples, whether gay or straight, share similar reasons for wanting to marry — to make a lifetime promise to each other and to share the joys and challenges that life brings.

Read the rest of Antoinette’s letter.

Antoinette Edwards lives with her husband in Vancouver. Along with their son Khalil, they are co-founders of the Black Chapter of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (http://www.pflag.org).

The post PFLAG Mom Says Yes to the Freedom to Marry appeared first on Why Marriage Matters Washington.

Join us in sharing our stories about why marriage matters with the people in our lives.

If you’re planning to talk to your mother about why the freedom to marry matters to you, you’re not alone.  For 30% of those who have pledged to talk to five people in their lives, mom was the first person they thought of.

You’re all out there talking to your…

• boyfriends
• girlfriends
• coworkers
• brothers
• sisters
• grandmas
• and grandpas
• Your Gay Straight Alliance at school
• Your uncles
• your BFF
• and your children

The post Share Your Story: Take the “Talk to Five” Pledge appeared first on Why Marriage Matters Washington.

As Pride Foundation’s public education TV ads wind down, we continue to encourage all our supporters to have private conversations with friends, family, and colleagues. These conversations are critical in opening hearts and changing minds around the freedom to marry.

To support you in having these conversations, we’ve organized several September Marriage Happy Hours in Seattle. These informal events build on the resources found at www.WhyMarriageMattersWashington.org to help you with tips on how to reach out to the people in your life.

Please join us in starting these important conversations about marriage as we grow our community of allies that share our values and belief in LGBTQ equality. Please RSVP here for the happy hour you’d like to attend!

Monday, September 17
5:30-7:00 PM
Flying Fish
300 Westlake Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109 (South Lake Union)
Facebook event page

Tuesday, September 18
5:30-7:00 PM
The Escala
1920 Fourth Avenue
Seattle, WA  98101 (Belltown)
Facebook event page

Thursday, September 20
6:00-7:30  PM
Hudson
5000 East Marginal Way South
Seattle, WA 98134 (Georgetown)
Facebook event page

The post Marriage Equality Happy Hours appeared first on Why Marriage Matters Washington.

Lindsay O’Neil is a Pride Foundation Parent Ambassador, sharing her story as a straight ally in order to change hearts and minds.  This post originally appeared on the blog Mommyhood to Hollywood.

I have two beautiful little girls, one three and one under a year old. They make me laugh, smile, cry and want to pull my hair out on a daily basis. They are my reason for breathing.

When my oldest was born I immediately became hyper-aware of the fragility of our lives, and like any first-timer, I panicked about the tiniest things. Was she sleeping on her back? Did we swaddle her tightly enough? Was she getting enough to eat? It’s amazing how easy it is to get lost in the haze of worry, and yet, as I mentioned, these are the tiny things.

I often get asked in conversation to weigh-in on all the “controversial” parenting topics, such as whether to immunize or not immunize, breastfeeding vs. formula feeding, and even topics like co-sleeping and the family bed. Maybe I get asked these type of questions because I have a mom blog, or perhaps because I am a mom of two. However, I think it’s because these are the things that keep parents of young children up at night and so everyone’s looking for answers. We are so worried that we might get it wrong, that by choosing one parenting style over another we’ll have ultimately ruined our children forever. Can we be any harder on ourselves? Yet with all the questions I get asked about on various topics, I find it strange that few people have asked my opinion on one of the biggest hot-button issues out there and that’s the freedom to marry.

Despite the historic importance of this issue, I don’t consider it to be particularly controversial, although I know it is, and I’m not writing about it to be political either. In fact, that is the opposite of my intention. Let me explain further, see I aim to write this article simply from my perspective as a mother, not as an activist or as a left wing or right wing, but simply as a mom.

You see, on a day-to-day basis I can easily find myself stressing over the little things I mentioned earlier. It’s not difficult to get sucked into the mommy wars over infant feedings and sleep arrangements.  However, I also find myself concerned with the things we have not yet faced in our little nuclear family. I worry about the day my ladybug encounters mean girls in middle school. I worry about being able to afford college. I worry about genetically altered food and buying only organic produce. More importantly, I worry about my girls growing up to stand up for what they believe in, about them dreaming big, and taking risks, and through all of that, about them being able to find and marry, someone that loves them and wants to create a family with them.

As parents, we want the best for our children. I am no different. I want my girls to have every freedom imaginable. I will fly to the moon and back to get it, and every mother I know would do the same for their children. It’s what we are programmed to do, to want the absolute best for our little ones.

I don’t know what the future has in store for my ladybug and jellybean. I don’t know what they’ll be when they grow up. I don’t know where they’ll go to college, and I don’t know who they’ll fall in love with. What I do know is that when those days come, I don’t want anything standing in their way. I don’t want anyone or any law telling them they can’t be who they are or love who they love.

I implore each and every parent reading this article to think about your children. Think about all the hopes and dreams that you have for them. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all our children were given the same opportunities? Don’t we want all parents to know that their children have the security that marriage brings to a family? When we take our last breath, don’t we want to know that our kids have a husband or wife to take care of them? In the end, we all want love, happiness and security for our children.

The post Mommy Thoughts on Marriage Equality appeared first on Why Marriage Matters Washington.

It also turns out that the term can be downright confusing.

Last month Brittney Leon checked into Spring Valley Hospital in ­­­Las Vegas, Nevada because of complications in her pregnancy. Though they had a legal document proving their domestic partnership, her partner Terri-Ann was denied permission to be by her side in her hospital room. The couple was told they would need to secure power of attorney in order for Terri-Ann to be able to be there for Brittney.

And here we are at another legal term that means nothing to most of us. Power of attorney? What is that? And how does one acquire such a thing? Furthermore, how does one get something like this at the spur of the moment, during an extremely stressful event?

Nevada has the same domestic partnership law that we have here in Washington State: The rights of domestic partners are theoretically the same as those of married couples. I say “theoretically” because, though they may look identical on paper, the reality – as Brittney and Terri-Ann have just experienced – is that these rights are not always doled out equally.

It all comes down to this: domestic partnerships are not enough.

During the difficult times in life, when you’re scared and sad, who do you want by your side? I want my partner there, and so did Brittney Leon. If she had had a marriage license instead of a domestic partnership, that would’ve happened.

The post What’s in a Name? appeared first on Why Marriage Matters Washington.

Visit Why Marriage Matters Washington’s website to learn more about how to start a conversation about the freedom to marry.

Join us for inspiring workshops on having faithful conversations about marriage with friends, family, and people in your faith community as a way to build awareness and support for loving and committed couples around marriage for same-sex couples.

You’ll have the opportunity to:

• Hear the latest good news on how effective conversations are; and that effective conversations may be easier to have than you think!
• Learn helpful language and  work to make them your own.
• Learn ways to help motivate others to have these conversations.
• Network and learn from each others’ ideas.

We hope you’ll leave the workshop inspired, confident, and ready to talk to people you know about our shared values of love, commitment, family, and marriage. If you plan on attending this event please RSVP to Aubrey Thonvold at aubrey@pridefoundation.org or 206.778.0924. We hope you can make it to one of the following workshops .

The post Faith Community Workshops appeared first on Why Marriage Matters Washington.