Freedom to Marry's Top 10 Moments for Marriage in 2011

What a year! In 2011 Freedom to Marry scored a transformative triumph as we co-founded and co-led the coalition that helped secure the freedom to marry in New York; launched our federal campaign advancing the Respect for Marriage Act (the bill to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, "DOMA") and building support for marriage in the White House, Congress, and the courts; worked to defend marriage in Iowa and New Hampshire; and joined in teeing up other states while growing national support. As we gear up for 2012 and our strategies for gaining more ground in the campaign to win marriage nationwide, here's a look back at Freedom to Marry's Top Ten Moments for Marriage in 2011:

Personal note: I can't end the year, and these highlights for marriage, without noting that this year, too, like many loving and committed couples counting on the work of Freedom to Marry, I got to say, "I do." Does it feel different? You bet. To share our joy with our family and friends meant the world to my husband(!) and me, and even after 10 years together -- long engagement! -- we are still aglow from our wedding and the love and connectedness we celebrated... why marriage matters.

To learn more about what you can do to make 2012 an even better year for loving and committed couples nationwide, visit freedomtomarry.org.

 

Follow Evan Wolfson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/freedomtomarry

Comments

[Gyrlznluv]

11:58 AM on 12/19/2011

June 24, 2011 was a proud day for me!!!!! I was in the Capital Building just outside the senate chambers in Albany NY when the vote passed. It still brings tears to my eyes when I remember it. Looking forward to 2012!!!!!

[llisa]

12:27 AM on 12/17/2011

I looove the "It's Time" commercial with the couple going through the beginnings of their relationship leading to a proposal. That one makes me cry every time.

[Justin Werner]

11:13 PM on 12/17/2011

The real beauty of this video is how universal it is. Most everybody who has come to be in love with someone should be able to find something in this that echoes something of their own experiences. Doesn't matter if you're straight, gay, or whatever...

[llisa]

01:09 AM on 12/18/2011

Yes. That is what I see in it.

[Robert J. Feldman]

11:26 PM on 12/16/2011

It has been a VERY good year indeed....Thanks to My Husband

We met three years ago December 13, 2008

Married> July 7, 2009 (in CT)

First and Last Marriage No Matter What is Our Determination.

Marriage Matters the Most!

[Contact1972]

12:19 AM on 12/17/2011

That's sweet.

[danc09]

03:34 PM on 12/16/2011

As the song goes, it has been a very good year ...

[lovingthismoment50]

11:02 PM on 12/16/2011

They'll only get better! :)

[PerfumeisToxic]

10:14 AM on 12/16/2011

The anti marriage people don't care about marriage at all. All their arguments are just excuses. They care about having a useful group to bully. That's gay people. Therefore they need to keep gay people unequal so that they can safely get away with bullying and abusing them without consequences. They need to have someone to bully as this is the reward to their obedient followers who can derive pleasure from looking down on someone lower than themselves on the bully totem pole. So that they can feel better about their own frustrated obedient lives. It's all the psychology of power and manipulation. Gay people and women are the scapegoats for the frustrated masses in order to keep them satisfied and in line.

[pharmmajor]

07:30 AM on 12/16/2011

Gary Johnson is the only candidate who supports gay marriage.

[Contact1972]

11:50 AM on 12/16/2011

I believe Fred Karger does as well.

[Angel1999]

12:22 PM on 12/16/2011

True, but by virtue of running as a Republican he is totally irrelevant. Although I probably agree with him more than any of the other Republicans, he stands not a snowball's chance in hades of getting the nomination.

[CommonSenseAmerican]

07:01 AM on 12/16/2011

May I ask someone here who can answer......What are the specific points that Gays want to have happen in the "freedom to marry" movement? What I mean is, what do you want out of it that a civil union performed by the court or a court appointed "person" that you wouldn't get from a union with the word "marriage" in it?

I guess I've just never understood the reasoning.

[AdamWest1313]

07:58 AM on 12/16/2011

Equality. In this country, marriage is a right ever since Lawrence v. Virgina. If we deny homosexuals the right to marriage, we are saying they are not worthy of what we consider a right, and thus we create a group of second class citizens.

[troyrobertdavid]

09:48 AM on 12/16/2011

The word marriage implies a level of commitment to each other and recognition from the government, to use the term civil union implies something less. Homosexuals what people to understand that we are just like everyone else and when we decide to “get married” it means the same to us as it would to any other couple. The government does not recognize that level of commitment that we have to one another just as any other couple. We fight for the word marriage because that seems to be the only way to insure the same and equal rights under the law that any heterosexual married couple enjoys. Marriage is not just a level of commitment to each other it is also a legal bond that the government recognizes for many purposes.

[Valerie Keefe]

04:31 AM on 12/16/2011

You forgot to mention bumping an inclusive GENDA off the docket in New York, or the DADT repeal still allowing for the discharge of trans people.

As nice as it would be to marry my girlfriend, should the government disrespect our gender equally, the right to non-discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, access to medicine if I can pay for it, identity which doesn't imperil me when I'm required to produce it, and something so simple as not having to look at a public washroom with anxiety strike me as ever-so-slightly more important.

[yukoner1]

01:28 AM on 12/16/2011

Freedom to Marry's Top 10 Moments for Marriage in 2011. What is with the apostrophe?

[cenourinha]

11:29 AM on 12/16/2011

Freedom to Marry is the name of an organization working to achieve marriage equality. It's their list, ergo the apostrophe is possessive.

[zekleslikpaw]

01:22 AM on 12/16/2011

"the exclusion of loving and committed same-sex couples"
committed - yes, but loving? So the government is now in the business of love?

[Angel1999]

12:17 PM on 12/16/2011

Good point

[grilledturbot]

12:51 AM on 12/16/2011

#11. OccupyGap

I mean why not?

[Contact1972]

12:30 AM on 12/16/2011

I am always happy when there's progress. I just wish there could have been more done for binational couples. It seems the UAFA has been abandoned which means until DOMA is deemed unconstitutional by SCOTUS, binational couples are incredibly vulnerable.

[cenourinha]

11:34 AM on 12/16/2011

which is why I think #8 (first republican co sponsor to the Respect for Marriage act) is closer to the top of my list, along with #2 itself (Obama admin declaring DOMA.

Soon brother.

[Contact1972]

12:19 PM on 12/16/2011

I agree-soon cannot happen fast enough though.