Fun times for Marriage Equality.

[rivka]

Yesterday after work we went to the state capitol in Annapolis to lobby for GLBT rights with Equality Maryland. The two major issues on their agenda are marriage equality (particularly, defeating a proposed "Defense of Marriage" constitutional amendment) and adding transgendered people to the state anti-discrimination law. The crowd mostly seemed focused on the marriage issue, perhaps because Maryland has a right-to-marry lawsuit that has made it through the first round of the courts and gotten everyone fired up.





We did this event two years ago, and at that time it was much more of a march-and-rally, with high profile speakers like Alan Keyes' lesbian daughter and Matthew Shepherd's mother. This time the focus was very much on lobbying, and the rally was just to get people feeling energized and confident. We were even organized by legislative district as we stood around listening to the speakers.

After the rally, we went off in our district groups to meet with our legislators. Our district coordinator was not particularly coordinated; he hadn't managed to get us advance appointments. So we just went up to our delegates' and senator's offices and hoped they would see us. Two delegates were there and willing to meet with us. One told us, at length, that he was willing to give the issue a hearing but hadn't made up his mind. He said that he personally didn't discriminate, but that he was "a man of strong faith." I brought up the critical distinction between civil and religious marriage, and the fact that churches will always be able to refuse to perform gay marriages just as they can refuse to perform interfaith ones now. Another of our group mentioned that liberal churches which would like to perform gay marriages are currently forbidden by law to do so, and that this is a violation of their right to religious freedom. The other delegate we saw was brief and to the point: we had her vote, because "I'm too old to worry about what other people are doing with their lives." We left a note and literature packet for our other delegate and for our state senator, both of whom have strong GLBT-friendly voting records.

We went out for sushi afterward with telerib and another young woman who goes to our church, and had a magnificent dinner. Mmmm, sushi.

Alex was remarkably well-behaved all evening long, despite the strange setting and the disruption of her normal routine. She did have a tendency to want to break into "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" at the rally, but not loud enough to really disturb people. She loved carrying her little sign. She was quiet and calm in the legislators' offices, munching crackers or looking at a book. And at dinner she ate and played quietly at the table, allowing the rest of us to have an adult conversation. Go, Alex!

In other gay marriage news, last Sunday was our church's Marriage Equality banner dedication. Maybe 60 people showed up to church a half-hour early for the dedication, despite the extreme cold. I found myself wondering if our ministers wore ski jackets under their black robes.

Here's what the banner looks like close up.



And here's a nice ground-level shot of our imposing church facade, with the banner on display.



I whined to Michael in advance, "They're gonna make us sing "Gentle Angry People," and I wasn't wrong. But we also sang "We'll Build a Land" and "Hail the Glorious Golden City," which are two of my favorite hymns, so that was okay.

Here's a picture of the dedication service. Our ministers are at the center left (with the purple stoles). Next to them is our student intern minister, who spearheaded the banner effort. I think that's the choir over on the right.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

That's great. I love the picture of Alex with the sign.