There are important ballot initiatives regarding same gender marriage in these states, and Presbyterians and other people of faith have been working together for months to help change hearts and minds.
If you have not yet added your voice, it’s not too late. Do you have any friends or family members in these four states? Please, please, please read the voter chart below, educate yourself about the initiatives, and call them this evening. Sharing your own personal story is the best way to effect change. Tell them why this is important to you, how it would affect your life if you lived in their state, or how it affects people you know and love in that state.
Your story, your voice, your phone call could make an important difference in justice for LGBT people. Please plan to call someone tonight.
Voter Chart for Calling Friends and Relatives
Mainers, vote YES on Question 1
Marylanders, vote FOR Question 6
Washingtonians, vote to APPROVE Referendum 74
Minnesotans, vote NO on the marriage amendment
You may also use the Human Rights Campaign Call4Equality tool which integrates with your Facebook Profile.
“For the first time in American history,” writes Elizabeth Dias in Time today, “voters in three states are poised to legalize gay marriage via popular vote.”
So far, only state legislatures and courts have sanctified same-sex marriage–it has failed to pass every time it has appeared on a U.S. ballot. All that could change Tuesday, when voters in Maryland, Washington and Maine are expected to approve gay marriage via referendum.
Gay marriage advocates say the stakes could not be higher. “We think we are at a turning point, and while we believe that civil rights should not be put to a vote, now that we are in this we need to win,” says Brian Ellner, co-founder of The Four 2012, a campaign to support gay marriage in Maryland, Washington, Maine and Minnesota, where a constitutional amendment is on the ballot to define marriage as between one man and one woman. “In order to make our case to the Supreme Court, in order to continue to make our case to public officials and others who support us, we need to prove in at least one of these states that we can win a popular vote.”
Your calls can help make history!