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 Marriage Equality
Last June Spencer Clark (wearing fedora) marched in Washington DC with his family and other Mormons in support of marriage equality |
 Guy & Trey's yard sign: Thank you, Maryland, for voting Yes on Question 6 |
Anxiously Engaged in a Good Cause
A Mormon Coalition of Allies Was Key in Helping Advance Marriage Equality in Four States
by Hugo Salinas
December 2012
Last month’s elections included decisions made by four states (Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington) on the issue marriage equality. You may already know that the people of those four states voted against discrimination and in favor of equality; what you may not know is that a network of progressive Latter-day Saints played an important role in that outcome:-
Last summer, a group of Latter-day Saints organized Mormons for Marriage Equality. They put their time, money, and energy into promoting marriage equality among Mormons, launching a new website and producing banners and other materials which were used in Pride events held across the country. In Washington state, Mormons for Marriage Equality worked with a local coalition of Catholics and other people of faith.
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In Maryland, Spencer W. Clark of Mormons for Marriage Equality also worked with a wide coalition in support of Question 6, a referendum on the Civil Marriage Protection Act recently enacted by the legislature. The measure received 52 percent of the vote, including 25 percent of Maryland’s Republicans.
- In Minnesota, Affirmation member John Gustav-Wrathall worked with other people of faith to successfully persuade voters to reject Amendment 1, which would have written marriage discrimination into the state constitution. John is the only Mormon in this list with a same-sex spouse: Scott, Sarabeth and Clark are heterosexually married.
“I know that from the perspective of many people in this country, what I have -- a committed, 20-year-long relationship with a man, and a home that has sheltered and that we hope will continue to shelter foster or adoptive children -- many don't consider to be a family,” wrote John in a blog entry. “ But in that relationship, in this home, I have experienced love, nurture and healing, I have learned about sacrifice and patience. I have cared for others and seen them thrive ever more fully into their potentials; and their love for me has enabled me to reach heights I never could have reached on my own.”
And what are the fruits of this historic vote?
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In Seattle, the day after the election, Affirmation member Johnny Townsend announced that his partner Gary proposed. Both of them served LDS missions in Rome, and they are planning to wed next year on their sixth anniversary. Although Johnny was excommunicated, he says he still keeps his triple combination on a bookshelf above his desk, along with his hymnbook and his Italian missionary discussions. “I still pray, and I still fast for many things,” he wrote in Religion Dispatches, “including acceptance, equality and understanding.”
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In Maine, Jeremiah Miner and Ammon Whigham, who are engaged to each other and grew up Mormon, celebrated the passing of marriage equality in that state. “When it was announced that ‘Yes on 1’ had passed, Ammon and I just sat and cried,” Jeremiah told the Bangor Daily News. “I had family members texting me congratulations for the next few days. We both grew up in a state and culture that made us think it would never be possible for us to live as a couple.”
- In Maryland, Affirmation members Trey Lathe and Guy Berryessa, who married in 2004 and are the parents of two daughters, doctored their “Vote for 6” sign to read, “Thank You!”
Thank you, indeed! We couldn’t have said it any better.
“People should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; for the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as they do good, they shall in nowise lose their reward.” (Adapted from D&C 58: 27-28).
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