Talking Marriage Equality this Holiday Season

OutFront Minnesota, Minnesotans United for All Families and Freedom to Marry have produced a great Holiday Conversation Kit to help folks talk about marriage equality with family and friends around the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner table. (My Catholic readers may also be interested in Catholics for Marriage Equality MN's Tips for Speaking as a Catholic in Support of Marriage Equality.)

Following is how OutFront MN's Organizing and Policy Director Chris Stinson introduces and explains the Holiday Conversation Kit.

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Thousands of pro-equality champions are heading home for the holidays. If you're not exactly looking forward to the conversation turning to the anti-marriage amendment you are not alone.

But this is an opportunity that we can't afford to miss. The single most important action you can take is to start a conversation about why marriage matters to you. How else will your friends and family know that defeating the constitutional amendment is important to someone they love?

We know it can be difficult, but it's worthwhile. That's why we've prepared some materials if you feel like you could use some help:

Download our holiday conversation kit and commit to talk with 10 friends and family about why marriage matters in Minnesota this Holiday Season.

Also, if you haven't already read our booklet Speaking from Faith for Marriage Equality, I really recommend it if you anticipate having a discussion with relatives for whom faith or religion is very important.

These conversations make a big difference: people who've talked to someone they know and trust about marriage equality are much more likely to support marriage for same-sex couples.

Not all Minnesotans have thought about how harmful a constitutional amendment banning marriage for same-sex couples might be for our state. We can't afford a Minnesota where our marriages may never be recognized: where you and the love of your life could be treated as strangers even after 5, 10, or 25 years of commitment to each other.

Defeating the amendment will not only be a huge achievement for marriage equality and all the couples and families it would have impacted, it will energize all other areas of work being done to bring full equality to Minnesota. Similarly, if we fail, the road to full equality for LGBT Minnesotans becomes much longer and more difficult.

Will you start a conversation with your family and friends?

– Chris Stinson
Organizing and Policy Director
OutFront Minnesota

Related Off-site Link:
Dale Carpenter on How to Talk About the Amendment at Thanksgiving – TheColu.mn (November 22, 2011).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Javen Swanson: "Don't Get Disappointed, Get Organized"
Mary Bednarowski on the Power of Our Stories
Quote of the Day – November 1, 2011
The Minneapolis (and Online) Premiere of Catholics for Marriage Equality
Responding to Bishop Tobin's Remarks on Gay Marriage
Joseph O'Leary Responds to Carson Holloway's Arguments Against Gay Marriage
Two Attorneys Discuss Same-Sex Marriage
Catholic Attitudes on Gay and Lesbian Issues: An Overview
A Catholic Statement of Support for Same-Sex Marriage

Image: Photographer unknown.