Section 3 & 4: Community Mobilization & Media

Section 3: Community Mobilization

A. ACLU survey form for couples with stories

B. Engaged Till It’s Legal, Action Wisconsin

C. Sample legislative alert on constitutional amendment to ban marriage for same-sex couples

D. Sample letter to community leaders soliciting their support for marriage equality

E. Organizing manual for adoption of domestic partnership policies

F. Why the Constitutional Ban on Civil Unions and Marriage Is Wrong, Action Wisconsin

G. PRIDE AT WORK Marriage Center - AFL-CIO

Section 4: Media Outreach

A. Resource packet for media training of same-sex couples with compelling stories

  • Tips for TV or Radio Interviews
  • Bridges & Transitions to Get Back to Your Message
  • Media Tips

B. GET EQUAL resources

  1. “Working with the Media”
  2. “Media Appearances”

C. Sample op-eds

  1. “Midlands Voices: Marital Amendment Would Discriminate,” Tim Butz (Executive Director, ACLU-Nebraska); Omaha World Herald
  2. Tamara Lange (ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project) and Shannon Minter (National Center for Lesbian Rights) - makes the case for striking down California’s discriminatory marriage laws; unpublished
  3. “Our Family’s Struggle for Marriage Rights,” Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis (Missouri natives married in San Francisco) - emphasizes link between marriage equality and interracial marriage struggles; unpublished
  4. “Our Family Deserves Equal Rights,” William and Martha Lewis (parents of a gay man who was married in San Francisco) - emphasizes the harm when gay couples are not able to marry due to MO anti-marriage-equality law; unpublished
  5. Denise Lieberman (Legal Director, ACLU of Eastern Missouri) - opposing Missouri’s anti-marriage-equality constitutional amendment
  6. “Discrimination is Not an American Value,” John Knight (ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project) - supporting marriage equality and opposing FMA; Springfield [IL] State Journal Register
  7. Lawmakers Must Consider Issues Before Voting on Same-Sex Marriage - Sara Shepard, ACLU of Idaho Board member
  8. "For Gay and Lesbian Couples, a New Wrinkle at Tax Time" - Judith E. Schaeffer, People for the American Way. USA TODAY

© 2005 American Civil Liberties Union Lesbian and Gay Rights Project