It’s heating up friends as I told you it would — the freedom to marry is this year’s hot button gay issue. Keep your eyes peeled because it’s going to get intense.

Here’s the blow by blow:

In January radical and homophobic institutions (in-state and out-of-state) have hired signature gathering firms to go after the 694,354 signatures they will need to put a measure on the ballot defining marriage as a union between a “single man” and a “single woman.”

On February 6th, the California Supreme Court announced they would hear oral arguments for the case challenging the practice of excluding same-sex couples to marry.

This week, New Jersey released a study they did on civil-unions stating that they are not giving gays and lesbians the equality and legal protections the State had expected they would. The report said gays and lesbians are treated like “second-class citizens.”

Now, the gay community has organized an effort to fight back against the multi-million dollar campaign launched against us by the homophobic coalitions “Protect Marriage” and “Vote Yes for Marriage” (you know, the 694,354 signatures discussed above). The campaign is called Equality for All and they’ve revealed that “over the summer extremist forces filed 5 measures that could potentially qualify for the 2008 ballot. Some of these initiatives would exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage in our state and would repeal all domestic partnership protections in state law.”

I urge you to look at their website and see what you can do to help. Though I’ve often volunteered with California’s freedom to marry campaigns, I admit it isn’t my top issue of concern. I am single and likely to remain so if I keep working the kind of hours I do. But — if we wish to be treated as equals, it’s imperative that we fight for the rights of our brothers and sisters as well as those that are directly related to us. These coalitions have much more money and many more people at their disposal than we do — but that has not stopped us in the past from beating them. Our community is strong and we are fighting for freedom not for hatred. So get ready for the great 2008 fight for freedom that is about to unfold and visit Equality for All to do all you can to help.

Tags:Equality for All, freedom to marry

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Matt Falber is the Editor-in-Chief of Real Gay L.A. Matt was formerly an editorial assistant at Frontiers Magazine. He served as a regular contributing writer for Frontiers for two years and also wrote for IN Los Angeles, its sister publication. Matt has a flare for the arts and when we don't have him chained to his desk, he can be seen singing and acting in various L.A. venues.
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