Meeker responds: “Because I imagine there are a lot of heterosexual couples who say actually marriage is about love and commitment.”
“It was looking for that statement that a lot of people could nod their heads to,” says Zepatos. “It wasn’t about who was participating in the marriage, it was about what it really stands for. And we were trying to elevate that conversation.”
Part of what they came up with was not only this discourse about love and commitment, but Thalia and her team articulated what they called the journey narrative. And this was the idea that it was possible for people to change their position on an issue, while staying true to their own core values.
The Freedom to Marry team even worked with President Obama to get him to announce his support of same-sex marriage in 2012. In an interview with Robin Roberts on ABC News, Obama used the journey narrative when describing his gradual realization that same-sex marriage was the right answer.
“Over the course of several years, as I talked to friends and family and neighbors,” said Obama. “When I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed, monogamous relations, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together. When I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors out there fighting on my behalf and yet, feel constrained — even though “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is gone — because they’re not able to commit themselves in a marriage. At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
It was the first time he announced his support for same-sex marriage.
“Right, yeah,” said Meeker. “Remember, it was this thing when Joe Biden kind of got ahead of himself and announced his support of it and then Obama came out within a week or two. He was debating whether he wanted to do it before or after the election. But I think there was consensus in his camp that they would actually benefit by doing it before the election and so that’s what happened.”
Since the court ruling in 2015 that legalized same-sex marriage, public support for it continues to climb. Last year, the Pew Research Center reported that 62 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, while only 32 percent oppose it.
And it’s thanks to a determined group of idealistic realists who knew what it took to create lasting social change.
The interviews conducted by Meeker for the Freedom to Marry Oral History Project are available on the Oral History Center’s website. Learn more about the Freedom to Marry campaign at freedomtomarry.org.
Pages: 1 · 2
More Articles
- Sheila Pepe, Textile Artist: My Neighbor’s Garden .... In Madison Square Park, NYC
- Jo Freeman Reviews: The Moment: Changemakers on Why and How They Joined the Fight for Social Justice
- Jo Freeman's Review of Yippie Girl: Exploits in Protest and Defeating the FBI
- Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Statement on Supreme Court Ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
- Attorney General Garland Delivers Remarks at the National Association of Attorneys General
- Jo Freeman Reviews: Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue: A Life’s Work Fighting for a More Perfect Union By Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Amanda Tyler
- Jo Freeman Reviews From Preaching to Meddling: A White Minister in the Civil Rights Movement
- Jo Freeman Reviews It’s In The Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior by C. T. Vivian with Steve Fiffer
- The Scout Report: Civil Rights Toolkit; Be All Write; Plants Are Cool, Too; NextStrain; Women'n Art; 500 Years of Women In British Art
- Jo Freeman's Review of Gil Venable's Mississippi & After: A Life in Equal Justice Law