It's Freedom to Marry Month. Take some action!

MECAMail!© Marriage Equality California,
a project of Equality California Institute
http://www.marriageequalityca.org and http://www.eqca.org
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"Marriage, Anything Less Is Less Than Equal"
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February is Freedom to Marry Month and it is a great time to focus on increasing
awareness and understanding of the importance of civil marriage rights for everyone
regardless of gender. Take action, write letters, come out to more people as lgbt
or as an ally on this issue, speak from the heart whenever possible, donate money,
call in your Valentine dedication on radio shows, get the bumper sticker on your car
or T-shirt on your back, publicly celebrate your anniversary, host a fundraiser, do
whatever you can ….

Our Alameda County has a number of organized opportunities to learn more and take
action. Please join us in any or all of the following.

CALL TO ACTION: MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW FOR NOON ON FEBRUARY 14TH.
Protest against marriage discrimination by requesting a marriage license to honor
your same-sex relationship. Couples will be doing this in counties throughout
California. Let’s meet outside the Alameda County Clerk-Recorder’s Office at 1106
Madison Ave (between 11th and 12th Streets) in Oakland, on Valentine’s Day, Monday,
February 14, 2005 at noon. Please be there by noon and let’s go in together. This
won’t take very long, but it is important that we ask for our rights and that the
discrimination be visible. If no one asks, it seems no one is being denied. Please,
if you can, reply here and tell us that you will be there!

LEARN MORE:
Wednesday, February 9, at 7:00 PM: Documentary Film Screening of “Freedom to Marry”
at UC Berkeley, sponsored by Cal Berkeley Democratic Club. Panel discussion with
filmmakers Carmen Goodyear and Laurie York, Equality California Assoc. Executive
Director Molly McKay, and author of “Why You Should Give a Damn About Gay Marriage,”
Dr. Davina Kotulski. 145 Dwinelle Hall, UC Berkeley campus.

Sunday, Feb. 13th – Services on marriage equality at many local religious
congregations –
First Unitarian Church of Oakland
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Fremont
Starr King Unitarian Universalist Church

Thursday, February 17, 5:30-6:30 PM, Assemblyman Mark Leno, sponsor of the
“Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act (AB19), will give the Martin
Luther King, Jr. Annual LGBT Civil Rights Talk sponsored by Queer Issues in Public
Policy, the UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly, and the Goldman School of Public Policy.
Leno will discuss the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights
movement and how it relates to the current LGBT movement. Living Room of the Goldman
School of Public Policy, 2607 Hearst Street ("old" building), University of
California, Berkeley.

Following the presentation: come to celebrate Freedom to Marry Month and the
anniversaries of many marriages and the historic jump forward that happened in
February last year. We will be gathering at Jupiter Bar, 2181 Shattuck at Center St.
in downtown Berkeley, across the street from the main Berkeley BART station.
Thursday, Feb. 17th, 6:30-8:30.


Sunday, February 20th at 6:30 PM: Social and TV viewing
Please join Linton Johnson and Jeff Winkler as they host the gay marriage episode of
The Simpson’s. Someone on the show will be coming out and Homer will be cashing in
on “doing gay marriages.” These kinds of shows are always fun to watch with a group
of people, especially like-minded ones. So let Linton and Jeff (who happen to be one
of the couples featured in the documentary “Freedom to Marry”) know if you can make
it. Send an email to slu_bsba_97 [at] yahoo.com and they will email you directions to
their home in the Oakland hills. The show starts at 7:00. So come a little early
and be ready to watch.
A donation of $5 or more is requested which will go to Equality California and
benefit us all.

Thursday, February 24 at 6 PM – Mary C. Dunlap Memorial Lecture
Same Sex Marriage and Beyond: What Now?
Featuring Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, and Professor
Paisley Currah, Brooklyn College.
Sponsored by the Center for Social Justice
Boalt Hall, Goldberg Room
For more information, Call 510-642-6969