MARIBETH AND JEAN: A couple gets married and accepted by their family.
JILL JOHNSON-YOUNG: A California woman talks about the joy of marrying her wife, and their family's pain of losing her when she died.
FOUR COUPLES: The true meaning of marriage– love, commitment and family.
NEIGHBORS: Darrick and Kate tell how they've learned that letting gay people get married fits in with the values that they want to teach their own children.
Freedom to Marry today announced 'Why Marriage Matters', a $10 million public education effort that's being launched with a Valentine's Day ad buy on CNN featuring the 'Four Couples' ad you see above. The other ads are part of the campaign.
They write:
"Freedom to Marry analyzed over 85 data-sets representing 6 years of research to develop messages that are proven to be effective in swaying public opinion around marriage. In particular, the data showed that people who have had conversations with their gay and lesbian friends about why marriage matters to them are more likely to support the freedom to marry. By shifting the conversation from a focus on rights to a conversation about shared values of love and commitment, support for the freedom to marry grows. In partnership with local and state groups, the Why Marriage Matters campaign will include a variety of mixed media advertising, including TV, radio, and online ads."
To accompany the campaign, the group has launched the site WhyMarriageMatters.org, which features stories, facts, and online resources about marriage equality.
Said Freedom to Marry founder Evan Wolfson: “Across the country the thinking of many Americans, from the president to the people next door, continues to – as President Obama put it – ‘evolve' toward support for same-sex couples joining in the freedom to marry. Freedom to Marry's team has crunched over a decade's worth of polling data and field experience to crack the code on moving the reachable but not yet reached. By engaging friends, families, and neighbors in personal conversations about why marriage matters, each of us can help fair-minded people wrestling with a lack of information and uncertainty, and change hearts and minds.”
