Forwarded to me from PFLAG- LI I hope you take the time to watch this short film which has a poignant message. Subject: Marriage Equality -Cannes Film Festival screened Until We Could Please view the link on this page.....It says it all ! Pflag Long Island Video Link: youtu.be/Po9L684vzzw Earlier this month, the 7th Circuit federal court of appeals joined nearly 40 other state and federal courts in ruling for the freedom to marry (the opinion by the eminent Judge Posner was a must-read tour de force take down of the last shreds of arguments made by our opponents – don’t miss it!). We have now won freedom to marry cases in all three of the federal appeals courts that have ruled so far. While the momentum in the courts of law and court of public opinion is irrefutable, we still have not won the freedom to marry for the majority of gay people. Every day, couples and families in 31 states still live with the indignity, injustice, and injuries inflicted upon them by marriage discrimination. That’s why Freedom to Marry will not stop until we have achieved the goal we have been seeking from the very beginning: nationwide victory through a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Our primary focus for months now has been driving two themes: America is ready for the freedom to marry (Supreme Court, you can do this!), and every day of denial is a day of prolonged, needless, and real unfairness and harm (Supreme Court, you should do this now!). Freedom to Marry has shaped the national conversation by finding and sharing the real life stories of couples and families experiencing tangible harms as well as highlighting the support of unexpected allies and messengers like Republicans and young Evangelicals. We are always on the look out for compelling stories, diverse messengers, and creative ways of making the case for ending marriage discrimination nationwide now. That is why we jumped at the chance to work with U.S. Presidential Inaugural Poet, Richard Blanco. Richard Blanco Richard made history as the first Latino, first immigrant, and first gay poet to speak at a presidential inauguration. When he read his poem, One Today, at President Obama’s second inauguration in January 2013, he followed in the footsteps of such greats as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou. Even though Richard has been inundated with hundreds of requests for his work ever since, he agreed to create an original poem, Until We Could, in honor of Freedom to Marry’s decade of accomplishments, joining us in celebrating the meaning of marriage and the need to secure the freedom to marry for all loving and committed couples throughout our country. After reading Until We Could, Sundance filmmakers and award winners, David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) and Yen Tan (Pit Stop), offered to create a short film adaptation of the poem. Featuring the stories of six couples at different stages of life, the film was narrated by actors Ben Foster (Lone Survivor) and Robin Wright (House of Cards). The beautiful film was screened at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and shown at the national LGBT film festival, OutFest, in July. And this Sunday, The Daily Beast will debut the poem and short film to its online audience of more than 17 million unique visitors each month. Before the poem and film land on the national stage, I wanted to share it with you. Those of you who attended our 10th anniversary celebration in New York last April got to glimpse it first (and witness the tears and smiles it evoked). For those of you who couldn’t join us and for those who did, I’m excited to share it with you here now, in anticipation of our putting it out into the world. It’s a work of art and moral witness that pays tribute to Freedom to Marry – the work we are all doing together – and to the profound importance of opening hearts and winning marriage nationwide. I hope you will enjoy this special treat and unique gift from some of our country’s most talented artists, and then help us bring it to as many people as possible, in as many places as we can. It’s stories like this, voices like these, truths like ours – that is how we are going to win. --Evan
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 17:34:53 +0000
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