Photo by ScubabenVolunteers with D.C. for Marriage met at the D.C. Center late last week to outline early strategies for engaging churches, universities and the black community in conversations about gay marriage in anticipation of a bill expected before the D.C. Council later this year.
Chair Michael Crawford said the group will do the kind of grassroots bridge-building that many feel California’s “No on 8” campaign lacked.
“We need to start having conversations with people in the District about gay people and gay marriage,” he said. “We need to reach out past the gayborhood, areas that aren’t in Wards 1 and 2.” They’ll be starting on friendly turf, however, with a March 28 pledge-signing and volunteer-recruitment drive near 14th Street and in Dupont Circle.
Volunteers will hold neighborhood open houses to talk about marriage, in addition to a door-to-door campaign. The group will also hold community forums later this spring with campus faith groups as a way into larger congregations with older members.
“We know that people under 30 are more likely to support marriage being extended to same-sex couples,” Crawford said.
A recent Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance survey of D.C. Council members showed a majority would support a same-sex marriage bill. “The council is looking for a groundswell of support to get behind, and our focus should be on building that groundswell,” Crawford said.
“If we give people the opportunity to support us, they will,” he said. “The anti-gay groups will show up. And they will look bad. We’ll be prepared and we’ll look reasonable and smart and passionate, and we’ll deal with whatever comes.”
More information on the March 28 event will be posted via Facebook.
