Just the 'Alerts'

We've had a tremendous response to our call for wedding photos from same-sex couples married in Iowa! Want to add your photo? Email your photo to jennifer@oneiowa.org with your names, wedding date and the city in which you were married. We'll recognize you during our April 3, 2010 anniversary event in Des Moines.

Here's a sneak peek of the photos sent in by happy couples so far!

ALSO SIGN OUR WEDDING REGISTRY
We'd like to be able to recognize those couples who have married over the past year or who are planning to marry in the state of Iowa at our anniversary celebrations. Please add your name to the list and include your wedding date!

You shared your story with legislators this week, now share with friends and neighbors with a letter to the editor of your local paper. Keeping our positive conversation going in every Iowa community is so important for keeping the freedom to marry in Iowa.

Writing a letter to the editor is easy with our online form. Your zip code will determine where your letter goes, and we provide talking points to help form your letter.

You are important, and your story matters to legislators, friends, family and neighbors. Make yourself heard and make your story count.

Send a letter to the editor today!

Share this:    

We want to know why you support marriage equality! Just record an approximately one-minute video explaining why you think the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian couples is important, and post it as a Video Response.

Use the link below our video to Post a Video Response, and follow the directions. You can upload a video file, or record directly into YouTube.

If you need ideas, watch some of the responses already posted. We recorded these folks during Lobby Day at the Capitol.

If you took the time to record your story at the Capitol: THANK YOU! If you don't see your video yet, we are still going through footage, and your story should be up shortly!

Share this:    

Show everyone you support the freedom to marry by changing your Facebook and Twitter profile photos. When you're done, make sure you post a message so everyone sees your new icon!

Right click (ctrl+click) on One Iowa logo to save it to your desktop.

When your profile photo is changed, click on the Twitter and Facebook icons below to share your new status with your friends!

Anti-equality extremists are resorting to underhanded tactics in an attempt to
take away the freedom to marry! While legislative leadership has stood firm
in support of equality, extremists are attempting to overthrow House rules
and push an anti-marriage amendment to the floor!

We need you to email your Representative IMMEDIATELY. Then call your Representative by placing a call to the House Switchboard: 515-281-3221.

Tell them to stand firm with legislative leadership and oppose this distracting and divisive move. With all the challenges Iowa is facing, our elected officials need to stay focused on working for Iowa families and balancing the state budget!

Share this:    

February 7-13 is national Freedom to Marry Week, and here at One Iowa, we want to hear why the freedom to marry is important to you. Right now, our legislators are being hounded by people who want to write discrimination into our constitution, so we must keep our positive conversation going.

Whether you're gay or straight, young or old, Republican or Democrat, telling your "Freedom to Marry" story is vitally important to keeping the freedom to marry in Iowa, and showing other states the importance of marriage for all couples.

To tell your story, record an approximately one-minute video stating why you support marriage for all couples, regardless of gender, and post it as a video response.

You might feel like you are one person standing up to overwhelming discrimination, but as you will see in the coming days, you are not alone. And when you add your story to the thousands of LGBT individuals, their parents, friends and children, our voice becomes clearer and stronger.

You might not know it, but fair-minded legislators are reading and retelling stories like yours every day to illustrate the need to block a constitutional amendment restricting the freedom to marry in Iowa.

Do your part to keep our freedom to marry. Tell your story today!

Share this:     

On Sunday, The Des Moines Register published an opinion piece by the Iowa Family Policy Center's public relations director, Bryan English.

Of course English is entitled to his opinion, even if he thinks the Supreme Court decision flies in the face of "all human history and the universally understood meaning of the word marriage" (he's even decided what marriage means on other planets).

"All of human history," claims English, "tells us that marriage is an institution designed to promote the union of one man and one woman" -- a ridiculous statement to even the most casual reader of the Bible, and startlingly ignorant of our history and global neighbors.

Among the many arguments for discrimination, English says every society that ever recognized same-sex couples "perished shortly thereafter." Surely we should be warning Sweden, England, France, Canada, Mexico and many other countries, some of which have been recognizing same-sex couples for years.

Even Republicans won't touch the IFPC with a 10-foot pole these days, so having the Register package English's bizarrely illogical rant on the Sunday opinion page like it was a piece of fine art, worthy of anyone's time and consideration, illustrates just how important it is for us to keep our positive conversation going, and at the top of our considerable voices.

We hear from people all the time who think the fight for marriage equality is won, but the IFPC will never stop spreading their negative message, we can't afford to become complacent. Remind your friends and neighbors that all families need our support and protection.

Write your letter to the editor today!