California’s “certificate of inequality”
Family Pride on Feb 12th 2007
Wednesday is Valentine’s Day. A lot of couples will be tying the (government-sanctioned) knot, but with the exception of Massachusetts, none of them will be queer.
We first got wind of Freddie Oakley from one of our newly trained OUTSpoken participants. Freddie Oakley is in charge of issuing marriage certificates for Yolo County in California; she is straight, married for 37 years to the same man, a mother, and an Evangelical Christian. And, she is an ally.
California law prevents Oakley from issuing marriage certificates to gay and lesbian couples. Oakley believes that preachers should be kept out of politics, stating “I don’t go down and tell my pastor how to preach and I don’t want him to stand behind my counter.”
In protest of California’s discriminatory marriage law, Oakley will be issuing certificates of her own. She calls it a “Certificate of Inequality.”
Oakley’s protest has drawn a lot of attention - and a lot of nasty responses. It’s time we show her some support. Send Oakley an email. Let her know that we value her commitment to equality. She’s standing up for us. Let’s stand up for her.
Filed in action |
