A Little Same-Sex Marriage Love With Your Oscars

by Michael Jones · 2009-02-18 18:26:00 UTC
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Academy AwardsMilk won't be the only thing LGBT-friendly at this Sunday's telecast of the Oscars.

According to Variety.com's Ted Johnson (who runs the excellent Wilshire and Washington blog over there, covering the intersection of entertainment and politics), a number of stars have been sent white ribbons to wear during the telecast to show their support for same-sex marriage.   Getting celebrities to wear the white ribbons is the brain child of whiteknot.org, the group that successfully worked the crowd at last week's Grammy Awards with their ribboning efforts (Dave Grohl and Dave Stewart both wore one).

The timing of the Oscars couldn't be better in terms of exposure for the issue of same-sex marriage.  The awards will be broadcast this Sunday, February 22.  Less than two weeks later - March 5 - the California State Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the validity of Proposition 8.

The founders of whiteknot.org estimate that they've passed out about 500 ribbons to celebrities who will be in attendance at this Sunday's Academy Awards.  One celebrity has already agreed to wear one, apparently -- Anne Hathaway, who despite what Sheldon the Wonderhorse thinks, we love (go see Rachel Getting Married!).

Now, we know that wearing ribbons alone isn't going to bring about marriage equality.  But kudos to whiteknot.org for attempting to take advantage of one of the world's most watched television events, to push a message of marriage equality for all.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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