Crossing Borders for Marriage Equality

by Michael Jones · 2009-08-31 13:43:00 UTC
Topics:

Iowa Border

Remember those stories from several years ago where U.S. citizens would travel to Canada by the busloads just to buy prescription drugs?  It was done to prove a point: our meds are too expensive, they're cheaper up North, and we'll organize a media-savvy trip to put pressure on U.S. officials to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

Could the same campaign tactic work for same-sex marriage?  Perhaps, if you ask a group of pastors and same-sex couples from Minnesota. Together, they traveled down to Iowa this past week to tie the knot.  Iowa, after all, legalized same-sex marriage earlier this year.  Minnesota, meanwhile, does not recognize same-sex marriage.

Cue the creation of a "love bus" and a four-hour road trip across the Minnesota/Iowa border to advocate for marriage equality.  The couples were part of the Unity Church-Unitarian of St. Paul, and they traveled down with their pastors, Rev. Janne Eller-Isaacs and her husband, Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs.  (*FULL DISCLOSURE: When I worked for Sen. Paul Wellstone in 2002, I lived in the basement of the Eller-Isaacs.  I haven't spoken to them since, outside of one or two holiday cards, but I remember two things about them: one, Janne had an amazing knack for keeping plants, and two, they were terrific friends of the LGBT community.  Nice to see worlds colliding for me on this story.)

Here's what Janne Eller-Isaacs had to say about the pilgrimage from the Land of 10,000 Lakes to the Hawkeye State: "This is what love looks like.  This is what the world needs to see. ... We want to recognize what Iowa has done. ... It also feels synchronous that we’re doing this on the day of Teddy Kennedy’s service. There’s something holistic about it. On the bus we will remember him and have a moment of silence to honor his life, his struggles, his support and tireless work for marginalized people."

'This is what love looks like.' Almost sounds like a kickin' advertising campaign, and one that gets to the heart of the issue over marriage equality -- how people view love.  Can they see love between two people of the same gender?  And if not, why?

Sadly, while the folks from Minnesota were able to wed in Iowa this past weekend, those marriages won't be recognized in their home state.

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.
PREVIOUS STORY:
A Few Hours Left to Help LGBT Group Win $10,000
NEXT STORY:
Bullied high schooler convinces MPAA to change ‘Bully’ rating to “PG-13”

COMMENTS (1)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.