Marriage Equality as a Small Business Innovator

by Michael Jones · 2009-09-21 10:55:00 UTC
Topics:

Equal marriage

What's the best small business idea in the country right now? Well, if you judge that question by the number of folks who voted at social entrepreneurship Web site Ideablob, it's a group that's pushing for marriage equality throughout the United States.

The National Marriage Boycott (NMB) won Ideablob's August 2009 contest for "Best Small Business Idea," and in turn received $10,000 to help them get their organization off the ground. The NMB, which started at Stanford University shortly after the passage of Proposition 8 last November, is now poised to perhaps become the largest student-drive movement for marriage equality in the country. Their mission? To get people to say no to marriage until everyone has access to marriage rights under the law.

Sarah Masimore, the NMB's Chief Operating Officer, said that the money will accelerate the growth of NMB, bringing the campaign to hundreds of college and high school campuses. "Today we are in ten states. In a year we plan to be in every state, demonstrating that Americans care about equal rights regardless of where you live or whom you love."

And the best part? Ideablob announced that NMB won this award the same week that Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced legislation in the U.S. Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. Coincidence? Probably. But together the two pieces of news make for some good marriage equality karma.

(Photo courtesy of stevebott's photostream on Flickr.)

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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