Students Say No to Marriage Until Defense of Marriage Act Eliminated

What do you do if you're stuck with laws that won't allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, and very few politicians seem willing to champion the cause on a national level?

Well, if you're a group of students from Stanford, you start a national campaign called the "National Marriage Boycott," and you make it your goal to take that campaign to every state in the country.

That's exactly what's happening, as in the wake of Proposition 8 a movement led by several undergraduate students at Stanford has begun to gain momentum.  The idea is pretty simple: because not everyone is entitled to the same civil right to marriage, no one should get married.

Well, OK, that's a rough description.  Why don't we let the National Marriage Boycott's pledge speak for itself:

Now is the moment in American history when same-sex couples have the opportunity to achieve equal rights under the law. However, in order for a minority group to achieve equal rights, progressive members of the majority must stand in solidarity with them.

The Obama agenda includes the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.  Under this act, same-sex couples are denied more than a thousand rights, including the right to visit a dying partner in the hospital. To demonstrate our desire for an immediate repeal of DOMA, we choose not to participate in marriage until everyone can marry.

Stepping into the shoes of past conscientious objectors, boycotters and civil rights activists, we deliberately forego this privilege until it is truly a right for all. We the undersigned vow to boycott marriage until the United States government repeals DOMA.

We won't, until we all can.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned

Signers of the pledge can also wear a black equality ring to show their solidarity.  The black ring takes the place of, you might have guessed, a wedding ring.

Sound like the type of campaign you're willing to join?  Already a few famous folks have lent their support, including Lt. Dan Choi (the openly gay military linguist who was recently fired by the U.S. government because of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy) and former California Assemblywoman Sally Lieber.  And that's in addition to the growing support that the campaign is picking up throughout the country.  As this Stanford Daily article describes:

Provided all goes well, in September National Marriage Boycott chapters will be launching at the University of California at Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Diego; California State University, Long Beach; San Diego State University; Santa Monica College; University of Colorado at Boulder; Florida State University; University of Idaho; Williams College; Columbia University; and High Point University in North Carolina. Individual pledges total 227 so far...

That sounds like momentum, and it sounds like some fine grassroots organizing for an innovative campaign that certainly requires a bold step (saying no to marriage), but one that hopefully yields a rich payout (the elimination of the Defense of Marriage Act).

For more information, check out their Web site here.  And to sign the pledge, go here.

(Photo courtesy of National Marriage Boycott's photostream on Flickr.  Which is also where you can see a very cool fashion shoot of folks supporting the black equality rings mentioned in the post above!)