Groups speak out for gay rights

Americans enjoy 1,049 rights based on marital status.

But for gay Americans, the number drops.

Outside of Massachusetts, gay unions throughout the country are not recognized as legal marriages.

So yesterday, as a part of Freedom to Marry Day, Penn students, faculty and staff came together to try to end what some see as outright discrimination.

The 10th annual celebration, which is observed nation-wide, aims to draw attention to this discrepancy among American citizens.

And in Houston Hall, proponents of same-sex marriage showed their support yesterday afternoon by signing 223 petitions, eating a wedding cake and, for College freshman Lauren Every-Wortman, wearing a wedding dress.

The events were primarily sponsored by ALLIES, the on-campus gay-straight alliance organization, and were meant to raise awareness about marriage equality in America, said College junior and ALLIES co-chairman Tim Taylor.

Taylor, who is gay, said he would like, one day, to have the rights that are currently unattainable for him.

"I definitely plan on raising kids, so if I find anyone I want to do that with, I'd definitely like to get married," he said.

Freedom to Marry Day started ten years ago as a grassroots movement and is now celebrated throughout the U.S., according to Samiya Bashir, a spokesperson for Freedom to Marry, a New York-based organization that works to end what they see as national discrimination in marriage.

Bashir added that the organization uses a wide range of tactics, including litigation, legislation and public education, to fight against opponents who are "pushing forward misinformation, intimating that [gay] families and relationships are not as worthy as [straight] families and relationships."

This public-education category was conspicuously represented at Penn.

At the LGBT Center last night, three couples shared their stories of fighting for their right to marry with an audience of thirty people.

One of the couples, Marcye and Karen Nicholson-McFadden, participated in a recent lawsuit in New Jersey that resulted in the state legislature legalizing civil unions.

However, for this couple, a civil union is not enough.

"It is critical to us what [the institution] is called. If you have all the legal benefits of marriage, but it isn't called marriage, then it is discriminatory - it is demeaning," Marcye said.

Karen, a 1988 Penn alumna, echoed her partner.

"We feel really strongly about the language," she said. "We just want to participate in the same institution we all fantasized about when we were younger."

Students at the event seemed touched by what they heard.

College junior Ramon Miyar said it was his first time seeing and hearing gay couples.

"It was extremely enlightening to see that they are raising children and fighting for their rights," he said.

College junior Kevin Rurak added that, "as citizens of this country, we have the same rights as all other citizens."

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