LOVE MAKES A FAMILY'S FUTURE

Questions & Answers

April 2009

What is the plan for Love Makes a Family now that its mission of marriage equality for same-sex couples has been accomplished?

Having accomplished our core mission—marriage equality for same-sex couples in Connecticut—Love Makes a Family has begun preparations to cease operations on December 31, 2009, allowing our staff, board and community of supporters to focus their energies on the myriad of community issues still facing our state and country.

How was this decision made?

In September 2008, Love Makes a Family began a strategic planning process to help determine our place in the future of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) activism in Connecticut.  As part of our process, we engaged the assistance of members of the Love Makes a Family community (both board and non-board) to serve as members of a Strategic Planning Committee.

Over several months, the Committee gathered ideas, opinions and perspectives from Love Makes a Family constituents and community leaders via surveys, focus groups, 1:1 meetings, and phone calls.  Information gathered in this process was analyzed, and options for our organization’s future were developed. The Committee made its recommendation to the full Board of Love Makes a Family who voted to approve the proposed plan.

In the future, who will advocate for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in Connecticut?

While family recognition issues like marriage and adoption are now secure, LGBT residents of Connecticut still face discrimination and challenges. Fortunately, there are many excellent organizations who are working on a diverse range of issues that impact the LGBT community from youth issues to health issues to transgender issues. In the coming months, we will be letting our supporters know more about these other organizations and how they can get involved. 

Aren’t you worried that we could see the right to marry taken away as we saw in California?

Absolutely not. In fact, if we had any concern that we would lose our newly-won right, we would never consider closing. Unlike California, Connecticut doesn’t have a ballot measure process that allows for an easy amending of the state Constitution. Additionally, as we saw in two separate independent polls at the end of 2008, a clear majority of the residents of Connecticut support the right of same-sex couples to marry and we expect that support to continue to increase—as it has in Massachusetts—as more couples continue to marry.

Why doesn’t Love Makes a Family “go national” and apply its strategies and resources in other states that still are working towards marriage equality?

There are many excellent national groups, including The Equality Federation, Freedom to Marry, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Lambda Legal, and the Human Rights Campaign, who are actively supporting other states in their campaigns to win marriage equality—not to mention Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) who works with the six New England states and who successfully brought and argued the Kerrigan case in Connecticut. Additionally, nearly every other state already has their own LGBT advocacy group, and each has a strategy specific to their state’s unique circumstances. We have continuously networked and shared information with these organizations over the years.  This sharing of ideas and strategies was critical to our successes in Connecticut.  That said, we will be documenting the strategies that helped us win marriage equality in Connecticut so that they can be shared with other states. 

Does Love Makes a Family still need my help?

YES! There is still work to do over the next nine months, from lobbying your state legislators to pass bills that would codify the Kerrigan Supreme Court marriage decision and prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression, to lobbying your federal legislators to support a repeal of  the “so-called” Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA.)

 If Love Makes a Family isn’t closing until the end of 2009, what will the organization be working on until then?

We have a full plate. Here are the major goals for the next nine months:

• Ensure smooth enactment of the marriage equality law, including codify the high court’s marriage ruling into state statute this legislative session
  
• Lobby the state’s Congressional delegation to support a repeal of DOMA, the federal law that denies married same-sex couples the right to critical federal benefits such as Social Security spousal benefits
  
• Work with coalition partners to pass legislation to prohibit discrimination against transgender individuals
  
• Ensure a pro-equality legislature for the future through a continuation of the Love Makes a Family Political Action Committee
  
• Document the successful strategies from the Connecticut marriage campaign to share with other states.

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