I’ve decided to begin posting personal stories that support marriage equality here. The kinds of stories that were missing in the Prop 8 campaign. Smaller states like Vermont and New Hampshire having been holding hearings as their legislatures review the issue. The personal testimonies are powerful.
The abstract idea of “civil unions” or “gay marriage” sounds like a theoretical debate to people. Grounding the conversation in our real lives and real experiences and feelings is how we will make equality happen and things change.
I’ll continue to post personal stories that aren’t packaged ads from any group. If you’d like to make one, please do. Just upload it to youtube and then email the link and a 2 sentence description to me at apple [at] subvert [dot] com.
Here’s how I recommend telling your story:
1. Make it less than 4 minutes.
2. If you’re uncomfortable speaking into the camera record yourself while talking to someone.
3. Introduce yourself, your name and where you live.
4. Tell us about your relationship, if you are in one.
5. Explain how legal inequality has affected you. If a particular issue has affected you (inability to visit your spouse in the hospital, difficulty with custody, taxes etc) please do go in to that.
6. Speak from the heart. Speak like you’re really being heard and understood. I am listening to each one of you. We all are.
-heather
In addition to the videos that I made, I’ve also collected some good personal-story videos on my site