[dc-zaps] Marriage Amendment Hearings Next Week!

Congress is about to hold hearings on the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment.  Committee organizers have stacked the hearing with individuals who are opposed to same sex marriage.  

We are asking for your help in finding lesbian and gay couples, and their families, to attend the hearings. A request from the ACLU is included below.  
 
We ask that you only share this with lesbian or gay couples and allies.  We do not what to give Senate Republicans advanced warning of this organizing effort.
  
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MARRIAGE AMENDMENT HEARINGS NEXT WEEK!

Fast on the heels of Bush's endorsement of the discriminatory Federal Marriage Amendment, Congress is moving to write discrimination into the Constitution.  The first step in the process?  Congressional hearings, the first of which will be held next Wednesday, March 3 by the Senate Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee.
  
Entitled "Judicial Activism vs. Democracy: What are the National Implications of the Massachusetts Goodridge Decision and the Judicial Invalidation of Traditional Marriage Laws?", the hearing is stacked with witnesses who will argue that marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples endangers "traditional marriage laws."  

The Committee Chairman has not invited gay and lesbian couples or their families to testify. It's easier to demonize gays and lesbians and their families if they're not in the room.  However, the hearings are public.  The media will be there.  This is a call to gay and lesbian parents and their children.  Let's silently, peacefully put a face on our families in those hearings.  We cordially invite you to attend the hearing and by your presence remind Congress of the human cost of this misguided proposal.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 3, 10 a.m. 

WHERE:  Senate Dirksen Office Building Room 226

WHAT:  Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcomittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights Hearing "Judicial Activism vs. Democracy: What are the National Implications of the Massachusetts Goodridge Decision and the Judicial Invalidation of Traditional Marriage Laws?"

HOW: The hearing is open to the public, so you can just show up, or to try to ensure a place for you and your children, contact ACLU Field Organizer Shenna Bellows at sbellows@dcaclu.org or 202-675-2336.

CURRENT TENTATIVE WITNESS LIST:

Reverend Richard Richardson
Assistant Pastor, St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church
Director of Political Affairs, The Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston
President/CEO, Children's Services of Roxbury
Boston, Mass.

Pastor Daniel de Leon, Sr.
Alianza de Ministerios Evangélicos Nacionales (AMEN)
Pastor, Templo Calvario
General Presbyter, Assemblies of God
Santa Ana, Calif.

The Honorable Jon Bruning
Attorney General of Nebraska
Lincoln, Neb.

Mrs. Maggie Gallagher
President, Institute for Marriage and Public Policy
New York, N.Y.