Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Matt: Hi, I'm Matt Coles, Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-*** and Transgender Project
at the American Civil Liberties Union. The California Supreme Court has decided to let
Proposition 8 stand that's deeply disappointing. Especially disappointing now that we've just
won the Freedom to Marry in Iowa, Vermont and Maine.
The ACLU and its allies are in California working to change peoples' minds. When we're
ready, we'll go back to the ballot and we'll get Proposition 8 repealed. We're going to
keep fighting to get rid of Proposition 8 because this about a fundamental American
value, the right all of us should have, to live our lives as we see fit without having
somebody else's morality imposed on us. It's no abstract principle.
We represent Sam Bouman, a man who lost the home that he and his partner built with their
own hands because they weren't married. We work with Randy Walden, Randy's partner spent
the last night of his life alone because the hospital he was in wouldn't let them spend
the night together because they weren't married. The right to live your life as you see fit.
It's not just about marriage. In Florida, the ACLU is challenging a law that says that
a fit parent can adopt if he or she is lesbian or gay. In Arkansas, the ACLU is challenging
a law that says fit parents can't be foster parents and can't adopt if they're cohabiting,
which let's out all lesbian and gay couples. In Tennessee, we're challenging a law that
says that fit parents can't have their children in the home with them overnight if they have
a partner. In Pennsylvania, we're trying to stop a prosecutor who wants to charge teenagers
with child *** for taking pictures of each other at a pajama party.
In all across the country, we're fighting for the rights of women to decide whether
or not to have a family and to have access to contraption and abortion. The right to
live your life as you see fit without having somebody else's morality imposed on you that's
what we're fighting for but we need your help. Please click on this video to send it to someone
you know and support the ACLU.