Greece! Thailand! Family Equality! Tennessee, Indiana,The Pope, Samuel Alito, Japan! and GLAAD!

If you are new to the JustMarried Newsletter, Welcome!

The JustMarried Project, a serialized podcast, docuseries and book, explores the history of the brave LGBTQ+ couples, activists and allies who gained life-saving civil rights. This is a moving, and at times heart-breaking, look at the extraordinarily courageous people who opened up their private lives to the scrutiny of a nation in order to convince politicians, preachers and the public of their right to history’s most cherished institution.

A vital, historical preservation project that weaves together the love stories that captured the compassion and?consciousness?of our nation, winning what was once unimaginable.

A human right we must protect.

Our monthly newsletter keeps you up to date with the ups and downs of marriage rights, mostly in the US, but not always because–well, many of us love to travel and some dream of living abroad and other less dreamy reasons!

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Now for the latest:

something bold

Pope Francis has doubled down on his controversial decision to let priests bless LGBTQ+ couples. He said the “Lord blesses everyone,” and also that “solitude is a price you have to pay” when you make a culture changing decision, not everyone is going to be down with it...

something beautiful

Yesterday, Thailand's House of Representatives voted to legalize marriage equality. The bill now goes to Thailand’s Senate which rarely votes against the House. According to the New York Times, "Thailand’s bill describes marriage as a partnership between two individuals, rather than between a woman and a man. It will also give L.G.B.T.Q.+ couples equal rights to various tax savings, the ability to inherit property and the power to give medical treatment consent for partners who are incapacitated. The draft will also grant adoption rights."

Japan is one step closer to the freedom to marry after a high court ruled banning same-sex marriage is ‘unconstitutional’. “The ruling in Sapporo, the first High Court decision on same-sex marriage in the country, emphatically shows the trend towards acceptance of same-sex marriage in Japan,” said the group’s?East Asia researcher Boram Jang.

In case you missed the news: Greece has become the first Orthodox Christian country to legalize LGBTQ+ marriage.

This is a big deal as the Bay Area Reporter notes: "making the Mediterranean country the 38th country in the world to do so...It also makes Greece the first country in southeastern Europe and the 16th European Union country to usher in marriage equality."

Same-sex partnerships have been legal in Greece since 2015, but now same-sex couples can get married as well as legally adopt children. Hip Hip Hooray and more at Almost.co

The governors award at the Emmy's went to GLAAD’s CEO Sarah Kate Ellis- She stressed that there needs to be more LGBTQ+ representation (with an emphasis on the T) on TV and in Films. "Visibility creates understanding and opens doors, it's life-saving. Our community has achieved so much and yet, we are still being villainized with cruel and harmful lies. Sharing stories is the antidote. " We couldn't agree more. That is the single most important mission of our project showcasing 7 decades of heroic LGBTQ+ stories. Listen to her powerful acceptance speech.

Something borrowed

Mary Bonauto along with Evan Wolfson, founder of Freedom To Marry strategically shaped the marriage equality movement. The LGBTQ+ attorney extraordinaire takes lessons and wins from the past twenty years, when she first argued and won the right for couples to marry in Massachusetts. She reflects on 20 Years of Making the Impossible Possible – and how to learn from the past for the challenges ahead.

"Now, as we mark this 20th anniversary, we must again dig deep to fight forward against some of the fiercest anti-LGBTQ attacks of our lifetimes, and a coordinated effort to reverse all of the equality gains we’ve made since the last century for our communities...In confronting losses, our challenge is to learn from them, draw strength from them, and leverage them into future wins – to know that we can move forward despite losses, even in the face of obstacles and injustices." Mary's words are compelling and the hopeful inspiration we all need right now.

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Something Blue, er… Red

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito once again expressed his views that Obergefell v. Hodges, the court case that won the right for all to marry across this nation, was dangerous. Why? because he feels it opens the door to homophobic people being called bigots. We kid you knot. But if gay folks want to continue tying one, it is important to listen up. As Jim Obergefell told The Advocate, "

“Make no mistake, if the right case happens to fall to a Trump-appointed judge, the dominoes will start to follow for overturning marriage equality,” Obergefell warned. “And if that happens, the freedom of movement, to be the same person in every state, which is a fundamental pillar of democracy, will be threatened.”

Or as Bill Blum at CommonDreams breaks it down: "It took 49 years for the court to overrule Roe v. Wade. Obergefell, which has been the law for a mere nine, is far more vulnerable. Samuel Alito is eager to dispatch it to the dustbin."

CNN reports Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a law?that allows people to refuse to ‘solemnize’ marriage licenses. This will certainly get challenged in the courts. Just the type of case Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito are looking to get their hands on to dole out more religious exceptions and take away more LGBTQ+ liberties and freedoms. The same kind Jim Obergefell just warned about...Hallelujah.

Last of the queasy news: Indiana's Rep. Chris Judy introduced a bill to amend state statutes to replace “gender” with “biological sex” in the state’s marriage law, so it would read, “A marriage between persons of the same biological sex is void in Indiana even if the marriage is lawful in the place where it is solemnized.” The “Crossroads of America” state, Indiana, like 29 other states "still has a same-gender marriage ban is still on the books ‘just in case’ SCOTUS overturns the federal right to marry and sends those rights back to the states, just as they did with abortion rights". More on how this will affect LGBTQ+ people in the state.

Now on to more of the good news!

Something New!

We are so proud and excited to announce our partnership with Family Equality!

Family Equality and The JustMarried Project share a common mission:

To advance, support and protect equality for all LGBTQ+ families.

“Family Equality’s partnership with JustMarried comes at a pivotal time for LGBTQ+ folks,” said Jaymes Black, Family Equality President & CEO. “LGBTQ+ people want the freedom to build their families, share their love, and, sometimes, get married. We must do all we can to preserve and protect our right to marry if we choose to. The moving and personal stories that are included in the JustMarried Project, have the power to connect us all"

Listen to Family Equality CEO Jaymes Black and Jim Obergefell discuss the importance of our project and partnership.

In Other Awesome News!

Our project is grateful to have two immensely talented gents join our team: John Casey and Bill Loccisano,

John Casey is such an incredible talent and first-class interviewer. The current Sr. Editor/Writer for The Advocate, John’s columns feature discussions with consequential newsmakers including Dr. Tony Fauci, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Emmy winners Neil Patrick Harris, Ellen DeGeneres, Billy Porter, Colman Domingo, Oscar winners Jamie Lee Curtis, Shirley MacLaine, entertainers Adam Lambert, Johnny Mathis and political leaders, Senators John Fetterman, Sherrod Brown, and Tammy Baldwin, Congresspersons Jamie Raskin, Zoe Lofgren, all of the LGBTQ+ members of the House and NY Attorney General Letitia James!

Bill Loccisano, an Art Director with twenty-five years of experience in the luxury design industry of New York City, including designing exhibitions for Ronald S. Lauder’s Neue Galerie, New York joins JustMarried. His portfolio includes Art after Stonewall, 1969–1989 (Rizzoli Electa, 2019), which received the 2020 Award for Excellence from the Association of Art Museum Curators. Bill has also been twice honored with the Henry Allen Moe Prize for Catalogs of Distinction in the Arts, recognized for his contributions to Audubon’s Aviary: The Original Watercolors for The Birds of America (Rizzoli, 2013) and Wiener Werkst?tte: 1903–1932 (Neue Galerie, 2019). Beyond books.

One of the best tools we have to create?change– Are the?stories?we?share?about our lives.?

We are delighted to also announce that Evan Wolfson, Marc Solomon, Kevin Jennings and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel have all come on board to help us preserve this history embodying two decades of documentation and research. The stories in JustMarried illustrate clearly the profound need to preserve this human right.

If you have a compelling marriage equality love story you'd like to share for potential use in our project, please tell us about it here.

If you'd like to see how you can help our project, message a team member below or consider donating. Every dollar counts in helping us promote the importance of safeguarding the right for all families to have the 1138 federal rights, privileges and protections provided in legal marriage. If you'd like to help get a book to a library, hold a book signing party go here or are if you are brand that would like to become a guardian of love, please message a team member below. This project isn't just about history, it is about providing future LGBTQ+ generations their very own heroes to look to for guidance, pride and strength.

We will continue to?bring you?new, beautiful and brave stories while keeping you informed about the latest on marriage equality.

We’re all in this together and we are stronger in numbers. Thank you for signing up for our newsletter and 'Saying I Do'.

If you’d like to learn more about our project go to: justmarried.us –Sign up for the latest release of each piece of the project because the freedom to marry is essential to protect!

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Frankie, Lynn, Jason and Jim !