Two days have gone by and I feel like this small conference room at the Comfort Inn, Albany International Airport has swallowed not only my body, but my mind. Much brainstorming, calling, deciding and writing has occurred. We have worked through marriage discussions, why marriage matters to us, non-violence, the history of Soulforce and other necessary training activities. Creative juices from the east, south, west, and north vans are billowing from this quaint hotel and we are ready to unleash our efforts onto the rest of the state.

As the co-director for the South Bus for Soulforce’s Right to Marry Campaign, I am excited to see all of our hard work come to fruition for marriage equality in New York. After picking students up from train stations in New York City, we traveled to Albany to begin our training. The leadership of the initiative assembled a host of seminars that would prepare the students for meetings with NY politicians, community leaders, and constituents: “Activism and Nonviolence;” “Marriage: For What Are We Advocating, How and Why?;” “Transgender Awareness;” etc. Over thirty students congregated in a hotel conference room to participate and engage in these presentations.

I presented the seminar on marriage (see sample ppt slides), and desired to challenge the students to think carefully about the meaning and significance of marriage. Once this consciousness was established, I endeavored to explain a taxonomy of approaches for advocating for marriage equality. In so doing, students were challenged to think about how one’s particular approach to this advocacy must be compared with other approaches/arguments that are distinct from one’s own. For instance, if one views as the highest goal of this advocacy the protection and preservation of the marriage institution, this will differ markedly from an approach which esteems the universal equitable distribution of rights and privileges that marriage guarantees. Students were challenged to think critically about these approaches, identify which approach with which they most identify, and attempt to work with and between these approaches so as to be the most effective advocates. Finally, I enjoined students to champion an approach, based upon the teachings Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which incorporates the best of other approaches, but centers advocacy from humanity as an approach which speaks from own’s most poignant experiences and important needs.

Marriage equality is a matter of conscience and humanity; it epitomizes the tolerant, equitable, and fair-minded aspirations that our democratic society celebrates. Even though as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The arc of the universe bends slowly but it always bends toward justice,” we who are a part of the Right to Marry Campaign desire to accelerate the march toward full and complete social justice.