Love, Equally

 

The Legacy Washington team is currently working on its newest project - an exhibit, printed publication, and online stories celebrating the anniversary of marriage equality in Washington state. The success of the marriage equality movement stunned even its advocates. The transformation from “outlaws to in-laws” was one of the swiftest turnarounds in U.S. civil rights history. As recently as 2006, our state law did not prohibit job discrimination against gays and lesbians, and our state Supreme Court banned same-sex marriage.


Bruised but not beaten, LBGTQ+ advocates tried a brick-by-brick approach. They got domestic partnerships passed in three phases, capped by an “everything but marriage” law. Marriage equality landed on Washington’s November ballot in 2012. Devastating votes against same-sex marriage in other states—31 losses without a win—informed a new strategy. It would shift debate from the head to the heart.


Instead of arguing about discrimination and privacy, LGBTQ+ advocates stressed that gay couples wanted the same white-picket fence, homey routines and devoted commitment as heterosexuals. Using family values rhetoric, which had worked so well for their opponents, advocates concentrated their message in a single word.


Love.

 

Their “love, equally” won in Washington, as well as in Maine, Maryland and Minnesota in 2012. It marked the first time marriage equality was approved by voters, rather than judges or politicians. Three years later, the U.S. Supreme Court followed suit, citing a book by Washington historian Stephanie Coontz. It was subtitled, How Love Conquered Marriage. 

 

Legacy Washington celebrates this history with profiles and an exhibit about people who were committed to LGBTQ civil rights, and those still fighting for progress. Love, Equally: The Journey to Marriage Equality will feature a series of oral-history profiles, a printed book and a public exhibit in the Washington State Capitol Building (Olympia) that will celebrate the anniversary of marriage equality in Washington State. The offical exhibit opening will be on February 14, 2023 in the Legislative Buildling in Olympia.


 

Some of the Love, Equally profile subjects include:

  • Marsha Botzer

  • Margarethe Cammermeyer

  • Speaker Laurie Jinkins

  • Anne Levinson

  • Jamie Pedersen

  • Manny Santiago

  • Justice Mary Yu

 

To see our video featuing Jinkins and Pedersen, click here. 

 

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