Last Thursday, Equality California Institute in coalition with 45 national, state, and local organizations launched Let California Ring, a statewide campaign to educate and encourage Californians to understand and support freedom for same-sex couples to marry.

Let California Ring “is really a campaign to open hearts and minds across the state of California about the freedom to marry and the respect, the support, and the protection that come with marriage,” said Thalia Zepatos, field director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF).

“We wanted to initiate a conversation across the state and really get straight people to answer the question, ‘What could it feel like if I could not marry the person I love? How would that feel to me,’” said Zepatos.

“There’s a lot of misinformation out there and so we were just trying to give people the truth, the facts, information they need to know, and also help them think about what it means for some of the couples involved,” said Zepatos.

The campaign includes a television commercial, Web site, and statewide house parties. “There is a television ad, which is a ground breaking ad in the sense of how it’s trying to get people to think differently. There’s a highly interactive Web site that just got up recently, and then there’s a series of, kind of a network of, community leaders and volunteers that are having house parties across the state,” said Zepatos.

The commercial features a bride preparing for her big day with presumably mom and sister putting the finishing touches on her gown. Her father then escorts her to the wedding. There are a few obstacles, however. It takes a few minutes to open a stubborn door; the bride breaks a heel while squeezing between two cars, and her veil is pulled off by walking under a rose arbor. She finally arrives a bit disheveled but undefeated. Then a little girl grabs onto her gown and has to be pulled off. Halfway down the aisle, a woman pulls out a cane and trips her. With the bride now on the ground, upset and near tears, a message emerges on the screen: “What if you couldn’t marry the person you love?” The scene turns to black with the following words: “Every day, gay and lesbian couples are prevented from marrying.” The viewer is then asked to: “Support the freedom to marry.”

“The television commercial metaphorically puts people in the shoes of people who can’t get married, that don’t have the freedom to marry. That’s really what the commercial is intended to do,” said Seth Kilbourne, a policy director for Equality California.

“What we wanted to communicate in the commercial is that the freedom to marry is more than about rights and benefits and the legal right to marry. It’s also about love and commitment, and that’s really what the ad depicts,” said Kilbourne.

The commercial is available for viewing at Let California Ring’s Web site, www.letcaliforniaring.org. The recently created Web site includes personal stories, information on California and same-sex marriage legislation, statistical information on California voters’ opinion on the issue, and how to get involved.

One way people have gotten involved with the campaign is by hosting small “house parties.” Campaign house parties are, typically, small gatherings of between 10 and 20 friends, family, and neighbors, hosted at a campaign member’s private residence.

Guests watch a short video and have a conversation about the freedom to marry. The video includes 22 individuals and couples (both straight and gay) talking about why they support the freedom to marry, said Ali Bay, communications manager for Equality California.

Tom Maddox and Randy Clark, one of 4,000 same-sex couples to whom San Francisco City Hall issued marriage licenses that were later declared invalid by the state Supreme Court, hosted a campaign party at their home in La Jolla last week.

Maddox and Clark invited their neighbors, friends, and family (some gay, some straight). They’ve hosted several of these parties already.

“We’ve been doing several of them, having house parties….We do these parties because the people who come to them might go out to their circle of friends and talk about it and /or maybe feel more comfortable answering questions that people might ask them,” said Clark.

“I think it’s just [that] we would like to have the same recognition of our relationship that other couples have who have the kind of love for each other [and] who have been together this long,” said Clark.

“I think it comes down to a basic understanding that folks in same-sex relationships are just like every other couple. You know, they really aren’t so different; in that, they want the same things. They want to spend their lives together, and they want to celebrate their love and commitment,” said Zepatos.

The San Diego LGBT Center (The Center) is a partner of the Let California Ring campaign, says Dr. Delores A. Jacobs, chief executive officer of The Center.

The Center also has its own campaign called the Marriage Equality and Education Project, started in 2004. Like the Let California Ring campaign, the aim of The Center’s marriage equality project is to educate the state about marriage equality. One result of the project has been the creation of the Marriage Equality Speakers Bureau, a group of local community members who give speeches on marriage equality throughout San Diego County.

Last month, the California Assembly passed legislation (AB 43) that would legalize same-sex marriages. Governor Schwarzenegger, however, vetoed the bill last Saturday.

According to a 2006 Public Policy Institute of California poll, 46 percent of California voters oppose same-sex marriage, while 47 percent support it.