COLAGE News Blog

COLAGE Strategic Planning Survey Jun 29 07

We need your input about COLAGE! This spring and summer, COLAGE is engaging in an in depth Strategic Planning process. This process will help us articulate our long range goals and program priorities, and to strengthen our relationships with our diverse constituencies and communities. Therefore the insights of people like YOU are crucial!

Please take 15-20 minutes to share your ideas and opinions about COLAGE and our work by taking an easy online survey. There are no right or wrong answers! This survey is a special opportunity for you to let us know what you think about our work. No matter how you have been involved we value the insights you can bring to this process. Everyone who completes the survey is eligible to win an IPOD shuffle! Please complete the survey by July 13th to be entered in the COLAGE IPOD raffle.

COLAGE Applauds Massachusetts Marriage Decision Jun 14 07

COLAGE is pleased to announce that this morning, the Massachusetts state legislature once-and-for-all defeated a state constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality. The narrow vote was a victory for gay marriage advocates and a blow to efforts to reverse the historic court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in the state. More than 8,500 gay couples have married in Massachusetts since it became legal in May 2004. To get the proposed ban on the 2008 statewide ballot would have required 50 votes. It got 45, with 151 lawmakers opposed.

To thank the legislators who voted against the ballot initiative, visit this list. This is also a great time for COLAGE youth and adults to write a short letter to your local newspaper applauding the decision and describing what it the support of the Massachusetts legislature of family equality means to you as the child of LGBT parent/s. Contact COLAGE if you would like support in drafting a letter.

COLAGE also is happy to celebrate the ongoing efforts of MassEquality, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), among other incredible advocates in Massachusetts, for their tireless work that led to this victory.

COLAGE Marks the Anniversary of Loving vs Virginia Jun 12 07

June 12, 2007 marks the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down the remaining interracial marriage bans in 16 states in the United States, ending race discrimination in marriage. Loving v. Virginia began when Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple, were arrested in Virginia after their Washington, DC wedding and sentenced to one year in prison. The Lovings appealed their conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which struck down discriminatory restrictions on who could marry whom.

COLAGE celebrates this anniversary as a critical milestone in activism, anti-racist organizing and civil rights. Ruby Cymrot-Wu, COLAGE Summer Intern shared: The Loving decision was critical not only in the fight against racism, but also in the quest for social justice in all of our lives. The removal of racially-based legal restrictions on marriage has allowed us, as LGBTQ families, the inspiration and firm legal ground to begin our own fight for marriage equality. The legacy of this decision directly affects many of our families, including mine, who would be excluded from marriage rights and privileges not only on the basis of gender, but also because of race. As someone who was raised in an inter-racial lesbian family, I know how much Loving has done, and how much more work is to be done to affirm our diverse families. Loving Day has afforded us the opportunity to see how victories in racial justice are interwoven into the ever-evolving history of the LGBTQ movement.

Read the Loving decision.

COLAGE reflects on the significance of the Loving decision:
* As a milestone in the fight against racial inequality
* For its importance in securing the freedom to marry as a civil right
* For its embodiment of the importance of social justice activism and independent courts
* For its relevance to today's ongoing battles against unfair exclusion from marriage for
same-sex couples.
* For its relevance to many COLAGE families who are interracial or include mixed race
individuals

We encourage COLAGErs to celebrate Loving Day at a local event near you:
and also want to spread the word about a Loving Conference in Chicago next weekend.

COLAGE Speak OUT Campaign a Success! Jun 4 07

COLAGE is thrilled at the participation of record numbers of queerspawn in Blogging for LGBT Families Day. As our first ever Speak OUT Campaign, COLAGE worked with youth and adults with LGBT parents all over the world to make sure that our voices were a part of this exciting visibility event. Over 25 COLAGE Speak OUT Members posted creative, humorous and touching entries onto a wide variety of online forums on Friday, June 1st to help raise awareness about our experiences and our community.

See many of the posts that bloggers wrote for the day!

If you would like to be involved in future COLAGE Speak OUT Campaigns, join our Speak OUT program today!