Voice for Equality: Rosie Perez

Rosie Perez is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, director, and community activist. She started her career in the late 1980s as a dancer on Soul Train and has choreographed music videos by Janet Jackson, Bobby Brown, Diana Ross, LL Cool J and The Boys. She was noticed in a dance club by Spike Lee in 1989, who hired her for her first major acting role in Do the Right Thing. She made her Broadway debut in Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. Perez had her third major role in the hit comedy White Men Can't Jump co-starring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson. Pérez was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Peter Weir's 1993 film Fearless. In 1997 she starred in Perdita Durango, a controversial film in which many scenes of excessive violence, sex and nudity were edited out of the version released in the United States. She provides the voices of Click, the camera, on Nick Jr.'s Go Diego Go! and Chel, a beautiful native woman in the DreamWorks Animation film The Road to El Dorado. She played corrupt police officer Carol Brazier in the Judd Apatow-produced film Pineapple Express co-starring Seth Rogen and James Franco. Learn more here.

Ms. Perez was photographed wearing a White Knot at the Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, CA on February 21, 2009. The White Knot for Equality organization is dedicated to the idea of marriage equality. One of their quotes is “Everyone should have the right to tie the knot,” and they illustrate this point by producing and distributing White Knots nationally and worldwide. They encourage marriage equality supporters to “wear the White Knot every day to show support and to create conversation. Share the White Knot and spread the word that all loving couples deserve the same legal rights, benefits, and respect that civil marriage bestows." [Link]

Freedom to Marry salutes Rosie Perez as a Voice for Equality! Learn about other Voices for Equality here.

If Ms. Perez's support inspires you, get involved.

**Make your NOMINATION for a Voice for Equality today!

Voice for Equality: Wilson Cruz

Wilson Cruz is an American actor, better known for playing a gay teenager on My So-Called Life and a recurring character on Noah's Arc. After coming out to his parents, Cruz went to Hollywood to seek work as an openly gay young actor. His strategy paid off in 1994, when he was cast as Enrique "Rickie" Vasquez, a troubled gay teen, in the short-lived cult classic TV series My So-Called Life. In one episode (entitled "So-Called Angels") drawn from his own life, Rickie comes out to his family, who throw him out of the house. Other television credits include appearances on: Great Scott!, Sister, Sister, ER, Ally McBeal and The West Wing. His film appearances include: Nixon, Joyride, All Over Me, Supernova, Party Monster and He's Just Not That Into You. Learn more here.

In both his acting and his community work, Cruz has served as a model and mentor to gay youth, especially gay youth of color. Most recently he has volunteered his time as host for the Youth Zone, an online community at Gay.com for LGBT youth.

Mr. Cruz served on the Host Committee for a Hollywood fund-raising party organized by political consultant Chad Griffin and Oscar-winning producer Bruce Cohen which was held on October 20, 2009 to help support the marriage equality campaign in Maine. The invitation read:

While the fate of marriage equality in California makes its way through the Federal court system, the voters of Maine will decide whether or not to take away marriage rights, granted in May by the legislature, on November 3rd…OF THIS YEAR. That is why I am co-chairing, along with Bruce Cohen, a fundraiser for NO ON 1/PROTECT MAINE EQUALITY at Bruce’s house on Tuesday Night, October 20th from 6:30-8:30pm, and we are so hoping you will join us and/or contribute to help fight this important battle. [Link]

Freedom to Marry salutes Wilson Cruz as a Voice for Equality! Learn about our many Voices for Equality here.

If Mr. Cruz's support inspires you - get involved!

**Make your NOMINATION for a Voice for Equality today!

Poll of US-Born Hispanics Shows Changing Attitudes

The Associated Press
December 11, 2009
A study released Friday by the Pew Hispanic Center found that 40 percent of young Hispanic immigrants and second-generation Hispanics living in the U.S. say they favor marriage equality, compared to 52 percent of Hispanics from the third generation and higher. [Link]

Op-Ed: The Catholic Church allows straight couples to divorce and re-marry in civil unions, so why can't same-sex couples marry in civil unions?

impre.com
November 21, 2009
A Catholic can remarry under civil law without leaving the Catholic Church. He or she cannot have a second marriage by the Catholic Church, but a civil ceremony is allowed, granting all the state and federal rights and benefits associated with matrimony. In that case there is separation of church and state. Why does this not apply to same-sex couples seeking a civil marriage? [Link]

Task Force discute igualdad en matrimonio en Despierta America

The Take Force - YouTube.com
November 9, 2009
El portavoz del National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Pedro Julio Serrano, es entrevistado sobre la igualdad en el matrimonio para las parejas del mismo sexo por la periodista Birmania Ríos en el programa Despierta América. [Link]

Carlos Moreno, California High Court Justice, Has Raised His Independent Profile by Dissenting on Prop 8 Decision

The Los Angeles Times
September 26, 2009
Embracing a novel theory, Moreno said he "legally and morally" believes that a measure (Prop 8) that strips a minority of a key right cannot be approved as a constitutional amendment by a mere majority in an election. [Link]

Gay Latino Americans are 'coming of age'

CNN

September 9, 2009

Perez Hilton is a celebrity blogger who dishes out the latest Hollywood gossip, but he's also a Latino pioneer - one of the first Latino public figures in the U.S. to be openly gay (and in talks to host a Latinos for Marriage Equality fundraiser in Los Angeles). He, along with other latino/a trailblazers, is beginning to see anti-gay walls crumble. [Link]

Brazil attorney-general asks supreme court to recognize the freedom to marry

Vancouverite
July 31, 2009
Brazil Attorney-General Deborah Duprat asked the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Thursday to honor marriages between same-sex couples, with the same rights as all other marriages. Duprat argued that denying marriage equality is a breach of constitutional rights. [Link]

Video: Sotomayor on Marriage Equality

365 GAY
July 16, 2009
Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, addresses Senate questions on marriage equality.





[Link]

New Poll: LA Voters Overwhelmingly Support Freedomt to Marry

LA Times
June 19, 2009
A new poll showed a majority of voters in Los Angeles support the right of same-sex couples to legally marry, with 56% in favor and 37% opposed. But the poll also showed that within the city, views on the issue differed widely among racial and ethnic groups. [link]

BLOG: Hispanics Back Marriage Equality at Same Rates as Whites

FiveThirtyEight
May 26, 2009
Nate Silver blogs about several national and state polls that indicate that support for marriage equality among Hispanic voters is relatively similar to support among white voters. [Link]

Looking Back at a Time When Interracial Marriage was Illegal

Gainesville Sun
May 25, 2009
Memories of the Perez case were suddenly revived last May when the California Supreme Court overturned the state's ban on marriage for same-sex couples, using the Perez decision as a key precedent. The state's midcentury interracial marriage pioneers, including Jeanne Lowe and the Watsons, have been largely absent from the debate, though they do have opinions about it.
Leon Watson said he "couldn't care less" who married whom, and, playfully conversing with his wife, wondered why the Catholic Church that went out on a limb to marry them couldn't marry same-sex couples. Jeanne Lowe, who has three children, one of them a lesbian, said she feels that adults have the right to marry whomever they choose. [link]

Study Says New York Latinos Support Marriage Equality

Times Union
May 5, 2009
A study released by the University of Albany Tuesday surveying Latinos in New York and several surrounding states found that half of respondents said they supported marriage for gay couples or civil unions. [Link]

Study says New York Latinos support marriage equality

Times Union
May 5, 2009
The University at Albany released a study on Tuesday polling the Hispanic population of New York and surrounding states. The New York Latino Research and Resources Network (NYLARNet) surveyed more than 1,200 Hispanics in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Jose Cruz, director of NYLARNet, said the study found half of Latinos in those states supported marriage equality or civil unions despite only 18 percent identifying themselves as liberal. (Link)

NYS Latinos support marriage equality by overwhelming margins, say two polls

Blabbeando
April 20, 2009
There are indications that support for marriage equality in New York State might be at a tipping point with one poll saying that a clear majority of registered voters support Governor David Paterson's marriage equality bill. [Link]

Pedro Julio outwits NOM Board Member in Spanish-language TV debate about marriage equality in NY

Blabbeando
April 19, 2009

Here was NOM's first media foray after the Paterson announcement: No big flashy display and no attention-grabbing; just an attempt to speak directly to Latinos in their language. In other words, a similar under-the-radar strategy that foes of marriage equality in California used with minority communities in their successful defeat of Prop. 8. Luckily, Mr. Tellez met more than his match in Pedro Julio. [Link]

NY Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. Calls 'Emergency Summit' on Marriage

Towleroad
April 15, 2009
Towleroad reports that N.Y. state Sen. (and marriage equality opponent) Ruben Diaz Sr. called an "emergency summit" of the New York Hispanic Clergy Organization to "strategize on what to do" after Gov. David Paterson announced he would re-introduce legislation to allow gay couples to marry in the state. [Link]

OP-ED: Iowa’s Family Values

New York Times

April 8, 2009

Steven W. Thrasher writes, "When the good state of Iowa conferred the dignity of civic recognition on my parents' relationship -- a relationship some members of their own families thought was deviant and immoral, that the civil authorities of Nebraska had tried to destroy, and that even some of my mom's college-educated friends believed would produce children striped like zebras -- our family began. And by the time my father died, their interracial marriage was seen just as a marriage, and an admirable 45-year one at that." [Link]

EDITORIAL: Separation Anxiety

The Washington Post

March 16, 2009

"The Uniting American Families Act would allow gay and lesbian Americans and permanent residents to sponsor their foreign-born partners for legal residency in the United States. The bill, introduced last month in the Senate by Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and in the House by Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), would add 'permanent partner' and 'permanent partnership' after the words 'spouse' and 'marriage' in relevant sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act. If passed, it would right a gross unfairness." [Link]

HABLANDOLE A LOST MEDIA DE COMMUNICACION: PFLAG