Freedom to Marry is coming to Rural Oregon! The first rural and small town statewide gathering for the Freedom to Marry campaign is coming up on Sunday, November 15th at the First Presbyterian Church in Cottage Grove! The training will take place from 12noon-5pm and is open to all ROP members and supporters. We’ll be taking lessons learned from Maine and Washington this week, and participants will learn about the strategy to win freedom to marry for all committed couples in Oregon and get hands-on tools for how to talk about this campaign in our hometowns.
If you’d like to prepare yourself for some of the conversations we’ll be having over the next few years, RSVP to ROP and we’ll give you full details on the gathering on Sunday, November 15th in Cottage Grove. (Email cara@rop.org or call 503-543-8517).
This conversation has already started in some parts of the state. Central Oregon had a visit this week from the Executive Director of Freedom to Marry to kick off their local plan to participate in the Freedom to Marry campaign here in Oregon. More from Jenni Peskin of ROP member group Human Dignity Coalition:
Human Dignity Coalition was thrilled at the turn out of over 75 people last Tuesday night at the Old Stone Church to hear Evan Wolfson speak on behalf of the Freedom to Marry. It was a diverse group of LGBTQ and allied people and families all there to learn more about how we can be better advocates for the Freedom to Marry. We were empowered to know that the best way to advocate for Marriage Equality is to start telling our stories. Whether gay or non-gay, the most important thing we can do at this time is to talk to our friends, neighbors and coworkers about why marriage is important to us and why marriage equality is important to us. Speak from the heart and we will build a movement for change in Oregon.
As the campaign heats up, this is going to be a hot topic in Oregon communities. So let’s get on the front end of those conversations. Let’s get ourselves prepared to talk about queer marriage, and let’s figure out how we use those conversations to make our hometowns a little bit safer for people to live, work, and thrive, while being out about who we are.
If you can’t make the training in Cottage Grove but want to begin to think through how to talk about this with your community, let us know at the ROP office and we can set up a time for a visit, or help you make a plan.
To RSVP for the Cottage Grove training, or to make a plan for your community email cara@rop.org or call 503-543-8417.