President Obama on the Freedom to Marry: ‘Our Work Is Not Finished’

Last night during a speech in which President Obama was ticking off the work still ahead for his administration, an audience member called him out on the freedom to marry. The president responded, "Our work is not finished." 

 
President Obama is right. The work -- and even his own journey to support -- is not finished. Freedom to Marry, with your help, is going to help the president get America where it needs to be.

Since we launched the "Say, I Do" campaign last month with an Open Letter to the President, over 86,000 Americans have signed on. They have added their voices to civil rights icons like NAACP Board Chair Emeritus Julian Bond and Helen Fabela Chavez; Hollywood stars such as Ellen DeGeneres, Jane Lynch, Anne Hathaway; athletes; high-profile business and technology leaders; and clergy -- calling on the president to join the majority of Americans who support the freedom to marry for same-sex couples and their families.

President Obama has spoken about the gay and lesbian people in his life and their families and about how his feelings and position on the freedom to marry are "evolving." Freedom to Marry knows that we can help fair-minded people -- including President Obama -- wrestling with questions and uncertainty, and change their hearts and minds. Later this spring, we will bring to the president the stories, images, and voices of Americans who want to help him complete his journey to fairness.

In our letter to President Obama, we say:
 
We ask you now for your leadership on ending the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage, an exclusion that harms millions of Americans each day. Whether to end discrimination in marriage is a question America has faced before, and faces again today. With so many Americans talking it through in heartfelt conversations, it is a question that calls for clarity from the President.
 
Join Freedom to Marry in encouraging the president to stand with the majority of Americans who support the freedom to marry by clicking here and signing onto the Open Letter to the President. Share the Open Letter with your friends to help us get well over 100,000. Marriage matters, families are in need, and together with the president, we can and must finish the work.