VIDEO: Why We Can’t Wait for the Freedom to Marry

Derence Kernek and Ed Watson made this video for Courage Campaign to go with an open letter they are sending to the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, asking them to lift the stay that's blocking the lower court's decision to strike down Proposition 8:

Yesterday I found out the California Supreme Court denied a motion to speed up the Prop 8 trial. They're going to take their summer recess and come back in around 6 months or so. It must be nice for them.

Thing is, I am 78 years old, and I have Alzheimer's disease. I have been with my partner, Derence, for over 40 years. And if the courts drag this out for months and months, I fear I will, God forbid, lose the ability to recognize my beloved Derence when he gets on his knee to propose to me.

I can't afford that, and Derence deserves better. That's why I agreed to be named in Courage Campaign's amicus curiae letter to the 9th Circuit, asking that the stay be lifted so I can at least have my dignity on our wedding day.

Please watch this video of me and my partner Derence, and then co-sign our letter to the 9th Circuit, begging them to lift the stay while the California Supreme Court drags its feet.

If the California Supreme Court is going to take its time, then we deserve the dignity of marriage...before I can't remember what marriage is.

Humbly,
Ed Watson, Palm Springs, CA



Many people say that winning marriage nationwide is inevitable because every opinion poll that comes out shows support growing steadily. Whether or not you believe that marriage discrimination must eventually end as a matter of course, there's no denying that thousands of couples across America are hurt every day that they can't get married. They simply want the chance to solemnize their relationship with the respect it deserves – for their friends, family, and themselves. But they can't all wait the years or even decades it would take for marriage discrimination to end if we just sit back and wait for it.