Washington, DC — Today Familia es Familia, the national partnership to grow support for the freedom to marry and LGBT equality and inclusion within the Latino community, released a new online public education advertisement featuring civil rights leader Dolores Huerta speaking out on the importance of marriage for same-sex couples. The Familia es Familia partnership of dozens of Latino-based organizations is hosted by Freedom to Marry, the campaign to win marriage nationwide.
The Dolores Huerta video is the first of a series of Familia es Familia PSAs, including several in Spanish, that will appear online or broadcast on television. This first video will be promoted via online ads and can be viewed here: tiny.cc/nmbfyw .
"As a champion for fairness and freedom throughout her whole life, Dolores Huerta is the perfect person to make the case for the freedom to marry to the Latino community," said Sergio Lopez, director of Latino programming at Freedom to Marry. "The case she makes to end marriage discrimination is a powerful addition to the drumbeat of support for the freedom to marry as we await rulings from the Supreme Court on two landmark marriage cases by the end of this month. It's time to start talking about the freedom to marry among our Latino friends and family."
Huerta, a longtime labor leader and activist who co-founded the National Farmworkers Association (which later became the United Farm Workers), was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom last year by President Obama. In the new ad, she calls on fellow Latinos to come together to accept their gay and lesbian family members and support their freedom to marry.
"Marriage matters for the same reasons to all people, gay or straight," Huerta said. "And it's our responsibility to support inclusion of our gay and lesbian friends and family members in the important institution of marriage. I'm happy to be a part of the marriage movement and to continue the push for all loving and committed couples' freedom to marry."
Among those promoting the video through their social networks are Eva Longoria, Ricky Martin, and America Ferrera.
As backing for the freedom to marry grows across America, Latinos show some of the strongest support: an October poll by NBC shows that 60% of Latinos support marriage for same-sex couples. Another survey by Latino Decisions found that 64% of Hispanic voters believed comprehensive immigration reform should include the same rights for same-sex couples as for opposite-sex couples.
The transcript of the ad is below:
Dolores Huerta: "Ya es hora. It's time to talk about our family members who are gay and lesbian. No person, gay or straight, should have to face any kind of discrimination where they live, where they work, or when they want to marry the person that they love.
"Same-sex couples should have the protections of marriage. It's discrimination if they don't have the freedom to marry like everybody else does. Familia es Familia."