Jane Lynch, Ellen DeGeneres and more sign letter to Obama to kick off same-sex marriage campaign

This post has been updated. See the note below for details.

Celebs and VIPs including Jane Lynch, Anne Hathaway and Ellen DeGeneres kicked off the "Say I Do" campaign Monday with a letter to President Obama asking him for clarity on the topic of same-sex marriage and urging him to support an end to "exclusion from marriage."

The campaign will continue until Obama expresses his support, according to Freedom to Marry, the group behind the effort.

Other signers from the entertainment ranks include actors Eric McCormack, Martin Sheen, Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner and Portia DeGeneres, musicians Melissa Etheridge, Mya and Rufus Wainwright, playwright Tony Kushner, and studio honchos Bob Wright, with wife Susan, and David Geffen, The Times has learned exclusively.

Tech VIPs signing their names along with those of civil rights leaders and other activists include Twitter creator Jack Dorsey, Chris Hughes of Facebook, Sean Parker of Napster and Mark Pincus of Zynga, along with athletes Brendon Ayanbadejo and Scott Fujita of the NFL.

"My wife and I were married in May of 2010, and I can say without a doubt that marriage matters," Lynch said in connection with the letter, which will be delivered to the White House by same-sex couples and families this spring.

"As President Obama continues his journey toward recognizing our right to equal taxation, protection and dignity under the law, I encourage him to listen to gay and lesbian couples and families so he can better understand how marriage equality affects us all."

Lynch and Lara Embry got hitched in Massachusetts, one of five states -- plus the District of Columbia -- where same-sex couples can marry. Ellen DeGeneres married Portia de Rossi locally in 2008, during the window when same-sex marriage was legal in California. De Rossi has since changed her name to Portia DeGeneres.

Kushner and editor-writer Mark Harris, another signatory, had a commitment ceremony in New York in 2003 and planned to be wed in California in 2008, but ultimately tied the knot that year in Massachusetts. Tomlin is not married to Wagner, her partner since 1971, but said in February that although it's not her thing, "I certainly want anybody in the gay community to marry if they wish to."

"In law, in love, in life, marriage says 'we are family' in a way that nothing else does," the letter reads. "Marriage is the coming together of two lives, marked by a public promise of love and responsibility in front of friends and family. And marriage brings not only public respect and personal significance, but also a safety net of legal protections, rights, and responsibilities for which there is no substitute."

A Pew Research Institute poll released the first week of March shows, among those expressing an opinion, about equal numbers for and against same-sex marriage, a significant change from 2-to-1 opposition a decade ago. In the West and Northeast, a majority of people give it the thumbs-up, the poll said.

In addition to the letter, the "Say I Do" campaign will spotlight stories of same-sex couples and their family members across a variety of media, organizers said.

Updated at 10:40 a.m., March 14: This post originally neglected to mention the District of Columbia as a spot in the U.S. where same-sex marriage is licensed. Thanks to commenter @Fabrisse for the reminder.

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-- Christie D'Zurilla

Upper photo: Jane Lynch and Lara Embry. Credit: Craig Barritt / Getty Images

Middle photo: Tony Kushner. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Lower photo: Portia and Ellen DeGeneres, lower left. Credit: Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Joseph A. Mustich]

It's time for full marriage equality rights now. Marriage in the US is firstly civil and contractual. Period.
Cheers, Joe Mustich, CT Justice of the Peace, USA.

[John De Salvio]

It would be great to see a whole list of straight (but not narrow) people of all professions - corporate executives, people of industry, blue-collar workers and their spouses - sign on to this petition. It would certainly help to legitimize the gay relationships I have known... same-sex couples who have been together for more than 50 years! These couples deserve the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexual married couples.
And no, civil unions and domestic partnerships do NOT offer anywhere near the same rights as marriages, which are accepted universally.

[Fabrisse]

Don't forget, the District of Columbia also permits and recognizes same-sex marriage.

[SOooo]

So where are Brad and Angie? They say they won't marry until every one can? Walk the talk.

[Ironman Carmichael]

As you probably know, Maryland legislators chickened out on a vote at the last minute, claiming more pressing business warranted their attention (uh-huh). I can't say I blame them too much. If I were a state legislator, I wouldn't want to touch this issue with a ten-foot pole because however it comes down there are going to be angry hurt feelings and enemies made.

The bright side is that if more states cop out like this, it will force the issue to be decided on a federal level. And history is on the side of equality. (As I may have mentioned once or twice before, every single argument against same-sex marriage is based on intellectual and moral dishonesty and hypocrisy.)

[justin]

I'm hetrosexual and so this has nothing to do with me. This has nothing to do with my world and in no way would make the world a better place by raising my hand and declaring my allegiance to this mess. It's not important and doesn't deprive anyone of their human or basic rights in any way shape or form.

Truth.

[Lc48b1]

We will gather signatures to counteract sodomy 'marriage'.

[Patty Bakunas]

I am blessed to be married to the most wonderful woman. Everyone deserves the right to marry the person they love.

[Karen Muldrow]

Why is everyone putting pressure on Pres. Obama re gay marriage? You did not do it for the prior Presidential administrations. President Obama has more important things to do like get people back to work. You chose to be a sexual outcast, so deal with it!

[balvord]

Why should the liberal homosexual left have any more say than 30 states that have voted against it. Every single time it has come to a vote by the people in ANY state they have rejected homosexual marriage. And even though the media is trying hard to normalize this it is clear from biology, theology and thousands of years of history this is a pervertion that should be rejected. Call it hate if you'd like but there are boundaries that God, biology and history have given. Now its homosexuals who want a "right" next it'll be the pedophiles and the poligomists. Reject absolute truth and throw yourself to relativism and chaos and sin will rule.

[inkorrekt]

Marriage is not a right. It is a privilege granted only to a man and a woman solely for the purpose of procreation and nurture of Children. Marriage is only for the good of the children. Not for the Partners. Today the law provides all the priviloeges to anyone just as married heterosexual couples. Where is the need to alter the definition of marriage now?

[Kernel Klink]

To Justin: You say: "I'm hetrosexual and so this has nothing to do with me....." Please realize that you may not be black either, but that doesn't mean slavery has nothing to do with you. Or you're not Jewish, so Hitler has nothing to do with you. Civil rights has everything to do with you, because as the saying goes, first they came after the Jews but not me, and I didn't care because I'm not Jewish, but then they came after me.

[balvord]

Why do we care what the homosexual Hollywood elite think anyway. The people have voted for normalcy and against gay marriage every time it has come up in any vote in any state. Over 30 states have voted for consitutional amendments against this left wing minority. Remember democracy?

[Mary Norman]

Equal Rights should be for Everyone not just the Majority. We all pay taxes .

[Larry]

Marriage is not for homosexuals, period. Its NOT a gay thing.....

[anon]

I will disavow my alleigance to and revolt the government in a campaign if gay marriage were to become a right. I'm sure the majority would feel the same way, so it would be real easy to get a crowd rallied up to overthrow the government as our constitutional right says we can. The constitution is who I serve, not the government, nor the president.

[Watjalukinat]

Really Kernel Klink?????

You're going to compare homosexuals not being able to marry to slavery and the holocaust? That CHOICE doesn't compare to people being oppressed or slaughtered based on their race. Wake up and smell the fact that America still hasn't been sucked into the liberal media's overt attempt to convince us that gay marriage is okay. 1 to 3% of the population should stop trying to strong arm the majority.

[misanthropicus]

Garbage - the gay rights movement has peaked, and will fade away to irrelevance, since, as all signs show, all gay marriage etc. cases are heading to SCOTUS, where they'll all be nicely bounced to the only, sole instance where they can be dealt with: the state electorate (horrible vision for liberals), where they'll be uniformly pushed in the garbage bin by voters - and this absurd demand will became just a piece of liberal idiocy memorabilia -

As far as dba Obama, poor thing, it's indeed the right time to throw him this hot potatate now, since he's been completely unseen since the upheaval broke in North Africa - the Japan disaster has made his cowardice and utter lack of leadership qualities even more visible -

Bye-bye liberals - you and your hopey-dopey leader have became something close in importance as some green, 1960-s flared pants -

[R.G. Frano, A-EMT-4-Paramedic, ACLS, (Ret.)]

I wasn't aware that Ms. Lynch and Ms. Embry got hitched, probably because, since I am not involved with their personal life, it just wouldn't occur to me to ask/I wouldn't & DON'T find it espicially enlightening.
I seldom care one way ot another as long as the couple are adults & sober enough to make the awsome decision called marriege... It's about time that gay citizens recieve precisely the same rights as straight citizens take for granted...
...Like walking down the street holding their Significant Other's hand, w/o fear
of having their heads kicked in, or paying higher prices, being denied admission to public events, singles-in-pair-bond vs. married couple tax issues, service in the United State's various profiteering adventures 'round the globe, (aka, the alleged war-on-terror, supposedly waged against ronald reagan's freedom fighter', o. bin ladin...
BTW: Is Joseph Ratzinger more likely to die of a 'heart attack' or a 'stroke', if his creepy 'non-employees', (preists, nuns, monks, bishops & cardinals, according to lawyers explaining why Mr. Ratzinger can't be sued under 'R.I.C.O.'!), ever develop the intestinal ('moral') fortitude to 'come out'?

[ryan]

Those individuals need to find Jesus, so they can be freed from their personal sin! Gay marriage should be 100% banned everywhere. They should not even be allowed partnership.