American Foundation for Equal Rights

Marriage News Blog

Second National Ad for Marriage Equality Features Republican Military Veteran

The Respect for Marriage Coalition has launched a second national television ad that features Craig Stowell, a Republican and former Marine Corporal, his wife Berta, and his brother Calvin, who is gay.

Titled “Stowell,” the national television ad is part of the Coalition’s ongoing “#Time4Marriage” advertising campaign, which highlights a broad variety of voices and encourages people to join the bipartisan majority of Americans who actively support marriage for all committed couples.

According to a new national poll, three-quarters of all voters believe that marrying the person you love is a fundamental freedom and Constitutional right for every American, including gays and lesbians. A majority of Americans also believes that to continue denying gays and lesbians the freedom to marry constitutes discrimination.  And an overwhelming majority of voters of all political persuasions, including those who personally oppose marriage equality, also believe that granting same-sex couples the same legal right to marry as straight couples is likely to happen: 77% believe that marriage for gays and lesbians will be legal in the United States in “the next couple of years” and 83% believe that it will happen in “the next 5-10 years.” This finding reflects a double-digit increase in voters’ opinions on this issue in just two years.

The Respect for Marriage Coalition includes AFER and more than 80 organizations supporting the freedom to marry—which have come together for the first time in history to organize and fund a national advertising and awareness effort.