“8,” the hit play by Dustin Lance Black about marriage for gay and lesbian couples, continues to sweep the country and the world.

Fremont, OH is the 400^th confirmed reading, which are taking place at a variety of professional, community, college and high school theaters. The 50 year-old Fremont Community Theatre will stage readings on September 13 and 14 in their 500+ seat performance space located an hour and a half outside Cleveland.

Over 55,000 estimated people have already experienced a staged reading of “8” live at more than 350 readings performed to date. This is in addition to over 900,000 views online of the play’s Los Angeles premiere staring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Martin Sheen.

Based on the actual court transcripts of the 2010 Prop. 8 trial, the play has a profound effect on everyone who sees it, and has proved to be a useful tool to spark dialogue and understanding about marriage equality:

“It’s a transformative event.  I will never forget it.  To borrow (and adapt) a quote, our school was a better place the day after we saw ‘8’ than the day before.” – Julie Kornack, El Camino Real High School

“[8] shows the humanity that people simply want to raise families and protect their children and feel free to love…[My favorite part was] hearing all the “evidence” presented by the defendants all at once. It helps to open your eyes as to how ignorant it sounds.” – Audience member, Missouri State University

“Our recent theatrical production of “8” was an exciting reminder of how art can be used for social change…Witnessing the trial—which took place in 2010—re-enacted on stage, I realized how our nation’s views of same-sex marriage are shifting. We are benefiting from generations of work toward equal rights for LGBT people.” – Chad Tanaka Pack, Middle Collegiate Church

If you haven’t seen “8” yet, click here to find a reading near you. Or watch the Los Angeles premiere online.

AFER and Broadway Impact are licensing “8” for free to college and community theater groups across the country in order to spur dialogue, understanding and action about marriage equality. Visit 8theplay.com to learn how you can stage a reading in your community.

Transcript

AFER’s bringing you a backstage look at what it’s like to bring a case to the US Supreme Court. Cindy McCain announces her appearance in “8,” Dustin Lance Black’s play about the Prop 8 trial. There’s also new marriage lawsuit in Utah, more good news in state polls, and six more Senators come out for the freedom to marry.

At the American Foundation for Equal Rights, I’m Matt Baume, and welcome to Marriage News Watch for April 8, 2013.

Well the excitement from the Supreme Court arguments two weeks ago is simmering down. Now we wait for an ruling, which could come at any time but most likely will happen at the end of June.

In case you haven’t seen it already, AFER released an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the Supreme Court arguments.  We followed the plaintiffs and legal team as they assembled in Washington DC and prepared for their day in court. Click the video below or visit AFER.org to watch this inside look at what it’s like to bring a case before the highest court in the land.

While the Supreme Court considers the freedom to marry, public opinion continues to rapidly shift in our favor. A new Quinnipiac poll shows 50% of Americans supporting marriage equality. Although other surveys have found higher levels of support, this is the first time this particular survey has reached 50%.

Among the Americans who have come to support the freedom to marry is Cindy McCain, wife of Senator John McCain. She’ll appear next month in a Phoenix production of “8,” Dustin Lance Black’s play about the Prop 8 trial. Visit 8theplay.com for more details about the show, and to find a production near you.

Meanwhile, more and more politicians are standing up for equality. Six sitting senators, Republican and Democrat, endorsed the freedom to marry this week, bringing the total to 53. They’re Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Tom Carper of Delaware, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Bill Nelson of Florida, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota.

Turning to states, Minnesota may be the next to implement marriage equality. But a handful of politicians have proposed civil unions as a compromise or backup plan. So far their civil union proposal has yet to attract the support already pledged to a full marriage bill.

Three gay couples have filed a federal suit in Utah, challenging that state’s constitutional amendment barring marriage. A Utah Voter Poll from 2012 shows that 71 percent of Utahns favor some form of relationship recognition, but just 28% support marriage.

In contrast, a new Field Poll in California shows support for marriage is up to 61 percent to just 32 percent opposed. A Quinnipiac poll in New Jersey shows support at 64 to 30 percent. And voters in Virginia are split, with 45 percent in favor of marriage equality and 46 percent opposed.

And finally this week we’re about to get a final vote on a marriage bill in France. The French Senate will hear the measure starting on Tuesday of this week, with debate scheduled to end on Friday. Passage there appears likely.

Those are the headlines this week. With oral arguments complete, we’re now closer than ever to the conclusion of our years-long work to overturn Prop 8. Visit AFER.org to get the latest news and sign up for breaking alerts.

At the American Foundation for Equal Rights, I’m Matt Baume. We’ll see you next week.

We are pleased to announce that readings are now taking place in all 50 states. From Alaska to Florida, Maine to Hawaii, people across the nation are learning about what happened when fear and prejudice were put on trial.

The response to the play has been overwhelming. An estimated 40,110 people have attended a live reading. This is in addition to the 880,000 people who have watched the L.A. premiere on YouTube or the millions of people reached by an audio recording broadcast on public radio stations and in audiobook format.

34 readings took place in states most critical to the marriage fight this year. States like New Hampshire, where the Legislature overwhelmingly defeated attempt to repeal the state’s marriage equality law in February, to Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington, were equality won at the ballot box for the first time ever.

But for every statistic we can talk about, nothing compares to the personal stories we hear every day.

After seeing Black’s moving play at the College of William and Mary, a high school sophomore in Virginia wrote us to say how transformative the experience was for her:

“I have had many suicidal tendencies and attempts due to my sexuality, and I have been made fun of, taunted, harassed, and been beaten up due to my sexuality. [After seeing “8”], I feel comfortable with myself, wholly, for the first time in my life. I will no longer regret telling people who I am or what I stand for, and I will not fear their reaction.”

Based on the transcripts of the 2010 Prop. 8 trial, “8” documents the nation’s truth commission on marriage and condenses it down to inspire understanding, acceptance and action. If you are interested in hosting a reading of your own, let us know.

The sold-out event also featured openly-gay City Councilmember Todd Gloria, who was recently unanimously elected city council president, in the role of Judge Walker, and a talk back with outgoing Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders, who testified during the 2010 Prop. 8 trial, and his daughter, Lisa, who also starred in the show as the clerk.

For Gregory Cruz, who produced the event and brought everyone together, the night had a special meaning:

“My partner (and co-producer) and I have been together for nearly 10 years and although all of our projects are dear to our hearts—producing “8” was of particular interest because it affects us on a more personal level.  We weren’t able to take advantage of the small window where marriage was legal in California, but “8” is a testament that we are closer than ever before to achieving marriage equality for all–permanently. “

Here are a few photos:

Photo above by Tamandra Michaels. Photo Slideshow by Big Mike. 

Sunday, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation launched a TV ad nationwide featuring gay and lesbian couples and their families.

Morgan Freeman, who portrayed AFER attorney David Boies in the world premiere of “8” on Broadway, provides the voice over:

“Freedom, justice and human dignity have always guided our journey toward a more perfect union.

“Now across our country, we are standing together for the right of gay and lesbian Americans to marry the person they love. And with historic victories for marriage, we’ve delivered a mandate for full equality.”

Watch the ad and share it with your friends and family.

It’s unbelievable to me that people’s lives and relationships are literally being voted on in a matter of days.

In Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington, voters will go to the polls to decide if gay and lesbian couples – our friends and neighbors – are worthy of the same protections as everyone else.

But that’s the system we have and I’m not going to back down from the fight for loving and committed couples to have the ability to marry. Especially when groups like the Human Rights Campaign are fighting these battles day-in and day-out.

So, here’s what I’m going to do. If you make a contribution to these ballot measure campaigns in the next 24 hours, I’ll double it – every dollar of the way, up to $100,000.

This is our last chance to make a difference. If you’re like me, you don’t want to have to ask yourself on the day after the election, what else could I have done?

So what are you waiting for?! Donate today and Brad Pitt will match your contribution to marriage equality.

Here are clips from Brad at the LA premiere of “8”:

In addition to registering their wedding at home furnishing stores, couples like Elizabeth Pickell and her fiancé Glenn Hicks in North Carolina are using their special day to raise awareness about the issue of marriage equality by encouraging their guests to make a gift to organizations like AFER:

“When Glenn and I announced our engagement last year, we were touched by the kind words of support from many kind friends, family members and colleagues, some of whom are denied the legal protections and support of marriage. So…we decided to use our wedding as an outreach tool to help folks understand the importance of enabling everyone to have the freedom to marry and helping this organization raise funds to achieve full federal marriage equality.”

There are also couples who want to spotlight the issue by giving marriage equality a starring role in their ceremony.

Jason Mitchell Kahn and Michael Zahler, who married in New York last May, decided to include a portion of “8,” Dustin Lance Black’s play based on the actual trial transcripts of the Prop. 8 trial.

“The words are beautiful,” says Jason. “They really captured the sentiment we were trying to  get across.”

The couple enlisted three members of their wedding party to perform parts of Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo’s monologues.

“We chose a part that really spoke to the special significance of being able to say ’husband‘ instead of ’partner,’” says Jason. Here’s a portion of the monologue:

“Husband is definitive. It’s something that everyone understands. There is no subtlety to it. It is absolute, and comes with a modicum of respect and understanding that your relationship is not temporal, it’s not new, and it’s not something that could fade easily. It’s something that you’ve dedicated yourself to and you’re committed to.”

The couple, who met three years ago at a reading of a play Jason wrote, knew that the arts would be part of their wedding.  “We had a friend perform a song, so we thought we’d have a reading from a play too, and that’s very us because we come from theater backgrounds,” said Jason.

The experience planning a wedding has also prompted Jason, a writer and event planner, to write a planning guide exclusively for gay couples. The book, “Getting Groomed,” will be published by Chronicle Books next year.

Here’s the full text of Jeff and Paul’s monologues, and a clip from the Los Angeles premiere of “8,” starring Matthew Morrison:

It’s always an awkward situation at the front desk at the hotel. The individual working at the desk will look at us perplexed, “You ordered a king-size bed. Is that really what you want?” It was certainly an awkward situation walking to the bank and saying, “My partner and I want to open a joint bank account,” and hearing, “A business account? An LLC or S Corporation?”

“No, not my business partner. My partner.” Being able to call him my husband is so definitive. It’s something that everyone understands.

The word marriage has meaning. If it weren’t so important, we wouldn’t be here today.

It symbolizes maybe the most important decision you make as an adult, who you choose.

Husband is definitive. It’s something that everyone understands. There is no subtlety to it. It is absolute, and comes with a modicum of respect and understanding that your relationship is not temporal, it’s not new, and it’s not something that could fade easily. It’s something that you’ve dedicated yourself to and you’re committed to.

We would love to have a family, but the timeline for us has always been marriage first, because it solidifies the relationship. And when we gain access to that language that is global, where it won’t affect our children in the future. They won’t have to say, “My dad and dad are domestic partners.” Because not everyone knows exactly what domestic partnership is.

With Holland Taylor of “The Practice” presiding as a gentlemanly, wry Judge Walker, “8″ unfolded within the trial’s closing arguments, with flashbacks to testimony. As staged by Mark Rucker, the large cast remained onstage for the 90-minute show, serving as a community of witnesses when not testifying.

Small, telling cameos were delivered by Perloff, Assembly Speaker John Pérez, leading gay activists Cleve Jones and Neil Giuliano, and actor Liam Vincent. The plum attorney roles were sharply delivered by former ACT star Gregory Wallace and California Shakespeare Theater head Jonathan Moscone - as anti-8 lawyers Theodore Olson and David Boies - and actor Kevin Rolston, tying himself in knots trying to defend the proposition.

Read the article > 

During elections, 30-second sound bites are designed to prey on people’s fears and prejudices. But in a court of law, as we saw during the 2010 federal district court trial of Prop. 8, their arguments fall apart when witnesses are compelled to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Let’s take a look at their claims and the real facts.

First, there’s the usual lie that marriage has remained unchanged for “thousands of years,” which doesn’t even withstand basic scrutiny.

But what do the experts think? Nancy Cott, who is a Harvard history professor, had this to say at the Prop. 8 trial:

The “political coverance purpose of marriage today is — has shifted rather dramatically, because we no longer assume that a single head of household governs everyone below it. We have a much more individualized distribution of political power in our population, particularly since 1920…The institution of marriage has always been at least as much about supporting adults as it has been about supporting minors, children, as the proponents tend to emphasize the child’s side.”

Here’s Dr. Cott’s testimony recreated verbatim by actress Yeardley Smith at the Los Angeles premiere of “8.”

But then there’s an even stranger claim from NOM: that marriage was “made by God” for the purposes of procreation:

Obviously this point doesn’t hold any weight either as people can procreate without marrying. And marry without procreating. Not to mention, the thousands of gay and lesbian parents who are raising children. According to UMass Amherst Professor Lee Badgett’s testimony during the Prop 8 trial:

“Prop. 8 has inflicted substantial economic harm on same-sex couples and their children who live in California.”

NOM also claims that “Marriage is an issue that should be decided by the people,” says narrator Kelly Yanta.

Peoples’ fundamental rights should never be put up for popular vote. And with ads filled with lies, there’s no wonder why.

NOM has indicated that their first attack ad in Maine will launch on Monday. It’s likely to be as accurate and reasonable as their commercials in Minnesota.

• Contribute to Minnesotans United for All Families
• Contribute to Mainers United for Marriage

It will be the first time Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who wrote the play based on the transcripts of the 2010 Prop. 8 trial, will have an acting role in the production. He’ll be joined by legendary activist and AFER Advisory Board Member Cleve Jones (who also appeared at the Los Angeles premiere), Emmy Award-winning actress Holland Taylor (The Practice, Two and a Half Men), actor Luke McFarlane (Brothers & Sisters) and Assemblymember John A. Pérez, who is the first openly-gay speaker of the California Assembly.

For Speaker Pérez, the role of expert witness Gary Segura was a lifetime in the making:

“As someone whose own rights were taken away by Proposition 8, and Proposition 22 before it, I am deeply honored to be participating in a production that brilliantly and vividly captures the critical moments of the trial that led to Judge Vaughn Walker’s groundbreaking ruling.”

Tickets are on sale now. Proceeds from the reading benefit AFER and LGBTQ youth participating in A.C.T.’s ACTsmart program, which offers free student matinee tickets and theater-based pre- and post-show workshops at no cost to 23 public high schools in the Bay Area (including all 18 San Francisco public high schools) with large populations of underserved, low-income students who otherwise would have little exposure to the arts.

And be sure to check out ACT’s limited engagement of The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer’s powerful, Tony-winning AIDS drama which wowed Broadway and will soon be turned into a film starring Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, Mark Ruffalo, Julia Roberts and Alec Baldwin. Tickets to the play are on sale now and the show runs through October 7.