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Mayors' Marriage Equality Group Grows Threefold in First Year

Mayors' Marriage Equality Group Grows Threefold in First Year

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Mayors for the Freedom to Marry celebrates its first anniversary with 291 members.

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Today marks the first anniversary of Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, whose membership has increased more than threefold since the group's launch.

The group, a project of Freedom to Marry, started with 80 mayors last year, and the number has now reached 291, with mayors from 32 states, notes The Huffington Post. The mayors sign a pledge in support of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Its leaders are mayors Michael Bloomberg of New York City, Thomas M. Menino of Boston, Annise Parker of Houston, and Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles,

A recent addition to the group is Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed, who told HuffPo his views on marriage equality had evolved. "There's a difference between civil unions and the rights that come with marriage," he said. "For many years I didn't believe that there was a difference."

The mayors' effort is an important aspect of the fight for marriage equality, he added, because it "helps to create a space in time and an environment where more and more people in the more conservative parts of the United States can come, over time, to the conclusion that I did." Read more here.

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.