A series of gay marriage ads released Thursday seek to influence next year's vote on a proposed gay marriage ban in North Carolina, gay weekly QNotes reported.

The ad campaign, titled Marriage Matters, features gay and lesbian couples talking about their marriages and how gay marriage bans affect them.

Tobi and Janee were married in Connecticut and are raising a son.

“After seven-and-a-half years of being together we finally had the opportunity to make a commitment to one another and make a commitment to our son,” Tobi says in one nearly 3 minute video.

“Things have felt different between us. In the past four or five months since we've been married, things have felt deeper and more loving in a way that I didn't anticipate at all,” Janee said.

“I don't feel like we have the same protection that other families have. And I feel not only vulnerable but I feel less than human. … If we decided to drive down South, we suddenly aren't married anymore. It feels terrible,” she adds. (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page. Visit our video library for more videos.)

The videos have been produced by In The Life Media in partnership with Freedom to Marry and Equality North Carolina.