Georgia Rep. John Lewis on Sunday
reiterated that he sees the movement to legalize gay marriage as a
civil rights issue.
Appearing in a nearly 2-minute video
for Freedom to Marry, the 74-year-old Lewis, the only living “big
six” leader of the American Civil Rights Movement, compared the
civil rights movement to today's fight for marriage equality.
“I fought too hard and too long
against discrimination based on race and color not to stand up and
speak up against discrimination against our gay and lesbian brothers
and sisters,” Lewis says in the clip. “I see the right to
marriage as a civil rights issue. You cannot have rights for one
segment of the population, or one group of people, and not for
everybody. Civil rights and equal rights must be for all of God's
children.”
The ad is part of a $1 million
multi-state campaign to build majority support for marriage equality
in the South. The campaign, titled Southerners for the Freedom to
Marry, includes co-chairs representing 13 southern states.
Lewis also said in the ad that he saw
marriage equality as a step toward completing Martin Luther King
Jr.'s “beloved community.”
“I look forward to the day, not just
in the state of Georgia, but all across the American South and all
across our country, when the question of being free to fall in love
and marry whoever you please will no longer be an issue. And that
day will come. It will come in America. In our lifetime.” (The
video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
Evan Wolfson, founder and president of
Freedom to Marry, said the campaign comes “at a pivotal time in the
marriage movement.”
“The South is home to hundreds of
thousands of loving, committed same-sex couples – and to a majority
of the nearly 50 federal marriage cases now underway in courts across
the country. Our new campaign will give voice to the many in the
region now ready to move forward, including clergy, business leaders,
conservatives, and family members, to show that all of America is
ready for the freedom to marry,” Wolfson said in an emailed
statement.