Saving Marriage

I saw this film and I was so blown away. As a gay man I haven't really been able to see the gay marriage debate beyond, "sure, we should get what they get." But this is a great documentary that totally changed how much I value gay marriage. Besides the message, the storytelling was extremely well done and, you couldn't have asked for a better bad guy in that incumbent that Carl was up against. But that was just one of many things that were well executed. Open minded interviews with BOTH sides of this issue make it crystal clear why gay marriage is crucial to the survival of the gay community- it appears to be far more than a label of equality or simply being fair with financial rights.

The film humanizes the gay marriage debate, focusing not only on the emotional impact of marriage for individual same-sex couples, but also the under-dog fight faced by local legislators and those in political action committees who have devoted their lives to the issue. Framing same-sex marriage as the next great civil rights challenge, Saving Marriage navigates the long, complicated political and legislative process with a human context, giving a face to a topic that is often eschewed as empty political rhetoric. If the film doesn't convince you of the justness of its cause, it at least offers a means to understand the issues and measure what is at stake for gay couples who seek the rights and validation offered by legally sanctioned marriage.

Saving Marriage is an aptly titled movie that chronicles the struggle to legalize Gay Marriage in the state of Massachusets. It portrays not solely the political and legal battles, but the personal issues. For those less familiar with the cause, it gives not only the background but puts faces to the issues. It is respectful to those who do not know why gay marriage is such an important goal and educates its audience in a non-threatening manner. As someone who as always been supportive of civil rights issues, it motivated me to want to be more vocal about this cause.

There is one quote from the movie that keeps coming back to me....to paraphrase: it's not really about gay marriage, but an acceptance of gays. This movie chronicles legalities, but in essence it is about accepting gay people as equal citizens with equal rights. As a heterosexual, I need to get over my learned prejudices -- we all have prejudices -- get rid of knee-jerk responses, listen and learn from others.

This movie is an attempt to make the world a better place. Well worth my time and yours!

I loved this documentary. Our people around the world are entering a new age of equality but there is still a struggle in securing more equality and retaining the gains that we have already made. This film covers that struggle in Massachusetts and documents the great efforts made by so many people in defending their right to be treated as valued and equal human beings. It's easy for an LGBT audience to be drawn into this and feel it personally. Told from a Queer perspective, the film makers have tried to incorporate all points of view in a fair and real way, showing those on both sides of the argument. It puts a human face on same-sex marriage, profiling several weddings and focussing too on some same-sex headed families. From high points when we see both lovely long-term and youthful couples exchanging vows and the election of a gay man to the Massachusetts Parliament, to low points where an elected official of that same government forthrightly denies historical injustices against LGBT people and contemporary realities of abuse, harassment, discrimination and worse, and finishing on the sad reality that bigotry still prevails in much of the American public, a bigotry which could strip same-sex couples of this right, I recommend that everyone with an opinion on same-sex marriage view this.

This powerful and beautiful film succeeded on many fronts: the filmmakers provide the audience with a compelling cast of characters, complete with Heroes and Villains, whose lives are impacted in one fashion or another by the issue of Gay Marriage. They also do a nice job fashioning a clear plot for the audience to follow and become emotionally invested in (I was personally moved to tears a number of times during the film) and did a nice job building the drama around the key turning points for the bills under debate.

Where I really think the film succeeds is in making all the people in the film real and three-dimensional, there wasn't a lot of jingoistic talking points being tossed around, just real human drama and real emotion in the discussion of the issues faced by gay men and women...and that will go a long way to softening the hearts and minds of the general public who really doesn't understand the issue (like the lobbyist says in the film...it plants little seeds that can eventually grow large enough to break down the walls in people's minds).

It's easy when taking on a subject like this to show the opposition as cartoon characters and the film tries to show the other side and does a fairly decent job of balancing the argument by not making Gay Marriage opponents too over-the-top or making too much fun of them.