Approve R-74 event at St. James Cathedral draws 150

by Leo N. Egashira - Special to the SGN

On Sunday morning, October 28, readers of The Seattle Times, The Everett Herald, and The Yakima Herald-Republic woke up to a full-page ad sponsored by Catholics for Marriage Equality Washington. (Spokane Spokesman-Review readers saw a similar ad on October 16.) The day ended with a gathering billed as a 'Liturgy of Love,' which attracted 150 progressive Catholics and supportive allies outside Seattle's St. James Cathedral. For one hour, the lively and energized crowd sang and prayed, echoing two common themes: (1) It is not in spite of our Catholic faith, but because of its strong tradition of social justice and treating each person with dignity, that we strongly support marriage equality. (2) A substantial majority of the Catholic laity, locally and nationwide, support marriage equality, despite the Catholic bishops' strident opposition to it.

State Sen. Ed Murray (along with his partner, Michael Shiosaki), a St. James parishioner and the major force behind all pro-LGBT legislation in Washington for the past 17 years, acknowledged the crowd's enthusiastic applause after he was introduced. Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin praised the Catholic group for its strong and publicly visible grassroots effort to pass marriage equality. He urged attendees to make use of the few days left before the elections to persuade more of their relatives, neighbors, co-workers, and parishioners to vote to Approve Referendum 74 and make marriage equality the law of the land in Washington.

Leo Egashira is a DignityUSA board member.

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