Nutter Leads National Coalition of Mayors for the Freedom to Marry

The campaign seeks to gather mayors across the states who are fighting for marriage equality.

Get a compelling long read and must-have lifestyle tips in your inbox every Sunday morning — great with coffee!

Mayor Nutter disappointed some LGBTers last week when he declined an invitation from a local gay couple to officiate their wedding. And he didn’t make things any better when, a few days later, he announced he would be maintaining Philly’s sister-city tie with anti-gay Russian town Nizhny Novgorod. This week, however, our mayor has redeemed himself by getting involved with a new project from Freedom to Marry. He’s joined forces with seven other mayors across the country — including San Antonio’s Julian Castro, NYC’s Michael Bloomberg and Houston’s Anisse Parker — to co-chair Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, a project that seeks to rally “a broad-based and non-partisan group of mayors who believe that all people should be able to share in the love and commitment of marriage.”

Here’s the mission statement for the campaign:

As mayors of eight of America’s great cities, we understand that the strength and health of our cities are enhanced when all families are protected and supported. We know many people in loving and committed same-sex relationships who are active participants in improving our communities and we’ve seen how important marriage has been for them and their families. We are honored to lead this bipartisan group of mayors who support ending marriage discrimination at all levels of government. While we will each have different strategies for pursuing that end, we all agree on the goal: securing the freedom to marry and upholding equal rights for all citizens. We are a diverse group of mayors—from cities across the country. Our cities are culturally, racially and geographically diverse, but we share one important value: a common commitment to fairness.

The project is essentially an interactive map of the U.S. that illustrates how many city leaders across the states are pro-marriage equality. Right now, more than 350 mayors from 35 states have signed up, and there’s a pretty good representation in Pennsylvania. Laurence Keller of New Hope is on board, as is Luke Ravenstahl of Pittsburgh and Carolyn Comitta in West Chester. But while it shows the folks standing up to fight the good fight, it also points a finger at the mayors who have yet to sign up (ahem, mayors of Reading, Erie, Kennett Square, etc … ) There’s a direct link to petition each non-participating mayor.

The goal is to reach 500 mayors from all 50 states, so be sure to take action if you don’t see your head honcho on the list.

Follow G Philly on:

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

Have suggestions or LGBT news you’d like to share with G Philly? Send tips to jmiddleton@phillymag.com.