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Former Miss Kentucky Joins Southerners for the Freedom to Marry


New York–(ENEWSPF)–March 27, 2014.  Yesterday Freedom to Marry announced that former Miss Kentucky Djuan Trent has joined the $1 million public education campaign Southerners for the Freedom to Marry as its newest honorary co-chair. The campaign launched in Atlanta last month with 15 partner organizations, including the Fairness Campaign of Kentucky, to build support for marriage for same-sex couples throughout the South.

“We all want the same thing: love. It cuts pretty deep to exclude someone from marriage and tell them that their love is invalid,” said new Southerners co-chair Djuan Trent, “Rather than judge, I think we could all learn a lesson from love: it doesn’t discriminate.”

Djuan Trent won the title of Miss Kentucky in 2010 and finished in the top 10 of the Miss America competition in 2011. She is the first ever national pageant contestant to come out as LGBT, and attributed her announcement to Kentucky’s divide over the freedom to marry. Other Southerners for the Freedom to Marry co-chairs include Congressman John Lewis; U.S. Senator Tim Kaine; and pop star Lance Bass.

“With a powerful ruling by a Republican judge just a month ago, support for marriage is rapidly growing in the Bluegrass state,” said Marc Solomon, national campaign director of Freedom to Marry. “As Kentuckians talk to each other about why marriage matters, they are reaching the conclusion that it is wrong to deny gay and lesbian couples the freedom to marry the person they love. The momentum is undeniable and Freedom to Marry is proud to be working alongside Djuan Trent to build support in Kentucky and win marriage nationwide.”

A March 2014 Washington Post poll showed that support for the freedom to marry across the South outpaced opposition 50% to 42%.

Freedom to Marry is the campaign to win marriage nationwide. We are pursuing our Roadmap to Victory by working to win the freedom to marry in more states, grow the national majority for marriage, and end federal marriage discrimination. We partner with individuals and organizations across the country to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage and the protections, responsibilities, and commitment that marriage brings.

Source: freedomtomarry.org

 


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