Even in the heavily prejudiced Deep South, it seems we can rely on the individual cities to take a stand for marriage equality. Following in the footsteps of Austin, Texas and Durham, N.C., Atlanta City Council has passed a resolution supporting same-sex marriage.
Proposed by Alex Wan, the council’s sole openly gay member, it was passed on Monday with an 11-2 vote. “Folks in the community have been asking and encouraging me to do something. And with Atlanta being the city it is and having such a large LGBT population, I really wanted us to be one of the leaders in the discussion on marriage equality,” he told the GA Voice. “This was also very important to me.”
Wan had been working on the resolution under the radar for the past two months, privately discussing with other council members and educating them on marriage equality. “Some didn’t understand the concept of marriage equality and civil unions. Some wanted to know why the city should take a position on this when it has no impact,” Wan said. “I explained to them the symbolic statement it makes and that it was more than just having the rights.”
“[Publicity] was not the motivation. This is just the city council taking a position because it was the right thing to do. It was more important to me to reach this kind of consensus with the council without outside pressure,” he said.
“If the council were to feel pressured, it would be very different than had they arrived at this support on their own. This was council acting independently—because it was the right thing to do,” he said.
Photo: alexwanforatlanta.com
Brittny Drye is the senior editor at Equally Wed, the nation’s premier online magazine for gay and lesbian weddings and honeymoons. Follow her on Twitter @BrittnyDrye.
