A Legislative Update from Chris Ott of Action Wisconsin

Over 400 participants from around the state converged on the Capitol during Action Wisconsin's Lobby Day to Stop the Constitutional Ban on Civil Unions and Marriage.  

Friends, family, and concerned citizens joined LGBT people to tell legislators how the constitutional ban goes too far and hurts Wisconsin families. Participants from every senate district registered for the event, and 66+ state representatives received a visit from our allies.  

These meetings introduced doubt into the minds of many legislators who supported the amendment last March. For example, there was a poignant moment during the meeting between Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and 45 of her constituents. Patrick Brown, a gay father of triplets, recounted a tense event when discrimination put his daughter's health in jeopardy. His partner had attempted to pick up her prescription medication, but could not because he was not the child's legal father.  

Patrick held up his daughter's picture to Sen. Darling and said, "The next time you vote on this bill, I want you to think of my daughter's face." Other lobbyists and an aide confirmed that Darling appeared genuinely moved.  

We need to turn up the pressure on legislators like Sen. Darling!

Lobby Day participants also helped strengthen the resolve of our legislative allies to be champions for LGBT equality. Senator Mark Miller (D-Monona) drew an analogy to the plight of same-sex couples from his own life experience as part of an interracial couple. When he and his wife lived in Alabama , their marriage was a crime.  

Sen. Miller reaffirmed his opposition to the ban and support for marriage rights by telling a packed room, "I won't go to my grave without fighting for justice and fairness."

Unfortunately, not every visit was as positive. A group of constituents tried to meet with Representative Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) or her staff. Despite a three-week heads-up and follow-up calls from AW, Rep. Vukmir's staff literally slammed the door on the constituents' faces. Not once, but twice.  

Elsewhere in the capitol, 20 constituents from Senator Mike Ellis's district (R-Neenah) were denied a face-to-face meeting on Lobby Day.  

We need to turn up the pressure on legislators like Sen. Ellis! 

Regardless of what happened at each meeting, Lobby Day was a continuation of the growing momentum that is building in our state. More and more non-gay people are making their voices heard, and legislators are starting to feel the pressure.  

One group from Senator Dale Schultz's district ( R-Richland Center ) collected 388 signatures for an ad in the Dodgeville Chronicle. They were stood up on Lobby Day, but their story was front-page news in The Capital Times.  

During a phone canvassing session to Senator Dave Hansen ( D-Green Bay ), his office made sure a staff member stayed late to personally answer every call. On Lobby Day, he took 90 minutes out of his busy schedule to hear why his constituents want him to oppose the ban.  

Action Wisconsin wants to keep this energy growing, and your support today can help us crank up the heat on our legislators. One of our initiatives we are working on is placing ads against the amendment in targeted districts throughout Wisconsin . Our plan is to start with the Fox Valley area, but ideally we would plaster coverage in all nine of our targeted districts.

 To launch this media initiative, we need to raise $50,000!n up

On Lobby Day, we demonstrated the collective power we have when we act together. Let's show legislators that we will never give up!