Freedom to Marry, a national organization working to full marriage equality for LGBT couples, is rolling out their new Students for Marriage campaign.

Andrew Blumenfeld, the groups Summer 2010 New Media intern, has put out the call for more youth involvement in the nationwide movement for marriage, but admits it's an issue on which many youth find difficulty in identifying.

He writes on Freedom to Marry's blog:

As a student- in high school, in college- it may not always be easy to see why the freedom to marry is something to which we should devote a whole lot of time or thought. We’ve seen our friends, family members, and neighbors find and commit to that special someone later in life than most of our grandparents would have ever considered typical. So when it comes to marriage equality and “winning the freedom to marry,” it can be difficult- at least initially- for the younger amongst us to summon a whole lot of interest.

Blumenfeld says, "I think that’s a big mistake."

Blumenfeld is working with Freedom to Marry to launch their Students for Marriage initiative, a campaign, he writes, "to effectively inform and mobilize young Americans around a new goal in the marriage equality movement: never having to wait for justice."

The group is initially organizing the youth campaign on Facebook: www.facebook.com/StudentsForMarriage.

Blumenfeld explains why marriage is a youth issue:

It’s not uncommon for marriage campaigns to utilize the images of elderly same-sex couples who have been together for decades to convince voters that these individuals deserve the right to marry one another. Jen and Megan have been together for 30 years now—shouldn’t they share in this wonderful thing we call marriage?

Now, it’s easy to see why the marriage issue, after seeing a message like this one, might become very salient to a crowd engaged in their own years-long relationships. But if we as young people don’t see the direct plea to our demographic in that message, then we’ve just missed the whole point.

Of course marriage equality ought to be what we can offer to Jen and Megan and every other committed couple holding their relationships together for years just waiting for their government to recognize them. But marriage equality truly is a youth issue. It is a fight for the freedom from ever having to appear in one of those campaigns, sitting next to the one you love and have devoted a life to, pleading with our communities to acknowledge it.

It’s not often that the progress worth fighting for can be realistically expected in its entirety in any one lifetime or generation. As the young people of this generation, we are primed to see this issue come to a resolution in a timeframe that might mean we enter full adulthood with one less struggle, one less fragment of institutionalized intolerance that weighs on us as individuals and as a community.

The opportunity to realize this potential- to create a society in which our children might never know what a world with marriage discrimination looks like- is real. And not unlike many issues of the past- where a rising generation expected a little better than what the previous generation was planning on leaving behind- this issue will require great effort on the part of the youth, of students.

I have something to admit: I have been addicted to following the Prop 8 trial in California, formally called Perry v. Schwarzenegger. For those of you out of the loop, after Proposition 8 passed in California, two same-sex couples and a team of lawyers (including conservative lawyer Ted Olsen who argued and won in Bush v. Gore) decided to take the state to court (hence the Schwarzenegger in Perry v. Schwarzenegger). They're arguing that Prop 8 is contrary to the U. S. Constitution, and very well, I might add.

You should really check it out the Courage Campaign's excellent Prop 8 Trial Tracker. The trial tracker reads like a transcript with some commentary thrown in. If you don't have time to read the entire transcript (and trust me, once you start, it's hard to stop), KQED also has solid coverage that is easier to take in doses that won't make you feel like you can't do anything else until you finish reading every single post. As of right now, all of the testimony has already happened, and they're waiting for the judge to review stuff before making closing arguments. There's at least a month before the closing arguments happen, so you have plenty of time to catch up on the testimony. It's fascinating to see how the lawyers are building the case. A lot of expert witnesses are professors, and reading along is like a series of lessons on the history of marriage, the history of queers, and sociology. I have learned so much from reading this trial, and I think it can't help but think it'll be a powerful read for anyone.

With the Federal Court in San Francisco now hearing an appeal against Prop 8, I wanted to share this piece from Newsweek by one of the lawyers who is trying to convince the court to strike down Prop 8. It is a great piece that reminds us that support for queer issues can come from the most unlikely places.

The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage

Greetings everyone! So now it is my turn to tell you a little about myself. My name is Amy and I am a fourth year student at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in the Central Coast of California. My major is Elementary Education; however, I plan on either being an event planner or continuing to work with the LGBTA community. I currently am a student coordinator at my school’s Pride Center. I am also the President of my school’s GSA, which we call Spectrum. On top of those, I am also a part of the Campus Q team for the Western Region. I found out about the Q Team from attending Campus Pride’s Summer Leadership Camp in 2008. While I am involved in all of these things, my story is different than a lot of people you will meet who are also involved. I am an ally. I have been involved with the LGBTA community since about 2001. When I am not devoting all of my time to LGBTA related things, I am the manager of my school’s wrestling team. I also love country music and go line dancing frequently. I live about 20 minutes from a few different beaches so I am often there on a sunny day. If you would like to know more about me, please feel free to ask! I would love to chat with you!