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Saturday, January 21, 2012

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro joins "Mayors for the Freedom to Marry"

 This post originally appeared on Houstini.com on January 20, 2012

Julian Castro
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro has signed onto the "Mayors for the Freedom to Marry" effort. As previously reported by Houstini, Houston's Annise Parker and Austin's Lee Leffingwell had previously joined the effort, with Parker serving as co-chair. So that's 3 Texas Mayors down, 1,212 to go.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings is still refusing to sign onto the pledge, despite a change.org petition with 253 signatures and promises of protests at his upcoming public events.

"Mayors for the Freedom to Marry" has also added two new co-chairs, San Diego's Jerry Sanders and Boston's Thomas Menino; with New York’s Michael Bloomberg, L.A.’s Antonio Villaraigosa and Houston's own Annise Parker. The five-co-chairs issued the following statement:
In affirmation of the critical role that cities and their mayors have played in advancing civil rights and equal treatment for all Americans, we are proud to be chairs of Mayors for the Freedom to Marry. Mayors for the Freedom to Marry is a broad-based and nonpartisan group of mayors who believe that all people should be able to share in the love and commitment of marriage.
As mayors of five 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 small cities in Indiana and Maine, to the four largest cities in America. Our cities are culturally, racially and geographically diverse, but we share one important value: a common commitment to fairness.
We invite our colleagues to join us in signing this statement as we advocate for the freedom to marry and build a nation where all loving couples who want to make the life-long commitment can share in the joy and respect of marriage.

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