LGBT Cruise to Review Supreme Court Decision on DOMA
Cruise News
Guilford, VT, April 2013: The unprecedented attention to the issue of marriage equality and civil rights for LGBT people continues and builds, as the wait begins for the Supreme Court decisions on the challenges to California’s Proposition 8, banning same-sex marriages in that state, and to the Defense of Marriage Act, prohibiting the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage under federal law.
[caption id="attachment_3389" align="aligncenter" width="650"]
Pride Of The Ocean[/caption]
Michael Crawford, celebrated national leader in the battle for same-sex marriage equality, will join the guests aboard the Pride of the Ocean Film Festival in August, to assess the court decisions that are due in June. He will lead a panel discussion and analyze what is next for the LGBT community.
[caption id="attachment_3387" align="alignright" width="299"]
Pride Of The Ocean Freedom To Marry[/caption]
Crawford is one of a number of pivotal people in the ongoing marriage battles that will be boarding the Norwegian Pearl cruise ship to share their experiences and assessments with the traveling audience of the Pride of the Ocean Film Festival. Now in its fourth year, the floating festival showcases a variety of groundbreaking LGBT films as well as discussions with the filmmakers and stars, while sailing from Seattle, WA, to Glacier Bay, AK, during the week of August 18 – 25.
Employed by Freedom to Marry, the Washington DC-based nonprofit leading the national campaign for marriage rights, Crawford is one of the most recognized figures in the struggle, and he will be a prominent figure on the festival cruise. He will lead the panel discussion immediately following a screening of the multiple award-winning film “I Do.” Other panelists will include Stephen Israel, producer of “I Do,” and Los Angeles attorney Michael J. Shilub.
The film “I Do”, written by and starring David Ross, presents the story of a British gay man forced by discrimination to make an impossible choice, zeroing in on the enmeshed and complicated nature of immigration and marriage rights. The film won Best of the Fest at the 2013 Palm Springs International Film Festival, after winning numerous awards in 2012, including Best Feature at Long Beach QFilm Fest, Rising Film Star Award for Mr. Ross at Philly QFest, and Audience Award at the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.
By the time Crawford, his fellow panelists, and the festival voyagers set sail, the results of the Supreme Court deliberations will be known. Crawford will facilitate the expert panel's examination of the court's response, exploring what the conclusions will mean to the LGBT community going forward, whichever way the gavel descends.
Producer Israel will contribute the perspective of the film community, discussing the proliferation of films appearing about the struggles of LGBT people for marriage equality, and how film becomes a vehicle for social movements. Attorney Shilub, a civil litigator for the last 29 years, brings his legal expertise in the field, as well as his prior experience as an extern to Federal Appellate Judge Stephen Reinhardt. Reinhardt authored the Proposition 8 case for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and in doing so stated, “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gay men and lesbians in California.”
In addition to working with the national Freedom to Marry organization, Crawford is the co-founder and co-chair of the successful “D.C. for Marriage” campaign, a grassroots group that engaged in thousands of conversations with D.C. residents about gay people and marriage. The effort paid particular attention to building support in the African-American community, and Crawford introduced digital and new media tools to support the fight in innovative ways that are considered to have swayed opinion decisively.
Of all of his considerable body of legislative and organizing work, Crawford states, “I am most proud of the work I am doing on marriage. I truly believe that the winning of marriage nationwide will have a transformative effect on the LGBT community and the larger American culture. For me, the best part of that work is seeing amazing couples that are now able to marry, in part because of my work.”
In addition to “I Do” and the marriage panel, the Pride of the Ocean Film Festival features Yoruba Richen’s anticipated documentary “The New Black” – a film also attending to same-sex marriage, examining the complicated history of the African American and LGBT civil rights movements. In addition, Cheryl Furjanic will preview her new documentary on four-time Olympic Champion Greg Louganis, “Back on Board: Greg Louganis.” The ship’s film schedule is rounded out with fourteen rising filmmakers from the CineSLAM Film Festival of Shorts in Vermont, held in June. For more information on the festival, and all films and workshops, visit www.prideoftheocean.com and www.cineslam.com.
###
[caption id="attachment_3389" align="aligncenter" width="650"]
Pride Of The Ocean[/caption]Michael Crawford, celebrated national leader in the battle for same-sex marriage equality, will join the guests aboard the Pride of the Ocean Film Festival in August, to assess the court decisions that are due in June. He will lead a panel discussion and analyze what is next for the LGBT community.
[caption id="attachment_3387" align="alignright" width="299"]
Pride Of The Ocean Freedom To Marry[/caption]Crawford is one of a number of pivotal people in the ongoing marriage battles that will be boarding the Norwegian Pearl cruise ship to share their experiences and assessments with the traveling audience of the Pride of the Ocean Film Festival. Now in its fourth year, the floating festival showcases a variety of groundbreaking LGBT films as well as discussions with the filmmakers and stars, while sailing from Seattle, WA, to Glacier Bay, AK, during the week of August 18 – 25.
Employed by Freedom to Marry, the Washington DC-based nonprofit leading the national campaign for marriage rights, Crawford is one of the most recognized figures in the struggle, and he will be a prominent figure on the festival cruise. He will lead the panel discussion immediately following a screening of the multiple award-winning film “I Do.” Other panelists will include Stephen Israel, producer of “I Do,” and Los Angeles attorney Michael J. Shilub.
The film “I Do”, written by and starring David Ross, presents the story of a British gay man forced by discrimination to make an impossible choice, zeroing in on the enmeshed and complicated nature of immigration and marriage rights. The film won Best of the Fest at the 2013 Palm Springs International Film Festival, after winning numerous awards in 2012, including Best Feature at Long Beach QFilm Fest, Rising Film Star Award for Mr. Ross at Philly QFest, and Audience Award at the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.
By the time Crawford, his fellow panelists, and the festival voyagers set sail, the results of the Supreme Court deliberations will be known. Crawford will facilitate the expert panel's examination of the court's response, exploring what the conclusions will mean to the LGBT community going forward, whichever way the gavel descends.
Producer Israel will contribute the perspective of the film community, discussing the proliferation of films appearing about the struggles of LGBT people for marriage equality, and how film becomes a vehicle for social movements. Attorney Shilub, a civil litigator for the last 29 years, brings his legal expertise in the field, as well as his prior experience as an extern to Federal Appellate Judge Stephen Reinhardt. Reinhardt authored the Proposition 8 case for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and in doing so stated, “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gay men and lesbians in California.”
In addition to working with the national Freedom to Marry organization, Crawford is the co-founder and co-chair of the successful “D.C. for Marriage” campaign, a grassroots group that engaged in thousands of conversations with D.C. residents about gay people and marriage. The effort paid particular attention to building support in the African-American community, and Crawford introduced digital and new media tools to support the fight in innovative ways that are considered to have swayed opinion decisively.
Of all of his considerable body of legislative and organizing work, Crawford states, “I am most proud of the work I am doing on marriage. I truly believe that the winning of marriage nationwide will have a transformative effect on the LGBT community and the larger American culture. For me, the best part of that work is seeing amazing couples that are now able to marry, in part because of my work.”
In addition to “I Do” and the marriage panel, the Pride of the Ocean Film Festival features Yoruba Richen’s anticipated documentary “The New Black” – a film also attending to same-sex marriage, examining the complicated history of the African American and LGBT civil rights movements. In addition, Cheryl Furjanic will preview her new documentary on four-time Olympic Champion Greg Louganis, “Back on Board: Greg Louganis.” The ship’s film schedule is rounded out with fourteen rising filmmakers from the CineSLAM Film Festival of Shorts in Vermont, held in June. For more information on the festival, and all films and workshops, visit www.prideoftheocean.com and www.cineslam.com.
###
Latest Articles
