Young Advocate Kinsey Morrison Rallies for Marriage Equality

Stanford University freshman Kinsey Morrison has played a vital role in The Family Equality Council’s 40-page amicus curiae brief urging the Supreme Court to do away with restrictions on same-sex marriage.

18-year-old Morrison was inspired to take a stand against inequality after learning of a study concluding that children of gay parents had a lower rate of success in their future endeavors.

“It terrified me that while that’s obviously so ridiculous and unfounded, potentially thousands of people were reading this study as fact: pseudoscientists were making broad claims about kids like me without hearing our voices at all,” she explained.

Morrison was raised in Kentucky with her two younger sisters by her mothers Karen Morrison and Audrey Morrison.

“My moms have been married as they can be for almost 20 years; growing up, I was often the only one of my friends whose parents weren’t divorced,” Morrison wrote in an editorial on marriage equality for Kentucky’s “The Courier Journal”.

In order to clear up the misconceptions surrounding the families of same-sex parents, Morrison created The 321 Blog – Three Daughters, Two Mothers, One Family, All Awesome. A year after the beginning of the blog, Morrison and her two sisters released a short film about marriage equality titled “Sanctity”; after seeing the video, the Family Equality Council asked Morrison to be the Named Amicus on their Voices of Children brief, an offer she gladly accepted.

Stating that marriage bans are unconstitutional, the brief includes the voices of LGBT youth and other children of same-sex parents alongside Morrison’s.

“Essentially, my role in the case is to represent all American children of gay parents who support marriage equality,” stated Morrison. “One thing I’ll be talking about, and I think also part of why I was chosen, is that I was raised in a Christian family with many conservative beliefs… I think it’s critical to see a family like mine that lives those values every single day”.

Morrison is well aware of the opposition she will face and knows exactly how to rebut their arguments.

“LGBT families and ‘family values’ are not at all mutually exclusive, and if you want even more gay people to espouse those values, the best thing to do is let them get married. My parents have been engaged for twenty years. If they wouldn’t be an example of the sanctity of marriage, I don’t know who would be,” she said.

Morrison continued, “…marriage matters: there is no word in our language that conveys that same level of commitment as ‘husband’ or ‘wife’. To anyone who thinks domestic partnership is good enough I ask: do you want to be a ‘domestic resident’ or do you want to be a citizen?”

While equality under the law does not guarantee social equality, a Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage would definitely open doors for equal treatment. LGBT individuals would come one step closer to being treated as regular citizens instead of second-class citizens with limited rights.

Cautiously optimistic, Morrison believes the Supreme Court will rule in favor of national marriage equality. “The majority of young people – even in Kentucky – now support equal rights for families like mine. Our time has come.”

“This case has inspired me to become a civil/human rights lawyer, and I hope that in the future I can continue to play some role in helping ensure all LGBT families everywhere reach the absolute equality they deserve,” concluded Morrison.

Morrison will present her brief to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, April 28th.

Article by MoCo Student staff writer Wafa Jawad of Clarksburg High School