WhiteKnot.org - Stories About Marriage Equality and Equal Rights

My name is Stephanie, I went to your site and loved it and want to know how I can get my hometown on your list. I am from Anchorage, Ak and although our gay community is small it is a very strong one. [Editors note: We added Alaska bringing the White Knot visibility to all 50 states!]

I am 24 years old and although I myself am not gay, I have always supported gay marriage and equality for all. Ever since I can remember I never understood why people did not want gay people getting married, it just never made any sense to me. I remember being 12 years old and asking people " Why? How is it going to personally effect you if they get married? Who is it hurting?"

The funny thing is that it just always came naturally to think this way...this was not something my family ever agreed with me on. If anything, by the way I was raised, I should be the complete opposite. And as I get older I can't believe that this is still an issue that we continue to struggle with. My two best friends are gay men and they are the most amazing couple I have ever met, they inspire me everyday. They want to get married and it kills me that they can't, it totally breaks my heart to think that if I wanted to I could just go and get married but these two cannot. I will continue to speak out and continue to do or say whatever I can until this changes.

Love Is About Looking Forward To a Future Together
from Oli in Aguascalientes, Mexico

My name is Oli. I'm a 25-year-old lesbian psychologist residing in Mexico at the moment, though I met my girlfriend in the United States. We've been together for approximately seven years now, and what started out as a curious fling between teenagers has evolved into something much more deep and serious, and valuable to me. I'm more than ready and willing to marry her and spend a lifetime of happiness by her side, but there is one major problem: I am not an American citizen. Thus, I cannot immigrate to the United States as the fiancee of an American citizen, and every other option for immigration requires a very, very long wait.

Sometimes it makes me sad to think that because of this, we won't be able to live together like we hoped. True, we can live in other countries, but we both love the States. Why is it that even in these cases, it doesn't matter how much two people love each other, they're still forced to be apart? I'm a responsible person, I work and pay my taxes, I respect others, and I live a life pretty similar to anyone else's, homosexual or not. Why is it, then, that I cannot enjoy the same privileges as others? I love my girlfriend very deeply, but that seems to mean little in situations like this.

Thanks for creating this movement, it brings hope to all of us. Starting now, I shall wear a white ribbon on me wherever I go -- maybe someday, my country will begin to learn from you, and join the fight against discrimination.

Fidelity
A beautiful and important video from the Courage Campaign.

When people get to know the loving couples that want to get and stay married, hearts and minds are opened.

This summer I will have a wedding ceremony with my partner of over 7 years. We will stand in front of our friends and family and make our commitment to stay together for life. We love each other very much and want to do this out of love. Unfortunately, we live in one of the last states that will likely ever allow same sex marriage without a federal amendment requiring them to do so.

We are fortunate enough to live in Dallas, a far more progressive area than many parts of the state of Texas. We have many friends and family who love us very much, and support our love for each other. They will come from all over the country to see us proclaim our love and commit to each other. We do however wish that our commitment would be recognized by the government. We do not choose who we fall in love with, it just happens. Some of us love people from different backgrounds, religious affiliations, and race. Some of us love a person of the same gender. I have hope that one day, all of the world will see us as just another couple in love. Thank you for starting this white knot campaign! It will be so nice to see support out there!

My husband and I got married in 2004, in April, before our government "strengthened" our marriage laws. At our ceremony, we asked our friends and family to support our union, and we felt very blessed to have been able to join our lives and our families in this public, profound, and joyous way.

A few months later, the Australian government (under John Howard), emphasized that every legal civil ceremony must include the words "Marriage, according to law in Australia, is the union of a man to a woman, to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life".

I felt nauseous. Though we hadn't had these words said at our ceremony, we both felt that they cheapened our experience, by excluding some of our nearest and dearest. At first, my husband couldn't see the difference between a marriage and a civil union, until I asked him if he would have felt the same about a civil union. No, clearly it's a very different thing.

Marriage is love. Marriage is the basic building block of our society, and excluding people arbitrarily on the basis of their sexuality wrong. It's simple, and my marriage won't feel the same until I know everyone has access to the same rights under law.

My name is Melisa, and I'm from New York. Before I even knew I was gay, my mother told me that my older brother is gay. She was terribly upset and was having a hard time dealing with it. I didn't understand what the big deal was and thought it was good as long as he was happy. It bothered me though, that my mom was so bothered by it. That was several years ago.

Last summer I came out to my mom, and it was hard. She is still having a hard time believing it and dealing with the fact that two of her kids are gay, and because of this and my own insecurities I had a hard time being comfortable with myself. I've only been sure about my sexuality for a couple of years and I am proud to say that I am making such great progress with my acceptance and growing activism. A few family members know I'm gay; I told my mother and grandmother, and my mother told my dad. My outing to my mom was accidental, seeing as she caught me looking at pride stuff, and we had "that talk", and telling my grandma was easy because we're so close.

Today though, I made a huge step that I am so proud of. Today was the first day that I wore my white knot ribbon, comfortable in the idea of telling others about my reasons for supporting. And even more than that, I came out to a cousin, not knowing how she'd react and for no reason but to be more open and free. I think that in a way, wearing the ribbon helped me do this. It made me think about what it means to be equal; that equality means not having to hide, and I wanted to honor that white knot symbol. My cousin took it well and after the anxiety subsided, I have been filled with intense relief, excitement, and pride. Thank you.

My name is Jessica and I am the President of Waldorf College’s Gay-Straight Alliance. This is the first major leadership role that I have had to fulfill and let me tell you, it is so incredibly rewarding and challenging. Waldorf College is a small Lutheran college in Forest City, Iowa. We have had to face difficulties throughout the year; protestors and opponents. But we have an amazing amount of support throughout the campus. I, myself, am a strong straight ally. I have never heard of anything more ridiculous than people saying that others should not be allowed to marry because of their sexual orientation. This idea is absurd to me and completely disgusting. Why shouldn’t they be able to? Can anyone come up with a logic reason? No, they cannot.

This past weekend, my best friend and I went out to San Francisco, California. While there, we continued to hand out White Knots. We handed out nearly all of the ones that we brought along with us; including to a little known (but fabulous!) musical group called the 100 Monkeys. These guys are ones to keep an eye on and they are incredibly sweet. I talked to one of the members (Jerad) about giving out the White Knots to the rest of the band. He talked to the other guys about it and they agreed to wear them and pose for a photo with us. Even this little step, this not-to-well-known band, gave us so much hope. I have attached a photo of us with (most of) the band. These guys are great musicians AND supporters!

Hello. My name is Alyssa and I am twenty years old from the teeny but wonderful state of Rhode Island. Surprisingly I found this website while browsing facebook (who says I waste massive amounts of time there?). I have a been a supporter of gay marriage since it actually occurred to me that other people were opposed to it. I grew up with a lesbian aunt, so the idea of gay marriage never seemed out of the ordinary.

Now, years later, its a heady feeling to look back and realize how wrong my assumptions were. We don't live in a world where people are free to express their love equally, without restrictions, and without fear of social consequences. There are countless arguments that the opposition of gay marriage likes to throw around, but the one that always gets under my skin is the belief that allowing gay marriage would be devaluing the institution. As a woman with a long term boyfriend whom I plan on marrying someday, it is my belief that NOT allowing gay marriage is devaluing the beautiful institution of matrimony. Because I happened to fall in love with a man, I am allowed to legally bind myself to another. If I had found my soulmate in a woman, I wouldn't be afforded this luxury.

How could I truly enjoy a marriage knowing that thousands of gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals are barred from that joy because of something as inconsequential as who you love. I hope my children can grow up with the innocence that I did; not seeing the difference between gay and straight love. Yet unlike me, I hope their assumptions aren't challenged. I hope by the time that they're grown, there is no one to challenge gay marriage.

Hello, My Name is Helena. I'm 15 years old and I live in California. I'm bisexual and have known that I am for about three years now. I have always supported Gay marriage. My parents have raised me to believe that color or gender should not stop an individual from being with the one they love. My parents have been extremely supportive of me.

For the past few years I have shared my views about gay marriage and have tried to get my peers to understand and support it as well. My friends are great about it and help me get through the hard times. I have done everything in my power to get others to support it as well. I believe that Gender as well as Color DOES NOT matter if you are in love. Everyone deserves to Tie The Knot whether it be a woman and a woman, a man and a man, or a man and a woman.

One of my best friends happen to be gay and its been extremely tough on him. I'm just glad to know there are more people out there trying to help. I'm going to where a white knot and I'm going to make a T-shirt that supports this web sight. I Love you all.

My name is Ashley, and I am the media coordinator for the GLBT group at Collin County Community College, in Plano Texas, Collin county is probably one of the most prejudice counties in the Dallas area. Our own school does not even consider a prejudice crime against anyone in the GLBT community a hate crime, and if reported nothing is done.

Our group is putting on a display at our school about problems facing the GLBT community, we are mainly focusing on laws that have been passed that make the GLBT community lesser citizens. More specifically we are focusing on Prop 8.

We as a group were wondering if we could have some White Ribbons that we could pass out to help get support at our own college. Many students at our school have no knowledge about the problems facing the GLBT community. We want to educate our peers and try and gain support for our cause.

The most amazing thing happened at the supermarket on Valentine's day. A conversation with a woman about pink lady apples vs rose apples quickly changed when she asked about my "beautiful white knot." When I told her it was for marriage equality, I swear, her face lit up and looked like she about to cry at the same time.

When I offered to give her my white knot, she told me that she was about to cry! She refused politely but I re-assured her I knew where to get more for myself. She told me I made her Valentine's day.

This year I made white knots as my valentines and mailed them to friends in the following cities: Rochester NY, Berkeley CA, Pittsford NY, Chicago, IL, St. Paul MN, Catonsville MD, New York NY.

In addition to mailing white knot gifts I also gave them out to coworkers all day yesterday and last night at a gathering of friends and small foods i gave out white knots too.

Hi my name is Alexandra. I am a 16-year-old in Kentucky. I have been struggling to get more and more people to support gay marriage since I was a young girl. My mother raised me to believe that color or gender should not stop an individual from legally being with the one they love. You don’t choose who you love it just happens that way. I believe that you should be able to tie the knot whether you are gay, straight, lesbian or whatever have you. My cousin married her girlfriend of seven years through a Celtic ceremony so that are not technically married in the United States. They say that this is a free country but homosexuals are not free to marry those they love? How is that freedom? Anybody should be able to marry whomever they decide. Guarantee that if a senator, governor, president, speaker of the house etc… that if they were gay they would be fighting to legalize gay marriage as well. Please continue to persuade others to support gay marriage, I want my friends, family, and everyone else to be able to happily get married and actually feel free. Will you continue to help?