'Proud Daughter' Fighting for Two Moms' Right to Marry

Kinsey Morrison rallying in honor of her moms outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, where justices began hearing arguments on same-sex marriage. (Photo: Family Equality)

When the U.S. Supreme Court began hearing arguments Tuesday on whether gay couples have a constitutional right to marry — a decision that could see same-sex marriage recognized nationwide — it drew mobs of activists from both sides of the debate to rally in front of the court building. Among them was 18-year-old Kinsey Morrison of Kentucky, a pre-law freshman at Stanford University. She’s one of three girls — with Jillian, 15, and Teagan, 12 — of moms Karen and Audrey. And the sisters have made fighting for marriage equality their passionate priority ever since November, when a federal appeals court upheld marriage bans in their state as well as in Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.

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“I was devastated,” Morrison told Yahoo Parenting from Washington, D.C., just minutes after addressing the crowd of pro-equality demonstrators Tuesday morning. “My parents were set to get married on March 25 of this year —the 20th anniversary of their engagement — and to have that taken out from under us was awful.” But it’s been fuel for their fire ever since, beginning with a family blog and a YouTube video the sisters made, and building to this historic moment. Yahoo Parenting spoke with Morrison about her fight.

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Yahoo Parenting: What’s the scene in front of the court like right now?
Kinsey Morrison: It’s incredible. There are thousands of people out in front of the Supreme Court and on the other side of the street in front of the US Capitol. It’s a mixed crowd, but I would say pro-equality people outnumber the other side about three to one, and I don’t know if it would have been like that 20 years ago, or even a few years ago. The big contention about the situation is that speakers for both sides are about 10 feet from each other, so you have to scream over each other. But I was proud when I was speaking because, while I could hear that the other side was saying something, I couldn’t hear what, because the people who were cheering me on were so loud and so wonderful. It was truly an amazing experience. It’s rare that you live through five minutes of your life and know that you’re going to remember them forever, and that was certainly the experience I just had.

The Morrison sisters and their moms. (Photo: Kinsey Morrison)

YP: What were your main talking points?
KM: One, very much of the opposition here is from the religious right, so I made the point that I am a proud Kentuckian, a proud Christian and a proud daughter of two moms. I don’t want to stop fighting until the day when those are no longer considered mutually exclusive. My other point was that the Supreme Court cannot decide today whether my family is family — my moms and my sisters and I have always been a family. But what they can do is decide that we are not invisible, that we are valued, and that we count, and that would make so much of a difference to my family, because my parents are denied more than a thousand rights because they can’t get married in Kentucky.

YP: How and why did you first decide to lend your voice to the marriage debate?
KM: My sisters and I started a blog just over a year ago, after I had seen a study saying children of gay parents are less likely to go to college and less likely to graduate high school. This was a week after I had gotten into Stanford, so I was kind of angry. Then, after the federal appeals court upheld Kentucky’s marriage ban on Nov 6, I wrote an op-ed for the Courier-Journal. And then over Christmas break we released our video called Sanctity, about why we think our moms strengthen the sanctity of marriage rather than threaten it. We had no idea it would help us get any legal standing in the case until the incredible Family Equality found that video and asked us to be part of their brief [for the Supreme Court hearings]. They’re the reason I got to speak today, and I’m hoping if we get it on YouTube maybe my hero Ruth Bader Ginsberg will be able to see it! RBG, Ellen DeGeneres, and my moms.

YP: How does it affect you to see so many anti-equality protestors using Christianity as their argument?
KM: It’s hurtful, I’m upset. I’m from Kentucky, I’m a self-identified Southern belle with a twang, and what’s really ironic is that I voted for the first time in November — I just turned 18 in September — and about half the time I voted Republican. I go to church every Sunday. I’m from the Bible Belt. I was raised with family values — a lot of conservative family values. So it was really jarring to see this many people from my own religion, and one I’m very dedicated to, using it as a reason to tell me I’m going to hell, just saying stuff that I couldn’t believe, like “Children of pride are reigned over by Satan.” It’s a quote from the bible, and as a practicing Christian I know it means pride as in arrogance. But they changed the quote to have “pride” be in rainbow letters, horribly twisting it to make it [gay] pride. It just motivates me — not only to speak out for equality more, but to become even more active in the church. Because any kid who knows he’s gay or who is going to church and has gay parents, like me when I was little, is going to hear those people talking. And I want to make sure they also hear me and people like me, because there are more than us than most people think.

YP: Do you ever feel pressure to present your family as being perfect, or else give ammunition to those against marriage equality?
KM: To me it’s important to not miss the forest for the trees. My sisters and I fight like any sisters. My mom and I are so much alike that we kind of get on each other’s nerves sometimes. So we are like any family. But the forest is that I’ve had an incredible life. What else could my parents have possibly given me? They’ve sacrificed to make sure I can go to the school of my dreams, they’ve given me a home that is so stable, so loving, so incredible. I don’t think I feel pressure. I don’t want to tell people how proud I am that I got into Stanford, I want to tell them how excited I am to come home from Stanford to see my family. And I think that’s the real truth of this.