Last March, Kinsey Morrison was a bright-eyed Kentucky girl with two mothers who became the star of Family Equality Council’s “Voices of Children” amicus brief submitted to SCOTUS in support of same-sex marriage ban challenges out of Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Almost a year later, after spending the morning at the Supreme Court during the marriage equality arguments, appearing on MSNBC, writing for Time, and — oh yeah — celebrating our historic win in June, she’s once again talking same-sex marriage. Only this time, she’s behind the camera. Morrison, 19, has just debuted a six-minute short film she directed, “After ‘I Do,’” which features four children of LGBTQ parents talking about the battles still ahead post-marriage equality. Family Equality’s Media Manager Bradley Jacobs chatted with the Stanford sophomore and budding cineaste.
Why this topic?
At first, I was going to do a video revisiting my moms after the marriage equality win. But then I thought the best use of time might be focusing on what we still have to do to reach full equality — not just celebrate the victories we already have.
Of your four subjects, three were basically strangers. How did you find them?
I met Tevin [age 20] through the Supreme Court case. His dads [Randy Johnson and Paul Campion] were plaintiffs. We hugged him on steps of Supreme Court. I knew because of his passion he’d be a great interview. Leo [age 12] was recommended to me as one his moms [Tonya Agnew] is is the chair of Family Equality’s Midwest Advisory Council. He’s brilliant and adorable and so excited about this cause. He ended up providing some of the strongest parts of the video. And I went to high school with Jordan [age 18].
What was one thing you learned from the interviews?
Just how much we had in common. One example: Jordan and Tevin both talked about dining out with both parents and the wait staff always being confused about who gets the check. We all have experienced the same thing.
Tell us about Jordan, who, as a trans teen with two moms, brings a different perspective.
She’s in the process of transitioning from male to female, and she was able to talk about trans issues a little. She said it was somewhat easier to come out because she has two moms, but still, everyone’s process is different. She’s in her first year of college at the University of Louisville and continuing to figure things out for herself.
Was it strange interviewing your sister?
Teagan [age 12] has her own personal voice and story. I wanted to give her the opportunity to say what she wanted to say. She did 27 takes sometimes! It was interesting to hear how her experiences were different from mine. I’m six years older, but the marriage equality movement moved so quickly. She and Leo are just frustrated with the way things still are in much of the country. It gives me hope that ten years from now, it will be even better.
Now let’s transition to your moms. Last spring you said they had waited 20 years to get married. And then we won marriage equality. And yet they’re still not married.
Yes, originally we had March 25 in mind, but since they’ve waited this long, we really want it to be perfect, so we decided on December 29, 2016 instead — the 25th anniversary of their first date. More time to plan and shop for maid-of-honor dresses! It’s convenient too because we’ll all be out of school. I’m so excited for them since they’ve now been engaged for more than two decades. My mom Karen’s second proposal was a little different from the first though — after she was down on one knee, she said she couldn’t get back up!
Looking back on your experience last year, does anything surprise you?
I always joked that we were the only LGBTQ-led family in Kentucky. Then after all the coverage, we learned there’s a gay male couple with kids literally down the street!