Family Equality Council To Receive The 2014 David Giveans Award
Washington DC- Family Equality Council is receiving the 2014 David Giveans Award from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)’s LGBT Interest Forum on November 5th, 2014 at NAEYC’s Celebration of Diversity ceremony during its annual conference. The award will be presented in recognition of the Family Equality Council’s dedicated work in using the “Voices of Children” amicus briefs to promote the marriage equality in the Supreme Court.
Family Equality Council has been collecting children’s testimonials and presenting them directly to judges in the fourth, seventh, ninth and 10th circuits and the Proposition 8 case throughout the years. The “Voices of Children” brief has been playing an important role in demonstrating the concrete harms that children face when their parents are denied equal protection under the law. In August 2014, Judge Richard Posner adopted and emphasized the “Voices of Children” brief during Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals arguments before he authored the opinion ultimately overturning marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin.
“The 7th Court of Appeals found the marriage ban to be unconstitutional and the Supreme Court upheld that position by not hearing the case,” written and submitted by one of the forum members in nominating Family Equality Council. “I firmly believe that without the work of the FEC and the emphasis on what is best for children, we may not have won this one.”
“As Plaintiff’s in the lawsuit, we were in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals when Judge Posner continually referred to the brief written by the Family Equality Council,” a Wisconsin same-sex couple Judi Trampf and Katy Heyning stated in the nomination. “Without their brief, the voices of the children would not have been heard. Their work played a critical role in the court’s understanding of why and how children were being hurt, and why marriage equality was so critical to the children of LGBT parents.”
“I would like to thank the children who have made their voices heard in the court and helped turn the tide in marriage equality — the award should also be dedicated to them,” said Gabriel Blau, Family Equality Council Executive Director. “We will continue our work and mission in promoting marriage equality on behalf of our children and ALL families.”
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About Family Equality Council®: Family Equality Council® connects, supports, and represents the three million parents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer in this country today and their six million children of all ages. We are changing attitudes and policies to ensure that all families are respected, loved, and celebrated—including families with parents who are LGBTQ. We are a community of parents, children, grandparents, and grandchildren that reaches across this country. For over 30 years we have raised our children and raised our voices toward fairness for all families.