UUA President Receives "Spirit of Justice" Award from GLAD

Presentation of the GLAD Spirit of Justice Award
to The Rev. William G. Sinkford

Hillary and Julie Goodridge speak at the GLAD "Spirit of Justice" dinner. Photo by Erika Nonken.

Remarks by Hillary and Julie Goodridge
Sept. 30, 2005
Westin Hotel, Boston MA 

(Hillary): Tonight we present the Spirit of Justice award to a man who sent shivers down our spines and tears flowing by speaking 19 simple words. “By the power vested in me by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts I now pronounce you fully and legally married.”

(Julie): In her oral argument before the SJC on March 3, 2003  Mary Bonauto said: “It was an affront to human dignity to deny people the choice of who they want to marry based on their race. People were not, as the court put it, interchangeable like trains. You can't simply say that a man, any old man should marry Julie Goodridge. It's Hillary Goodridge who wants to marry Julie Goodridge.”

So of course when it came time to decide who should perform our marriage ceremony, we were not about to select “any old man.”

(Hillary): We turned to a man who called the decision to hang a 16x20 foot banner stating "Civil Marriage is a Civil Right” from a prime piece of property adjacent to the State House “a no-brainer.”

(Julie):We turned to a man who refused to sign marriage certificates for heterosexual couples until all couples could legally marry.

(Hillary):We turned to the first African American leader of the Unitarian Universalist Association, a man who stated “We believe that ensuring equal civil rights for gay and lesbian families is our moral duty, and we will continue to work for Marriage Equality nationwide.”

(Julie): And we turned to a man whose kindness, dignity, humor and passion for justice made him perfect for the job of co-officiating one of the most unrehearsed weddings ever performed.

(Hillary): There's an early poem by Alice Walker that makes me think of Bill. It goes like this:

It is true -
I've always loved
The daring
Ones
Like the black young
Man
Who tried
To crash
All barriers
at once,
wanted to swim
at a white
beach (in Alabama)
nude.

It's such an honor for us to present the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders Spirit of Justice award to the Reverend William Sinkford.

UUA President Receives "Spirit of Justice" Award from GLAD

Unitarian Universalist Association
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