Referendum 74: Equality and justice for all families

By LEE NEWGENT and SARAH CHERIN

My name is Lee Newgent. I am an active union member and head of the King County Building and Construction Trades Council. I believe in freedom, and that includes the freedom for everyone to love who they want to love. That is why I am voting to Approve Referendum 74 in November. Surprised? You shouldn’t be, I believe everyone deserves the freedom to marry the person they love, it’s as simple as that. Listen to Sarah’s story and you will agree. She’s a union member like me.

My name is Sarah Cherin, and I am the Political Director of UFCW Local 21. I am in a committed loving relationship with my partner whose name is Jen.  I want to be able to call Jen my wife, which she is in every way except legally. Approving Referendum 74 could change that.

We are just like a lot of union families in this state. We work hard every day, we believe it’s important to be good neighbors, and to participate fully in our community. We believe that all workers should be treated fairly and have equal respect.

In these tough economic times, all families are fighting hard to ensure that we have what we need and that people in our community are taken care of.

That starts with ensuring that all union families have the same protections. Right now, we have union families who are not treated fairly and justly. Referendum 74 is about ensuring that all couples having the freedom to marry the person they love.

Together, we know some people might say that this isn’t a union issue, or something that labor should not be concerned with. For families like ours, there isn’t anything more fundamental than equality and justice. That is something we as a labor movement care a lot about. An injury to one is an injury to all; together we can make sure that all families are treated fairly.

Please join both of us in Approving Referendum 74.