New Video Affirms Marriage Is Universal Dream: Rev. Melvin & Candace Woodworth from Tacoma Speak Out

Washington United for Marriage (WUM), the broad coalition working to defend the bipartisan marriage law, today released a video testimonial in its series, “Why Marriage Matters.”  The affirmation by Rev. Melvin Woodworth of Tacoma also underscores the growing list of religious coalitions, congregations and people of faith who have come to embrace marriage for all loving couples, including gay and lesbian couples.

The video can be viewed on WUM’s “Why Marriage Matters” page here: http://washingtonunitedformarriage.org/why-marriage-matters/

In the video, Rev. Woodworth, the pastor at First United Methodist Church in Tacoma, talks about meeting with a gay parishioner early in his work.  “As he talked to me, I realized that he was like every other person who had come to me wanting to get married,” he says. “He had love in his heart, he wanted to share it with the person he had found, and he wanted to shout it from the rooftops.”

WUM has considerable support from a growing list of faith-based coalitions and congregations representing tens of thousands of people of faith across the state.

Among those endorsing the campaign to Approve Referendum 74 are the Faith Action Network, Catholics for Equality, the Anti-Defamation League, the Union for Reform Judaism, and individual congregations from the Baptist, Episcopal, Lutheran, United Methodist, and United Church of Christ faiths.

“More and more people of faith and congregations across the state support marriage for same-sex couples.  They have come to understand why every loving couple wants to make that special vow,” said Zach Silk, WUM campaign manager.  “Our faith supporters are often our most tireless and spirited volunteers because they’ve come to know their fellow parishioners and know in their heart of hearts that marriage matters.”

With his wife of 23 years by his side, Rev. Woodworth added, “After a lot of study of the scriptures and a lot of work with couples, I’ve just come to the point where I understand that this [marriage] is the right thing to do.”

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