Love Makes a Family (LMF) is a statewide non-profit advocacy organization working for equal marriage rights for same-sex couples in Connecticut. We carry out our mission through community education, grassroots organizing and legislative advocacy and lobbying.
Love Makes a Family initially formed in 1999 as an ad hoc coalition of five statewide organizations ACLU of Connecticut; Connecticut Coalition for LGBT Civil Rights; Connecticut Conference, United Church of Christ; Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund; Permanent Commission on the Status of Women) in response to an unfavorable second-parent adoption decision from our state Supreme Court. In just two years, Love Makes a Family’s organizing, education and lobbying efforts made Connecticut the first state in the country to pass a second-parent adoption law without previous court action.
Once the adoption laws had been changed, Love Makes a Family turned its focus to the issue of marriage equality. To accomplish that goal, Love Makes a Family incorporated as a 501(c)(4) in 2000. A Political Action Committee (LMF PAC) was formed in 2002 and a 501(c)(3) arm in 2005 (Love Makes a Family Foundation).
Beyond marriage and adoption, Love Makes a Family’s board of directors voted in 2005 to add the passage of an anti-discrimination law inclusive of gender identity and expression to our organizational goals. Over the last three years, Love Makes a Family has steadily increased our collaborative efforts with the transgender community and continues to participate in the coalition effort to pass gender identity/expression legislation.
In the 10 years of Love Makes a Family’s existence, we have:
· Built the largest grassroots LGBT movement in Connecticut. We currently have over 20,000 LGBT and allied supporters.
· Moved public opinion in support of marriage equality.(October 2008 statewide UCONN/Hartford Courant poll showed 53% support to 42% opposed)
· Produced concrete legal advancements including: second parent adoption law (2000); legal designee law giving a handful of rights to same-sex couples (2002); civil union law (2005); and marriage equality victory (2008).
