Crawford to take marriage advocacy job in New York

Michael Crawford (DC Agenda photo by Michael Key)

D.C. gay activist Michael Crawford, who has been among the leaders of the District’s effort to legalize same-sex marriage, is moving to New York City in February to become director of new media for the national same-sex marriage advocacy group Freedom to Marry.

Crawford co-founded and has served as co-chair of D.C. for Marriage, a local advocacy group credited with playing a key role in the grassroots lobbying effort that led to the approval by the City Council of the city’s same-sex marriage bill in December. The bill is undergoing its required congressional review and is expected to become law in March.

“We managed to do something really good here in D.C., and I’m hoping to take a lot of the things that we learned to the national level so that we have marriage equality not just in D.C. and five other states but that we have marriage equality across the country.”

He said he will retain his position as co-chair of D.C. for Marriage and will continue to work on public education and community outreach to the African-American and faith communities related to marriage equality efforts in D.C.