This week, Basic Rights Oregon’s “Marriage Matters” public education campaign launched statewide television advertisements to engage Oregonians around the topic of marriage for lesbian and gay couples. Two commercials are playing throughout the state.  They include “Love and Marriage” which features four couples talking about the meaning of love and marriage to them.  The other is “Values” which features a straight couple describing how they had a change of heart around the issue of marriage for lesbian and gay couples. Already the commercials are getting extensive media coverage throughout the state’s mainstream media.  Additionally, national blogs like Pam’s House Blend have noticed and written about the Marriage Matters commercials. GLAAD has staff on the ground in Oregon working with Basic Rights Oregon to support their efforts to engage as many Oregonians as possible around this important topic through the mainstream media. In 2004, voters in the state adopted an anti-gay constitutional amendment on marriage.  The only way that lesbian and gay couples will achieve civil marriage in the state is if voters repeal that amendment.  The general election in 2012 would be the first time voters could consider such a repeal.  This month’s television commercials are only one step in the long-term conversation Basic Rights Oregon is having with the state’s electorate around the need for marriage equality.