With just three days left in the voting, Jonathan Howard and Gregory Jones, a same sex couple, are poised to regain the top spot in Crate and Barrel’s Ultimate Wedding Contest. Jonathan and Gregory have the unique opportunity of making a strong social statement by winning the popular vote in this inclusive contest. There are over 5,000 couple entered, with several same sex couples in the top 20 spots. However, Jonathan and Gregory, in second place have over 12,000 votes, over 8000 votes more than third place and they are closing in on the top spot once again.
Jonathan is the survivor of a violent hate crime in Boston, and after his attacker plead guilty to nine counts including civil rights violations but served no jail time. This is when Jonathan realized something needed to be done. With Gregory by his side he started speaking out about hate crime sentencing and many other LGBT issues. After moving to the District of Columbia Jonathan and Gregory joined the fight for marriage equality, and were the 20th same sex couple to apply for their marriage license in the District on March 3. Their picture from that day was even featured in the New York Times.
Gregory and Jonathan entered this contest on a whim back in February, but as the community rallied around them they realized that this was much bigger than just a wedding contest. This became an opportunity to make a huge social statement. An opportunity to be a part of history as the first same sex couple to win a mainstream wedding contest. Once Jonathan and Gregory rose to the top spot in the contest they faced attacks from anti-gay blogs, and others. GLAAD then endorsed Jonathan and Gregory in their blog. After the written attacks Jonathan wrote in his blog…
“There is no way that I can drop out of this competition and retreat. I cannot stop being who I am and I need to make a difference. Words are powerful, and so are actions. And just like words of hatred can have power over people, words of hope can have power over people as well. We have the power to change society, we have the power to make a difference.â€
We all now have the power to make a difference and make a strong statement for marriage equality. It would be great for the community to put these two in the top spot and show the nation that it does not matter if it is two men or two women. It is about love and not gender and Crate and Barrel has the ability to help make this statement.
Editor’s note: “New Faces of Marriage” was written by Jonathan Howard.