EXCLUSIVE CLIP: The State of Marriage

The State of Marriage, from documentarian Jeff Kaufman and producer Marcia Ross, chronicles Vermont's battle for marriage equality. The decades-long battle for marriage begins with Vermont attorneys Susan Miurray (pictured) and Beth Robinson who, along with Boston-based GLAD attorney May Bonauto, challenged Vermont's discriminatory marriage laws, long before there was anything like a national movement for marriage for gays and lesbians. The film views the journey through the eyes of activists, detractors, politicians (Re. John Lewis, former governor Howard Dean), and regular and notable Vermonters on the cusp of cultural change.

The film is premiering at The 17th annual Provincetown International Film Festival (next screening June 20, 11:30 am, Art House 1 theater). In this exclusive clip, Murray describes setting up a workshop in 1994, to encourage the idea of marriage equality, an idea outside the scope of LGBT rights advocacy of the time, but almost totally alien to politicans then.

Kaufman says: "Making this documentary has been a really moving experience. Our first public screening will come on the eve of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Obergefell v Hodges, the marriage equality case that was argued, in part, by Mary Bonauto. It's a great time to celebrate the work of so many people."