Tuesday the largest statewide lobbying effort for lesbian and gay civil rights ever was held at the Wisconsin State Capitol. Sponsored by Action Wisconsin, over 200 citizens met yesterday to persuade state legislators to support civil marriage equality for same-sex couples and domestic partner benefits for state employees. Activists also urged legislators to vote against Assembly and Senate bills that would redefine marriage strictly as union between one man and one woman.

Wisconsin law defines marriage an arrangement between “husband and wife,” but if the currently proposed bills would be passed, the law would be specified as “one man and one woman.”

President Bush asked Congress this summer to develop federal legislation that would legally define marriage as a union specifically between one man and one woman. This action has drawn support from Congressional Republicans and party members alike.

“The president made clear that marriage is between a man and a woman,” Angela Frozena said, the State Chair for the College Republicans. “By passing [the bills], Wisconsin legislature is just attempting to clarify their legislative intent.”

But the organization Action Wisconsin feels that this change is unnecessary.

“At the federal level, there are 1,049 rights associated with marriage, and there are hundreds more already at the state level,” said Christopher Ott, executive director of Action Wisconsin. “Wisconsin law slams a door in the face of same-sex couples who cannot marry.”

But not all lobbyists for lesbian and gay civil rights have immediate marriage intentions. “It’s important to know that not all gay couples want to marry,” University of Wisconsin graduate Victor LeClaire said. “It’s mostly about having the right [to marry], and being accepting of a different lifestyle.”

The UW is one of out of three remaining Big Ten schools that still does not offer state employees domestic partner benefits like reduced rates on health care and other insurances. California, Connecticut, Hawaii and Vermont offer limited recognition to same-sex couples, but Wisconsin does not.

“Contrary to what many believe, it’s not all about the sex,” Mary Fiore said, an active member of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and a heterosexual Republican mother of a lesbian daughter. “[The right to same-sex marriage] is about whether we have the right to choose whom we love, whom we come home to at night. As a mother, I want that for my daughter.”

Fiore spoke out along with five other civil rights activists at Tuesday’s rally, two of whom were members of openly homosexual couples.

Action Wisconsin claims that over 200 people from across the state have made appointments to speak with legislators, and 31 out of Wisconsin’s 33 senators are scheduled for questioning. An Assembly committee recently approved the marriage-defining bill to progress to a full floor vote, but it is not clear when that vote will occur.

Tracie Blumentritt and Rebecca Angle, a lesbian couple with a two-year old daughter, Parker, are taking a stand for their same-sex couple civil rights.

“People always want to know what [our daughter Parker] calls us,” Blumenritt said. “We tell them Parker is very clear about which one of us she wants. She calls me ‘Mama’ and Rebecca ‘Mommy’.”