Free Download of Amy White Song Celebrates Marriage Equality

“Love Across The Boundaries” is not a new song. North Carolina-based singer/songwriter Amy White was inspired to write the song by the debate over Amendment 1, which stated that the state of North Carolina would only recognize a marriage between a man and a woman.

The song was included on White’s “Home Sweet Home: Songs of Love, Loss and Belonging,” which was released in 2012. The song has found new life recently, however, in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling that bans on same-sex marriages are unconstitutional. Blue Night Soundscapes is now offering a free download of “Love Across The Boundaries” for a limited time.

Before releasing “Home Sweet Home: Songs of Love, Loss and Belonging,” White was an instrumental artist. White said in a release that she produced “perfectly bi-partisan instrumental music” for most of her life, but she couldn’t stay silent about issues she cared about so deeply.

In the liner notes for the album, White said this about “Love Across The Boundaries”: “In honor of all the consenting, loving relationships that are still shunned. It is alarming to think of how this shunning can abbreviate one’s very life – sometimes in the most tragic way. Straight, gay, inter-racial, West Side – all love is true. This song is for the people on both sides of the shunning.”

“Love Across The Boundaries” does not have as many lyrics as you might expect, but that only adds to the power of the song. This song isn’t diluted with a lot of unnecessary lines to fill out the song’s running time, which I think happens in songs sometimes. Every line in “Love Across The Boundaries” is profound. I believe that is why the lyrics of this song have resonated with so many people who are hoping to find love despite what others might think.

White sings, “You love someone that they don’t approve of/ But they can’t hate your love away/ Someday you will walk in sunlight together/ And not be afraid.”

She said when she wrote the chorus of the song, she wanted to include a “gentle reference to ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ by layering that hint of military brass over the closing refrain.”

White explained, “I specifically wanted to include ‘Taps’ as it is past time the sun sets on institutionalized discrimination.”

At the time the song was written, North Carolina did not allow same-sex marriage. “I have seen a lot of people very disappointed and frustrated,” White said. She said not everyone is able to get up and move. Last year, a federal court ruled in the case of General Synod of United Church of Christ v. Cooper that Amendment 1 was unconstitutional.

White said Stephen Briggs is the owner of Blue Night Records, an acoustic music label. “Since we travel in the same circles and have many of the same colleagues, it was only a matter of time before we became acquainted,” she said. She added that social media has brought them closer and in more frequent contact.

“When Steven decided to found Blue Night Soundscapes (BNS), a licensing company that offers acoustic music, he broadened the scope of his own label and started reaching out to other artists, including my husband, Al Petteway and me,” White said. “Al and I are in some very fine company on BNS. We are thrilled to be a part of this new venture.”

White wrote “Love Across The Boundaries,” as well as all the other songs on the “Home Sweet Home: Songs of Love, Loss and Belonging” CD. Petteway is a Grammy Award-winning guitarist and he appears on “Love Across The Boundaries,” as well as the entire CD.

The free download of “Love Across The Boundaries” being offered on Blue Night Soundscapes has given more exposure to the song. The song has been included in marriage ceremonies. White said she had no idea that the song would be used in weddings, but she said she is thrilled and happy that the song is being embraced.

White said it is a bit naïve to think that discrimination and hate will end now. “We all know that the decision itself spurred deeper divisions, and several more acts of bigoted violence,” she said. “The recent debate over the confederate flag also comes to mind.”

White does call the Supreme Court’s ruling “a beautiful beacon of hope.” She also referred to other landmark Supreme Court rulings such as Brown v. Board of Education and Loving v. Virginia as “symbols of hope” as well. “Given the amount of time between all of these rulings, and the hateful backlash they have prompted and prompt still, it’s obvious we still have a very long way to go before we have achieved true equality,” she added.

White said her view on the religious opposition to the Supreme Court ruling is pretty straightforward. As long as churches receive tax exemptions and other tax incentives, they should not be allowed to discriminate. Otherwise, that discrimination would appear to be sponsored and condoned by the state.

Various news outlets have reported that some businesses have chosen not to participate in same-sex weddings, some of which have been sued. White said when she learns of a business that is promoting discrimination that she does her best to avoid that business.  “I am grateful when the choice is that obvious,” she said. “But sometimes it takes civil rights sleuths to discern where a company’s heart truly lies.”

People can download “Love Across The Boundaries” for free by going to http://www.bluenightsoundscapes.com/love.