We need gays and straights, across the country Saturday. First the basics, then why:
WHAT: Nationwide protests are happening simultaneously at every city hall across America:
WHEN: This Saturday (Nov. 15) 10:3o a.m. West Coast, 11:3o a.m. Mountain, 12:3o p.m. Central, 1:3o p.m. East Coast.
WHERE: Your city hall.
MORE INFO: Go to jointheimpact.com or Facebook's page, linking to the same organizing site.
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WHY we need you, nationwide:
We are not inferior. Over three dozen states have said we are. Last Tuesday, the largest state in the nation repeated the rebuke. Prop 8 was the last straw.
Voters have told us repeatedly that we are so disgusting that the mere presence of us would soil the institution of marriage.
Enough.
We are not disgusting. We are equal. It is time to respond.
Not state by state, collectively, as a nation. Gay people are part of this culture, and degrading us has got to stop.
We love each other, just like the rest of you. We will marry each other regardless. Some of us will choose to marry, others will not. But laws that say we are unfit to marry are an abomination and will not stand.
Saturday's protest is not about one ballot initiative in one state. It is a signal that we have had enough.
We need masses of gay people and straight supporters to show up and be counted on our side.
Anyone in America who believes in equality, we ask you to stand with us this Saturday.
Stand up for what's right.
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We especially need people in the interior. We need the public to notice, this in not just an uprising on the coasts.
Denver/Colorado: I am helping organize in Denver. Please contact me through here or facebook if you can help locally, or email dave@davecullen.com RSVP for the Denver event at this Facebook page. Please spread the link.
The rally will be at the city/county building, 1437 Bannock Street (2 blocks west of the capitol).
Other states: Feel free to use the comments to share links/info on organizing in your city.
Thursday Update:
We've had big Denver press coverage, including this in the Rocky Mountain News today.
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Comments
But that is past now, and this is not about one proposition or one state, much less one voting demographic.
This has gone on across America, and this is about the future. We are equal, we will be treated equally, and we intend to say so.
I will be there (unless I get engulfed by a wave of agoraphobia)
If I could be there in Denver this Saturday, I would be, but I'm running a 10k race on Sat.
Hoping many show up for the rally.
Good luck and take care.
Margie
Peace,
Greg
I'll be in Miami on Saturday but will ask my friend if 1:30 a.m. at the City Hall there is doable. I imagine there will be a serious group effort in Miami.
However, I am in full support of everyone participating in something that God sanctions and fails over 50% of the time.
Thanks for this!
Here's to a good turnout.
rated!
There's a gathering on the Commons in Ithaca NY at 1:30 on Saturday.
Lorraine
I just want to say that the Why section of your post is articulate, rational, spot on and totally reasonable -- and shouldn't have to be said at all! Which is why we all need to get out there and push the ignorant cave dwellers back into their 19th Century holes forever.
I am the most senior sitting Council Person for the tiny town of China Texas.
Prompted by your post I called City Hall to find out our official hiring discrimination policy. We simply work under the Federal EEO guidelines, I was told.
I chased down these guidelines and they state that there shall be no discrimination in the hiring process as it relates to "race, color, religion, or national origin."
I called city hall back and had the EEO clause added to this month's agenda. I intend to advocate that we add the phrase "sexual orientation" to the city's non-discriminatory clause.
Even though this seems like a no-brainer it will not be an easy battle to win. It may, in fact, get rather ugly.
I know that this is a small action and that China is a very small town. I am also aware that the impact of such an action will be largely symbolic rather than practical. But as my grandmother would have said, "Better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness."
The council meeting will be the night of the 18th of Nov. I'll let you know how it goes.
I also want you to know that my actions are being taken as a direct result of your words and of the person I have come to know you to be.
Wish me luck.
rated
We really need a turnout across America that will get noticed and heard.
Good luck in China, John.
Front page of the NY Times site this morning is featuring a big happy picture of two lesbians holding up their marriage certificate in Connecticut, where it became legal this morning:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/nyregion/13marriage.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/page/Illinois
One group is planning a rally, and another is planning to meet on Halsted earlier to march and meet up with the first.
Saw the picture on the NY Times this morning---but also came across a sad editorial about a law passed in Arkansas prohibiting adoption or fostering by any cohabitants who are not married.
Did you see that? Or has someone bogged/commented on it and I missed it. The gist was that "unmarried" couples were not "fit" parents and the question of fitness, based on that criteria, could possibly extent to the natural children of couples in a lesbian relationship.
Really, what the f**k is the matter with this world? Let's try, just freaking try, a little Live and Let Live.
Meanwhile, we're getting lots of local press for the Denver event, hoping to ensure a big turnout. Rocky Mountain News story today here:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/12/denver-join-gay-rights-protest-california-ban/
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/12/
denver-join-gay-rights-protest-california-ban/
I've seen that phrase on a few blogs now, so it's not original, but does seem to be the latest tactic of anti-gays.
I don't care how many times the people send me a "mandate" that I'm inferior, I'm not going to accept it.
Is this what they called marchers for the women's movement, black civil rights, the Vietnam War, and Gandhi's movement in India and on and on through time?
Probably. I was too young to know.
Luckily, it didn't deter the marchers.
Do you have any reporting on these from legit news sources? Links, please.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_ZvPR09N4Q
Gay rights protesters disrupt Sunday service
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20081112/NEWS01
A Carlsbad man accused of punching an elderly couple because they had Yes On Prop 8 signs in their yard says he's innocent.
Thursday, Lawrence Pizzicara pleaded not guilty to attacking his neighbors on Monday allegedly during an argument over Prop 8 signs.
The couple suffered numerous injuries.
Pizzicara is being held on $200,000 bail.
http://www.cbs8.com/stories/story.145603.html
The N-bomb is dropped on black passersby at Prop 8 protests
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8077
Neighbors arguing and supposedly getting into a scuffle? Seriously? I'm sure that happened across America many times this week. That's not evidence of much more than neighbors arguing and scuffling. And some bozo did stomp a cross in that video, but did not physically assault the woman.
Your characterizations are frankly dishonest.