So it's official. Love Honor Cherish (LHC) has collected a diverse group of folk as proponents of language repealing Prop 8 to be put to a ballot during the 2010 election. The language includes a religious protection for clergy and changes "marriage is between a man and a woman" to "marriage is between two persons." It further forbids the state government from restricting the right to marry on the basis of race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation.

The comments on some blogs already are criticizing the language. Let me tell you why I signed on as a proponent of the new language in its entirety:

Two weeks ago I personally experienced how adding the religious protection language changed some of last year's Yes on 8 voters' attitudes towards a ballot initiative. In a perfect world, should the religious language be avoided? Perhaps. In a political world, is it necessary? ABSOLUTELY. Remember, we lost by only 4 points. If we can peel off Yes on 8 voters in 2010 by adding religious language, then we absolutely should include it.

Rest assured that the language was parsed and fretted over endlessly before we got the version we thought would win. The language is now with Attorney General Brown. Now, we've got a lot of work ahead of us. In the immediate future, obtaining signatures and fundraising will take more work than I can ever imagine.

One FREE thing you can do today is to join Courage Campaign and many of its allies in putting economic pressure on former Yes on 8 donors by boycotting the Manchester Hyatt in San Diego. I'm a Hyatt Gold Passport member, and I made sure to sign the boycott so he knows even his frequent guests are pissed off and not gonna take it!

ANOTHER thing you can do today is to start firing up our advertising fund - ads take time to produce and money to make. Give to the Courage Campaign NOW. Whatever you can give today, whatever you can give tomorrow will be gladly accepted, no matter how small, no matter how BIG.

Remember the motto of EMILY's list, one of the most successful PACs to support women candidates:

Early

Money

Is

Like

Yeast

 - it rises.  Giving early and often is one of the best things we can do RIGHT now. Even before you think it matters, it does!  

How, in this economic climate? Well, I use David Bach's ideas to calculate my "Latte Factor" each month - and that's what I give. I'm a donor and will continue to be, even if I don't have $100,000 to give.

Standing with you in solidarity,

Ange

I'm happy to start up the Standing in Solidarity Blog on the Courage Campaign's website to support our Marriage Equality teams. I was encouraged to start this blog while attending last weekend's OUTWest Boot Camp, an amazing weekend with over 100 other people who support Marriage Equality in California! One of our speakers, the incredible Christine Pelosi, urged us to start blogging and so here I am - a previously lapsed blogger (standinginsolidarity.com) - starting up again with her inspiration.

It's been about 6 months since my last blog post, but there's been a lot of work to figure out our next step in the quest for full marriage equality. Standing in Solidarity is a blog specifically for allies of the LGBT community, who perhaps don't know where to start or how to have an impact in their communities. You can start here! I'm going to post 2 things we can all do each week to support marriage equality. Some will cost money, but in this economic climate there are also plenty of FREE things you can do to support marriage equality.

The 2 things I did this week are:

1. Invite organizers for marriage equality to speak to my USC class about why grassroots organizing and strategic litigation are so important. I teach a class called Political Participation and American Diversity, so you can bet that this is right on par with our curriculum!

2. I walked precincts in Inglewood (a 70% African American neighborhood in L.A.) to talk to voters who have been selected for conversations about marriage equality with the organization Vote For Equality, an arm of the LA Gay and Lesbian Center. Last year's INCORRECT CNN Exit Poll has done a lot of damage between 2 communities that should have (and have had!) deep ties. As an African American Catholic Ally, I know there is a lot of work to be done in our community, and I think it's important to have African Americans talking to other African Americans about this issue. I had success with 1 voter - she voted Yes on 8 last time because of her Catholic faith, but I asked her if she would support it in the future with a clause about religious protection, and she said yes!  I made sure she understood, this meant that same-sex couples would then be able to get married, and she said FINE with her. The rush you get from talking to voters about why this is important is undeniable!

We had a large group of folks help out, but we can always use more next time! Check out VFE's page to find out where they are canvassing next!

 TO DO***** TO DO ***** TO DO ***!

Here's your one free thing for the week: Standing in Solidarity is on Facebook - Search for Us and Join!