Day Without a Gay Today
| By Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign - Dec 10th, 2008 at 9:19 am PST |
| Also listed in: Courage Campaign Staff |
There's been a great deal of introspection in the month since election day over what exactly happened with Prop 8. Obviously we've talked about it here at Courage in some depth, but when I attended a local organizing meeting here in San Diego last week, I was impressed not just by all the energy and commitment in the activist base, but by how naturally everyone "got it." They understood that this time, supporters of equality had to go out to all corners of the community, make their case in person, and most importantly reclaim the rhetorical battleground. In short, stop reacting and seize the initiative.
There are a lot of great ideas percolating at the local, state and national level, and so many of them are happening organically- motivated folks who organize their friends and neighbors and inspire others to do the same. Today, that energy is devoted to Day Without A Gay, organized by Join the Impact. The premise is pretty simple: if you're able, call in "gay" today, and volunteer in your community for marriage equality or other causes.
Yesterday afternoon, Eden James sent a targeted email to supporters asking that they gather signatures for the Courage Campaign Repeal Prop 8 Pledge while working in the community. His pitch was certainly better than mine:
On Wednesday, December 10, people across America will be taking action for equality.
Will you?
Wednesday's action is called "Day Without A Gay" and it's being organized by Join the Impact -- the same people-powered, volunteer-driven organizers that spearheaded rallies and marches in all 50 states on November 15, drawing hundreds of thousands of people into the streets to protest the passage of Prop 8.
You don't need to be gay to participate in this one-day national event drawing attention to the economic impact of gay Americans. All you have to do is take some time off on Wednesday -- from work, from school, from your life -- to take direct action on behalf of restoring marriage equality to California.
That's why our friends at Join the Impact (JTI) are asking volunteers across California and the country to use this "Day Without A Gay" to gather signatures to support the "Repeal Prop 8" pledge launched by the Courage Campaign, joined by MoveOn and CREDO Mobile, and signed by over 300,000 people.
Please click here to download a pledge form to gather signatures from your friends, family and neighbors on Wednesday's "Day Without A Gay":
http://www.couragecampaign.org/DayWithoutAGay
As organizers from Join the Impact wrote about this "Day Without a Gay":
By teaming up with Courage Campaign members, Join the Impact (JTI) is helping Californians build an army of activists to fight for marriage equality across our state. Any time you can take off on Wednesday to devote towards repealing Prop 8 will build this movement.
Please join Courage and Join the Impact by using your "Day Without a Gay" to help us reach 400,000 signatures as soon as possible. Click here to download a "Repeal Prop 8" pledge form now for your friends, family and neighbors to sign on Wednesday:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/DayWithoutAGay
If you have any friends that would like to join you in the day of action for equality, please forward this email to them as soon as possible.
Thank you for everything you are doing to help us keep up the momentum for progressive change across California, on marriage equality, the budget crisis and so many other issues fundamental to our future.
Eden James
Managing Director
P.S. Instructions for where to return the forms are listed at the bottom of the pledge form and will be added to the grand total, as quickly as our volunteers can input your names. Due to the large number of pledge forms being mailed in, we still need more volunteers. If you can help us do data entry from home, please reply back to this email ASAP.
But before you volunteer to help us with data entry from home, please take direct action with us on Wednesday's "Day Without A Gay":
http://www.couragecampaign.org/DayWithoutAGay
There are a lot of great ideas percolating at the local, state and national level, and so many of them are happening organically- motivated folks who organize their friends and neighbors and inspire others to do the same. Today, that energy is devoted to Day Without A Gay, organized by Join the Impact. The premise is pretty simple: if you're able, call in "gay" today, and volunteer in your community for marriage equality or other causes.
Yesterday afternoon, Eden James sent a targeted email to supporters asking that they gather signatures for the Courage Campaign Repeal Prop 8 Pledge while working in the community. His pitch was certainly better than mine:
On Wednesday, December 10, people across America will be taking action for equality.
Will you?
Wednesday's action is called "Day Without A Gay" and it's being organized by Join the Impact -- the same people-powered, volunteer-driven organizers that spearheaded rallies and marches in all 50 states on November 15, drawing hundreds of thousands of people into the streets to protest the passage of Prop 8.
You don't need to be gay to participate in this one-day national event drawing attention to the economic impact of gay Americans. All you have to do is take some time off on Wednesday -- from work, from school, from your life -- to take direct action on behalf of restoring marriage equality to California.
That's why our friends at Join the Impact (JTI) are asking volunteers across California and the country to use this "Day Without A Gay" to gather signatures to support the "Repeal Prop 8" pledge launched by the Courage Campaign, joined by MoveOn and CREDO Mobile, and signed by over 300,000 people.
Please click here to download a pledge form to gather signatures from your friends, family and neighbors on Wednesday's "Day Without A Gay":
http://www.couragecampaign.org/DayWithoutAGay
As organizers from Join the Impact wrote about this "Day Without a Gay":
The gay community will take a historic stance against hatred by donating love to a variety of different causes. On December 10, you are encouraged not to call in sick to work. You are encouraged to call in "gay" -- and donate your time to service!
By teaming up with Courage Campaign members, Join the Impact (JTI) is helping Californians build an army of activists to fight for marriage equality across our state. Any time you can take off on Wednesday to devote towards repealing Prop 8 will build this movement.
Please join Courage and Join the Impact by using your "Day Without a Gay" to help us reach 400,000 signatures as soon as possible. Click here to download a "Repeal Prop 8" pledge form now for your friends, family and neighbors to sign on Wednesday:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/DayWithoutAGay
If you have any friends that would like to join you in the day of action for equality, please forward this email to them as soon as possible.
Thank you for everything you are doing to help us keep up the momentum for progressive change across California, on marriage equality, the budget crisis and so many other issues fundamental to our future.
Eden James
Managing Director
P.S. Instructions for where to return the forms are listed at the bottom of the pledge form and will be added to the grand total, as quickly as our volunteers can input your names. Due to the large number of pledge forms being mailed in, we still need more volunteers. If you can help us do data entry from home, please reply back to this email ASAP.
But before you volunteer to help us with data entry from home, please take direct action with us on Wednesday's "Day Without A Gay":
http://www.couragecampaign.org/DayWithoutAGay
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