My Partner and I attended the OUTWest Boot Camp last week.

It was 2 of the most informative and inspiring days that either one of us has seen in the modern equality movement.

Christine Pelosi was amazing, she generously donated and signed 200 copies of her book, and no matter your political view she was truly an inspiration.

The Rev. Lee was also an amazing speaker, I am so not a Christian and still found him very compelling.

Mr. Eric Bauman was there, his word's were both touching and encouraging, and it's always nice to hear from one of our own.

I believe that the first challenge for those of us in the Los Angeles LGBT community, is to get the word out , get our friends off of Santa Monica Blvd. and involved in our community's future, and if that isn't possible let's help them to get involved on Santa Monica Blvd..

Our Brothers and Sisters must understand that the religious extremists in our country are a huge threat, and not even your money will insulate you from this threat.

They are comming for our rights, and LGBT community members at every level must join in the fight. So come out, come out where ever you are and get involved in some way, push your comfort zone even a little at first.

It is our responsibility to defend ourselves, and fight like hell.

Thank you.

In solidarity,

Michael C. McKeon

I thoroughly enjoyed going to OUTWest's Boot camp last weekend. I felt like the experience was well worth the flight that I took from Northern California.

I first learned about the Boot camp during the San Bernandino leadership meeting that occurred in late July. At that time, I thought the event sounded like a good idea. As the event came closer and closer, I began to anticipate the event and I knew that I had to attend. When signing up, I had the opportunity to pick two out of four topics that would be taught on Day 2 of the course. I choose Field and Media, but I really wanted to chose all of them.

On Day 1 of the bootcamp, we all were welcomed with a nice breakfast and were then greeted with opening statements from the organizers of the event. The parts that I enjoyed the most about this day was the Campaign simulation, the Campaign Ads analysis portion, and Reverend Eric Lee. Reverend Lee's comments on that same-sex marriage movement can't exactly mimic the Civil Rights Movement of the past was on point with the hard lesson that the LGBT community learned last year.

As for the second day, I truly appreciate the time that Christine Pelosi took out of her weekend to come speak with us. Her point of making efforts to "do something", rather than trying to "be someone" really hit home with me, since it emphasize the fact that the main reason that we became activists was to help the common good.

I can go on and on how much I enjoyed the event. One criticism that I would make is that that I would like the event to have a couple more interactive sessions. There was a point on Saturday where the boot campers were sitting in the lecture hall for about 5 hours straight. I had some trouble focusing on the speakers after awhile. I would like to see this broken up a bit.

Despite that minor critique, this bootcamp was a great idea. For someone who has a great deal to learn about activism, and the desire to do so, this bootcamp provided me with many different opportunities to learn and network with my fellow bootcampers. I left the event feeling more motivated that ever to do the work that is needed to change enough hearts and minds so that the LGBT community can finally have equal rights.

Kudos to the organizers!

Actually, to be honest, this post isn’t ALL about the OUT West Boot Camp that I went to last weekend. Some of this has mulled around in my head for awhile as I’ve been working with different folks on different projects all related to Marriage Equality and justice for LGBTQ folks. But this blog post IS a response to the boot camp and Christine Pelosi’s call to reflect on our experiences and to blog about them as a way to continue the conversation in a very public way.

First, through the process of telling a little of “me”, I’m going to start with what I haven’t learned yet. If you don’t start with what you don’t know, then you’re missing the biggest opportunities for growth.

I feel like I’ve been an activist for LGBTQ justice for a long time now (not so long comparatively though!) and through many different life “events” and identity iterations. I’ve participated in many different ways from letter-writing and phone-calls to signature gathering, rally attendance, rally coordination, phone-bank attendance, phone-bank training, data-entry, event planning and on and on and on. Most recently, I’ve been stepping into more visible leadership roles as I feel that I have more experience and a voice that counts, or should count, and with the support and encouragement of fellow activists and friends. It’s clear to me (and others) that I have a real passion for pursuing civil rights but it isn’t always that easy for me to say why.

I guess the easiest answer to that question is that I’m queer and therefore as a queer person, I’m not at all okay with the idea that I could not marry my (theoretical) woman love. But really it’s more complex than that – I’m really not okay with oppression in any form. I find that it is important and personal to me to root out the cause of oppression wherever it is and whomever it affects – to call it out and name it publicly and within myself. Maybe it’s the mixture of academic and personal understanding of the many intersections of power, privilege and oppression. Maybe it’s just a developed sense of empathy based on my personal life experiences. I guess what I’m saying is that the reason that I am so passionate about marriage equality is because I feel that achieving this goal is one more step towards untangling the larger web of privilege and oppression whose effects are felt in very real every-day life by so many.

So, you see I don’t have any easy answer to “why.” One of the most repeated “calls” that I heard (from Dr. Eric Lee among others) and that I repeat in my daily life is that queer folks have to be out and visible. And I think some of us, even those of us who are fairly seasoned activists in the very practical ways are not necessarily the best at talking about ‘why’ on the personal level. So many folks have so many different reasons for their involvement in the struggle for queer justice – and most of those reasons are very personal. After all, it’s the personal story that is hopefully going to help us change hearts and minds. So we, and here I mean “I”, have to answer that call to be out by finding that sound byte – not just the rational argumentation that I’m good at delivering (even with emotion!) – but with that personal story that’s going to appeal to folks’ hearts.

So I guess I did learn something about my story – being “out” and visible for me means that I have to go deeper…

Other things that I learned:

Research is needed. I have a confession: I’m a sociologist (no, really I’m in the PhD program at UCSB) and prior to this boot camp I was a little annoyed with the idea that we needed more research. I thought that dammit, we done enough research now we need to simply put it to use. Clearly my social science degree should be revoked. We need continuous research on what messaging is effective such as whether it really is having “gay” couples in our ads or whether it should be the kid of said couple or whether we should really be about “hearts and minds” or if we should really be stocking up on rational arguments and rebuttals. I’m convinced that it’s going to take both and that we are going to need to be one step ahead at all times – but that’s why we need continuous research.

On the topic of messaging, I had a epiphany during Fleischer’s presentation when the young woman (who I believe stated that she used to a Mormon) stood up and said something to the effect that we want certain representations of our community and certain messaging because we are still trying to overcome the stigmatization of our identities, our sexuality, our selves. Add Pelosi’s four-square message box and it is clear to me: We want our parents’ acceptance and love. We want people to stand up for us and love us, exactly as we are. And that IS the goal of the larger movement. But the campaign for marriage equality is about meeting voters where they are. And they want to hear that their kids aren’t going to be taught about homosexuality in schools or that their clergy won’t be required to marry gays (shudder). We want to say “who the f*** cares anyway” but we won’t get their votes that way. We won’t win. We aren’t going to get everyone to agree that gay is good. But we might, might be able to get people to see the distinction between civil and religious marriage and if we can get people to see us as “human” long enough that they will understand that larger distinction, we will win. One step at a time, right?   Read More »

I doubt I would have even made it to boot camp if an amazing woman, friend and personal hero of mine hadn't nearly insisted that I needed to be there. I have to say...I am so grateful that she did. I was exhausted, had thrown my back out and was feeling a bit pessimistic after an event I planned had turned out fairly unsuccessful. But, I dragged myself out of bed and to LA to see what this "Boot Camp" was all about. It was exactly what I needed. I was inspired by amazing speakers like Rev. Eric Lee and Christine Pelosi. I was reinvigorated by the amazing people who put so much into making this boot camp successful. And I left with a world of knowledge I didn't have before.

I can't list all the things I learned or I would be typing for days. But, some of the things that I found most enlightening were the campaign game where we are given 5 minutes per "month" to put together a successful campaign...There are a lot of things to take from the game, but two of the most important points were fundraising throughout the course of the campaign and diversity, diversity, diversity. I learned about successful media ads and the fact that these ads need to be seen a minimum of 5 times per person before they start to make an impact (this has a huge impact when you are on a budget and deciding on your commercial points). And I learned a lot about how to improve the work I do online - reaching people, making an ask, follow up, transparency and so much more.

I wish I could explain in this little space what an exhilerating experience this was. I was surrounded by familiar faces, faces I had previously only seen online and some amazing new faces all there because they believe in full equality and are willing to do whatever it takes to make that a reality.

Thank you to all who were involved. And for those who missed it, I would love to share more with you. Just ask :)

Call to Service

One of the most important things I took away from the OUTWest Boot Camp this last weekend is my call to service. I have been a very active, activist thus far however now I know that it is my duty to fight for marriage equality for ALL with every fiber of my being. No matter what. No matter if it's hard. No matter if I'm tired. No matter if I'm rejected. I must continue to fight for myself, for my spouse, for my community and for my country.

 Who Am I?

I am a Software Engineer by trade. But from now on when people ask me what I do I am going to answer I am an Activist! And, I going to tell them, I am fighting to restore marriage equality in California and to gain marriage equality statewide and I won't stop until we get it!

   Read More »

Up until a month ago, when I moved out to Los Angeles to attend USC as a first-year student, I had lived my entire life in a small town in Illinois where I could count all of the GLBT people I knew on my two hands. All of the GLBT people I knew who were interested in making social change I could count on one. I feel the greatest effect that the bootcamp had on me was giving me the assurance that there actually are many other people out there who care as much as I do about making this world a better place not only for GLBT people, but for everyone. For the first time in my life, I met GLBT people who were proud and passionate about who they are and what they stand for and could serve as role models for me. I've always felt terribly alone as a GLBT person because of the lack of GLBT role models in the media and back home - I've felt like I've had no one to look up to and to aspire to being like. After bootcamp, however, I've realized that I'm not alone and that passionate defenders of GLBT rights really are out there for me to look up to. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of the bootcamp - it was an experience I'll always remember.