Courage Campaign Members Host Screenings of "MILK" in Local Communities in Concert with "Light Up the Night" Candlelight Vigils Across California
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 20, 2008
Courage Campaign Members Host Screenings of “MILK” in Local Communities in Concert with “Light Up the Night” Candlelight Vigils Across California
Events Immediately Follow Prop 8 Campaign’s Legal Action to Invalidate 18,000 Same-Sex Marriages
LOS ANGELES — Following action taken yesterday by the Prop 8 campaign to invalidate all existing same-sex marriages in California, Courage Campaign members are organizing 51 screenings of “MILK” in 39 communities across California today. In many of these communities, participants will watch “MILK” and then walk or drive to “Light Up the Night,” the nationwide candlelight vigils organized by the Join the Impact to draw attention to the 18,000 same-sex couples who were married in California before Prop 8 passed in November.
Locations of all 51 screenings and vigils are posted on the Courage Campaign web site (though they will disappear from the site as soon as each event occurs):
Commenting on the action taken yesterday by the Prop 8 campaign to invalidate existing same-sex marriages, Rick Jacobs, founder of the Courage Campaign, said, “The vigils are dedicated to the 18,000 couples who married between May and November. They are now all the more meaningful.”
“The Courage Campaign is appalled the sponsors of Proposition 8 and Ken Starr are seeking to invalidate the 18,000 same-sex marriages that were conducted prior to the passage of the initiative,” said Jacobs. “That Mr. Starr and his colleagues dare to say they only filed the brief because the court asked makes this all the more heinous. The motivation behind this mean-spirited and heart-breaking action should not be allowed to be buried in legal brief. If Proposition 8’s sponsors plan to destroy lives, they should at least have the courage to admit it publicly.”
Working to start the conversations “we should have had for years,” the Courage Campaign – an online organizing network with more than 375,000 members — called on its members last week to host screenings of “MILK” throughout California today in concert with the “Light Up the Night” candlelight vigils being held across the country.
The “MILK PLUS LOVE” screenings and vigils were planned before the Prop 8 campaign’s legal action on Friday:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/MILKplusLOVE
The Courage Campaign has taken a leading role in the effort to repeal Prop 8 and restore marriage equality to California.
More than 300,000 people have signed the “Repeal Prop 8” pledge launched by the Courage Campaign and joined by MoveOn.org, CREDO Mobile and Join the Impact. At tonight’s vigil, the Courage Campaign members and volunteers will continue to gather signatures from Californians.
“This is the start of a new movement to restore marriage equality in California,” said Jacobs. “It’s inspiring to see so many people, from all walks of life, willing to take a stand for equality.”
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