The folks at JoinTheImpact are organizing a national day of marriage equality, pro-GLBTQI rights protests on November 15, on the steps of every city hall at 1:30 P.M. EST / 10:30 A.M. PST. They say,
We all come together in the month of June to celebrate Gay Pride, but few of us are even aware of why Gay Pride exists. Gay Pride is a celebration to commemorate the Stonewall Riots of 1969. Many say that the Gay Rights Movement began in 1969, which means that we are still a young movement and have accomplished a great deal in such a short amount of time. The generation that fought for us in 1969 deserves our gratitude and respect. This is a generation of amazing people who fought for our ability to hold hands in the street, to speak out against hate, to dance to our own “thumpa thump”, witness television shows with a queer cast, and come together in the streets celebrating for an entire month! This is the generation that opened the doors for us to even have a conversation about gay marriage, and this is the generation that deserves our help and our voices now. On June 27th, 1969, this generation came together in protest, jumping from closets, taking to the streets, and mobilizing in ways this country had never seen before! And what happened? The country was forced to respond. The Queer identity was forced onto the front pages and coffee tables of people’s worlds and people had to once and for all accept that we are human too!
Now, almost 40 years later we NEED to come together again. We need to show this nation that we are ONE LOUD VOICE THAT DEMANDS TO BE HEARD! We need to be one organized unit. Our gay pride shouldn’t be something we celebrate one month out of the year. Our gratitude towards the ones who came before us shouldn’t be ignored and wasted away with one party after another. We beg to be given a right that requires responsibility and commitment, yet we, as one strong community, have not proven to this nation that we deserve to be taken seriously! The gay pride parade has become a great party, but it has lost the memory of Stonewall and therefor given the nation another reason to cast us aside as irresponsible. It’s time we come together for debate, for public recognition, and for LOVE! Let’s move as one full unit, on the same day, at the same hour, and let’s show the United States of America that we too are UNITED CITIZENS [EQUAL] IN MIND, BODY, SPIRIT AND DESERVING OF FULL EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW!
On the steps of your City Hall on November 15th at 10:30am PST / 1:30pm EST, our community WILL take to the streets and speak out against Proposition 8 and all of the other pro-equality losses that we have faced in our lifetimes, in our parents’ lifetimes, and for many generations before us. WE CAN’T DO THIS ALONE! WE NEED YOUR HELP! We need organizers in every major city to work with us and get out the protest! I know you’re all tired from all of the work you’ve done for this great election year, but I’m asking for one more push! Let the country hear our voices together. Let them see that we are a strong, adamant, and powerful community that deserves equal rights, and CAN’T BE DEFEATED!
Send this post to everyone! We have one week and must react to the pro-hate votes cast against us! Let’s help our LGBTQ friends, families, neighbors, and each other to IMPACT this country with a demand for our basic human rights! Join the cause, join the voice, and JOIN THE IMPACT! [emphasis mine]
In San Francisco and all over the state, GLBTQI people and straight allies came together last night, and every night since Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008, to show that we are proud members of our communities and that we will not disappear. We will not be passive and we will not accept being told that our love is not real, that our marriages are not real, and that we should be content with a state constitution that legally defines us as inferior human beings. Proposition 8 is a horrendous, homophobic measure that stripped away our rights, and we will not be silent. We will stand up and show that we are a vibrant, diverse community of equal human beings and demand our rights!
It is vital that we turn out all over the state and nation and show our friends, family, neighbors, media, and politicians that we exist and we will fight for our rights! Go to JoinTheImpact.com to find out more, volunteer, and organize rallies in your own communities! On Saturday, Nov. 15, 1:30 PST, come to City Hall with your friends, families, and signs!
The turnout at last night’s rally was absolutely fantastic! Thousands of GLBTQI people, straight allies, young, old, able-bodied, disabled, black, white, Latin@, Asian, poor, wealthy, Jewish, Mormon, Christian, and atheist–all of us turned out to support one another, our community, and our rights. Our demonstration was non-violent but implacable, so let’s keep up the energy and turn out on Nov. 15 to show that we’re here and we will NOT BE SILENCED!