Dialogue + Openness + Visibility = Equality

On November 4, 2008, California voters went to the polls and took away the rights of gay and lesbian couples to marry. This was wrong on so many levels. A minority group should never have to defend itself at the ballot box because as a minority it will most likely always lose out to the whims of the majority. Aside from the inherent injustice of the ballot proposition, the campaign promoting Proposition 8 was rife with deceptive and misleading tactics.

The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community is a minority in California. Even if every single LGBT person came out and voted we would not be able to defend ourselves against these types of unjust laws. However, there is hope with the 48% of California voters that supported the rights of gays and lesbians to marry. This is an improvement from the last time the issue of gay marriage was put to the voters in 2000 where only 38% of voters stood with us in affirming same sex marriages.

With the great amount of energy that has been demonstrated with the recent protests to overturn Proposition 8 we hope to tap into this momentum and add to the discussion of LGBT rights. The purpose of this blog is to inform you on how you can get involved. We need everyone to do their part and do what they can to help us reach full equality. That is why we feel it is important that we focus on three positive and tangible ways of showing support, through Dialogue, Openness and Visibility.

• Dialogue- We urge you to share your stories with your friends, co-workers, family and acquaintances. There are many people out there who are ambivalent towards LGBT rights and we hope that you can talk to them and help them realize how important this issue is. Engage them in the discussion of how denying marriage rights to gays and lesbians hurts all families. If you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgered we urge you to tell your personal story of how Prop 8 will affect you and people like you. If you are a straight supporter we urge you to tell your story as well and share your support of your LGBT friends and family.

• Openness- In the days following the election results there has been a lot of anger and bitterness towards various groups that supported the passage of Prop 8 in larger numbers. We understand the frustration that many of these groups have themselves been oppressed and find it incomprehensible that they would in turn deny rights to others. However, continuing to single out these groups can do more harm than good. Rather we would like all people to come together and realize that we are all part of the struggle for human rights.

• Visibility - When we remain invisible we run the risk of being overlooked. The LGBT community makes up anywhere form 2-10% of the population. However, we know that these averages are skewed with much larger representations in areas like San Francisco and Los Angeles, and very likely much smaller representations in the smaller rural communities in California. So we ask that everyone that supports equality stand up and show themselves as a supporter. Whether you are gay or straight we want you to stand up and show your support at work, school, church, temple, the grocery store, the bus, the movies, wherever you go. We ask that you stand up and speak out against injustice. We are working to develop a symbol that you can wear, but there are many other symbols you can wear that demonstrate your support and can act as a bridge towards opening a dialogue.

We will keep this blog updated by informing you on the various protests taking place against Proposition 8, updates on the progress of the lawsuits to overturn Proposition 8 and provide you with actions items that you can do to press for the full equality of the LGBT community.