Join the Impact

We need your help! When Join the Impact began, it was simply a blog post asking people to come together on a national level to join in one united voice against Proposition 8. In that first week, a great deal of things were asked of Join the Impact, one of which was a 3 month calendar. We put together the calendar as fast as we could and were not aware of the months of learning that laid before us. Now, Join the Impact is a little over 2 months old and we want to make the most out of it. From now on, we need YOU to help us plan what to do next. Light Up the Night was a success because one of our members suggested the idea. Since then, we have had many suggestions come our way and we want our community to have a say in what happens next, what our goals should be, and how we want to accomplish these goals.

Here’s what you can do to help:

1. Offer up an idea by creating a thread on our event ideas page
2. People will reply to that specific idea thread to help lend their support and constructive criticism.
3. Every idea that reaches 100 votes (in the “was this comment valuable to you” tool of the thread), will get it’s own page and members will be asked to create a task force to help make that idea a reality.
4. We will work with you to help your idea take flight and truly ensure that Join the Impact is your platform for YOUR voice!

It is difficult for me to find words at the moment to express my feelings of absolute horror and disbelief around the shooting of Oscar Grant (graphic and not suitable for children or work) while being detained by the BART security with three other men. So I will instead focus on developing an appropriate response with my actions and let the the words of one woman who emailed us to bring this to our attention summarize my thoughts on this issue:

Stand in solidarity with concerned citizens of Oakland, youth, clergy and elected officials who want Justice for Oscar Grant. Not one more life.

For those outside the Oakland area I strongly encourage you to contact local community leaders to find out if there are vigils in your city being held in Oscar Grant’s name. Go! Spread the word! Get people there! We must stand together against violence and hate crimes. If there is nothing organized in your city, then please make it happen.

There is a fund being set up by the family. When we have information about this fund we will update this post.

You can help spread the word. Join the facebook group.
facebook link http://poprl.com/CQq

One of the protesters from Oakland has the following to share:

FIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO DEMAND JUSTICE FOR OSCAR GRANT:

1.  Contact the DA of Alameda County. As of January 12, 2009, The District Attorney STILL HAS NOT PRESSED CHARGES against the police officer who shot and killed Oscar Grant about TWO WEEKS AGO.  Demand that Johannes Mehserle be charged and arrested for murder now.

ALAMEDA COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
(510) 272-6222 phone
(510) 271-5157 fax
1225 Fallon Street # 900
Oakland, CA 94612

2.  Hold the media accountable. When the news reported that the protests on Wednesday, January 7, 2009 “turned violent”, they got it wrong!  The protesters at the Fruitvale BART Station (organized by a grassroots organization called CAPE – Coalition Against Police Executions) were peaceful.  The vandalism that occurred in downtown Oakland was a different group.  They were two separate news stories, but the news collapsed them into one or completely ignored the peaceful protest.

LET THE MEDIA KNOW THAT YOU WILL NOT STAND FOR SHODDY NEWS REPORTING.  Tell them that you are aware of and outraged by their mistake.  And that you expect a superior standard of reporting from them at the next rally (4pm, Wednesday, January 14, Oakland City Hall).

CBS 5 / KPIX TV
415-765-8717
http://cbs5.com/contact

KRON 4
4listens@kron4.com
(415) 561-8186

ABC 7
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/feature?section=resources&id=5792275
abc7listens@kgo-tv.com
(877) 222-7777.

3.  Attend the next protest: Wed, Jan 14, 4pm at Oakland City Hall

Protest the Murder of Oscar Grant III
& All Victims of Police Brutality
Wednesday, Jan 14, 4pm
Gather at Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall
A peaceful march will follow the rally

4.  Attend the next organizing & mobilizing meeting. Come and find out what ways you can support the movement.  Take action.  Speak out.  Raise money.  Build coalitions.

Organize!  Mobilize!
An action planning meeting
Hosted by The Black Clergy & CAPE
Saturday, January 17, 2009, 4:00 PM
Olivet Missionary Baptist Church
807 27th Street @ San Pablo, Oakland

5.  Stay tuned for other actions, protests, etc., especially if you are in the Bay.  One way to keep up with what is happening is to join CAPE on facebook.com.

CAPE – Coalition Against Police Executions
CAPE is a coalition to insure that Oscar Grant is the last citizen executed by police in this country.

CAPE contact Information:
Blogspot: Click here
Facebook: Click here
Email address 1: joincape@gmail.com
Email address 2: followcapeoakland@gmail.com

We are just 2 days away from another NATIONAL event that will take us one step closer toward achieving full equality!  On January 10th, our voices will be heard around the nation as we shed light on DOMA and get 1 Million Signatures on our Open Letter to Barack Obama, reminding him of his promise to REPEAL DOMA!  This event is one that comes in many forms with rallies in almost every major city mixed with signature drives throughout the nation.  This Saturday, hundreds of cities around the nation will participate in one of our 4 fantastic options to get involved that include outreach, canvasing, and protests!  This will be a National Day of Impact!

It’s not too late to get involved.  Find an event near you today! If there is not an event in your area, it is not too late to put something together.  Take a que from Julie Phineas of LezGetReal.com – She has planned an entire day of signature gathering!

Check out her video encouraging people to attend her event!

There are 10 Ways to Help us reach 1 Million Signatures – Real People, Real Signatures, Real Change*:

1. Gather signatures at your place of work (make sure it doesn’t hinder your HR policy)
2. Go out to the bars on Friday and Saturday nights and get signatures
3. Go to your local screening of MILK and get signatures from individuals in line or as they are leaving
4. Go to local stores and ask that they put the signature pages at the counter
5. Grab a friend and canvas your neighborhood asking for signatures
6. Go to a local event to gain signatures (Art Walks, Concerts, etc)
7. Email this blog post to friends and family, ask them to print out the signature page and mail it to Join the Impact
8. Attend one of the 100 National Rallies on January 10th to gain signatures
9. Go to church on Sunday and ask for signatures
10. Use the power of the internet: Blog about it, ping all your friends on Facebook/MySpace, send this message to EVERYONE

*Many have asked why this is not an online petition.  Simply put, we want this to be as real as possible.  Online petitions have less validity and less impact.  We want to show Obama that we can mobilize 1 million people and we need to do this in the most organic way possible.  It’s easy to get 1 million signatures in an online petition.  It takes time, commitment, and energy to get 1 million physical signatures though.  Let’s show Obama just how committed we are to this cause!

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One week before our National DOMA protest, the waves of change are already starting to form! Bob Barr, the infamous author of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), wrote an op-ed in the LA Times stating that DOMA should be repealed!  This is something worth celebrating, and something we should take to the next level.

Ever since we announced January 10th’s National DOMA Protest, we learned that many members of the LGBTQ community do not even know what DOMA is.  DOMA, put simply, is one current reason LGBTQ rights are so hard to come by.  When you drill down to the heart of DOMA, it was launched as an effort to keep same-sex couples from gaining the same rights as heterosexual married couples… in other words, it was born out of a need to restrict the rights of the LGBTQ community.  DOMA has been used time and time again to continually restrict the rights of the LGBTQ community in employment, spousal benefits, property ownership, insurance, etc.  Many view it as discrimination written into the constitution (I am one of those many).

On January 10th, we are protesting to repeal DOMA and to gain 1 Million Signatures on our Open Letter to Barack Obama.  This letter is meant to serve as a reminder to Obama of the promises that he made to our community, which he wrote in an Open Letter to the LGBTQ Community in early 2008.  In that letter, he promised to repeal DOMA.  We drafted a letter that uses his exact words in an effort to remind him just how accountable we expect him to be for his promises.  Many requests have been made to broaden this letter and add a request for full gay marriage, or other initiatives to the list.  We do not want to deter from the point of the letter though: Repeal DOMA.  Hold True to Your Promises.  Your Words DO Have Meaning.

DOMA Defined:

On September 21st, 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was signed into federal law. DOMA, wrote discrimination into the Constitution with two strict regulations:

1. No state (or other political subdivision within the United States) need treat a relationship between persons of the same sex as a marriage, even if the relationship is considered a marriage in another state.
2. The Federal Government may not treat same-sex relationships as marriages for any purpose, even if concluded or recognized by one of the states.

To drive the point even further, 37 states slowly but surely adopted DOMA as a state-wide regulation further amending state Constitutions. This appalling law tells the American people that it is OK to discriminate. That it is OK to recognize the LGBTQ community as less than equal. This same law, that the California Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional set the precedence for Proposition 8. This same law has nullified many rights that come with Domestic Partnerships. This law does not just affect members of the LGBTQ community – it also repeals rights from heterosexual non-married couples.  This law has nullified the heterosexual rights that come with Common Law Marriage. This law blurred the lines of separation of church and state even further. And this law, is one of many that President Elect Barack Obama has PROMISED to repeal in his “Open Letter to the LGBTQ Community.

DOMA is not a speed bump on the road to full equality.  It is not even a road block.  DOMA is a gigantic brick wall that is crumbling!  On January 10th, we encourage you to find a protest in or near your city.  Join in this important national moment, where we will work together to shed light on the negative effects of DOMA.  Help us get signatures between now and Jan 10th on the Open Letter to Barack Obama.  Bob Barr, who created the beast, is now in our corner to help us defeat it!  He started the wall crumbling, now it’s time we come together this Saturday with our own “demo team” to help tear it down!

4 people were taken in as the alleged rapists of December 13th’s brutal gang rape and attack on a Richmond, CA woman.

This is the beginning of a new year. Over the next 12 months, we will continue to win in the face of ignorance. We WILL continue to remain visible and strong. We WILL continue to unite for full equality. We WILL take leaps forward in our struggle in ways that this country has not yet seen! And during all this, we must remember what has happened to those who are fighting with us. We must remember that not everyone we deal with will change. We must remember that there is a loud minority who wants to make us victims, and a quiet majority that wants us to be victors. We need to give that quiet majority a voice. We need to drown out the hatred of those who want to hurt us. We MUST remember what has occurred since the beginning of this movement and realize that we have many mountains to climb, but our goal IS reachable and WILL be won!

We must remember what happened in Richmond, CA on December 13th, 2008.

They attacked her because she was gay. Our government provides our community and our love with less rights than our heterosexual allies. This causes a sense of entitlement for those who are ignorant and violent.

They raped her because she was gay. Proposition 8 passed in California stating that same-sex couples do not deserve the same recognition as heterosexual couples. Her partner, in the eyes of the law, does not deserve the same recognition.

They beat her because she was gay. We just spent the past 8 years under a president of who openly stated numerous times that it is a sin to be LGBTQ. When the leader of the free world openly discriminates, what is to stop anyone else?

They left her helpless because she was gay. In 30 states it is still legal to fire someone because they are a member of the LGBTQ community. If your employer can discriminate against you, your government can, and your state voters can, then what is to stop someone from feeling justified by violence?

We are ALL connected. What we say, what we do, and what we vote on DOES affect everyone. When we turn our eyes away from hatred, we allow it to occur. When we remain silent while somebody calls us Faggot, we allow the stereotypes to continue. When we hear a teen year old say “That’s so gay” and don’t speak up, we allow him or her to grow up thinking that it is OK to speak like that about a minority.

Of those arrested, two were teenagers: 15 and 16.

I look forward to a world when I don’t have to say that anyone, did anything, because someone is gay, lesbian, bi, transgendered, or queer.

Please DONATE to Richmond’s Jane Doe and help her and her partner get back on their feet. Her partner needs time off to care for her. We can help. Please learn how you can donate here:http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=40712604850

Press Release Here

Well, after 8 years of discrimination with a smile, Bush turned a corner that has officially shocked me, but I’m not about to complain.  Yesterday, Bush signed Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 into law! This new bill provides important protections for LGBT families and is something we should celebrate!  At Join the Impact, we come together in one very hard and long struggle.  Let’s take this moment to come together in celebration.  Tonight, as you ring in the new year, do so with the knowledge that we are ONE STEP CLOSER to achieving full equality for all!  This is a win worth celebrating.

Tomorrow is not just a new day, it’s a new year in the fight for equal rights.  What do you resolve to do?  I resolve to DOUBLE our impact on November 15th 2009 with over 2 million people protesting world-wide.  I resolve to have MANY more celebrations of equal rights gained as marriage passes in many states, Prop 8 gets repealed, and Obama begins to act on the promises he made us.  I resolve to continue my conversations of equality.  I resolve to not be the victim and instead be the victor.  I resolve to be a 1st Class Citizen.

Happy New Queer!

So this is a little late, but with the holidays and all, I got a bit backed up.  So here is a special MONDAY installment of last weeks many tools for change that came out of the woodwork:

1. The Yes on 8 Campaign filed a brief to revoke the 18,000 marriages created while same-sex civil marriage was legal in California.  In an instant, the Courage Campaign responded with a fantastic photo petition to shed light on the hypocrisy of this request to Protect Marriage by Forcing Divorce.  Please join in this amazing petition by putting a face on the families that Prop 8 is forcing into divorce.
2. Last week, we announced the brutal gang rape of a Richmond, CA lesbian.  This brutal hate crime must be known to the entire nation.  We MUST show the nation that when anti-gay legislation passes, those who violently hate are given a stronger sense of entitlement to act on that hate.  Few people understand that their actions do affect others.  When anti-gay laws are in place, it dominoes our society into horrible acts of violence like this one.  Last Tuesday I spoke with the chief of the Richmond PD and learned about a trust fund that is being setup for the victim.  The money will go toward getting her and her partner into a safe and more secure neighborhood, paying hospital bills, and more.  We created a facebook page where you can donate.
3. In response to this brutal rape, LezGetReal.com posted further information about the attackers so that local volunteers can help canvas the streets to bring these men to justice.
4. Want to respond to Rick Warren at the inauguration?  Wear a rainbow armband or white knot if you are attending.  Click Here for more information.
5. Finally, we have posted the Open Letter to Barack Obama and signature sheets on The Impact.  Please start gathering signatures for this… the goal is to have 1 Million Signatures by January 10th.  We want this to be organic – Internet signatures do not go as far (this is why the photo petition being done by the Courage Campaign has much more authority than an online petition without proof that the signer is legit). On January 10th, we ask that you join one of many National DOMA Protests or grab some friends and canvas the streets of your neighborhood for signatures.  Our Jan 10th Goal is to get 1 Million Signatures, whether it be through one of our 100 national protests or canvasing, that’s up to you.

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