Join the Impact

Hello Everyone! Thanks to the help of HostDango.com’s Web hosting services, we now have a lightening fast server and our site should not be bogged down by traffic anymore… unless we suddenly reach 2 million hits/day, and at that point, who would complain? Please thank them in anyway you can. They donated the server to us and are working hard to keep our site afloat amidst the amazing influx of traffic! I’ll have a page up shortly with ways that you can help thank the businesses that are very generously donating their time and services to this cause!

PLEASE NOTE the following changes:

• In our server transfer, we did lose a great deal of comments but have backed them up. We will work hard to create a comments page so that people can see all of the great things you have said in the past 3 days.
• Thanks to the generosity of WetPaint.com, we now have a contacts and locations Wiki for everyone to better organize their city. That is located here: http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com
• Emails – Please know that we are responding to emails as fast as we can. If you have submitted an email or comment requesting a change of location/contacts or addition of either for protesting, please submit that request again at our new wiki (But please check first to make sure the city isn’t already updated).
• You can use the wetpaint wiki to request changes and updates to contacts/locations in your area.
• Finally, you have made this all possible! I know our site has had some slow load times, but we honestly didn’t expect such a large reaction so fast! We peaked at 50K visitors/hour which are the numbers that crashed Friendster in its startup days! Please keep getting the word out and keep up the good work!

More to come soon! Thanks for EVERYTHING!

I’m sure all would agree that with the election of Barack Obama, this week
has been one of amazing wins in the world of equality! Still,
Tuesday night was one of bitter-sweet celebration, as we came together
to witness the first black man who will become our president, and
watched in sadness as Florida, Arizona, Arkansas, and California all
voted down equal rights for all citizens. Pendants and bloggers
alike have put their focus on Proposition 8, trying hard to find an
explanation for the anti-gay wins in the face of a huge pro-equality
event. Some have blamed the voters, others blame religious
groups, and even others blame the LGBTQ community for not being able to
mobilize on a larger enough scale. And you know what, there is
truth in every argument.

As a community, we have to admit to the fact that we are polarized
in various ways. Honestly, I’m not sure what community isn’t and
I believe that our polarization is proof to our humanity – we are no
different than anyone else, regardless of color, creed, or sexual
orientation. Still, our polarization has hindered us from
mobalizing as one strong voice. 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?
Read the rest of this entry »