Project Postcard

Here's another Activism 4.0 project, only this one uses snail-mail. CivilRightsFront.com wants you to mail postcards to Barack Obama requesting the immediate repeal of the Defense Of Marriage Act.

President-elect Barack Obama
Presidential Transition Office
Kluczynski Federal Building
230 S. Dearborn St., 38th Floor
Chicago, IL 60604

WRITE A MESSAGE - I recommend that we all write the same thing, so that our message can't get any clearer. Our post cards should read...

Dear President-elect Obama: Please ask Congress to repeal D.O.M.A.! All Americans should have the right to marry. Thank you in advance for advocating for the civil rights of your LGBT citizens.

SIGN YOUR NAME - There is nothing more powerful than that. BUY POSTAGE AND DROP YOUR POSTCARD(S) IN THE MAIL - Wasn't that easy? NOW, REPEAT - Send one a week. Or better yet, one a day. Have a postcard party and have all your friends do it too. Email these instructions to your loved ones so they can join in the fun. Think of the statement that thousands and thousands of postcards from around the country will make.

Day Without A Gay

From the site:

The worldwide media attention surrounding our massive grassweb efforts for gay rights has been tremendous. Join the Impact was a HUGE success and will continue to thrive because of our efforts. We've reacted to anti-gay ballot initiatives in California, Arizona, Florida, and Arkansas with anger, with resolve, and with courage. NOW, it's time to show America and the world how we love.

Gay people and our allies are compassionate, sensitive, caring, mobilized, and programmed for success. A day without gays would be tragic because it would be a day without love. On December 10, 2008 the gay community will take a historic stance against hatred by donating love to a variety of different causes. On December 10, you are encouraged not to call in sick to work. You are encouraged to call in "gay"--and donate your time to service! December 10, 2008 is International Human Rights Day. CLICK HERE to join us, and search or add to the list of human rights organizations that need our help RIGHT NOW.

What about those of us who have been treated well by our employers? Do we punish them by calling in gay? This is an interesting idea, but one that I think plays better in concept. In any case, if you live in one of the 30 states in which it is perfectly legal be fired for being gay, the Day Without A Gay site does offer an alternative to calling in gay.

RELATED: ACLU blogger Joel Engardio isn't so crazy about the idea.

HomoQuotable - Rex Wockner

"The organization No On 8 failed us. Before the TV ad war started, we were up 14-17 points in the polls. Then No On 8 spent some $37 million of your money to spam the California airwaves with really lousy ads, while the other side spent a similar amount to spam the California airwaves with ads that were, whatever else they may have been, effective. While the bad TV ads were not the only component of our loss (last-minute preaching from the pulpits was a factor), had our ads been good ads, we would have held onto our lead. And producing those mindnumbingly expensive ads (which I and many others publicly criticized as they were airing) was one piece of the war that No On 8 had 100% control over.

"Although the HRC-like Equality California group is not solely to blame, it's likely fair to say EQCA was the biggest component of the No On 8 coalition, along with such entities as the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, the San Diego Gay and Lesbian Center and others.

"But, as Wayne [Besen], Andrew [Sullivan] and Markos [Zuniga] (combined, they have a massive readership) essentially say: That was then, this is now. We have now indeed entered Activism 4.0 or whatever the hell you want to call it. Our "leaders" let us down and you -- you, the average gay or lesbian citizen who just wants to have equal rights and maybe even get married -- you have seized power by using Facebook and your blogs, e-mail and Twitter, MySpace and text-messages to launch a new gay movement -- one that can get 25,000 gays and lesbians into the streets of sleepy San Diego on a Saturday morning, one that got 12,000 people into the streets of New York to protest something that happened in California.

"A movement that got gay and lesbian Americans to stage simultaneous protests two days ago in hundreds of American cities and towns -- including in Allentown, Fargo, Fayetteville, La Crosse, Macon, Shreveport and Missoula -- and, in California alone, in Alameda, Bakersfield, Berkeley, Big Bear Lake, Chico, Claremont, Colton, Costa Mesa, Delano, Escondido, Eureka, Fairfield, Fresno, Hemet, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Marysville, Merced, Modesto, Monterey, Moorpark, Moreno Valley, Mountain View, Napa, Oakland, Palm Springs, Pasadena, Pomona, Porterville, Rancho Cucamonga, Redding, Redlands, Riverside, Sacramento, Salinas, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, San Rafael, Santa Barbara, Santa Clarita, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, South Lake Tahoe, Stockton, Temecula, Tracy, Turlock, Ukiah, Vacaville, Ventura, Victorville, Walnut Creek and Yucca Valley.

"Wow.

"You don't have to listen to the gay "leaders" who failed you anymore, you don't have to give them any more money, you just have to figure out what you want to do next with the power that now is yours -- to get what you want: Full equality. I am intensely eager to see your next steps. It is an exciting time indeed." - Veteran gay reporter Rex Wockner from his blog essay The Day The Music Died For Gay Leadership.

Go here to read the entire essay including the above-linked quotes. Wockner emphasizes that his is not an "across-the-board assault on every non-grassroots gay entity" and points to the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the ACLU, and Lambda Legal as continuing to do the heaving lifting in this fight.

HomoQuotable - Peter Staley

"Okay, don’t get me wrong. Last night’s Prop 8 demo in New York City was inspiring on many levels. The turn-out was huge. The fact that it all happened virally online, starting with a single Facebook event posted only three days earlier by a 26-year-old (great work, Corey Johnson!), amazes me.

"And what happened last night is part of something huge – the reawakening of our national gay rights movement. As Rex Wockner said, this is Stonewall 2.0. But allow an old queen to bitch a little. At the risk of sounding like your grandmother saying “you should have seen how we did it in the old days,” these Facebook demos could use a facelift from the ghosts of ACT UP. Let’s start with the visuals.

"Instead of this:
"We got this:"God loves gay marriage? Yuck! Where were our leather-wearing East Village graphic artists when we needed them? Where were the affinity groups with their creative side-shows like hanging banners from the temple’s rooftop? How about an angry speech or two to get the crowd riled up? A PA system would have worked best, but even someone on a stepladder with a megaphone would have done the trick. Can you imagine if Whoopi had addressed the crowd?

"Instead, it was a very happy but low energy event by ACT UP standards. The chants died quickly, probably because half the crowd was busy talking or texting on their cell phones (“where r u? i’m sort of in the middle. where?”).

"But I couldn’t argue with the turn-out. It matched ACT UP’s biggest demos. And the diversity of the crowd was wonderful. It was obvious that many of the twenty-somethings (and younger) were demonstrating for the first time. They seemed thrilled by it.

"And that’s what matters most.

"Sure, there are distinct advantages to in-person planning sessions that Facebook doesn’t afford – how can folks achieve a strong creative focus on the World Wild Web? But you can’t argue with the speed and numbers of this new organizing method.

"So please don’t confuse this old-timer’s ramblings with some sort of negativity. I got to watch our community rise up again. I’ve been waiting for this for twenty years. The hornets’ nest has been stirred. If we can merge some of the old techniques with the new technologies, nothing will stop us." - AIDS activist and former ACT-UP spokesman Peter Staley, writing in his blog on Poz.com.

As I noted in my post that night, I too wasn't crazy about the "God Loves Gay Marriage" banner, although I appreciate the intent of its maker, Gilbert Baker. But this Stonewall 2.0 or Activism 4.0 (whichever you prefer) movement is a PEOPLE'S movement, completely unguided by any organization or political group like ACT UP or even the HRC (more about THEM on this fight in another post.) That's the banner Gilbert Baker brought, that's the one that was used - but ANYBODY could have brought a banner and lined people up behind it. Baker's banner was very useful in its massive size (75 feet) and served very well to help direct protesters once the march headed down Broadway.

The question that Staley is really asking is how angry do we want this new movement to be? Do we want to be in their FACE, a la ACT UP? Or do want polite "We Are Your Children" platitudes? I think we can find a nice, pissed-the-fuck-off, middle ground between what happened in Palm Springs (which is like nuclear fuel to our enemies) and kumbaya hand-holding. Let Peter Staley's message indeed be a call to those "leather-wearing East Village graphic artists" for tomorrow's protest. I can't wait.