March for Peace and Non- Violence
You Are Invited!
December 2, 2009
Where: We will start on the lawn in front of the San Rafael Library (5th and E St.), march through downtown San Rafael, then gather at the Cold Stone Plaza.
When: 12:15pm (Meet at 5th and E St., San Rafael)
12:30pm (Gather at Cold Stone Plaza)
12:45pm (Send the Marchers to San Francisco)
On October 2, 2009, the World's first International March for Peace and Non-Violence began. Currently 25 marchers are traveling across six contents asking for the elimination of nuclear weapons and an end to war. As the march makes its way across the world many honorary marches are taking place.
On Wednesday, December 2, the World March for Peace and Non-Violence will be coming through the Bay Area. Marin Academy will have the honor of hosting three of the marchers, and in conjunction with their efforts, the Marin Academy Peace and Justice Coalition will be sponsoring its own march in support of Peace and Non-Violence. Our march will be led by the International Marchers and our honored special guest, Takashi Tanemori, a survivor of the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb. From the San Rafael Library, we will march through downtown San Rafael to the Cold Stone Plaza for a culminating event, sending the World Marchers off on their continued journey. For more information on the March, go to www.worldmarchusa.net.
We encourage you to join us and we will be honored if you can participate. The more voices for peace and non-violence in any form, the bigger the impact we will have.
Thank You So Much!
Marin Academy Peace and Justice Coalition
For more information contact Mark at mstefanski@ma.org.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
LGBT CENTERS RECEIVE INNOVATIVE GRANTS FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMS
The Johnson Family Foundation has announced that The Pacific Center for Human Growth in Berkeley, CA, and the Long Island GLBT Community Center in Bay Shore, NY have each been awarded a $150,000 grant over 3 years dedicated to increasing the variety and quality of mental health services provided by LGBT community centers and strengthening the overall organizational capacity of these institutions during a critical phase in their development.
CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers is proud to be a partner in this new mental health initiative and will be working with both centers to implement yearly organizational technical assistance plans through additional funding made available from the Foundation. “CenterLink is thrilled to be part of this truly innovative program and we look forward to working with each center as they become model programs in the delivery of mental health services for the LGBT community,” said Terry Stone, Executive Director.
The grants were awarded to support specific capacity building projects of already existing mental health programs, and are the first year of a three year project during which additional LGBT centers will be eligible to apply for funding in 2010 and 2011. CenterLink reports there are currently over 180 LGBT centers in 48 states in the U.S. which serve over 40,000 people weekly through a diverse range of programs and services.
“This grant will enable our organization to improve efficiency, reach more people and provide more services relevant to our local community’s needs today. Our daily goal is to help people live confidently throughout the course of their lives and this grant will directly support those who come to us for help,’’ said the Pacific Center for Human Growth’s Executive Director, Leslie Ewing.
“The goal to provide LGBT centers the capacity to move to next level in the delivery of such services seems to be now reachable,” explains David Kilmnick, the Long Island GLBT Center’s Executive Director. ‘‘The Center’s capacity to serve clients is expected to double... [and] at the end of the three year grant period, The Center will be positioned to take its next steps toward opening the first GLBT mental health clinic on Long Island.’’
CenterLink applauds the commitment of the Johnson Family Foundation and looks forward to working with them and the centers to build a stronger, healthier LGBT community through innovative, sustainable, and effective programming at LGBT centers everywhere.
###
Founded in 1994, CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers is the only national organization working to expand the organizational and advocacy capacity of LGBT community centers through direct technical assistance, leadership skills development and resource coordination. CenterLink believes LGBT centers represent the backbone of the LGBT movement, serving over 40,000 people weekly. For more information on CenterLink and its members, visit www.lgbtcenters.org.
The Johnson Family Foundation is a progressive family foundation. JFF operates national grantmaking programs in the areas of environmental health and LGBT issues, as well as place-based grantmaking programs in the State of Vermont; New York City and Long Island, NY; the City of Pittsburgh, PA; and the town of Telluride, CO. JFF made grants totaling approximately $3.6 million in 2008. Find out more by visiting www.jffnd.org.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Equality California Institute Receives $444,000 Grant from CA Department of Mental Health
Historic Grant to Assess and Improve Mental Health Services for
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) individuals
Los Angeles - The California LGBT Health and Human Services Network of Equality California Institute (EQCAI) has been awarded a two-year, $444,000 grant by the California Department of Mental Health. This historic grant will fund a first ever statewide assessment of the mental health needs of LGBT communities.
"The impact of discrimination on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people is immense, often leading to mental health issues like depression, substance abuse and even suicide," said Geoff Kors, Executive Director of EQCAI. "Never before has the state invested in research of this scope for the LGBT community. This is an important step toward ensuring equal access to culturally appropriate mental health services that can help the LGBT community overcome these challenges."
The study will collect statewide data on the harm caused by discrimination, examining such issues as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, substance abuse and suicide. It will identify the best ways to prevent and treat mental health issues in the LGBT community. The project will be guided by a statewide work group drawn from within the LGBT community, and it will work collaboratively within the multicultural and multilingual populations in California.
"This grant will literally change the face of mental health services in California and be a model for the rest of the nation," said Daniel Gould, EQCAI's Health and Human Services Network Coordinator. "The work we do will guide LGBT organizations, practitioners and policy makers in designing and implementing effective programs and policies that better address our community's mental health needs."
The California LGBT Health and Human Services Network is a coalition of organizations that directly serve the LGBT communities of California. These organizations deal with a myriad of issues including safe schools, teenage suicide prevention and elder housing. To learn more about EQCAI's Health and Human Services Network, please visit http://www.eqcai.org/health/about.
Equality California Institute educates lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and the public at large about issues impacting the LGBT community and our allies. Established in 2000, EQCAI organizes and empowers individuals, communities and allied groups to work proactively for fairness, equality and justice. EQCAI coordinates the LGBT Health and Human Services Network, a statewide health coalition. www.eqcai.org
http://www.eqca.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=kuLRJ9MRKrH&b=4869041&ct=7608481
Sunday, November 1, 2009
An Evening with Marc Adams
Present
An Evening with Marc Adams
Monday, November 23, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Congregation Sanctuary
547 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa
Founder of HeartStrong uncovers restorative therapy & faith-based anti-GLBT bullying at religious educational institutions.
Marc Adams, Lambda Literary Award finalist and Silver Pen Award recipient for his autobiography, The Preachers Son, will share his life’s story as well as discuss HeartStrong, Inc., the non-profit organization he co-founded more than a decade ago. HeartStrong has provided hope and help to GLBT students who have endured faith-based anti-GLBT bullying in religious schools around the world since 1996.
“It can be a very serious situation for a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person who finds themselves in one of these schools,” Adams warns. “Parents enroll their kids in these schools without even considering what might happen. Sometimes they enroll their kids in these schools because of their homosexuality.”
“This is a great opportunity to hear firsthand what it is li8ke to grow up gay in such a destructive environment,” Adams says. “As serious as the subject matter is, most people who attend these forums laugh, cry and laugh again as I share about how I found freedom and how HeartStrong has helped so many others on their own journeys to self acceptance.”
We hope you will be able to join us for this very special evening with Marc.
The educational forum schedule is located on the websites below:
http://www.meetmarcadams.com
http://www.exgay.com
http://www.heartstrong.org
An Evening with Marc Adams
Monday, November 23, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Congregation Sanctuary
547 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa
Founder of HeartStrong uncovers restorative therapy & faith-based anti-GLBT bullying at religious educational institutions.
Marc Adams, Lambda Literary Award finalist and Silver Pen Award recipient for his autobiography, The Preachers Son, will share his life’s story as well as discuss HeartStrong, Inc., the non-profit organization he co-founded more than a decade ago. HeartStrong has provided hope and help to GLBT students who have endured faith-based anti-GLBT bullying in religious schools around the world since 1996.
“It can be a very serious situation for a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person who finds themselves in one of these schools,” Adams warns. “Parents enroll their kids in these schools without even considering what might happen. Sometimes they enroll their kids in these schools because of their homosexuality.”
“This is a great opportunity to hear firsthand what it is li8ke to grow up gay in such a destructive environment,” Adams says. “As serious as the subject matter is, most people who attend these forums laugh, cry and laugh again as I share about how I found freedom and how HeartStrong has helped so many others on their own journeys to self acceptance.”
We hope you will be able to join us for this very special evening with Marc.
The educational forum schedule is located on the websites below:
http://www.meetmarcadams.com
http://www.exgay.com
http://www.heartstrong.org
Friday, October 30, 2009
Feature: Out of the 'Ash'
Despite improved acceptance, not all gay young adults are ready for the ball just yet...
by Ronnie Cohen
The fantasy world of Fairfax author Malinda Lo's recently published novel, Ash, unfolds long ago, in a time of kings, witches and fairies. But the tale's nonchalant acceptance of homosexual love propels the lesbian retelling of Cinderella into the future.
The turnout at an event earlier this month in the Fairfax Library illustrates just how far off a world free of homophobia, like the one in Ash, might be. Although a Fairfax librarian contacted leaders of gay-pride clubs at local high schools, only one student showed up to hear Lo speak about the book she wrote for young adults.
Two teachers who lead Redwood High School's Pride Plus Club did attend the library reading. They say some of the club's 10 or so members might have shied away from the event for fear it would lead to their parents learning about their homosexuality.
Since they attended high school, the teachers say, the climate for gay and lesbian teens has improved markedly. Kate Lorch, who teaches English at Redwood, graduated from high school in 1994. "I was so relieved and happy to find these high school students were so much more accepting and open as the culture had evolved," she says.
Still, Lorch and Greg Stevens, a Spanish teacher and co-leader of Redwood's Pride Plus, say students hesitate to announce to their families and their communities that they're gay. When they do, their parents sometimes counsel them against making public pronouncements about their sexual preferences for fear of persecution. That fear can translate into being unable to come out and hear a lesbian author talk about her work.
Casey Halcro runs youth groups for gays and lesbians through Spectrum LGBT Center in Novato. "Still, in 2009, the kids don't feel like it's really all that safe, even in Marin County, to be open and honest about their sexuality," she says. "It's been 11 years since Matthew Shepard was shot and left to die in Laramie, Wyoming. But it's only been two years since Lawrence King, a 15-year-old boy, was shot point-blank because kids thought he dressed too femininely here in California."
A 14-year-old boy allegedly killed Lawrence King in an Oxnard classroom in February 2008, a few weeks after he stated publicly he was gay. In contrast, women who love women face no threat of persecution in the world Lo creates for her well-received first book. When the main character, Ash, chooses a huntress over a prince, she does not grapple with a label or the need to come out as a lesbian.
"In Ash's world, there are no lesbians, technically," Lo says. "The fairytale is that she can fall in love with whoever she wants. There's no homophobia in this fantasy world. No one blinks an eye. So it's not a coming-out story. The fairytale is really about her falling in love, and it doesn't matter who it's with."
• • • •
ABOUT A YEAR ago, Lo, 35, moved within walking distance of the Fairfax Library to live with her partner, Amy Lovell, and their black lab mix, Spy Girl. On a recent sunny afternoon, Lo took a break from work on her second book, a young adult quest novel, to talk about how she came to be a writer, marriage, being what she calls "queer" and Ash.
Sitting at her kitchen table with Spy Girl at her side, Lo, who was born in China and moved to the U.S. when she was 3, wears jeans, a T-shirt and sneakers. Her shiny black hair falls straight to her chin. In the first draft Lo wrote of Ash about eight years ago, the main character, a young girl, falls in love with a fairy godfather. After reading the draft, one of Lo's friends suggested that Ash had more chemistry with the huntress than the male fairy.
"It was a surprise to me," Lo says, still sounding surprised. "I hadn't intended to write this same-sex romance. I was worried that it would sound gimmicky to write a lesbian Cinderella. But it seemed clear that that's what I wanted to do—subconsciously, at least."
In Ash, there is no glass slipper, the prince has money and power but not necessarily charm, and he does not roam the countryside searching for a beauty with one shoe. Like Cinderella, though, Ash's parents die and leave her to serve an evil stepmother and two stepsisters. Also like Cinderella, because Lo loves parties, Ash attends balls.
In Ash, men tend to marry women, and humans tend to favor humans. But the spectrum of normal sexuality widens so that it's also normal when the fairy godfather falls for Ash and when Ash falls for the huntress.
Lo says she always loved to write, but after graduating from Wellesley College with a degree in economics and Chinese studies, she tried unsuccessfully to become a banker and then went to graduate school, first at Harvard for East Asian studies and then at Stanford, studying Hollywood as a cultural anthropologist.
Unhappy as an academic, Lo quit her Stanford doctorate program and went to work first as a writer and then as an editor at www.afterellen.com , a Web site for lesbians and bisexual women in entertainment.
From www.afterellen.com, Lo learned that lesbian women were tired of being marginalized or killed off in mass media. "It was very clear to me that these women want stories where the lesbians have a happy ending," she says.
• • • •
ASH INCORPORATES DETAILS about rituals and customs Lo studied in graduate school. And, like all good fairytales, it has a happy ending.
As an anthropologist, Lo examined marriage. Over the summer, she says, she and Lovell wed, though the state does not legally recognize their marriage. The couple missed the slim window of opportunity—from June through November 2008, before voters passed the gay-marriage ban—for same-sex couples to wed legally in California.
Lo and Lovell had only known each other for about a year when they had the chance to legally marry. They contemplated rushing their wedding last year but decided against it. "It would have felt a little like a shotgun wedding," Lo says. "It didn't seem right to push it.
"I would love to get married legally. It's too bad. Hopefully things are going to change."
Things have changed more than Lo ever imagined when she was in college and first found herself attracted to women. In the 1990s, for example, she says she never could have imagined talk of same-sex marriage.
"Marriage is really important," she says. "As an anthropologist, I've spent so much time studying marriage, family and kinship, and to have gay people enter that institution is a major step. I'm waiting to do it. I'd love to do it."
For more information on Spectrum LGBT Center's youth groups, go to spectrumlgbtcenter.org.
This story was published in the Pacific Sun on 10/23/09
by Ronnie Cohen
The fantasy world of Fairfax author Malinda Lo's recently published novel, Ash, unfolds long ago, in a time of kings, witches and fairies. But the tale's nonchalant acceptance of homosexual love propels the lesbian retelling of Cinderella into the future.
The turnout at an event earlier this month in the Fairfax Library illustrates just how far off a world free of homophobia, like the one in Ash, might be. Although a Fairfax librarian contacted leaders of gay-pride clubs at local high schools, only one student showed up to hear Lo speak about the book she wrote for young adults.
Two teachers who lead Redwood High School's Pride Plus Club did attend the library reading. They say some of the club's 10 or so members might have shied away from the event for fear it would lead to their parents learning about their homosexuality.
Since they attended high school, the teachers say, the climate for gay and lesbian teens has improved markedly. Kate Lorch, who teaches English at Redwood, graduated from high school in 1994. "I was so relieved and happy to find these high school students were so much more accepting and open as the culture had evolved," she says.
Still, Lorch and Greg Stevens, a Spanish teacher and co-leader of Redwood's Pride Plus, say students hesitate to announce to their families and their communities that they're gay. When they do, their parents sometimes counsel them against making public pronouncements about their sexual preferences for fear of persecution. That fear can translate into being unable to come out and hear a lesbian author talk about her work.
Casey Halcro runs youth groups for gays and lesbians through Spectrum LGBT Center in Novato. "Still, in 2009, the kids don't feel like it's really all that safe, even in Marin County, to be open and honest about their sexuality," she says. "It's been 11 years since Matthew Shepard was shot and left to die in Laramie, Wyoming. But it's only been two years since Lawrence King, a 15-year-old boy, was shot point-blank because kids thought he dressed too femininely here in California."
A 14-year-old boy allegedly killed Lawrence King in an Oxnard classroom in February 2008, a few weeks after he stated publicly he was gay. In contrast, women who love women face no threat of persecution in the world Lo creates for her well-received first book. When the main character, Ash, chooses a huntress over a prince, she does not grapple with a label or the need to come out as a lesbian.
"In Ash's world, there are no lesbians, technically," Lo says. "The fairytale is that she can fall in love with whoever she wants. There's no homophobia in this fantasy world. No one blinks an eye. So it's not a coming-out story. The fairytale is really about her falling in love, and it doesn't matter who it's with."
• • • •
ABOUT A YEAR ago, Lo, 35, moved within walking distance of the Fairfax Library to live with her partner, Amy Lovell, and their black lab mix, Spy Girl. On a recent sunny afternoon, Lo took a break from work on her second book, a young adult quest novel, to talk about how she came to be a writer, marriage, being what she calls "queer" and Ash.
Sitting at her kitchen table with Spy Girl at her side, Lo, who was born in China and moved to the U.S. when she was 3, wears jeans, a T-shirt and sneakers. Her shiny black hair falls straight to her chin. In the first draft Lo wrote of Ash about eight years ago, the main character, a young girl, falls in love with a fairy godfather. After reading the draft, one of Lo's friends suggested that Ash had more chemistry with the huntress than the male fairy.
"It was a surprise to me," Lo says, still sounding surprised. "I hadn't intended to write this same-sex romance. I was worried that it would sound gimmicky to write a lesbian Cinderella. But it seemed clear that that's what I wanted to do—subconsciously, at least."
In Ash, there is no glass slipper, the prince has money and power but not necessarily charm, and he does not roam the countryside searching for a beauty with one shoe. Like Cinderella, though, Ash's parents die and leave her to serve an evil stepmother and two stepsisters. Also like Cinderella, because Lo loves parties, Ash attends balls.
In Ash, men tend to marry women, and humans tend to favor humans. But the spectrum of normal sexuality widens so that it's also normal when the fairy godfather falls for Ash and when Ash falls for the huntress.
Lo says she always loved to write, but after graduating from Wellesley College with a degree in economics and Chinese studies, she tried unsuccessfully to become a banker and then went to graduate school, first at Harvard for East Asian studies and then at Stanford, studying Hollywood as a cultural anthropologist.
Unhappy as an academic, Lo quit her Stanford doctorate program and went to work first as a writer and then as an editor at www.afterellen.com , a Web site for lesbians and bisexual women in entertainment.
From www.afterellen.com, Lo learned that lesbian women were tired of being marginalized or killed off in mass media. "It was very clear to me that these women want stories where the lesbians have a happy ending," she says.
• • • •
ASH INCORPORATES DETAILS about rituals and customs Lo studied in graduate school. And, like all good fairytales, it has a happy ending.
As an anthropologist, Lo examined marriage. Over the summer, she says, she and Lovell wed, though the state does not legally recognize their marriage. The couple missed the slim window of opportunity—from June through November 2008, before voters passed the gay-marriage ban—for same-sex couples to wed legally in California.
Lo and Lovell had only known each other for about a year when they had the chance to legally marry. They contemplated rushing their wedding last year but decided against it. "It would have felt a little like a shotgun wedding," Lo says. "It didn't seem right to push it.
"I would love to get married legally. It's too bad. Hopefully things are going to change."
Things have changed more than Lo ever imagined when she was in college and first found herself attracted to women. In the 1990s, for example, she says she never could have imagined talk of same-sex marriage.
"Marriage is really important," she says. "As an anthropologist, I've spent so much time studying marriage, family and kinship, and to have gay people enter that institution is a major step. I'm waiting to do it. I'd love to do it."
For more information on Spectrum LGBT Center's youth groups, go to spectrumlgbtcenter.org.
This story was published in the Pacific Sun on 10/23/09
Friday, October 23, 2009
Hate Crimes Bill Passes
Historic First Federal Protections of Transgender People
(October 22, 2009, Washington, DC) In an historic move, the United States Senate, by a vote of 68 to 29, joined the House of Representatives in passing The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which will be the first federal law to include gender identity and transgender people. Once signed by the President, this law will add sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability to the categories included in existing federal hate crimes law and will allow local governments who are unable or unwilling to address hate crimes to receive assistance from the federal government. President Obama has indicated that he will sign the bill into law.
"Transgender people have been waiting so many years for assistance from the federal government in addressing the rampant and disproportional violence that we face," noted Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. "Today we move one step closer to our goal of ending violence motivated by hatred. Everyone in America deserves to live free of fear and of violence. We know that the dedicated leadership and hard work of Senator Kennedy and Representative Conyers and many other legislators made the passage of this bill possible. Words can't really express our gratitude for their commitment to equality for all people."
In the past, federal law has only mentioned gender identity in a negative context, such as explicitly excluding transgender people from the Americans with Disabilities Act. The passage of the hate crimes bill marks a significant turning point from the days in which the federal government contributed to the oppression of transgender people to today when federal law takes action to protect our lives.
The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act will have a number of positive impacts. First, it will help educate law enforcement about the frequent hate violence against transgender people and the need to prevent and appropriately address it. Second, it will help provide federal expertise and resources when it is needed to overcome a lack of resources or the willful inaction on the part of local and/or state law enforcement. Third, it will help educate the public that violence against anyone is unacceptable and illegal.
Transgender people continue to be disproportionately targeted for bias motivated violence. Thirteen states and Washington, DC have laws which include transgender people in state hate crimes laws.
About NCTE
The National Center for Transgender Equality is a national social justice organization devoted to ending discrimination and violence against transgender people through education and advocacy on national issues of importance to transgender people. By empowering transgender people and our allies to educate and influence policymakers and others, NCTE facilitates a strong and clear voice for transgender equality in our nation's capital and around the country. The National Center for Transgender Equality is a 501(c)3 organization.
(October 22, 2009, Washington, DC) In an historic move, the United States Senate, by a vote of 68 to 29, joined the House of Representatives in passing The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which will be the first federal law to include gender identity and transgender people. Once signed by the President, this law will add sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability to the categories included in existing federal hate crimes law and will allow local governments who are unable or unwilling to address hate crimes to receive assistance from the federal government. President Obama has indicated that he will sign the bill into law.
"Transgender people have been waiting so many years for assistance from the federal government in addressing the rampant and disproportional violence that we face," noted Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. "Today we move one step closer to our goal of ending violence motivated by hatred. Everyone in America deserves to live free of fear and of violence. We know that the dedicated leadership and hard work of Senator Kennedy and Representative Conyers and many other legislators made the passage of this bill possible. Words can't really express our gratitude for their commitment to equality for all people."
In the past, federal law has only mentioned gender identity in a negative context, such as explicitly excluding transgender people from the Americans with Disabilities Act. The passage of the hate crimes bill marks a significant turning point from the days in which the federal government contributed to the oppression of transgender people to today when federal law takes action to protect our lives.
The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act will have a number of positive impacts. First, it will help educate law enforcement about the frequent hate violence against transgender people and the need to prevent and appropriately address it. Second, it will help provide federal expertise and resources when it is needed to overcome a lack of resources or the willful inaction on the part of local and/or state law enforcement. Third, it will help educate the public that violence against anyone is unacceptable and illegal.
Transgender people continue to be disproportionately targeted for bias motivated violence. Thirteen states and Washington, DC have laws which include transgender people in state hate crimes laws.
About NCTE
The National Center for Transgender Equality is a national social justice organization devoted to ending discrimination and violence against transgender people through education and advocacy on national issues of importance to transgender people. By empowering transgender people and our allies to educate and influence policymakers and others, NCTE facilitates a strong and clear voice for transgender equality in our nation's capital and around the country. The National Center for Transgender Equality is a 501(c)3 organization.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Defend Marriage Equality in Maine!
The results of the most recent poll on Maine’s Proposition 1 battle were released: 51.8 percent of people who plan to vote in November say they will likely vote no on Prop 1, to protect LGBT couples’ freedom to marry. It also shows that 42.9 percent plan to vote against marriage equality. Five percent remain undecided.
While the numbers are encouraging, we know that this will be a tight, razor-thin election. The numbers are too close, and there is just too much at risk for us to be complacent. We’ve seen in our battle against California’s Proposition 8 how opponents of marriage equality pull their most desperate tricks in the final hours. And we know that they’re using the very same campaign of lies in Maine. In fact, they’re even using the same TV ads!
We can’t let them win. We can’t let them continue to deny us the precious right to marry who we love. That’s why we need to continue to work every day to secure every vote we can until November.
Please sign up for a virtual phone bank. All you need is a phone, a couple of hours, and a computer to secure critical votes for marriage equality. Every phone call counts!
No on 1/Protect Maine Equality also needs to have all the resources it needs in the final days to November 3. Please donate now! Every contribution is vital.
Please forward this to everyone you know who supports equality. Let them know that we must act now to make sure that we win this important battle for marriage and for our families.
Most importantly, if you live in Maine, get out and vote no on Prop 1. Send in your absentee ballot or vote in person on November 3. Your vote is a vote for equality.
In Solidarity,
Kate Kendell, Esq.
Executive Director
National Center for Lesbian Rights
While the numbers are encouraging, we know that this will be a tight, razor-thin election. The numbers are too close, and there is just too much at risk for us to be complacent. We’ve seen in our battle against California’s Proposition 8 how opponents of marriage equality pull their most desperate tricks in the final hours. And we know that they’re using the very same campaign of lies in Maine. In fact, they’re even using the same TV ads!
We can’t let them win. We can’t let them continue to deny us the precious right to marry who we love. That’s why we need to continue to work every day to secure every vote we can until November.
Please sign up for a virtual phone bank. All you need is a phone, a couple of hours, and a computer to secure critical votes for marriage equality. Every phone call counts!
No on 1/Protect Maine Equality also needs to have all the resources it needs in the final days to November 3. Please donate now! Every contribution is vital.
Please forward this to everyone you know who supports equality. Let them know that we must act now to make sure that we win this important battle for marriage and for our families.
Most importantly, if you live in Maine, get out and vote no on Prop 1. Send in your absentee ballot or vote in person on November 3. Your vote is a vote for equality.
In Solidarity,
Kate Kendell, Esq.
Executive Director
National Center for Lesbian Rights
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