Monday, October 20, 2008

8 Against 8

Today I'm proud to announce my participation in 8 Against 8. What is 8 Against 8, you ask? Well, we're cool like the Jackson 5, but way more ethical than the Keating Five. In short, we're eight lesbian blogs that have banded together to fight California's Proposition 8. As I've written about before, Prop. 8 would permanently amend the state's constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. This would effectively re-ban gay marriage and overturn the state supreme court's ruling legalizing the unions. In short, it would be terrible.

So who are the 8 Against 8?

Grace Chu from Grace the Spot has spearheaded 8 Against 8 to harness all our awesome homo powers for good. So what are we trying to do? Raise $8,000 in eight days. And that is where you come in. If you can, please go to the 8 Against 8 website and donate to Equality California. All of the money raised will go directly to Equality California's No on Prop. 8 Campaign.

I know times are tough for everyone. Hell, I've made a pledge not to look at my financial statements unless drunk. But any amount you can afford would help tremendously. As of last week, Equality California said it was $10 million behind the “Yes on 8” fundraising. That's seven zeros, folks. Much of the “Yes” campaign's money has come from out of state and been driven by the Mormon Church. We can do better. To sweeten the deal, donors/businesses who give more than $100 will get free advertising on some of the sites as well as a slew of other prizes at various donation levels – check them out here). All donors will get all of my, and the other bloggers', eternal thanks – not to mention the thanks of every gay and gay-friendly person in California.

Gay marriage has been legal here in sunny California since June. And, as far as I can tell, the very fabric of our existence has not been torn asunder. Heterosexual couples have not seen the foundations of their marriages crumble into dust. Churches have not burst into flames in the fiery clutches of Beelzebub. Nothing remotely close. Pretty much, nothing has happened except that a bunch of happy, loving, grateful gay folks got to exchange rings and feed each other cake.

So, from today until Oct. 27, please give a little or a lot. If you can't afford to contribute give please by spreading the word. Use the logo, link 8 Against 8 (www.8against8.com), tell your friends, family, neighbors. Politics is personal, and not much is more personal than being able to marry who you love. I wish the rabid “Yes on 8,” “Protect Marriage” crowd would really look at what they are so against. Because if this scares you or inspires your hatred, I think it says a lot more about you than it does the people who just vowed to love each other until death do them part.

[Wedding via Foomatic. Music via Vienna Teng]

Donate to 8 Against 8. Vote no on Prop. 8. Protect love.

UPDATE I: Many, many, many thanks to all who have already donated and linked. The button for 8 Against 8 will stay on the right-hand corner of Surrenders until the campaign ends Oct. 27 with daily updates on our progress toward our $8,000 goal. You all should be exceedingly proud that in the first 24-hours we raised $2,789. As Keanu would say, whoa. Let's keep it going, ladies and discerning gentlemen. No, money can't buy you love. But maybe if we all band together it can buy us a little equality. UPDATE II: Please don't forget our friends in Arizona and Florida who are fighting their own wretched anti-gay marriage amendments, as well as Connecticut where sneaky Question 1 could spell trouble. No on Prop. 2, Floridians, No on Prop. 102, Arizonans, and No on Question 1, Connecticuters!

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

hell, I've lost so much money in the last weeks, it was good to give some for an important cause!
(why is the participant credited on my form grace chu and not you, ms. snarker...?)

very nice video, I hope I'll be as happy someday when I can finally marry my girlfriend of more than 7 years...!

;)) babs

Anonymous said...

3:59am - the EQCA donor page i set up only seems to credit the person who set it up, i.e. me. i don't know a way around this right now, but i'd like to change it to reflect the group effort. (but i don't know if it will allow me to do it.) in the meantime, if you want to let snarker know you donated through her i would suggest saying so in the comments or shooting her an e-mail.

- grace chu

Natazzz said...

Great initiative!

From this side of the Atlantic it all seems very strange, not to mention totally ridiculous that people get to vote on who gets to marry and who doesn't.

I've linked...I've blogged...I've donated.

Let's hope you manage to raise a lot more than 8,000. Although, of course, every little bit helps...

Anonymous said...

no biggie, grace, I was just wondering...!

;)) babs

Reuven said...

Fellow Christians!

BEWARE OF MORMONS BEARING GIFTS! Vote *NO* on 8!

This is an attempt from the Mormon "Church" to gain credibility among evangelicals. Don't be fooled. A simple google search on mormon evangelical relations will reveal a lot about their plan.

You'd tell your kids "Don't accept candy from strangers." Set a good example by not doing it yourself.

(See the War on Savings)

linster said...

Awesome. Even I, unemployed Texan, will find some money to send.

Anonymous said...

Thank you thank you thank you Dorothy.

In a veritable festival of appallingness, one of the most appalling things to me is that more LGBT people haven't stepped up. At last count, the "Yes" side had 60,000 individual donors to our 30,000.

I'm going to say it: that is shameful.

Folks might have seen the early polling (pre- Yes on 8 TV ad carpet-bombing), and become complacent. And they don't know that WE ARE LOSING RIGHT NOW, but by a margin we can close.

Or they might have thought someone else would step up.

Tons of people are giving up so much -- time with family, lost income for the volunteer hours, and money money money. For a reason: this is the civil rights moment for our people, THE moment.

If most everyone does nothing, we'll lose for sure. And if most everyone does something -- HELL, ANYTHING, even a donation equivalent to your weekly latté budget! -- we will for sure win. It's that simple.

Thank you, sister, for spreading the word and rousing the troops.

DONATE! VOTE! AND SPREAD THE WORD!

Anonymous said...

This is wonderful. Thank you so much. I've been donating, writing, phone-banking, and signing up others to help, and I won't stop until the election....any maybe not even then.

Unknown said...

I'm so thrilled that this has come together (and with some of my favorite bloggers no less). As a lesbian living in Arizona we're fighting our own battle right now - and the financial difference between our side and their side is even greater here.

A few friends and I have just launched our own little campaign to hopefully build a little hope and visibility in our local community - people here are feeling hopeless and we really need to show that there are people, both locally and across the country, who support this fight.

If you would be willing to check out our blog and perhaps mention us in a future post I would be eternally grateful.

http://noon102.blogsome.com

Anonymous said...

I have been to 4 wonderful marriage ceramonies since june. I have donated and will tell others...Thank You

jennifer from pittsburgh said...

Thanks for the heads up on this fund raiser. I gave because this is an important right that gays have to claim as their own. Plus, I got Caty to agree to marry me!

Anonymous said...

I still don't understand why this is going to a vote. Shouldn't the Supreme Court's decision be final? Isn't that the point of having a supreme court?

I don't know what's more ridiculous: the fact that the yes folks have gotten so much more in donations or the fact that there's even a vote.

Anonymous said...

hey, it's a ballot initiative for a constitutional amendment.

state constitutional amendments are untouchable by the state supreme court. (i think they can be invalidated by the u.s. supreme court - but don't quote me on that - i learned this so very long ago and i don't feel like looking it up on westlaw.) but even so, the u.s. supreme court won't touch this at this time, even if it were covered in several layers of latex. to the u.s. supreme court, it has cooties.

grace chu
gracethespot.com

Anonymous said...

Wait. The Mormons are funding the "yes" vote? Since when did a sect founded on polygamy come to defend "taditional" marriage? Homophobia makes for strange bed-fellows.

IndigoSunMoon said...

This just infuriates me. People are so closed minded, and how they can think that gay marriage would somehow diminish or "ruin" the sanctity of heterosexual marriage is beyond me.
I live in Alabama, and I know that this bible belt state will never ever agree to it, but it does give me hope that someday the supreme court will allow it.
This drives me crazy!
Ugh!
Connie

Tiffani Ellis said...

I have am acquaintance who is engaged, but wants his fiancee to continue to sleep with women while he watches. Meanwhile, a gay couple down the street has been together for 20 years, but in Texas, is not allowed to be married.

Which one of these couples is destroying the sanctity of marriage?

I'm a Texan, but I hope you Californians vote this amendment down!!! I'm going to see what I can give, and watch you guys set an example for the rest of the nation! Good Luck!

Lezlie Mac said...

I can't get married because of my living in France, one of the most reluctant countries in Europe when it comes to gay marriage. That doesn't mean I don't want Californians to be able to :)

Comment : check
Blog: check
Donate: check

Keep it up !

Dian Reid said...

I’m pretty excited about the prospect of Prop 8 being rejected, and I’m sure it’s not possible without the efforts of people (and bloggers such as yourselves) reminding everyone that this is not a done deal, and that there are a lot of people out there who a) live in a tunnel and don’t see the rest of the world outside themselves, b) assume that everyone else will vote, so they don’t have to, or c) are simply clueless because they avoid politics like the plague.

Thank you so much for the time energy (what POSITIVE energy!!) you all have put towards your brilliant campaign. I love that groups of people become large groups of people and as long as we use them positively, our voices can and will be heard and acted upon.

You and all your readers rock.

Anonymous said...

I donated. I wish I could actually vote on it, too.

Anonymous said...

Great idea! Best wishes from lesbian activists from Germany!

Congratulations, what a wonderful idea!
Networking publicly makes us perfectly wonderful visible!
We European lesbians will hopefully come to learn about such cooperation.

Information about the campaign is provided both on my blog L-talk, and on my partner's, Konny's, site lesben.org, Germany's most popular lesbian portal in order to spread information as far as possible.

All over the world the "NO ON 8" activism is being recognized by a lot of people, particularly by those who share your aims whole-heartedly. We, too, welcome your work directed towards lesbian political empowerment and more peaceful visibility for lesbians in our everyday lives.
We hope you will win the voting!

If there's anything you'd wish us to do to support 8against8, please let us know.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for clearing that up for me Grace.

Fraulein Yu said...

Also NO on Adoption Ban Arkansas!!

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