Open Organizing Meeting on Jun 25 for Oct 11 LGBT March on Washington
Join The Impact – Twin Cities
“I’m tired of the silence from the White House.” –Harvey Milk
Thursday, June 25, 2009
7:00pm – 9:00pm
Grace-Trinity Community Church (Just off Hennepin)
1430 W 28th St
Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 6126448477
Email: jointheimpacttc@gmail.com
[facebook event page]
http://www.nationalequalitymarch.com/
Prominent activists in the LGBT community, including Cleve Jones (organizer with Harvey Milk, founder of the NAMES Project) have put out a call for a national march on Washington, D.C. on the weekend of October 10-11 (coinciding with National Coming Out Day). The demand of the march is simple: Full equality under the law for all LGBT people.
While President Obama made numerous promises on gay rights during his campaign, he has yet to act on most of them. Even worse, his administration has gone on the record with a legal brief supporting the Defense of Marriage Act in court, a shameful action which has resulted in a boycott of a high profile Democratic fundraiser this week. Following a groundswell of outrage, Obama granted some benefits to same-sex partners of gay federal employees on Wednesday. Conspicuously missing from those benefits, however, is health insurance! Even while Obama “throws a bone” to the LGBT community, his Department of Justice refuses to meet with lawyers attempting to overturn DOMA and has made no effort to repeal nor suspend “don’t ask, don’t tell”. Thus, in spite of a wide array of campaign promises, Obama’s LGBT equality agenda is best summed up here: http://www.obamasplanforgayrights.com/
We have waited long enough on the sidelines while passively begging for There is a growing feeling that LGBT rights are going to be pushed to the side unless we mobilize to demand full equality! We can’t wait for rights to be handed to us. Like every civil rights movement in the past, it’s our job to put pressure on the politicians to end all discriminatory laws. Organizers all over the country are beginning to mobilize their communities for the march. People are already reserving plane tickets and chartering buses. Let’s get started building in the Twin Cities, for what will hopefully be the largest day of action for gay rights in U.S. – and world – history!
Like the massive demonstrations organized by Join the Impact across the country on November 15th after Prop 8 passed in California, this will primarily be a grassroots effort. No gala events, no high profile celebrities, no fundraising dinners. Thus, the onus will be upon local groups to organize and carry out this event, ensure that each congressional district is represented, and facilitate a huge showing of numbers in Washington forces the White House to act! Come to a meeting to discuss how we can spread the word about the national demonstration at Gay Pride events June 28-29, and start brainstorming what we can do in the Twin Cities to mobilize.
