The Effects of Camp Courage

The effects of Camp Courage are still being felt four days after the event. Many of the attendees are still talking about how great it was, and many others wishing that they had been able to attend. (By the way, there will be more. Fresno is confirmed for February 28/March 1st Stay tuned!)

According to the organization, 221 participants showed up to the inaugural event. It's exciting to hear them say that they're building "a grassroots army." You can see more footage, pictures, media coverage and more of Cleve Jones here.

I have heard a lot of criticism pointed at the grassroots organizations since the passing of Proposition 8 for being divisive, unable to cooperate with established leaders (or even amongst themselves, for that matter), and being completely unruly and unwilling to work with others, especially said leaders, and build much needed coalitions.

Having attended the Equality Summit, I could easily see where these criticisms came from. The Summit was full of tension, filled with irate people angry with the leadership of the failed No on 8 campaign. The grassroots doesn't trust the leaders of the No on 8 campaign, leaders who have been around probably a bit too long (being out of touch with those they represent is not an unusual circumstance leaders find themselves in when they've worn out their welcome), and that couldn't have been more evident at the event. (Though I do commend Geoff Kors for attending Camp Courage the following day.)

I myself have been irate but not with just the leaders. I have also been impatient with the grassroots for not getting it together by now, for not doing more direct action and doing the hard work of forging more powerful coalitions, which demands putting aside egos, something many of us have a hard time doing - to a fault.

However, the day following the Summit, at Camp Courage, it was remarkable, even amazing, how different the feel and tone was from so many of the same people that attended the Summit. It was palpable. The positivity electric. Many of times I have grown so discouraged with ourselves I wanted to quit, but everyone changed my perspective that day. It showed we can work together. It showed we can put aside our egos. It showed that we are able to get things done and act. But more importantly, it showed we have exactly what we need to win all of our rights.

It was exactly the remedy we needed.

I just hope we keep taking our medicine.

Marriage Equality USA's Equality Summit Presentation

Many people, both those who attended the Equality Summit and those who didn't, have asked to see the roof-raising report that Molly McKay and Pamela Brown of Marriage Equality USA presented at the meeting, which was greeted with a standing ovation.

Thanks to Pamela Brown, I now have a copy for you to view. I wish I could equally portray the fervor and passion that Pamela and Molly gave to the presentation, but if you get a chance to see them speak again, I'd advise you not to miss it.

NOTE: Appears the host for the document is having issues. It does lead you to a download link. You can find the presentation there.

UPDATE: A Unite the Fight Report on the EQCA Summit

UPDATE: An article from the San Francisco Gate on the Summit.

Equality California's Equality Summit was defined as "a gathering of community leaders committed to winning back marriage equality in California to network, share information and resources, and plan next steps" on the organization's page, and though EQCA obviously spent a lot of time tailoring an agenda to meet this definition, the many grassroots organizations that attended had other agendas in mind. One in particular: holding the leaders accountable for the failure of the No on 8 campaign.

After a peaceful invocation by Rabbi Denise Eger and Rev. Jonipher Kwong, the latter cracking the smart joke that he didn't need to define invocation after what happened with Rick Warren, the light mood quietly turned sour as the staff and Executive Committee of the failed campaign took the stage. (Panel: Chad Griffin of Griffin-Schake; Yvette Martinez, political director; Sarah Reece of the TASK Force; Kate Kendall, Executive Director National Center for Lesbian Rights; Geoff Kors, Executive Director Equality California; Lorri L. Jean, CEO of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center; Chris Maliwat, the campaign's web strategy director who came late in the game - others listed were Julie Davis, Delores Jacobs and Marty Rouse who were not on the stage.)

After perfunctory summaries told by rote from the panel about what happened and what "might've" gone wrong, nothing that hadn't been heard before, a half hour had gone by and attendees were getting fed up and the tension was palpable. One note to mention was Chris Maliwat, who began his portion by saying he didn't begin his job until five weeks before the election and he was just a volunteer. Of course, this illicited shouted responses from the attendees as to why the committee had waited so long to put together the essential web campaign. It's no secret that the No on 8 website was a disastrous failure.

Lorri Jean responded that the campaign had essentially begun in 2005, and after the initial launch and death of the original site, by the time they really needed to relaunch, the money had dried up. They also said they used Black Rock, who they weren't happy with.

The room really began to sizzle when Marriage Equality USA's Molly McKay and Pamela Brown took the stage, issuing an in-depth report with a power point presentation on the mistakes of the campaign, citing information that their organization knew before the election and that had been ignored by the campaign's executive committee, and what needed to be done next. (The reports can be found on the organization's home page) They really drove it home and received a standing ovation afterward.

More...

Many at this point wanted to hold the Q&A, interrupting the moderator with their demands, but David Binder of David Binder Research, presented his statistics on Proposition 8 Post-Election California Survey, an in-depth report that EQCA said will be posted on their site soon.

So when a Q&A finally came up, it was pretty brutal. The event planners collected the questions on 3x5 cards and "organized them by topic." This section was moderated by Karen Ocamb, news editor of IN Los Angeles Magazine. Though she tried to begin by having each panelist member answer what went right and wrong with the campaign, and how to heal the rift between leaders and grassroots, the attendees became extremely vocal in overruling her, pressing for their questions to be answered.

With neutral questions handpicked from the submitted cards being asked (such as comparing stats on those who voted for Obama and those who voted "No"), the attendees started speaking up, asking follow-up questions and not heeding the moderator. At one point, one of the event organizers grabbed a mike and said, "These people worked long and hard on the campaign. They did the best they could!" She got a standing ovation from another part of the crowd, but many people stayed seated.

Robin Tyler, activist and one-half of one of the couples who fought in the courts for the right to marry, even had to stand up at one point and said, "Hey, we're all on the same side. We have to work together now." Lori Jean later in the session grabbed the mike said, "Hey, there were other people involved in the campaign as well. It wasn't just us!" (She was referring to Geoff Kors) She went on to mention that they had at least showed up to talk about the campaign.

Karen, the moderator, did push for answers on using gay consultants for the campaign, and not handing it off to straight, professional political consultants who didn't understand the LGBT lifestyle. Lori Jean fumbled a bit, trying to find words to answer this question, agreeing that it was a mistake to hand everything over to the consultants and trusting them for the results. She added, "There were no LGBT consultants available." Someone cracked that they didn't even know they exist, and Karen quickly mentioned David Mixner. They didn't have a response. Geoff Korrs echoed Lori Jean, saying instead of the consultants, "It should've been us because it's about our lives." He says he lies awake at night thinking about it.

Another mistake was admitted by Yvette Martinez when she said that the campaign headquarters should've been in Los Angeles. This was met with applause.

It was a feat barely accomplished by the moderators to move on. Assemblymember Tom Ammiano spoke quickly but with great humor, quipping, "Thank you for not throwing a high heel at the panel."

He was followed by Eva Paterson of the Equal Justice Society. Equally funny (she admitted to being extremely nervous about the tough crowd) but full of great insight, she talked about what it was like to be straight and black after the election. With the immediate exit polls saying that 70% of the African American community voted for Prop 8 (which was later disputed to be around 58%), she said she would get hateful glances from gays and "felt for a nanosecond what it was like to be a progressive white" after a discriminatory initiative passed against African Americans. "That quickly passed," she joked.

Her speech focused on trying to reveal why African Americans, especially church going members, voted the way they did. Reminding the crowd that a perversion of Christianity was once used to legitimize slavery, people still actually believe that gay people are going to hell, and after hearing time after time from the pulpit that gays are abominations, it's not hard to understand why they voted the way they did.

Eva opened her speech by repeating what Rev. Kwong did during his invocation - holding a minute of meditative silence to bring back the peace and calm to the group in order to focus on unity.

Unfortunately, it didn't last. Half the attendees disappeared at the lunch break.

REMINDER: Equality California's Equality Summit

REMINDER: You MUST register TODAY to be able to attend the Equality Summit. See post below for details.

Equality California will be hosting an Equality Summit on January 24th, 2009 at the West Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center (for more information such as maps and times, go to the calendar at the bottom of the blog).

Described as "a gathering of community leaders committed to winning back marriage equality in California to network, share information and resources, and plan next steps," the summit is quickly filling up in space capacity.

There has been confusion surrounding how to sign up for the event - A SIMPLE RSVP EMAIL IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO ATTEND. You must register for the event here. The deadline for registration no later than Tuesday, January 20th.

For an FAQ page regarding the event, go here.