VIDEO: Maine High School Student Organizes Marriage Equality Rally

Antonia Carroll, a 16-year-old high school junior, organized a marriage equality rally in Bangor, Maine that took place Sunday.

“What is the difference between a man and a woman getting married and two men or two women getting married?” she asked the crowd of about 60 attendees. “It’s that Y chromosome or lack thereof in one of the partners. Who cares about Y chromosomes?”

"We will not stop, and we will not give up until we have equality for all,” she added.



Carroll says she cried on election night when Question 1 passed. If this is a sign of our future, then a bright future we will have.

Student-Run National Marriage Boycott Wins $10,000 Grant Thanks To Your Votes

Last month, Kenzie Seal of the National Marriage Boycott guest posted on Unite the Fight, asking you to vote at IdeaBlob.com for them to win a $10,000 grant for their efforts to bring marriage equality nationwide. And thanks to your participation, they won, setting them up to be one of the largest student-run marriage equality organizations in the nation. Following is their press release.

A student-driven movement to urge Congress and President Obama to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act has won ideablob's $10,000 prize for the month of August. Hoping to organize and empower the millions of Americans who support same-sex marriage, the group will use the money to open chapters in all fifty states in the coming year.

SPRING HOUSE, Penn., (September 15, 2009) Advanta Corp. announced today that Kenzie Seal, Stanford University undergraduate and CFO of the National Marriage Boycott, has been named August 2009's ideablob.com monthly contest winner for the best small business idea, as voted on by the ideablob community. The announcement that the group had won $10,000, came within twenty-four hours of Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introducing the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.

The National Marriage Boycott is a student-driven movement to urge Congress and President Obama to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. Members sign a pledge to boycott marriage until DOMA is repealed and wear an Equality Ring to symbolize their commitment. The organization is quickly growing, increasing from a single campus to twenty campuses in over ten states in the past year.

The organization supports itself financially through the sale of $10 stainless steel 'Equality Rings,' that members wear on their ring finger as a symbol of their commitment not to get married until the Defense of Marriage Act is repealed. People who are already married take off their wedding ring and replace it with the Equality Ring in solidarity.

The group's co-director, Laura Wadden, explains their business model, “We wanted to create a movement that enabled straight people to show their support for LGBT rights, and we wanted this movement to have the capacity to rapidly expand in a financially sustainable way. The rings allow us to finance our expansion, while creating a recognizable symbol for our cause.” By funding its advocacy through ring sales rather than donations, the group brings a social entrepreneurship model to LGBT advocacy.

Greg Goldgof, the group's other co-director explains a second motivation behind the rings, “We hope the spread of Equality Rings across the country will show closeted youths that they have supportive allies and decrease the rate of LGBT teen suicide. According to the Trevor Project [an LGBTQ youth suicide prevention organization], LGBT and questioning youth are four times more likely to commit suicide than the national average. Perhaps together we can decrease that number by bringing greater visibility to the millions of people who support LGBT rights.”

According to Seal, the money from the contest will go towards “the cost of incorporation, outreaching to more schools, producing promotional materials, and maintaining a presence at progressive and LGBTQ events around the country.” Sarah Masimore, the organization's Chief Operating Officer further explains, “The money will enable us to accelerate our growth. Today we are in ten states. In a year we plan to be in every state, demonstrating that Americans care about equal rights regardless of where you live or whom you love.”

Students for the National Equality March Issue Call to Action

Students for the National Equality March (NEMStudents) have issued a call to action, demanding that students across the country organize for the event and for the long-term movement for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) rights. The statement echoes the single demand of the National Equality March for full and equal protection for LGBT people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

NEMStudents acknowledge the historical significance of the National Equality March and of prior student movements for social justice. All students, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, are encouraged to sign the call to action. Over 100 student leaders, among them representatives of Princeton, Yale, Carnegie Mellon, Tulane University, Texas Tech, Columbia, UCLA, and NYU have signed thus far. Student organizations in all 435 congressional districts of the U.S. are organizing for the National Equality March and building a national network of student activists, indicating a distinctly bottom-up organizational structure that has been absent from many previous LGBTQ marches. The organization's website at www.NEMStudents.org offers links and resources to aid students in finding transportation, housing, and support.

NEMStudents have also announced a Student Day of Action to take place September 22. Students are urged to promote the March by flyering, organizing meetings to educate about the March, writing to campus newspapers, organizing speak-outs, and screening LGBTQ films, such as the critically acclaimed Milk.

The National Equality March will be the first march for LGBTQ rights in Washington DC since President Clinton held office, and will take place October 10-11, 2009.

For further comment, contact David Valk (National Student Outreach Coordinator) at dvalk@ucla.com or 949-350-8773.

Check out the long list of endorsements on Towleroad.

National Marriage Boycott: Marriage Is Not a Right Until All Can Marry - Help Us Make This Happen

Contributing post by Kenzie Seal, CFO for the National Marriage Boycott.

In the wake of the passage of Proposition 8 in California last November, myself and a number of other Stanford activists founded the National Marriage Boycott (NMB)—and are saying no to marriage altogether.

The premise is simple: until everyone in the United States who wants to get married can get married, marriage is not a right—it is a privilege founded in discrimination. And we want nothing to do with it.

By signing NMB’s online pledge, members vow not to marry until the Defense of Marriage Act—which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex unions as marriages and denies same-sex couples more than 1,000 federal rights—is repealed. By also wearing an Equality Ring on their left ring finger, boycotters have the opportunity to visibly demonstrate their support for the LGBTQ community, while also engaging in the conversations which will change the hearts and minds of our opponents in this civil rights battle.

NMB is a student-driven social movement focused on both raising awareness about and support for LGBTQ rights, while also putting pressure on lawmakers by highlighting the widespread support for equality amongst the people of the United States. Since its founding at Stanford University, NMB has spread to more than 20 different schools in more than 10 different states—and our goal for the year is to expand our presence to schools in all 50 states as quickly as possible. But don't get me wrong, this movement is not focused exclusively on students; NMB is inclusive, and we encourage people of all ages from all backgrounds—LGBTQ and allied, married and unmarried—to join the fight and take a stand.

And to win this fight, we need your help! NMB is in the final days of a month-long entrepreneurship competition for $10,000 in seed funding from ideablob.com—and to win, WE NEED YOU TO VOTE.

As I write this, with only 26 hours left, we are just one vote from first place. Please, please, be that vote.

The thirty seconds it takes you to register and cast your vote could make all the difference—and will, without a doubt, affect how quickly we can take the fight for full LGBTQ rights to the national level.

Let’s make it sooner, rather than later.

--------------------------------------------------

To find out more about the National Marriage Boycott go to www.nationalmarriageboycott.com. Click here to sign the pledge and here to get your Equality Ring.

VIDEO: Michigan's Calvin College Issues Memo to Professors - "Don't Support Gay Issues."

Having gone to a very strict and very well-known Christian college, it saddens me that such schools feel it is necessary to issue such unnecessary proclamations. The Provost of Calvin College commends the school for having a safe environment for LGBT students and keeping a "no harassment policy", but many times, such schools turn a blind eye to LGBT student issues.

During my sophomore year at my school, a friend came out of the closet and received so much hate mail from fellow students, he felt forced to leave. I know for a fact the school was aware of this and still did nothing. When they DO act, they simply ship their students to Exodus Ministries which is near the campus. As I became an "issue" for them later, they simply swept me under a rug.

I support these schools right to believe what they do and teach it, but if they think for once that issuing such redundant proclamations while applauding themselves that they help their LGBT students, then they're over-the-top delusional.

Op-Ed: A Great Opportunity

Note from UTF: I wanted to bring this back to the main page. It has sparked good discussion (here and on Facebook), and with the 'Next Steps Summit' coming this Sunday, I thought I'd highlight it again.

Contributor Dawn Cobalt is an independent film maker active in the fight for equality. She and her partner of 25 years Marie Cobalt work with UnitetheFight.org in filming and broadcasting live web streams and both are members of the OUT West Coalition.

After returning from the Equality Summit in San Bernardino I now feel that a great opportunity for our community is at hand. Some who may have also attended can disagree but let me explain.

We’re at a crossroads about when we can regain a right we all lost this past November. Polls, opinions, past experience and fear are pulling us apart. Polls, for the most part, show that we wouldn’t win in any year in the near future.

If we add wording to protect religious institutions we may win. Wording to protect religious institutions was previously put forth in the ruling of the Supreme Court in May of 2008.

The wording on protecting children is a big debate, and rightly so. But we need to send a positive message to the LGBTQI youth that desperately look to us to see if they are “okay”. We need to remember what it was like when we weren’t out and had to live in fear. We are playing politics with peoples lives that can’t vote yet. We are the people that the LGBTQI youth is now looking up to and we must act accordingly with these responsibilities.

Opinions are everywhere and with good cause. We’re a diverse group and we’re part of every minority group out there: race, creed, religious beliefs, non-religious beliefs, etc. We must walk in many different shoes to fully understand each other. The only binding aspect of “us” is our sexual and transgender identity. Because we all belong to other groupings, minority and otherwise, this can alter our view in our fight for equality.

Fear tells us that if we lose again we’re done. No one likes to lose and losing does set things back, but we need to learn from our mistakes. We have learned this time around that the community needs to get up and do something and not be complacent.

This is our time to reach out to each other and really listen. We need to rise up and move forward. Embrace the strengths of each group, praise their accomplishments and use those strengths within our community. Educate each other and not put down the ones that are not aware of the differences that separate us. We need to show the world that we are a strong, diverse community that works together. Until we do this, the Prop 8 proponents will always win.

Here is the reality of the situation. A majority of grassroots organizations want to go again in 2010. A majority of individuals in the community want to go back to the voters in 2010. This will be the movement for the moment, whether you want 2010, 2012 or beyond. We can stalemate all the way to November 2010 or we can put our differences aside and help each other. If our communities can gather the necessary signatures to get the initiative on the ballot, then it is up to the grassroots organizations to work together towards passing the initiative. If the signatures do not add up we must work to change hearts and minds until 2012.

We can show the state, the country, and the world that as a community we can come together, win or lose. And what if we lose, what then? Then we recover and we don’t stop until full equality is ours. But in the meantime we showed everyone how important equality is to us.

And equally important we show our LGBTQI youth that they are supported and loved in this world. We may show someone who’s now struggling will turn toward the movement instead of alcohol or drugs. A gay man walking home late at night doesn’t get bashed because it is frowned upon a little bit more. A transgender person will make it home without a trip to the hospital first because we show that being different is something to embrace. A lesbian getting in her car doesn’t get raped for 45 minutes because we got right back up and said it’s not okay to treat us differently.

It takes time to win a war, as we all know. But the smaller battles along the way, the ones we don’t always know about make the bigger difference. The people that get saved will then stand up, join the ones already standing, and grow. We will embrace each other and we will win.

Let’s not let this opportunity slip away.

Dawn Cobalt

dandmcobalt@yahoo.com

SUNDAY EVENT REMINDER: Youth Today, Walking for Equality

WHAT: March against homophobia, discrimination, abuse and homelessness of queer youth and for marriage equality! This event is for LGBTQ youth AND supporters. RALLY AT CITY HALL!

WHEN: Sunday, March 22nd at 12pm

WHERE: Meet at the Gold Line Station in downtown Los Angeles, near the intersection of Spring St. and College St.

MORE INFO: www.Youth-Today.org and at Unite the Fight's full coverage.

Youth+Today Event flyer

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EVENT: Youth Today, Walking for Equality

FIVE HUNDRED HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO MARCH FOR LGBTQ VISIBILITY

Five hundred high school students are getting ready to march.

Designed to show support for same-sex marriage and raise awareness about homophobia, discrimination, abuse, and forced homelessness of queer youth, Youth Today: Walking for Equality will be a 1.6 mile march through downtown Los Angeles that ends at a rally in front of City Hall.

Organizers of the event – high school students themselves – got the idea when they saw that their voices were being excluded from the countless demonstrations that followed the passage of Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that stripped gays and lesbians of their right to marry.

“I really want to show the community that young people not only care and are affected by issues such as racism, homophobia/transphobia and healthcare, but they want their voices to be heard,” said Ariel Bustamente-Lupton, 16, one of the organizers of Youth Today. “This is about our nation’s future being proactive in the present.”

While Proposition 8 was the genesis of the demonstration, organizers are making sure to bring attention to other LGBTQ issues as well.

“Queer youth still are being thrown out of their house and forced on the streets to a life of substance abuse and survival sex, coupled with high rates of suicide,” said Dahlia Ferlito, an adult advisor for the event. “We want the state to know that this still exists.”

Youth Today: Walking for Equality begins at College & Spring Street on Sunday, March 22 at noon and will conclude with a rally at City Hall.

Rally speakers include Robin Tyler (original plaintiff in court case that legalized same-sex marriage in California), Cleve Jones, Robin McGehee (GSA Network), Torie Osborn (Liberty Hill Foundation/National Gay & Lesbian Task Force), Bamby Salcedo (transgender youth project coordinator) and Michael Ferrera (Lifeworks Mentoring).

For more information, visit the Facebook event page.

Website: www.Youth-Today.org

Youth+Today Event flyer

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