Call to Action!
Ask County Board of Supervisors to urge Supreme
Court to Overturn Proposition 8 KEY VOTE ON WEDNESDAY, November 12.
We need calls to the LA County Board of Supervisors to urge them to
vote YES on Wednesday morning in favor of a resolution urging the LA
County Counsel to join with the City of LA, Santa Clara County, San
Francisco and many other cities/counties to urge the Supreme Court to
overturn Proposition 8?
In order of significance and importance: (African American leaders
are particularly urged to call Supervisor Burke as her vote is
critical and her position is not currently known).
1. Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, Second District
(213) 974-2222
(213) 680-3283 Fax
seconddistrict@ bos.lacounty. gov
Grid areas include: Carson, Compton, East Rancho Dominguez, Harbor
Gateway and Rancho Dominguez Florence-Firestone, Lynwood, South
Central Los Angeles, Watts and Willowbrook Inglewood, Westchester and
Athens Hawthorne, Lawndale, Del Aire, Wiseburn, El Camino Village and
Gardena Lennox Baldwin Hills, Crenshaw Area and Leimert Park
2. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky' s Offices
821 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration
500 West Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 974-3333
(213) 625-7360 fax For constituent issues involving City of Los
Angeles areas south of Mulholland Drive, or the Cities of Beverly
Hills, West Hollywood or Santa Monica, please contact the Downtown
Office.
3. Supervisor Don Knabe 4th Distrcit
Tel: 213-974-4444 | Fax: 213-626-6941
Artesia Marina delRey Norwalk Bellflower Palos Verdes Estates
Paramount Diamond Bar Playa del Rey DowneyRancho Palos Verdes Redondo
Beach Hacienda Heights Rolling Hills Harbor City Hawaiian Gardens
Rowland Heights Hermosa Beach San Pedro La Habra Heights Signal Hill
La Mirada South Whittier Lakewood Torrance Long Beach Wilmington
Manhattan Beach Whittier
4. Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, 5th District
(213) 974-5555 (213) 974-1010 FAX
San Gabriel, Pomona, San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys.
5. Supervisor Gloria Molina (sponsoring the resolution on Wednesday)
molina@bos.lacounty .gov
Phone: (213) 974-4111
Fax: (213) 613-1739
Azusa Avocado Heights Boyle Heights Baldwin Park Bandini (islands)
China Town Bell Bassett Downtown Bell Gardens Citrus (Covina
islands) (portion) Eagle Rock Commerce Echo Park East Los Angeles
Huntington Park Glassell Park Industry Highland Park
Irwindale Hacienda Heights (portion) Lincoln Heights La
Puente San Gabriel Westlake Vernon Whittier Narrows Walnut
11/11/08
Soulforce: A national call for nonviolent direct action
A national call for nonviolent direct action
in the struggle for marriage equality
Jeff Lutes, M.S., L.P.C.
Last week thousands of lesbian and gay people and their friends filled the streets of California in peaceful protest. Outraged, these upright Californians chose to take action and publicly march against Proposition 8 and the LDS Church for financing the deceptive ads that helped it pass.
First, bravo to our California friends -- their moral indignation is healthy and just. Second, hooray for those in other parts of the country who have begun to follow suit -- let us not stop until every community has mounted sustained campaigns of resistance.
Despite our substantial legislative efforts, thirty states have now passed bans on same-gender marriage. That should serve as a wake-up call to our movement -- one that forces us to consider what we might be doing wrong.
Discrimination does not begin in our courts or in our government -- it ends up there. The fear and misinformation that drives unjust legislation gets its start within society, and the primary source of the problem is the sanctuaries, wealthy mega-churches, and powerful religious institutions of this country. With gigantic and captive national audiences, both Protestant and Catholic churches teach falsehoods that cause voters to cast their ballot against the constitutional promise of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" for their gay and lesbian neighbors.
In this election, like so many others before it, the call from the pulpit was clear: We must stop the gays. As millions of gays and lesbians had their hearts broken, some religious leaders rejoiced in that suffering. The Rev. James Garlow, senior pastor of Skyline Church in San Diego County, told the New York Times "It was a great victory. We just saw the people rise up."
It's time for all of us to rise up like thousands are doing now in the Golden State and elsewhere.
We are tired of defeat, token change, defending ourselves against charges of moral inferiority, and being told to "wait" in the land we love while liberation occurs in other countries. Martin Luther King, Jr. acknowledged that real change takes time; yet he also warned against the "tranquilizing drug of gradualism" and instructed the oppressed to demand equality now -- not on the convenient time schedule of those doing the oppressing.
Nonviolent direct action strategies such as marches, vigils, demonstrations, boycotts, public protests, and civil disobedience, seek to create what Dr. King called "healthy tension." This constructive nonviolent tension forces those who perpetuate injustice, and society as a whole, to pause, reflect, and consider the ugliness of their prejudices and the indecency embodied in their discrimination. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. King wrote: "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored." Public protests empower us and educate those who are still the victims of fear and division.
It's imperative that we remain nonviolent in our approach. Although it may provide short term emotional release, it's ultimately counterproductive to scream expletives at those who have harmed us. We must refrain from damaging property or trying to destroy the character of others and instead approach those who promote discrimination in a spirit of nonviolence. As both Gandhi and King taught, we must avoid violence of the fist, tongue, and heart and remember that in truth we are challenging unjust systems, not people. In due course, we seek to be in community with those from whom we currently find ourselves divided.
So, start organizing now. Don't wait on a LGBT rights group to take the lead. Most of the protests in California were organized by just a handful of people. You can do it too. Imagine the productive conversations around America's dinner tables if the evening news was flooded with coverage of peaceful marches in the other 29 states that ban marriage equality.
In the wake of our recent losses, let's rededicate our lives to speaking out with integrity and let's reclaim nonviolent direct action as part of that process. Let's understand that the vision of equality belongs to all of us and we are each responsible for taking direct action in pursuit of that dream. We all have the faculty to be powerful, influential, and prevailing. Let's reinvest in our movement for social change, believe in our own capacity to affect that change, and allow the boldness and hunger for justice to grow and contagiously spread to others.
Let's take it to the streets.
Soulforce
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