Hello friends!
My friend Jessica Eve and I have been talking about how really personally painful the Prop 8 stuff has been, and also about what we can *DO* in response to such hurtful shit. Both of us worked on Obama stuff as out queers, and we know that so many queers put aside our me-specific issues in order to work on an election that was about the greater good, for a candidate who was willing to acknowledge that we are a *part* of that greater good. But we also know how difficult it is for candidates to remember that us queers ate a lot of shit in this election cycle (as we always do) to get them elected once they’re in office looking at pressure from groups who are organized and powerful.
We’ve also been talking about how we really want to do queer organizing in a way that doesn’t require large donations or rely on the HRC or even NGLTF or really any large organization. Something that is a powerful statement and also creates an opportunity to use the internet in a smart way to organize and push on the folks we put in office, in a way that is pointed but not attacking. We want to remind those we helped elect that we don’t expect overnight miracles, but that we are organizing ourselves and we are going to hold people accountable. Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell is NOT going to work this time. Our human rights are important and that THIS particular fix is one that isn’t going to *cost* anything. Recognizing queer relationships doesn’t require a budget increase, it doesn’t require new buildings or infrastructure. MA has established that recognizing queer relationships doesn’t cause a state’s budget to crumble or infrastructure to buckle or even any brimstone flashes.
We want to try to figure out a way to remind those we elected that they have a responsibility to all the queers and allies who stood behind them, all of us who voted down-ballot, all of us who worked our tails off, all of us who care about issues outside our own personal interest and fight for them ALSO want our issues (particularly those that are such an easy fix) to be addressed. We want to remind folks that many of their core constituency, many of the people who sent in $25 or $10 or $5 again and again are affected by this particular injustice. We want to get this thing fucking done so that we can focus on the next thing without feeling betrayed and abandoned. I have healthcare. I have really fucking good healthcare. I want EVERYONE in this country to have good healthcare, and I want us to be able to work on that together. It is hard to focus when I’m breaking into tears because my beloved will not be recognized *as* my beloved in the event I die tomorrow. And it should not be a choice of queer unions or healthcare. That’s a false fucking division.
So, we are starting a website called http://www.weareaffected.com/ which we hope to populate with pictures of queers and allies all over the US (and also the world) who are affected by the US government’s refusal to recognize queer relationships. We hope to have pictures showing that those of us denied this very simple and basic thing are a large and vocal part of the movement for change, pictures which demonstrate visually that are holding our fellow changers accountable. Think immigration rights, health care coverage, hospital visits, adoption rights, parenting rights, and many other human rights that come along with legal recognition of a partnership. We want to put up pictures of queers and allies who worked on electing our new president and down-ticket candidates in hopes of seeing some change. We want to remind folks that it is an unfair and unconscionable thing to ask people to choose the parts of themselves that matter. We want to put up pictures that visually demonstrate that the “we” here are people of color, working class people, women, children, disabled folks, old, young, middle class, short, tall, fat, thin, outrageous and mainstream people. We serve in the military and serve you your coffee. We administer your 401K and administer your flu shot. We are progressives and liberals and moderates. We are conservatives. We are everywhere and we are ALL affected by this because an injustice to ONE of us is an injustice to ALL of us. We are people in relationships spanning decades and people who were only just born.
The rules for the site are simple:
1. Make a sign saying “I am affected” or “We are affected” or “My Mom is affected” or “My best friend is affected” or “my neighbor down the street who I don’t really know all that well is affected”
2. Take a picture of yourself or your friend or your neighbor or your student or your lovers holding the sign (if you have Obama gear or worked on a local campaign or sported a bumper sticker or wore a political t-shirt during this election, wear the gear or stand by the bumper sticker or do something to make the visual clear). Families can take pictures together! Kids can take pictures
3. Send your pictures, along with your zip code, to weareaffected@gmail.com (the zip code is because we want to plot every picture we get on a map, and once the map is populated enough, have that as an image showing how many of us there are all over the red/blue split and why this CANNOT simply be allowed to be a state’s decision)
We need pictures! We hope to get pictures from alla you amazing people to populate the blog. Since the nation-wide protest is happening this Saturday, we are hoping some of y’all would be willing to make ‘we are affected’ signs and get pictures of people all over the country holding those signs.
We want to build organizing content and tools too. So, we’re looking for people to write essays about why this matters and about local-action/allyship-building strategies we can use, even if you don’t want to get legally hitched now or ever. Initially the main part of the site will simply be a photo-blog, but we’re also looking to build resources of the powerful-reading kind AND the “how can I take action and build allyship locally” kind. If you’re interested in writing, just send us an email and let us know.
We’re hoping this project will be something that is accessible to lots of people across borders amongst us, so if you have ideas about how to do that? PLEASE let us know! Shoot us an email!
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November 13th, 2008
Categories: Queer and Here . Author: Miz Chris . Comments: No Comments
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