Referendum 71 – How Anyone Can Get Involved
Referendum 71 – How Anyone Can Get Involved
I was walking through the Capitol Hill area of Seattle last night with a friend on a much needed and very rare night of rest from organizing and working. But sadly my mind was still in organizing mode so it was hard to enjoy the break when I saw a lack of Approve Referendum 71 signs in the windows of the businesses in the neighborhood. I am wondering how this community can be so apathetic when so much is at stake? While I realize that this is not the first time that this community has turned a blind eye and deaf ear to their own advancement, I am still amazed by it. It is as though we are asleep during while our own plane is hurling itself towards the ground thousands of feet below and we are blissfully unaware of our own demise.
There has been some great activism surrounding the issue of Referendum 71. However it seems to me that we are relying on one group to do all the work for us. It reminds me of election time. We elect a person to public office and then we wash our hands of the issues. Vanished are the ideas of accountability and living up to campaign promises. Only later when that elected person has not kept up on their promises do only some of us ask why. Fewer still do anything about it. When it comes to Referendum 71, while the issue is so paramount to the lives of so many of my gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters, there is almost no one paying attention. So many claim to be confused on the issue and yet we see so few looking for the answers to their questions. I wonder how many of the people who attend the bar scene on a nightly basis even know what Referendum 71 is let alone what is at stake? Must we wait for the pipes to burst before we realize we might have a plumbing problem? Do we need a flooded basement and ruined foundation before we call the plumber? I would think we would have learned from the past and realized that our “better late than never” apathy is only helping our opponents.
The way to win the battle with Referendum 71, in my opinion, is one that everyone can be involved in rather than just one group or one senator or one community organizer. It’s the general population, armed with the power or public opinion, that we need to win this battle. While there is a lawsuit in the works which is trying to prevent Referendum 71 from getting on the ballot, we cannot hope and wait for this lawsuit to work out in our favor. This wringing of our hands must be replaced with action. And that action does not need to be time consuming or difficult. In fact it can be quite simple. But it takes the work of many people in order to succeed. I am proposing a three pong plan to helping to Approve Referendum 71 in which we all can participate regardless of experience or time.
1. Question: Does your home and/or business have an Approve Referendum 71 sign in the window?
Answer: it should! I saw one Approve Referendum 71 sign on Capitol Hill during my stroll. One! There should be an Approve Referendum 71 sign in each window of every store in the Capitol Hill area considering that hill is considered the gay district. But more than that, there should be Approve Referendum 71 signs in every LGBT friendly business in the whole of Seattle and Washington State! If that business does not have an Approve Referendum 71 sign, then don’t support that business with your money. Money talks and it talks loudly and for a long time. Take some Approve Referendum 71 flyers and posters from the Washington Families Standing Together website and give them to the managers of the businesses in your area and ask those managers to post that information. If they agree, great. If they don’t, take note and take your money elsewhere. Is there an Approve Referendum 71 sign in the window of your home or car? If not there should be one posted today.
2. Question: Have your talked to your straight friends about Referendum 71?
Answer: get talking! Straight people vote too. How many straight people know about Referendum 71 let alone our LGBT friends? I doubt many do and without an effort to educate them, we are sure to lose. Talk to your straight friends and co-workers. Talk to your parents. Talk to your neighbors. Talk on the street corner! Just get talking.
3. Question: What is a way to spread the word about Referendum 71 for free?
Answer: letters to the editor, twitter and facebook! Writing letters is a timeless and much lost art form. E-mail your local newspapers and talk about Referendum 71. Refer them to your websites about Referendum 71. Encourage your readers to follow this three pronged plan and get involved locally. Twitter is also a resource as there are lots of marriage equality groups with accounts that you can follow and repost their tweets to your own account. Finally, facebook. I love facebook because it is so easy and useful for organizing. Change your profile picture to an Approve Referendum 71 profile pic. Post at least one status update to include information about Referendum 71. It can be something as easy as “I approve Referendum 71 and hope you do too!” Repost articles and statements from senators onto your own profile and encourage people to do the same. This is so easy! We already are one these sites all day anyway!
The point here is dialogue. If we do not talk to each other and our neighbors we cannot hope to win this. Do we really need another Proposition 8 in this country? Do we need to feel the stinging backlash of Amendment 2 (the forgotten loss) again? I should think not. So get talking. Get writing. Get tweeting. Get facebooking. It’s too easy to pass up.
