The Great Nationwide Kiss-In: Denver

Two gay rights bloggers have joined forces with the international grassroots LGBT organization, Join the Impact, to create “The Great Nationwide Kiss‐In,” to affirm the right of all couples – same‐sex and opposite sex – to publicly acknowledge their loved‐ones, with a kiss.

In response to recent events in three different U.S. cities, where gay or lesbian couples have been harassed, and detained or arrested, for the simple act of kissing in a public space, David Badash (of The New Civil Rights Movement and The Bilerico Project), David Mailloux (of DYM SUM), and Willow Witte (Co‐Founder and Director of Join the Impact) have partnered on this first‐ever coast‐to‐coast “Kiss‐In.”

The Great Nationwide Kiss‐In will be held on Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 12 p.m., Mountain Time. Badash’s original vision for the event will have hundreds of couples – gay and straight – showing this simple, innocent form of affection for one another in popular public locations throughout the United States.

“Both gay and straight couples should be able to kiss whomever they like, wherever they like,” Badash said. “If you want to give your better‐half a kiss, or hold their hand while walking down the street, you should be able to, without fear of intimidation or incarceration. Lord knows, the world could use a lot more love, and a lot more people displaying acts of love, affection, and kindness.”

Gay activists and bloggers throughout the country, as well as couples arrested, have said that the recent incidents involving gay and lesbian couples kissing in San Antonio, and El Paso, TX, as well as Salt Lake City, UT were entirely related to their sexual orientation.

Soulforce in Colorado has taken the lead for organizing the Denver event with the location to be determined.

Join the Soulforce Squad for NVCD

In order to stage an effective, well-organized action, Soulforce in Colorado is recruiting individuals willing to serve as squad leaders and peacekeepers during the action. Training will be provided.

Contact Soulforce at soulforcedenver@yahoo.com if you are willing to participate in any capacity but especially if you're willing to engage in non-violent civil disobedience or if you are willing to be trained to serve as a squad leader or Peacekeeper at the event.

Prop. 8 Decision Day: A Call to Action

If the CA Supreme Court upholds Prop 8, groups like One Struggle, One Fight and SoulForce will engage in creative action and civil disobedience across the country.

Email soulforcedenver@yahoo.com if you are willing to participate in any capacity but especially if you're willing to engage in non-violent civil disobedience or if you are willing to be trained to serve as a squad leader or Peacekeeper at
the event. You must attend a training in nonviolent resistance to participate in
civil disobedience.

Check them both out and consider doing something to make your voice heard for the cause of GLBT equality.

Soulforce Colorado continues civil disobedience training this week

Because we don't know precisely when the California Supreme Court will issue its decision about the validity of Prop. 8, we must begin preparing ASAP to train for nonviolent direct action. This week, Soulforce in Colorado will continue their series of ongoing, internet-based trainings in nonviolence as we begin preparing for a local D-Day action. This week's training will be Wednesday evening at 7 pm Mountain time (times and dates for future trainings will vary). If you would like to join the conference call, please dial the free conference call line: 218-339-2500. When prompted, dial code "654277#" to join the call. In order to participate fully, you will need access to the internet. Soulforce will be utilizing resources available on www.nonviolence4equality.org in conducting this training. Please contact Chris Hubble directly at cahubble08@gmail.com if internet access will be problematic and they will try to work out special accommodations.

Get ready for D-Day

A message from Soulforce Colorado:

We don’t know precisely when the California Supreme Court will issue its
decision about the validity of Prop. 8, so we must begin preparing ASAP to train
for nonviolent direct action. This week, Soulforce in Colorado will launch a
series of ongoing, internet-based trainings in nonviolence as we begin preparing
for a local D-Day action. This week’s training will be Tuesday evening at 6 p.m.
Mountain time (times and dates for future trainings will vary). If you would
like to join the conference call, please dial our free conference call line:
218-339-2500. When prompted, dial code “654277#” to join the call. In order to
participate fully, you will need access to the internet. We will be utilizing
resources available on http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.nonviolence4equality.org.

Please contact Chris Hubble directly at cahubble08@gmail.com if internet access
will be problematic and we will try to work out special accommodations.

Soulforce Colorado plans civil disobedience for D-Day

Soulforce in Colorado announces plans for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience (NVCD) on D-Day Contact them immediately at soulforcedenver@yahoo.com if you are willing to participate in any capacity but especially if you're willing to engage in
NVCD. You must attend a training in nonviolent resistance to participate in civil disobedience.

In the near future, the California Supreme Court will announce its decision on whether to repeal Proposition 8. The ruling will likely be issued during normal business hours as early as this week, or as late as June 5th. When this time comes, it will be an historic moment for the LGBTIQ community. Win or lose, we have a long way to go before lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people achieve equal protection in all fifty states on matters governed by civil law.

LGBTIQ people and our allies anxiously await the California Supreme Court decision either affirming or rejecting the hateful anti-gay Proposition 8. But they don't plan to just wait for the decision, this time the community plans to act.

You should consider joining the Denver “Day of Decision” action.

Find out more after the jump.


Regardless of whether we are celebrating a positive decision or if the court rules against us, we must make sure that our voices are heard. We will stand (or sit) in solidarity with millions across the nation to send a powerful message to the world that our communities will not idly sit by. We will make a profound statement on behalf of equal protection before the law for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in every state of the union.

Even if the court rules to uphold the 18,000 existing same sex marriages, but allows the rest of Prop 8 to stand, it will not be a victory. If discrimination remains in the California Constitution and ANYWHERE, we must take this struggle to the streets.

Organizing now will also send the message that we no longer accept discrimination against us. We must be ready. Here’s what you can do:

1) Sign up to be on the alert list. Send an email to soulforcedenver@yahoo.com and say “I will come to the demonstration for equality! Tell me when to meet on the Day of Decision.” Please also tell us if you intend to participate in nonviolent civil disobedience. You must attend a training in nonviolent resistance to participate in civil disobedience.

2) Find at least five other people who will come to the action with you... and who will also pledge to relay the alert message to at least five other people on the Day of Decision. Program their phone numbers into your cell phone. Prepare an email blast to send out immediately to help SPREAD THE WORD.

3) Make a sign to carry on the picket line. Keep it ready in your car at all times. Suggested slogans:

“The Only Decision = Full Equality”
“Separ8 Is Not Equal”
“Love, Not H8”
"Proud 2 Love"
"Stop the H8!"
or bring dream up your own nonviolent slogan...

4) On the Day of Decision, drop what you’re doing and get down to the Wellington Webb Building (at the intersection of Colfax and 15th in Denver) to DEMONSTRATE and PICKET.


D-Day Organizing Team:

Chris Hubble
cahubble08@gmail.com
303-800-5664

Cathi Woodward
cathi_w@yahoo.com
303-596-3760

Kate Burns
kateburns303@comcast.net
303-806-8444



GLBT community organizers issue call for civil disobedience

In response to the growing equality movement in California and across the country, community organizers are issuing a call for the use of nonviolent civil disobedience to further the cause. This call comes at a time when the equality movement is energized surrounding the upcoming California Supreme Court decision on the validity of Proposition 8.

The call to action, led by national groups Soulforce and Join the Impact, states “We are tired of agonizing political setbacks, 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.”

To assist in educating the public on nonviolent civil disobedience, the website www.nonviolence4equality.org has been created and is launching today. On the website, community members can learn about the history and philosophy of nonviolent civil disobedience, sign the call to action, and connect with others locally who are interested in organizing nonviolent civil disobedience.

“Today, we affirm that nonviolent strategies such as marches, vigils, demonstrations, public protests, and civil disobedience seek to create what Dr. King called 'healthy tension',” the call to action reads. The call has been signed already by several community leaders, including Cleve Jones, who is the founder of the NAMES/AIDS Memorial Quilt, and was a historical consultant on the Academy Award winning film 'MILK'.

The call specifically promotes nonviolent tactics. "As we resist injustice, we must avoid violence of the fist, tongue, and heart,” it reads. Community leaders are urged to sign the call to action at www.nonviolence4equality.org and to begin training in their own communities immediately. For questions pertaining to www.nonviolence4equality.org, please contact Christopher Hubble from Soulforce at N4E@soulforce.org or 303-800-5664.

Self-defense, violence, and the DNC

Christopher Hubble, lead organizer for Soulforce in Colorado, had an opinion piece in a recent issue of the Denver Post about nonviolence, self-defense, and the group Recreate 68, a local group organized to support non-violent, peaceful protests during the DNC. Hubble's op-ed looks at the concepts of non-violence and non-cooperation techniques versus self-defense. Check out Hubble's op-ed and see what you think.