If we do not have a strong voter turn out for the 2009 election in Washington, the domestic partnership law may not survive. 77% of the electorate may support treating all families equally under the law, but if history repeats itself than we have no one to blame but ourselves for not protecting ALL Washington families. The solution is simple. We must vote, register to vote, register our friends to vote, and verify our voter registration is up to date with the Washington Secretary of State. When you receive your ballot in the mail, do not procrastinate. Vote early. Expect ballots to arrive on or around October 14. Ballots are due November 3. Approve Referendum 71.

There is a schism in California between Equality California and the popular will of the people which is supported by the Courage Campaign. Equality California put out a big press release yesterday claiming the challenge to proposition 8 would not be until 2012. They claimed it would take that long to persuade 3% of California voters that equality is a good thing. Prop 8 only passed by a 2.5% margin in 2008. They also do not think they can raise enough money to make a go of it in 2010. Equality California was responsible for the highly criticized campaign that lost in 2008.

Enter Courage Campaign, an allied progressive grass roots campaign managed by Rick Jacobs. Their hundreds of thousands of supporters are pushing for a challenge to prop 8 in 2010. They are raising hundreds of thousands of dollars not only for California, but also for the fight in Maine to protect that state from a pending constitutional amendment supported by the same foes that sponsored prop 8. (In Maine support the No on 1 Campaign.) They polled their supporters several months ago and over 80% of the people were ready to roll for 2010.

Voter turn out is better during Presidential election years. The last prop 8 campaign cost each side approximately $40 Million, so fund raising is an issue. However, the GOP never misses an opportunity to turn gay bashing into votes as we can see in Iowa’s governor race right now. As progressives do we want to put California’s electoral votes on the line by placing a proposition on the ballot that is sure to motivate the teabaggers to turn out in droves? Is it fair to make people wait almost 4 years to restore their rights? Do we really want the same team that lost in 2008 to make any more important decisions on behalf of the LGBT community?

Or is Equality California right, the timing is just way off and we should just wait. After all same sex couples in California do enjoy a very strong domestic partnership program. A federal lawsuit challenging proposition 8 is working its way through the courts that could overturn the ban and open the door for all same sex couples to marry in all 50 states. $40 Million could go a long way in states that have no formal legal protection for same sex couples, such as the 30 other states that have constitutional amendments banning same sex marriage equality.

I’m afraid I have more questions than answers, but that seems to the common theme in the LGBT community right now. With so much at stake, no one wants to make a bad decision. But frankly, what do we have to lose that we haven’t already?

originally published on Current.com

With only 4 days remaining for opponents of equality to secure over 120,000 signatures to place referendum 71 on the ballot, thousands of Washington families are held in suspense.  At risk are hundreds of domestic partnership rights that married heterosexual couples already enjoy, including survivor benefits for police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty. Join the Impact volunteers produced this video to introduce you to some of those families.

Please share it widely. By our opponent’s own admission this is going to be a close call.  Every person we reach in the next four days is vital to protecting equality.

David Mixner released the first of a four part series, “Oh Lord Not Now” today about the future of the LGBT civil rights movement  and our community’s dreadful lack of courage to forge ahead now rather than later.  Mixner wrote:

The cabal of powerful decision makers wants everything to be safe, clean and perfect before moving. Don’t upset anyone, don’t jump ahead of ourselves and most of all don’t deviate from a well-laid plan that hopefully will eventually lead to victory. Every one of our allies has to be comfortable, the polls have to show us way ahead, and proof of victory has to be assured before trying anything new. The unpredictable grassroots could be destructive and create instability.

Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Except that it doesn’t fit any model of success that I have seen in my near 50 years of organizing. In fact, my journey has proven to me that the unpredictable often is just the stimulus that movements need; victory often comes from an unplanned event that organizers could not have pulled off if they had worked years to do it. Most candidates would never be elected to office if they waited for their turn, had hard proof of victory and listened to the political pros. Our own current president is a perfect example of this fact.

I applaud Mixner’s reasoned argument against the wait and see mentality that has brought us little but a smattering of states rights and a Senate addicted to our campaign contributions but unwilling to act swiftly to bring us equality.  Mixner boldly calls a duck a duck:

Along the way, we are allowing even our allies to abuse language in order to slow down our fight for full equality and freedom. We get nervous when we call the system currently being put in place Apartheid although that is exactly our current situation.

Our community is separated from the heterosexual community in countless ways. We are not only apart because of differences in legal recognition of our relationships (if we have any at all), but we are apart because of different standards for workplace fairness. Our elected representatives are forgiven time and time again for their lack of courage so that executives within our corporate orgs can claim progress by counting the stack of cocktail reception invitations.

The grassroots must take the lead at the federal level because we are not bridled down by corporate donors, boards, or anyone else for that matter.  We are only limited by our own courage and willingness to dedicate time and money towards our pursuits.  I am very encouraged by The Equality Accross America campaign launched by Cleve Jones, David Mixner and others. Their decentralized approach will revitalize the grass roots and continue the great work that organizations such as Join the Impact are already strongly engaged in.

Of coarse like any campaign the concept can be strong.  The goal can be sincere and straigt forward, “equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states,” and the time can be now; but none of this really matters if individuals are not engaged and ready to work.  Equality Accross America has a map with little dots to symbolize a congressional district organizer. Let’s fill up that map. Let’s get to work. Let’s end the Apartheid once and for all!