Take a look at Jeff Graham’s speech at the Join the Impact protest on Saturday, November 15. Jeff is executive director of Georgia Equality, a statewide political advocacy group for Georgia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. In his remarks, Jeff talks about the many challenges, and a few victories, in the fight for LGBT rights in Georgia. He also stresses the importance of the upcoming December 2 Senate runoff in Georgia between incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democratic challenger Jim Martin, as well as a critical runoff race for the Georgia Court of Appeals.
Here’s a look at Kathy Kelly’s speech at the Join the Impact! protest in Atlanta on Saturday, November 15. Kathy is founder and executive director of the MEGA Family Project. The non-profit organization began as Marriage Equality Georgia, a group organized to fight Georgia’s anti-gay marriage amendment in 2004. The organization evolved into MEGA Family Project, providing support, education and advocacy on behalf of LGBT families throughout the state of Georgia.
This video includes Kathy’s entire speech, lightly edited (about four minutes long).
Groups are organizing around the country to demonstrate the LGBT community’s disappointment over the passage of the anti-gay marriage measure, Proposition 8, in California, as well as anti-gay marriage amendments that were also approved by narrow-minded voters in Florida and Arizona. Of course, we here in Georgia have been living under an anti-gay amendment to our state constitution since the recent unpleasantness of 2004.
Protests will be held on Saturday, November 15, and there are at least two events getting organized here in Atlanta in conjunction with a national effort called Join the Impact. The protests are being synchronized around the country to occur on Saturday, November 15 at 1:30 pm Eastern time. The locations are also coordinated–most are planned at local city halls, although the Atlanta-area protest will be staged at the Georgia State Capitol. (Get directions here.) Don’t be confused by older references to the protest location as Atlanta City Hall. As you check the protest Websites, be sure to look for the most recent information, because details are evolving. Keep up with the latest details on the Atlanta protest on the Join the Impact Georgia page. And you can RSVP for the Atlanta protest on Facebook. If you need more information, send an e-mail to eliminateprop8@gmail.com.
There is also a candlelight vigil being planned following the protest at the corner of 10th Street and Piedmont Avenue in Midtown Atlanta at 5 pm. There is also a Facebook page for this event.
Isn’t it time the LGBT community demonstrated our numbers and our resolve for equality? Even if, like me, there’s no one if your life right now that you would like to gay marry, wouldn’t you like equal protection under the law? Please plan to attend. Bring signs. Bring your friends, gay and straight. Be a community organizer, and spread the word. Tag this post so others can find it or send an e-mail to your friends. (You can use the “Bookmark” button at the bottom of this post to accomplish either.) Visit the Join the Impact Website and the Georgia pages there and on Facebook.
Be there. Or continue to be the victim of bigotry and hate.
I have never understood why the African-American community joined forces with the religious right to campaign for intolerance and discrimination in our country. It seems to me the height of hypocrisy. Our country began with the creed that all men were created equal. Then (at least in theory) all women too (except for the equal pay thing). Then African-Americans were given legal status as full human beings, rather than property. Previously they had been counted as a fraction of a person. Then African-Americans were given the right to vote, and now see the dream of their inspirational leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., realized in the election of Barack Obama. But that’s the end of the dream for black people, apparently. All men (and women) (of any color) are created equal, but not the gays. It is the African-American (and Latino) turnout in California that is cited as the cause of the passage of the anti-gay marriage proposal, Proposition 8. And so here’s must-see: Keith Olbmerman’s reaction to the vote on Proposition 8 in California, where he takes heterosexual America, and the African-American community in particular, to task for their vote:
After watching the election returns last Tuesday at a Democratic event, I told my friend David that I wanted to stop by the King Center on the way home. After Barack Obama’s historic vicotry, I was expecting a handful of people at the grave of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. What we found instead was a riot of happiness. Here’s Life On Q’s video of the happenings on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta on November 4th, and early into the morning of November 5th, 2008.
Recording artist John Legend appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO Friday night, and performed his Obama-inspired song, “If You’re Out There” to close out Maher’s last pre-election show. As he did in his performance at the Democratic National Convention, Legend’s beautiful song gave me goosebumps. With election day less than 24 hours away, I’m posting a video of Legend performing “If You’re Out There” to inspire you. You can also download a copy of the song for free from Legend’s page on Barack Obama’s Website. If you’re out there, take a look or a listen, be inspired, and get out and vote tomorrow.
Michael Moore has a new film about the upcoming election that is a must-see. It’s called Slacker Uprising, and it’s about Moore’s 42-day, 62-city tour across America during the run-up to the 2004 election, in the wake of his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. His tour was a failed attempt to remove George W. Bush from office that nonetheless succeeded in helping turn out a record number of young voters and others who had never voted before. Young adults voted in greater numbers than in any election since 18-year-olds were given the right to vote, despite the return of George W. Bush to the White House. The movie looks at the birth of a new political generation in America — young people who would signal the era of “Obamania” that would take place just four years later.
With Slacker Uprising, Moore is doing something unprecendented for a commercially successful filmmaker: he’s giving the movie away on the Internet. Neither Moore nor the movie’s distributor, Brave New Films, will make any money from the film, which had a budget of over $2 million. You can download a free copy at the Slacker Uprising Slacker Uprising, legally, at the Slacker Uprising Website. If you want to support Moore’s brilliant and important work anyway, you can purchase a DVD copy for $9.99. Moore describes the free distribution of the movie as a gift to his fans:
“The only return any of us are hoping for is the largest turnout of young voters ever at the polls in November. I think ‘Slacker Uprising’ will inspire millions to get off the couch and give voting a chance.”
Along with Moore’s appearance, “Slacker Uprising” features live performances or appearances by Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam), Roseanne Barr, Joan Baez, Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine), R.E.M., Steve Earle, and Viggo Mortensen. It is described as part concert tour , part stand-up comedy performance and part rock concert.
Slacker Uprising is inspiring and motivating pre-election viewing. Check it out, then call your local Barack Obama headquarters and see what you can do to help. And no matter what, you must vote on Tuesday.
I have lived in Atlanta forever. Well, not forever, but longer than anywhere else, including my home town. I’ve been following the Indigo Girls since before their days as the house band at the Little 5 Points Pub. All these years later, I still have it bad for Amy Ray. She has a new solo CD out called Didn’t It Feel Kinder that is getting great reviews. Her previous solo effort, Prom, is one of my favorite CDs. Amy also has a DVD in the works, and has posted several videos of live performances and intimate acoustic versions of her solo work on Kyte. If you are one of the few Atlanta-area lesbians who does not have a crush on this Indigo Girl, watch the video below. That should do it for you.
If you lived through the 1980s, liked leg warmers or shoulder pads, be warned: you could have a faux-hawk flashback when the Seattle duo Team Gina comes back to Georgia just after Atlanta Pride. Gina Bling and Gina Genius, the sum total of Team Gina, will come through the South on their “Product of the 80s” tour, in support of their new album of the same name released on June 17.
The Products of the Eighties Tour will be at Little King’s Shuffle Club in Athens, Ga. on July 8 and at Mary’s in East Atlanta on July 9. I first saw the Ginas perform at MondoHomo 2007, and caught such a fever that I had to dig out my old sweatbands. Their previous album, Gina Gina Revolution, features tunes with such catchy lyrics as: “Straight Boys Love Us (But We Like the Girls),” and “I like butch dykes.”
IMHO, the Ginas are both Bling and Genius. Part camp, part rap, part high school cheerleader, part 80s hair band, this team is not your typical lesbian music duo. Team Gina will really take you back, playfully remind you of all the fun we had during the Reagan years, and bring out your inner Flashdancer. As Gina Bling might say, the Team Gina experience is “a total Landsberry.” If you’re not hip to the latest Gina Slang, you’ll just have to go to the show in Athens or Atlanta and ask them yourselves.
If you’ve never had the Team Gina experience, get a glimpse in their latest video:
For more info on Team Gina and the Products of the 80s Tour, visit Gina Bling and Gina Genius on myspace at myspace.com/teamgina. You’ll find other cities and show dates there for their nationwide tour.
Gina Bling was just in Atlanta to MC a show at MondoHomo 2008. She is looking good, and it only made my baby dyke crush worse. Ah, to be young again. Like I was in the 80s.
Michael Moore
