wakingupnow.com » action http://wakingupnow.com/blog Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:50:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Don’t Flip-Flop on DOMA http://wakingupnow.com/blog/dont-flip-flop-on-doma http://wakingupnow.com/blog/dont-flip-flop-on-doma#comments Wed, 20 May 2009 21:19:34 +0000 robtish http://wakingupnow.com/blog/?p=178 Cute video from Sean Chapin:

Don’t flip-flop on DOMA.

]]> Cute video from Sean Chapin:

Don’t flip-flop on DOMA.

]]> http://wakingupnow.com/blog/dont-flip-flop-on-doma/feed 0 Day of Decision http://wakingupnow.com/blog/day-of-decision http://wakingupnow.com/blog/day-of-decision#comments Wed, 20 May 2009 02:11:18 +0000 robtish http://wakingupnow.com/blog/?p=166 Confused about when the Supreme Court will hand down its decision on Prop 8? Unsure of what to do the day it’s announced? My friend Matt has put together a great orientation video so you can make like a hamster (just watch the vid).

]]> Confused about when the Supreme Court will hand down its decision on Prop 8? Unsure of what to do the day it’s announced? My friend Matt has put together a great orientation video so you can make like a hamster (just watch the vid).

]]> http://wakingupnow.com/blog/day-of-decision/feed 0 Jon Stewart on DADT http://wakingupnow.com/blog/jon-stewart-on-dadt http://wakingupnow.com/blog/jon-stewart-on-dadt#comments Sat, 16 May 2009 00:24:08 +0000 robtish http://wakingupnow.com/blog/?p=156 Has everyone seen this yet? Brilliant. The gay stuff begins about three minutes in.  And, oops, in my first version of this post, I left out the best part (in the second video).

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M – Th 11p / 10c Moral Kombat thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor The Daily Show With Jon [...]]]> Has everyone seen this yet? Brilliant. The gay stuff begins about three minutes in.  And, oops, in my first version of this post, I left out the best part (in the second video).

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M – Th 11p / 10c
Moral Kombat
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M – Th 11p / 10c
Dan Choi Is Gay
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes		 Economic Crisis Political Humor
]]> http://wakingupnow.com/blog/jon-stewart-on-dadt/feed 1 Meet in the Middle http://wakingupnow.com/blog/meet-in-the-middle http://wakingupnow.com/blog/meet-in-the-middle#comments Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:43:50 +0000 robtish http://wakingupnow.com/blog/?p=145 My friend Phillip Minton asked be to pass on information about “Meet in the Middle,” a rally to occur on the first Saturday after the State Supreme Court passes down its Prop 8 decision.

In Fresno.

Yep, not in West Hollywood or Silverlake or the Castro, but in the heart of Yes on 8 territory. This [...]]]> My friend Phillip Minton asked be to pass on information about “Meet in the Middle,” a rally to occur on the first Saturday after the State Supreme Court passes down its Prop 8 decision.

In Fresno.

Yep, not in West Hollywood or Silverlake or the Castro, but in the heart of Yes on 8 territory. This is where we need to make our voices heard. And this will be a great way to do it. There will be transportation assistance and other logistical help to make sure everyone can part of this gutsy state-wide event.

Here’s a video on the event. Share!

]]> http://wakingupnow.com/blog/meet-in-the-middle/feed 0 Light Up the Night video http://wakingupnow.com/blog/light-up-the-night-video http://wakingupnow.com/blog/light-up-the-night-video#comments Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:16:32 +0000 robtish http://wakingupnow.com/blog/?p=66 I originally started this blog to document my experience in organizing a protest. I’ll have to write more about that, but in the meantime, here’s a video of the event, created by two filmmakers at FutureView Entertainment.

]]> I originally started this blog to document my experience in organizing a protest. I’ll have to write more about that, but in the meantime, here’s a video of the event, created by two filmmakers at FutureView Entertainment.

]]> http://wakingupnow.com/blog/light-up-the-night-video/feed 2 Light Up the Night http://wakingupnow.com/blog/lutn http://wakingupnow.com/blog/lutn#comments Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:08:52 +0000 robtish http://wakingupnow.com/blog/?p=6 November’s election cast a wintry darkness over the lives of gays and lesbians throughout California. But light will cast out darkness, and we can be that light. Show your candle, show your flame, show yourself. Show the world what shines inside your heart, and light up the [...]]]> Be the Light in the Night

November’s election cast a wintry darkness over the lives of gays and lesbians throughout California. But light will cast out darkness, and we can be that light. Show your candle, show your flame, show yourself. Show the world what shines inside your heart, and light up the night.

The Basics

  • What: A candlelight vigil and food drive
  • When: Saturday, December 20, 5-7pm
  • Where: Meet at the Hollywood United Methodist Church at the corner of Franklin and Highland.  The vigil procession will go down Franklin, turn right on to Hollywood, go past the Hollywood & Highland complex, and loop back around to the church.  We’ll repeat this loop, staying on the sidewalks.
  • How: This will be a peaceful vigil in the spirit of the holidays.
  • Bring: A t-shirt saying “Second Class Citizen (or some variation), a light, and an item for the food drive.

The Details

On Saturday, December 20, from 5-7pm, we’re holding a candlelight vigil in honor of our marriage rights.

This is a nation-wide event, brought to you by the same people who coordinated the November 15 City Hall protests.  This is different, though.  It’s a peaceful event, to show our strength simply through our visibility and resolve.

  • We’ll assemble at the Hollywood United Methodist Church (an ally at in the fight against Prop 8 ) at Franklin and Highland between 4:30 and 5.  This will be our home base before, during, and after the vigil.
  • Bring an item for the food drive.  Yes!  There’s a food drive!  More below.
  • Bring a battery-operated candle (to avoid spilling wax on each other). You can pick these up at Target, Rite-Aid, CVS, Dollar stores, and similar venues.
  • It’ll be too cold for t-shirts, so we’ll have bumper stickers to plaster across your chest. You can get a preprinted one for a small, voluntary donation, or you can write your own.
  • This will be a peaceful demonstration in the spirit of the holidays.  We will stay silent unless asked a question. We won’t yell, instigate, or carry signs; we’ll let our shirts do the talking and our candles pay our respects.

Volunteers

We need volunteers the day of the event to pull this off. Two volunteer training meetings are scheduled; you can come to either one.

Volunteer Training Session #1
Thursday, December 18 – 7:30 pm
AOO Marketing
6309 La Mirada
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(1 block south of Fountain, near Vine St. in Hollywood )

Volunteer Training Session #2
Saturday, December 20 – 3:30 pm
Parking lot of the Hollywood United Methodist Church northwest corner of Franklin and Highlands (But please park elsewhere as we’re trying to reserve the lot for the food drive and a large gathering of people – 4 hours for $2 at Hollywood & Highland with easy validation available)

A Food Drive?

We’re collecting food to give to a faith-based charity food bank.  It will be distributed through the United Methodist Church, which passed a resolution against Prop 8, though with some internal resistance.  The food will go to a variety of churches, mostly in South Los Angeles.

There are so many reasons for this food drive. The help it will offer, the moral weight of it, the good publicity, and simple strategy of building allies—all these things make the food drive an integral part of the event.  Here are some suggestions of what to bring:

Packaged Items
Instant Mashed Potatoes
Packaged Stuffing
Jello Pudding
Cake Mixes
Cereal
Rice
Dried Beans
Macaroni Pasta
Instant Cocoa
Tea
Coffee
Juice

Hygiene Items
Soap
Shampoo
Toothpaste
Feminine Hygiene Products
Disposable Razors
Diapers
Handiwipes
Detergent
Deodorant

Canned Items
Yams
Pumpkin Pie Filling

Cranberry Sauce
Corn
Beans
Applesauce
Gravy or Meat Broth
Soups or Stews
Fruit
Canned Milk
Tuna
Peanut Butter
Condiments

You can also donate all week long at the Crescent Heights United Methodist Church in West Hollywood every day from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM up to and through December 20th. CHUMC is located at the corner of Fountain and Fairfax.

Thanks to http://8accountability.ning.com for the food drive suggestions.

]]> http://wakingupnow.com/blog/lutn/feed 3 How to begin? http://wakingupnow.com/blog/how-to-begin http://wakingupnow.com/blog/how-to-begin#comments Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:30:39 +0000 robtish http://wakingupnow.com/blog/?p=1 I volunteered to lead a protest.

Yeah, it’s about gay marriage. The Prop 8 vote woke me up.

Go back to when I was a kid: I was a great student and lousy at sports. That double-whammy will get you picked on even by the kids who get picked on. I was tall and scrawny with a [...]]]> I volunteered to lead a protest.

Yeah, it’s about gay marriage. The Prop 8 vote woke me up.

Go back to when I was a kid: I was a great student and lousy at sports. That double-whammy will get you picked on even by the kids who get picked on. I was tall and scrawny with a great big head, a mouthful of braces, orthopedic shoes (pigeon-toed flat feet), a stutter, and hard contact lenses that constantly slipped out of place. But I got older, the stutter faded, and I stopped looking so much like a greasy lollipop on a stick. Plus, I reached an age where people saw smarts as maybe a good thing. Now suddenly folks were nice to me right off the bat. Instead of mocking everything I said, no matter how smart, they nodded and smiled, no matter how awkward or odd.

That was…good? I would figure out what people wanted me to be, be that thing, and they’d like me. I’d already done it to manage my parents (they were conservative Catholics born in 1919 and 1920; I was a closeted gay teen), so why not try it with my peer group? No one got to know me, really, but it was better than being picked on, right?

It worked on the job, too. Be the go-to guy everyone enjoys working with. Be nice to everyone and everyone will be nice to you. You smother a lot of yourself in the process, but it’s safer, isn’t it?

Eventually I began to see safety-plus-misery as a dead end. Fast forward through lots of therapy and I’m making slow but steady progress. Slow. But steady.

On November 4, 2008, though, something broke. I was nice, but the voters weren’t. I didn’t make trouble, but they kicked my ass. And why? Because they were terrified their kids would learn about gays in school. Forget about whether Prop 8 actually mandated that – they believed it, and the idea that their kids would learn about people like me was so awful they stripped away my rights to keep it from happening.

So screw that. Screw being nice, being what they want, denying myself – it doesn’t work. You can’t get the life you want by giving yourself up.

So I volunteered to lead a protest. I’ll chronicle that here.

Of course, if you meet me, I’ll be nice, I’ll try to figure out who you want me to be, and I’ll struggle with an urge to shut myself off and be what you want. Some lessons you need to learn more than once. But in the weeks to come I may be learning it over and over.

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