On Monday, the LGBT community saw a major new civil rights organization formed in our struggle for freedom.
Kip Williams and Robin McGeehee, Co-chairs of the National Equality March in October, announced the formation of"Get Equal." The talented organizers have spent months since the March on Washington, carefully putting together an effective national network of activists to battle for civil rights for the LGBT community. They have traveled across the country, held retreats with young leaders and worked with march participants to create an entity that will fill the vacuum of the absence of a 'direct action' organization in our movement.
In many ways, this is the first major "Prop 8 Generation" to emerge on the national level. Williams and McGeehee (photograph) have already proved they are two of the new bright young talents to emerge from that generation. In just two days, over 2,500 young activists have joined the group. Many expect Get Equal to have significant impact on the tactical direction of the LGBT civil rights movement.
You can sign up for this new organization by going to the"Get Equal Facebook Page" or to their website. Don't forget to stop and check out their amazing 'store'.
Without a doubt it is one of the largest organizations to form outside the Beltway of Washington, DC.
In their press release this past Monday they stated:
Emphasizing direct action and people power, the mission of GetEQUAL is to empower the LGBTQ community and its allies to take action to demand full legal and social equality and to hold accountable those who stand in the way.
"All over the country we are under attack," said McGehee. "From the recent actions of the Attorney General in Virginia to strip away protections for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people on college and university campuses to the young lesbian student in Mississippi who is being denied the right to take her date to the prom. Nearly, every day there is a new story, but the subject is always the same: we are being bullied. We are no longer willing to sit back and wait - we want change now."
GetEQUAL's organization model is based first and foremost on empowerment. The organization will provide vehicles for people to take action around key moments and connect the narrative of those moments into a powerful movement for change. Tactics will be multifaceted, including centralized online campaigns that build up and empower the LGBTQ and allied national base, and coordinated offline actions that allow people to collectively take to the streets.
"When properly served, we believe these people can create a groundswell of energy that will fundamentally change the current political dynamic, restrict support for those who stand in the way of full equality, and embolden those who want to do the right thing," said Williams. "No longer must we settle for empty promises while our young commit suicide, our rights are stripped away at the ballot box, and we are treated as second class citizens. The time has come to unequivocally say that we are more than a political movement we are a civil rights movement."
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