I was at a Synagogue last evening for a beautiful marriage ceremony for three same-sex couples. I'm not religious, and I'm not even Jewish. I went there as a volunteer for the No on 8 campaign to try to raise money and recruit volunteers. But standing in that house of worship and in the presence of the most divine of all expressions, love, I could not stop my emotions from running me over. As the couples exchanged vows and the witnesses surrounded themselves, the Rabbi said the words "By the power vested in me by the loving God and by the State of California, I now pronounce you spouses for life." The hall burst into applause, cheers and celebration of the human spirit.
Proposition 8 in California seeks to take away these moments of monumental joy, love and celebration from couples just like the ones stood there last night expressing their commitment before their God. If Prop 8, the Constitutional Amendment to take away marriage from loving same-sex couples passes, prejudice, bigotry and fear will have won over equality, fairness and hope. But it doesn't have to be that way.
It doesn't have to be that way. It can be different if you take out your credit card and donate today, pick up the phone and call a friend today, or sign up volunteer today. Even if you don't live in California or make it to the local No on 8 phone bank, you can call voters from home. And you can tell people you know why they should vote NO.
But first, DONATE.
http://www.NoOnProp8.com/
Why is the donation part important? Because despite the NO on 8 campaign having outraised the Yes on 8 campaign in the last week, we are still $7-8 million behind. As I noted in another diary, in California, it costs $500 to run one ad one time on one prime time spot. That means that they can run 16,000 more ads than we can. Plus, it takes money to buy food for volunteers at the local phone banks. It takes money to put up the lawn signs on the lawns of our supporters. Dig deep into your pockets now and give:
http://www.NoOnProp8.com/
For a couple of the hard hitting ads your cash will help stay on the air, see the end of this diary.
Ok, so what else can you do? Sign up to volunteer and call undecided voters with us! Here are all the phone banks and field offices in California:
http://www.noonprop8.com/...
One conversation you have with one undecided voter can literally be the difference between us winning and losing. The link above will show you where the phone banks are and when each is. We have 2 weeks to go. The time to do something is now.
Don't live in California? Can't make it to a local field office (although it's really recommended that you go there if you can at all)? No worries. Now you can phone bank from home if you've got a phone and a broadband Internet connection, no matter where you are!
http://www.noonprop8.com/...
How does that work?
The No on Prop 8 Predictive Dialer Phone Bank will allow volunteers to make voter contact calls from anywhere in the US. The Predictive Dialer automatically calls voters and sends these calls to your telephone.
You will need a computer with broadband internet access and telephone to join the Predictive Dialer Phone Bank. The Predictive Dialer Phone Bank will not work with a dial-up internet connection.
Feeling a bit more enthusiastic? Why not host your own phone bank?
And last, but definitely not least, reach out. Reach out to anyone you know in California. NoOnProp8.com now has a cool tool to do that too! No matter where you are, and what your reason is for supporting marriage equality, write your friends and family NOW:
http://www.noonprop8.com/...
There are more to do, but these are the most important things. For more, visit http://www.NoOnProp8.com and find out what you can do more. But remember:
DONATE
Call Voters from a Field Office
Call Voters from Home
Write Friends and Family in California
Let's win!
As promised, here are the hard hitting ads your donation will help stay on the air:
and