I know that this may be a breach of protocol, as I justdiaried this yesterday. If you have never heard of The White Knot, Please give my previous diary a read. The purpose of this diary, and the project in general is to try to organize a recognizable symbol for Marriage Equality, not unlike the "Support the Troups" or "Breast Cancer Awareness". The symbol is a simple White Knot
I am a strong believer in "Organize, Focus, Stay on Point", especially for grass roots movements. To that end it is important for an organized Marriage Equality movement to have a unified symbol which can serve as an instant indicator of support for a complex issue and as an icebreaker to introduce the subject of marriage equality (Yo, what's that ribbon thing you have on).
The "Focus", I feel, should be on Marriage Equality, not on "gay marriage". The phrase "Gay Marriage" scares the low-information voter because it sounds like something different. Something dangerous. It sounds like an attack on religion. Frankly, it sounds scary to those voters. It is (in their mind) giving the GLBT community special rights (special rites?).
However, Marriage Equality is more directly connected to the idea of civil rights. This is the "Stay on Point". The issues of Marriage Equality today are the same as the issues of Marriage Equality 50 years ago. At that time it was interracial marriage. As a reminder, at the time President Elect Obama's parents were married here in the USA, there were still 19 states where interracial marriage illegal. By the time Barack Obama was born, there were still 16 states where interracial marriage was banned. The Marriage Equality battle is not over until there is Marriage Equality for everyone.
The White Knot is planning 01/20/2009 as an official roll out date, and trying to get as many people at the inauguration to wear the ribbon as possible. People are free to wear them any time and, perhaps, make them as simple Christmas gifts or Tree ornaments.
This topic was discussed on TRMS, radio-side, with guest host David Bender. For more information please visit:
The White Knotwebsite