California will be one of the next big battle grounds for same-sex marriage. The supreme court here is hearing the case and the
state legislature narrowly passed the bill. The governator of course vetoed it.
In order to make equality a reality, we'll have to do two things:
1) Replace the Republican governator with a Democratic Governor
2) Replace Republican state senators and assemblymen who are unfriendly to gay rights with those who are friendly to them.
So.. I'm knitting to make it happen... (more below the fold)
I've started a process of finding those districts where there is a good chance of replacing the anti-gay Republican incumbent with a gay-rights friendly Democrat or those districts that are open seats but formally Republican.
I will extend this to other states too.
The day after the 2004 election I took up knitting. Earlier in the year my doctor told me I needed to relax and off-handedly told me I should take up something to help me relax... knitting or yoga. After the very stressful election day, I decided I needed to take up knitting.. I was really stressed.. so I went and got a book, needles and yarn.. and have been knitting since.
And because I'm a man, it's always a conversation starter on flights and in public. And I always tell the story and it always leads to a discussion about politics.
So, to make my knitting even more of a political act....
For every dollar you donate to one of these candidates on my ActBlue fundraising page, I will knit one row towards an afghan for a charity. In fact the charity is Afghans for Afghans, which I felt is appropriate :). It'll take about 250 rows to complete. If I get over 250 rows, I'll start on another one.
And as an added bonus for, for anyone who donates more than 50 in total, I will knit a wool scarf for you, color of your choice.
and if for anyone who donates more than 200 dollars total, your choice of two scarves or one child's poncho and a child's scarf... for you
small print: donations must be given through my actblue page, only way I can verify you donated :)
of course, even a dollar makes one row towards an afghan for charity and a step closer to equality!
My first two ActBlue fundraising choices are
1) The Democratic candidate for governor, Phil Angelides,
and the Democratic candidate for state senate in district 12, Wiley Nickel
The first should be obvious. The second is in a district now representated by Republican Jeff Denham who voted against marriage equality last year. I believe this district can change hands. The district is actually 48% registered Democrat and 39% registered Republican, so if the turn out is good, the Democrat has a good chance of winning.
I've been in email contact with Wiley Nickel and will be talking to him on the phone later. So far I'm encouraged. I might even go down there (about 30 minutes south of my home) and do a little help.
(I've added two others from the Assembly, more about them on my blog later)
So, the more you donate, the more I knit, and it helps someone in Afghanistan (or possibly even you) keep warm, and it helps change our political landscape to blue and rainbow :).
Go to my Go to my FUNDRAISING PAGE and donate.. PLEASE.
