Marriage Equality Rally redux

November 7, 5:23 PMAustin Civil Rights ExaminerMichelle Palmer

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December 7th, 2008 Austin Marriage Equality Rally
Michelle Palmer

On November 15th, 2008, there was a nationwide call for Marriage Equality Rallies across the nation to protest the passage of Prop 8 in California - and people turned out for that. Today, Join The Impact - Austin held a similar rally to protest the passage of Question 1 in Maine this week, which stripped marriage rights from the citizens of Maine by a 'popular vote' after these rights had been granted by the state legislature. It was essentially California 2.0.

But compared to the hundreds who turned out in 2008, the crowd today was sparse, disappointing, even. Is the GLBT community getting too used to being defeated by a popular vote? Or perhaps discouraged by a lack of progress? People sometimes fail to fight for themselves when they feel helpless. They accept the status quo. Let's hope that is not the case here. But compare the slideshow and photo above to the turnout evidenced in 2008:

Even though Marriage Equality is unlikely to happen at the ballot box, it is still important for people to stay involved and active in reaching that goal. It's important to ask GLBT supporters to remain involved and active. Activism is the road to change. Accepting the status quo, giving up, and refusing to give your time or effort because the change you seek is beyond your immediate control is not only throwing in the towel, it's doing a disservice to your cause.

This is unacceptable. If people want change, if they want progress, then it is necessary that action be taken to reach that goal. Change is hard. Change doesn't happen because you want it. Change happens because you work for it. Today, people like Dana Cloud and the rest of the Join The Impact folks were present and accounted for - including Jay Morris (of jaysays.com) who did a live blog for iQreport http://iqreport.usfreedomring.com/?p=850 - where were you?

If you were one of the few people there, good on you. If you weren't, you might want to ask yourself why not. If it's simply that you didn't know about it, then get connected: http://jointheimpact.com/ has links to events city-by-city. Several organizations are active on Facebook, including JTI at http://www.facebook.com/jaysays?v=photos&ref=nf#/group.php?gid=103757260289, Equality Texas at http://www.facebook.com/jaysays?v=photos&ref=nf#/EqualityTexas, and you can follow Jay Morris and guest bloggers at http://jaysays.com.

If Equal Civil Rights are important to you, or to a GLBT person you care about, then suit up and show up. Because nothing changes if nothing changes - and change takes effort.